NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Murkowski bill would give Congress power over designations
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E PM: Friday, July 18, 2014
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's ranking Republican has introduced legislation that would give Congress the final say over whether the president can designate a national monument.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's S. 2608 would also require Congress and coastal states to sign off on monuments declared in federal waters that extend 200 miles from shore.
It's the first time Murkowski has introduced such a bill, spokesman Matthew Felling said.
House Republicans this year passed a separate bill that would restrict the president's power to designate monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which critics say President Obama has abused.
Like H.R. 1459 by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Murkowski's bill would also require that monument designations be reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act.
"Alaskans know what happens when the president unilaterally closes millions of acres of public lands -- it means a loss of jobs and a hit to the economy," Murkowski said yesterday in a statement.
Obama has declared 11 monuments. His most recent designation was in May when he proclaimed the 500,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico. That monument is by far his largest.
Murkowski's bill comes a month after Obama's proposal to expand the protected area surrounding the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument from 87,020 to 782,000 square miles, possibly placing the waters off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities.
Some conservationists would like Obama to declare permanent monument protections for Alaska's Bristol Bay or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, though federal law sets limits on use of the Antiquities Act in Murkowski's state.
Conservationists have strongly opposed bills to roll back the Antiquities Act, and Murkowski's bill is unlikely to fare well in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Dan Hartinger, national monuments campaign representative for the Wilderness Society, said the 1906 law was critical in protecting the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty and should be left alone.
"The senator's bill runs contrary to the intent of the law and eliminates the option for swift action -- without which these places may not have been protected," he said in an email. "This bill is a solution in search of a problem and the truth is that Congress already has the ability to revise boundaries and management regulations for presidentially declared national monuments."
