[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 130 (Thursday, September 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CRAIG (for himself and Mr. Kempthorne):
  S. 2092. A bill to prohibit further extension or establishment of any 
national monument in Idaho without full public participation and an 
express Act of Congress, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.


                  IDAHO NATIONAL MONUMENT LEGISLATION

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, yesterday afternoon President Clinton stood 
on the edge of the Grand Canyon and proclaimed, by Executive order, 
through the National Antiquities Act, the designation of a national 
monument in southern Utah of 1.7 million acres.
  Was his action illegal? No. It certainly was not, or it does not 
appear to be at this moment. What is frustrating to those of us in the 
West who have large expanses of public land is that the President 
sought no counsel, did not even consult with the Senators from Utah 
until the very last minute, did not talk to the Governor, to the State 
legislators or to the county commissioners in whose counties this large 
expanse of 1.7 million acres was involved. He simply stood on the banks 
or the edge of the Grand Canyon and proclaimed--yes, this is a device 
that was used by President Roosevelt who set aside the Grand Canyon 
years ago; it was a device that was oftentimes used prior to the 
enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act or the Federal Land 
Use Management Act, NEPA and FLMPA, because there was no certain public 
process to ensure the protection of valuable lands or, more 
importantly, to involve the public in them. The Congress simply had not 
moved in that direction at that time when the National Antiquities Act 
came about.
  That is not the case today. In my opinion, the President yesterday 
standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon violated his public trust in 
failing to openly and publicly involve all of the necessary people in 
making this decision and making sure that private rights, property 
rights, water rights, grazing rights, mining rights, all of those kinds 
of things, were taken into consideration.
  In fact, I stood at a press conference yesterday afternoon in which 
the Democrat Congressman from whose district this large expanse of land 
was proclaimed by the President yesterday, and he said that at 11 
o'clock the night before he was on the phone with the President saying, 
``But, Mr. President,'' and the President was saying, ``Oh, don't 
worry. We will take care of you here and we will take care of you 
there. We will protect hunting rights.''
  Well, Mr. President, those kind of things do not exist in a national 
monument. You do not allow hunting. You do not allow grazing. You do 
not allow mining. Yet, this President, in the dark of night, in the wee 
hours before he was planning this great publicity event for his 
reelection, was telling the Democrat Congressman, ``I will take care of 
you,'' after the fact.

  Now, the reason that was happening is because this President sought 
no public process. As certainly the Presiding Officer knows, over the 
last good number of years we have looked at a lot of public properties. 
We spent 10 years designating over 5 million acres of land in southern 
California as wilderness. I went to California three times in public 
hearings. It was thoroughly debated on the floor. All of the rights 
were taken care of.
  Finally, this Congress acted and designated as wilderness a large 
chunk of the southern California desert. However, every issue was taken 
into consideration prior to that happening. That simply did not happen 
yesterday with this President. He was interested in the sound bite and 
the evening news and his politics and the campaign. He trampled all 
over the rights of citizens and all over the public process. I am 
saddened by that.
  It is for that reason today I am introducing legislation that would 
deny him that right in the State of Idaho. I hope other Senators would 
join with me who have large expanses of public land that now might be 
at risk, because this President, for his environmental political gains, 
would select another piece of property. All I am saying is that the 
National Antiquities Act does not apply in Idaho unless there is a 
public process and unless the Congress agrees or consents or 
authorizes.
  What is important here is that I am not denying what the President 
did. What I am denying is his right to do it in the back rooms in the 
dark of night, even with his own Secretary of Interior last Friday and 
through the weekend not being able to say that this, in fact, was going 
to happen.
  It was the chief of staff of the White House, Leon Panetta, who 
finally called the Senators from Utah just before it happened and 
announced that it was going to happen. That should not happen. We want 
public process. This President has pounded us on public process. We 
will have public process in Idaho. I am not denying that some lands in 
Idaho might one day be selected as a national monument. But what I am 
saying is that the citizens of the State of Idaho, the Governor of the 
State of Idaho, the county commissioners, the congressional delegation, 
and this Congress, because it's public land, will participate in the 
process of making those decisions. We don't want this President, or any 
President, running roughshod over the State of Idaho, or any other 
State for that matter.
                                 ______