[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 72 (Thursday, April 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2579-S2581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Antiquities Act
Mr. President, at the close of the 19th century, many of our
country's--almost all of our country's--most historic sites were
completely unprotected. Places like Chaco Canyon and Cliff Palace, home
to some of the most ancient dwellings in North America, faced looting
and desecration. So in 1906, Congress actually passed pieces of
legislation and thought about the next generation of Americans.
Congress acted to protect these places by passing the Antiquities Act.
The act empowered Presidents to preserve sites of cultural and historic
importance and protect our most spectacular landscapes by designating
them as national monuments using that authority.
Teddy Roosevelt moved to protect places like Devil's Tower, Muir
Woods Forest, and even the Grand Canyon. Looking back, it is hard to
imagine our country without those iconic places. It is hard to imagine
our country without the legacy of those people who were thinking not
between sound bites on the television but across generations.
Since Teddy Roosevelt, administrations from both parties, Democratic
and Republicans--he was a Republican, as it happens, but both parties
have used the Antiquities Act to preserve places critical to our
heritage, including the designation of Colorado National Monument in
1911. I just visited there.
In Washington, we may differ over policies--sometimes sharply. There
is no surprise that is true. But both parties have long risen above
partisan squabbles of today to protect these special places for
tomorrow. But with yesterday's Executive order, President Trump has
upended that tradition by opening the door to attacks on our national
monuments for generations to come.
I know there are people in this administration who have said they are
``lifetime supporters and admirers of Teddy Roosevelt's policies.'' If
they are, now is the time they need to be heard because today's action
is an offense to Teddy Roosevelt's vision for America and threatens his
bipartisan legacy of conservation. The administration's latest
Executive order initiates a review of all national monument
designations since 1996 that are larger than 100,000 acres, with an
interim report on its findings just 45 days later. I wonder if they
know how long it takes to build a consensus in the West and in other
places that a place is sacred enough that it should have one of these
designations, and in 45 days they are going to threaten to disturb the
work of people all over the West who have supported these designations.
Speaking yesterday, President Trump justified this action by calling
earlier monument designations an ``egregious abuse of federal power.''
I wonder what he would call a Washington-led effort to undo protections
for national monuments that enjoy deep support from communities all
across the country, including in my State of Colorado?
For all their rhetoric about Washington overreach, this
administration and its allies in Congress seem to have no problem
substituting their rash judgment for the thoughtful, community-driven
designations of national monuments across the United States of America.
Had they studied this issue at all, they would have learned that
existing monument designations come from exhaustive consultation and
hundreds of meetings over thousands of hours.
Unlike this administration, western communities did our homework. We
laid the groundwork and paved the way for these designations, which
leads me to wonder what the administration's review hopes to achieve. I
would challenge anybody in the Senate to come down here to this floor
and explain exactly how this 45-day review will uncover information
that somehow our western communities missed. They can't. They can't
because that is not the point of this review, which is no more than a
Trojan horse for advancing the agenda not of the West but for advancing
the agenda of partisan think
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tanks and politicians in Washington instead of the real-world interests
of western communities.
Worse, if the administration ultimately repeals national monument
designations--which I hope they will not--as a result of this order, it
would cause real economic pain to Western States, especially in rural
areas. A recent study found that rural counties in the West with
protected public lands saw jobs grow at a rate more than three times
faster compared to areas without protected lands. It just makes sense.
Just ask outfitters and guides near Browns Canyon, a national monument,
or local business owners around Chimney Rock, a national monument, what
the effect has been on their businesses. In fact, those businesses were
huge champions of both those national monuments. You can go buy a beer
in Pagosa Springs from a brewery that is brewing it and putting a label
on it that says ``Chimney Rock National Monument.'' You can buy the
beer and take it rafting through Browns Canyon with outfitters who
strongly support the monument.
National monuments not only preserve our heritage, they strengthen
rural communities by supporting outdoor economies and attracting
visitors from around the country and around the world. We should be
more encouraging of that. Let's do more of that. Instead, this
Executive order takes aim directly at our rural economies in the West.
Look at this. As we can see here, nationwide, Americans spend $887
billion on the outdoor economy each year, supporting $65 billion in
Federal tax revenue and 7.6 million American jobs which can't be
exported anywhere. There is not a country in the world that has a
system of public lands like the United States of America and in
particular the Western United States of America. There is not a country
in the world that has what we have.
If this administration really is serious about creating jobs,
strengthening our economy, and remaining faithful to the bipartisan
legacy of Roosevelt, it should keep our national monuments intact and
uphold the traditions honored by every President since 1906.
These are treasured places. Even though they have a huge value in
dollars and cents, their value goes far beyond the economic value. It
goes to the heart of who we are as a nation. It goes to our cultural
heritage and to the legacy we want to pass on from our grandparents to
our grandchildren.
Teddy Roosevelt called conservation ``a great moral issue, for it
involves the patriotic duty of ensuring the safety and continuance of
the nation.'' We must do our duty, our patriotic duty, and I will use
every tool at my disposal to protect the Antiquities Act and our
national monuments because in the end our character as a nation is
revealed in what we choose to preserve now and for generations to come.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, yesterday President Trump issued an
Executive order that undermined the protection of dozens of our
national monuments that were established over the past two decades by
three different Presidents. In continuing his administration's war on
our public lands, President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Zinke
have attacked one of our Nation's most prized conservation laws--the
Antiquities Act, which gives the President the authority to protect our
nationally important lands and waters on Federal land by designating
them as national monuments.
In the 111 years since the Antiquities Act was signed into law by
President Teddy Roosevelt, 16 Presidents--8 Republicans and 8
Democrats--have used the law's authority to designate over 150 national
monuments. President Trump is trying to undo over 100 years of
conservation in just a few days.
Many of our Nation's iconic national parks were first protected by
using the authority of the Antiquities Act, including the Grand Canyon,
Acadia, Glacier Bay, Joshua Tree, Zion, and in my home State of
Washington, Mount Olympus National Monument, which later became Olympic
National Park.
No doubt Presidents of both parties have used the Antiquities Act to
preserve the most beautiful places in our country. However, President
Trump appears to be very uninformed on the history or the importance of
the Antiquities Act. In his remarks signing the Executive order
yesterday, he described the designation of national monuments as an
``egregious use of federal power'' and vowed he would ``give that power
back to the States.'' He truly does not understand the Antiquities Act,
nor does he appreciate the bold leadership of all of those Presidents,
both Democrats and Republicans, over a period of time--eight
Republicans and eight Democrats--who have used this authority in an
appropriate way to preserve for all Americans in the future and those
in the past who have enjoyed these beautiful places--and to preserve
our access to public lands.
I can't tell you how important access to public lands is for
schoolchildren, our returning veterans, our families, hunters,
fishermen, and hikers. Putting the Antiquities Act and the millions of
acres of national monuments that have been protected back into the
hands of a few who are more aligned with special interests to try to
open these areas up to oil and gas exploration is the antithesis of
what the Antiquities Act is all about.
We plan to continue to emphasize how wrong the President's Executive
order is.
First and foremost, in the Executive order, the President directed
the Secretary of the Interior to review the designation or expansion of
national monuments under the Antiquities Act where the Secretary deems
that the designation or expansion was made without adequate public
comment or coordination with relevant stakeholders. That literally
gives the Secretary of the Interior broad authority to look at all the
land that has previously been designated since 1996 and potentially
open it up to saying they are going to try to reverse that.
There have been many discussions about the last 20 years of the
designation of some unbelievable, beautiful places in America that are
so special--the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah,
which is 1.7 million acres; the Grand Canyon-Parashant National
Monument in Arizona; the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California;
the Canyon of Ancients National Monument in Colorado--I know my
colleague Senator Bennet from Colorado was speaking about it earlier;
Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington, which covers 195,000
acres; the Ironwood Forest National Monument in Arizona; the Vermilion
Cliffs National Monument in Arizona; the Carrizo Plain National
Monument in California; the Sonoran Desert National Monument in
Arizona; the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana;
the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, on which my
colleague Senator Heinrich worked so hard; the Organ Mountains-Desert
Peaks National Monument, also in New Mexico; the San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument in California; the Berryessa Snow Mountain National
Monument in California; the Basin and Range National Monument in
Nevada; the Mojave Trails National Monument in California; the Sand to
Snow National Monument in California; Bears Ears, as I have mentioned,
in Utah; and the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. That sounds
like a lot of designations that we have made over the last 20 years.
Presidents were very judicious about those designations. It took a lot
of public comment, many community meetings, and a lot of scientific
analysis about the preservation of these areas. The end result is that
for these generations and future generations, national monuments have
been designated on public lands that are in our national interests.
This has been so important to us as a nation. As I said, places like
the Grand Canyon, Olympic National Park in my State--many places have
created what has become an outdoor recreation economy. That outdoor
recreation economy is now over $800 billion of annual revenue and
dwarfs what the oil and gas industry represents as an economy of the
future. In fact, this industry sector is on par to compete with
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other large sectors of our economy--the financial service sector and
the healthcare sector. So why are we taking away the very tool that has
launched so much outdoor activity and a burgeoning job economy, with 7
million outdoor industry workers? Why are we taking away national
monument designations that have been the priority of past Presidents
and trying to return them because someone doesn't understand what the
Antiquities Act is all about?
In addition to those large monuments that I just mentioned, also
under review will be a group of other monuments that are marine
national monuments. Yes, according to the definition I mentioned
earlier, Secretary Zinke could review all of these monuments. In fact,
I noticed that there were several people at the President's signing who
represented some of these monuments. I don't know if they are urging
the President to remove their areas, but it raises great concern about
how important these marine monuments have been.
There is the Papahanaumokuakea marine national monument in the
Hawaiian islands that was established in 2006; the World War II Valor
in the Pacific National Monument, also in Hawaii; the Rose Atoll
National Monument in American Samoa; the Pacific Remote Islands
National Monument in Hawaii; the Marianas Trench National Monument in
the Mariana Islands; and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine
National Monument in the Atlantic.
In addition to all of those maritime national monuments of grand
scale, these also under consideration are an additional two dozen or
so--I think it looks like 25--smaller national monuments that could
also be reviewed by the Secretary of the Interior. Even though they
were designated with this Presidential authority, in previous
administrations after great review, they could, by this President and
this Interior Secretary, be wiped away very quickly.
We definitely do not believe the President has this legal authority,
and we will pursue a vigorous fight. Why should we be wasting
taxpayers' money when taxpayers' money was already spent to make these
designations, and the taxpayer is getting the huge economic benefit of
having these outdoor areas?
What else could be on the President's list according to this
Executive order? The California Coastal National Monument; Cascade-
Siskiyou National Monument; President Lincoln and Soldier's Home
National Monument in Washington, DC; Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National
Monument in New Mexico; Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho;
Pompeys Pillar National Monument in Montana; Virgin Islands Coral Reef
National Monument; Governors Island National Monument in New York; the
African Burial Ground National Monument in New York; Fort Monroe
National Monument in Virginia; Fort Ord National Monument in
California; Chimney Rock National Monument in Colorado; the Cesar
Chavez National Monument in California; San Juan Islands National
Monument in the State of Washington; the Harriet Tubman Underground
Railroad National Monument; the First State National Historic Park in
Delaware; the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers Monument; the Honouliuli
National Monument in Hawaii; the Pullman National Monument in Illinois;
Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado; Waco Mammoth National
Monument in Texas; Castle Mountains National Monument in California;
the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument; Stonewall National
Monument in New York; the Birmingham Civil Rights Monument in Alabama;
the Freedom Riders National Monument in Alabama; and the Reconstruction
Era National Monument in South Carolina.
The Executive order says the Secretary of the Interior can review any
national monument designation since 1996 ``Where the Secretary
determines that the designation or expansion was made without adequate
public outreach and coordination with relevant stakeholders.''
The Executive order says that for any national monument on the list I
just mentioned, the Secretary of the Interior could decide there was
not appropriate public outreach. Even though the process used by
Presidents under the Antiquities Act makes sure you have that, this
Secretary could decide there wasn't enough and recommend to undo any of
these monuments and eliminate access to the public for the purposes of
recreation and enjoyment.
So this administration has it dead wrong. He is no Teddy Roosevelt.
In fact, I saw he had a press conference with a statue of Teddy
Roosevelt behind him. Teddy Roosevelt would be appalled because his
concept of preserving Federal land was so important. Teddy Roosevelt
was an outdoorsman who spent many a time in these great places of our
Nation and understood their great significance. That is why we have the
Antiquities Act. He knew that these resources strengthened our country.
They made us strong as a nation. They show the crown jewels of the
United States of America in all their glory and beauty. He knew it was
important to protect them for future generations to enjoy, not just for
the special interests to take advantage of in the near term.
We have a lot of Federal land and offshore land that is used for
resource exploration and development. As people know, natural gas is at
an all-time high in the United States and driving an all-time low
price. It is not as if you need access to Bears Ears National Monument
to drive down the price of natural gas or other fossil fuel. What you
are going to do by pursuing this wrongheaded approach on Bears Ears is
take away one of the historic and beautiful archaeological histories of
Native Americans and early Americans in the United States--and an area
that has excellent outdoor recreation opportunities--and throw it,
along with the concept of the Antiquities Act, over the side just
because someone wants to try to reverse what our previous Presidents,
starting with Teddy Roosevelt, have done to protect these monuments in
our national interest.
Representing a State where we have several counties that have lots of
Federal land, whether forest lands or BLM lands, I know that it can be
challenging for local communities to maintain the infrastructure, the
education, the hospitals, the law enforcement. I am a big believer in
making sure that what are called PILT payments and the Secure Rural
School Program are well funded and financed to make sure that these
communities can be there to help us support these public lands. But the
notion that with one act we would throw in Teddy Roosevelt's face all
of these national monuments and now say that we are going to try to use
it in reverse to review the work in the near term, of 3 different
Presidents who used this authority is simply wrongheaded.
What we need to do is embrace the outdoor economy. As I said, it is 7
million jobs with over $800 billion of economic activity. In fact,
since the last time they did their report, there has been a $200
billion annual increase in the economic impact in the United States of
America. What great news. An industry and sector, particularly in
retail, is growing by leaps and bounds. It is an industry that is
providing people with more tools and opportunity to enjoy our beautiful
places. The only thing we can do to screw that up is start taking away
the beautiful places where people go to recreate. I would say we should
be examining how well these areas we have protected are being used and
figure out how we can continue to communicate to the general public
about these wonderful experiences.
Do not think for one minute that the American people in their souls
are not connected to the spiritual nature of these beautiful lands.
They are. And that is what Teddy Roosevelt knew. He knew this is where
we go to rejuvenate. Let's not take it away for some oil and gas
exploration.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The Senator from Nevada.