[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 2000)]
[Pages 37-41]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing the Establishment of National Monuments in Western 
States at the Grand Canyon

January 11, 2000

    Thank you very much. Thank you, good morning. I know we're doing the 
right thing, because look at the day we've got. [Laughter] We've got the 
good Lord's stamp of approval on this great day.
    Ann, thank you for your words and for your life and your example. 
Superintendent Arnberger, thank you and all the staff at Grand Canyon 
National Park. And through you I'd like to thank all the people who work 
for all of our national parks. I have spent quite a good deal of time as 
President in the national parks of America. And I grew up in one. I am, 
I suppose, therefore, more personally indebted to the people who give 
their lives to the Park Service than perhaps any of my predecessors. But 
I want to thank you.
    I also want to thank all the people here from the Bureau of Land 
Management for the work they do and for the remarkable partnership that 
will be launched here. We have worked very hard these last 7 years to 
try to get these two agencies to work together, to support each other, 
to believe in each other, and to have common objectives. And I think 
we've made a lot of progress. So I want to thank the BLM people who are 
here, as well. Give them all a hand, thank you. [Applause]
    I want to thank the environmental groups who are here. I want to 
welcome the children who are here. We have children from Grand Canyon 
Middle School and St. Mary's Middle School, and we welcome them. They 
are a lot about what today is all about. I want to thank Congressman Ed 
Pastor, of Arizona; Congressman Sam Farr, from California, for joining 
me; and former Congresswoman Karen English, from Arizona, for being 
here. Thank you. And I want to thank all the people from the White House 
who supported me in this decision: my Chief of Staff, John Podesta, who 
is here; and the head of our Council of Environmental Quality, George 
Frampton.
    I want to thank someone I want to acknowledge particularly who 
worked with Secretary Babbitt on this, his counselor, Molly McUsik, who 
played a big role in what we celebrate today. She's not here because 
she's celebrating an even bigger production: yesterday she gave birth to 
her son, Benjamin, so she couldn't be here, but I want to acknowledge 
her and her service.
    And finally, I want to say this is, as you can see, a special day 
for Bruce Babbitt, not only because he has been a devoted champion of 
the Antiquities Act and of protecting land but also because he is the 
former Governor of Arizona. And when we served together as Governors, we 
made it a habit, 
Hillary and I did, at least once a year at these Governors' meetings to 
have dinner with

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Bruce and Hattie Babbitt. And he was giving me the speech that he gave 
here today 15 or 20 years ago. [Laughter] I've heard Bruce's speech a 
lot now, but it gets better every time he gives it. [Laughter]
    Our country has been blessed by some outstanding Secretaries of the 
Interior, 
Gifford Pinchot, Harold Ickes. But I'll make a prediction: I believe 
when our time here is done and a fair analysis of the record is made, 
there will be no Secretary of the Interior in the history of the United 
States who has done as much to preserve our natural heritage as Bruce 
Babbitt, and I thank him for that.
    Secretary Babbitt talked about Theodore Roosevelt's role. You might 
be interested to know that it was exactly 92 years ago today, on January 
11, 1908, that he designated the Grand Canyon as one of our Nation's 
first national monuments. Now the first light falls on the 21st century 
and this breathtaking landscape he helped to protect. None of you who 
can see what is behind me can doubt the wisdom of that decision. And so 
it is altogether fitting that on this day and in this place we continue 
that great journey.
    This morning, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I designated 
three new national monuments and the expansion of a fourth to make sure 
more of the land that belongs to the American people will always be 
enjoyed by them. What a remarkable place this Canyon is. It is in so 
many ways the symbol of our great natural expanse, our beauty, and our 
spirit.
    Thirty years ago for the first time I watched the Sun set over the 
Grand Canyon for over 2 hours. This morning I got up and for about an 
hour I watched the Sun rise over the Canyon for the first time. In both 
cases, watching the interplay of the changing light against the 
different layers and colors of the Canyon left me with a lifetime memory 
I will always cherish.
    Millions and millions of Americans share those memories and a love 
of our natural treasure. In fact, I believe maybe if there's one thing 
that unites our fractious, argumentative country across generations and 
parties and across time, it is the love we have for our land. We know, 
as President Roosevelt said, we cannot improve upon this landscape. So 
the only thing we can add to it is our protection. President Roosevelt 
challenged us to live up to that ideal, to see beyond today or next 
month or next year. He said, ``The one characteristic more essential 
than any other is foresight. It should be the growing nation with a 
future which takes the long look ahead.''
    I am very grateful for the opportunities that Vice President Gore 
and I have had to build on President Roosevelt's legacy, to take that 
long look ahead, to chart a new conservation vision for a new century. 
From our inner cities to our pristine wild lands, we have worked hard to 
ensure that every American has a clean and healthy environment. We've 
rid hundreds of neighborhoods of toxic waste dumps, taken the most 
dramatic steps in a generation to clean the air we breathe, to control 
emissions that endanger the health of our children and the stability of 
our climate. We have made record investments in science and technology 
to protect future generations from the threat of global warming. We've 
worked to protect and restore our most glorious natural resources, from 
the Florida Everglades to California's redwoods and Mojave Desert to 
Escalante to Yellowstone.
    And we have, I hope, finally put to rest the false choice between 
the economy and the environment, for we have the strongest economy 
perhaps in our history, with a cleaner environment--cleaner air, cleaner 
water, more land set aside, safer food. I hope finally we have broken 
the hold of an old and now wrong idea that a nation can only grow rich 
and stay rich if it continues to despoil its environment and burn up the 
atmosphere. With new conservation technologies and alternative energy 
sources, that is simply no longer true. It has not been true for quite 
some years now, but it is only now coming to be recognized. And I can 
tell you that in the next few years, no one will be able to deny the 
fact that we will actually have more stable, more widespread, more long-
term economic growth if we improve the environment.
    We are on the verge--the Detroit auto show this year is going to 
showcase cars that get 70 and 80 miles a gallon, with fuel injection and 
dual fuel sources. Before you know

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it, we will crack the chemical barriers to truly efficient production of 
biomass fuels, which will enable us to produce 8 or 9 gallons of biomass 
fuels with only 1 gallon of oil. That will be the equivalent of getting 
cars that use--get 160 miles to a gallon of gasoline. And this is just 
the beginning.
    We built a low income working family housing project in the Inland 
Empire out in California, in cooperation with the National Home 
Builders, with glass in the windows that lets in 4 or 5 times as much 
light and keeps out 4 or 5 times as much heat and cold. And we promised 
the people on modest incomes that if they moved into these homes their 
energy bills would be, on average, 40 percent lower than they would have 
been in a home of comparable size. I can tell you that after 2 years, 
they're averaging 65 percent below that. So, therefore, their usage is 
much lower. We are just beginning.
    So I ask all of you not only to celebrate this happy day but to see 
it in the larger context of our common responsibility and our 
opportunity to preserve this planet. [Applause] Thank you.
    Now to the matter at hand. We began this unforgettable morning on 
the edge of this magnificent park. The deep canyons, rugged mountains, 
and isolated buttes of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon tell a story 
written over the course of billions of years, illustrated in colorful 
vistas and spectacular detail. It is a lonely landscape, a vast and 
vital area of open space which, as Secretary Babbitt said, includes a 
critical watershed for the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Today we 
protect more than a million acres of this land. That is an area larger 
than Yosemite Park. For America's families, we designate it as the Grand 
Canyon-Parashant National Monument. This effectively doubles the size of 
protected land around the Grand Canyon.
    Second, we act to promote some of the most significant late 
prehistoric sites in the American Southwest. In the shadow of Phoenix 
there lies a rough landscape of mesas and deep canyons rich in 
archaeological treasures, distinctive art etched into boulders and cliff 
faces, and stone masonry pueblos once inhabited by several thousand 
people centuries ago. As the suburbs of Phoenix creep ever closer to 
this space, we act to protect history and heritage. For America's 
families, we designate this land the Agua Fria National Monument.
    Third, we are protecting thousands of small islands, rock 
outcroppings, and exposed reefs along California's splendid coastline. 
These are natural wonders, and they're also the habitat and nesting 
ground for sea mammals and hundreds of thousands of sea birds, forced 
from the shore because of development. Today we act to protect all the 
coastal islands, reefs, and rocks off California now owned by the 
Federal Government, designating them the California Coastal National 
Monument. Help Congressman Farr there. Clap! [Applause]
    Fourth, and finally, we will expand California's Pinnacles National 
Monument, created by President Roosevelt in 1908. Pinnacles is about 2 
hours from Silicon Valley, but it's a world away. It includes soaring 
spires from an ancient volcano. Its mountain caves, desert, and 
wilderness are home to abundant wildlife and a haven for campers, 
climbers, and hikers. For one and all, Pinnacles is a sanctuary from 
sprawl. And for one and all, we act to keep it that way.
    Now let me say again, all these areas are now owned by the Federal 
Government. Secretary Babbitt's recommendation that they be protected 
came as a result of careful analysis and close consultation with local 
citizens, State and local officials, Members of Congress.
    Clearly, these lands represent many things to many people. In 
managing the new monuments, we will continue to work closely with the 
local communities to ensure that their views are heard and their 
interests are respected. This is not about locking lands up; it is about 
freeing them up, from the pressures of development and the threat of 
sprawl, for all Americans for all time.
    I have said many times that the new century finds America with an 
unprecedented opportunity and, therefore, an unprecedented 
responsibility for the future, an opportunity and a responsibility 
rooted in the fact that never before, in my lifetime anyway, has our 
country enjoyed at one time so much prosperity, social progress, with 
the absence of internal crisis or external threat to our existence. Can 
you imagine the sacrifices laid

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down by our ancestors, generation after generation after generation, in 
the fond hope that one day our country would be in the shape we are now 
in?
    Now, when we're in this sort of position, we have a heavier 
responsibility even than our forebears did a century ago to take that 
long look ahead to ask ourselves what the next century holds, what are 
the big challenges, what are the big opportunities, to dream of the 
future we want for our children, and then to move aggressively to build 
that future.
    So I say again, there are these big challenges in the long look 
ahead: The aging of America, we'll double the number of people over 65 
in the next 30 years--I hope to be one of them. The children of America, 
the largest and most diverse group ever; they all have to have a world-
class education, whether they live in remote areas in Arizona or the 
poorest inner-city neighborhoods across America. The families of 
America, most of them are working; they need more help to balance work 
and parenting, and they all need access to affordable health care and 
child care. The poor of America, it is well to remember that there are 
people in places that have been left behind by this recovery. We have a 
strategy of economic empowerment that should be brought to every person 
willing to work. If we don't do it now, when will we ever get around to 
doing it?
    The world we live in is ever more interdependent, not just on the 
environmental front but in many other ways. We have to build a more 
cooperative world. America is in a unique position now, with our 
economy, our military strength, our political influence. It won't last 
forever, and it's almost impossible for us to avoid having people resent 
us. But we have done our best to be responsible partners for peace and 
prosperity, and for bridging the racial, religious, and ethnic gaps that 
tear apart so much of the world. It is time for us to work with others, 
against the dangers of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism and the 
other threats, and to build a better world together and to build one 
America here at home across the lines that have divided us too deeply 
for too long.
    But a big part of all of this, in my opinion, the long look ahead, 
is making an absolute, firm commitment that going forward here at home 
in America and with friends and partners throughout the world, we will 
build a 21st century economy that is in harmony with the environment, 
that we will continue to improve and protect, even as we grow. And we 
have to keep working until we convince people all over the world, in 
countries that long for the level of prosperity we take for granted, 
that they do not have to grow rich the way countries did in the 19th and 
the 20th century, that the fastest way to grow the economy today is the 
most environmentally responsible way. We owe that to the future.
    Taking the long look ahead, as manifest in the protections we give 
today to the land around the Grand Canyon and in these other monuments, 
is fundamentally an act of humanity, and I might add also, an act of 
humility.
    I think it's interesting that--I'll close with this--I had two 
rather interesting experiences today only proliferally related to what 
we're doing. One is, the press asked me whether I saw this as a legacy 
item, as if that was the reason for doing it. I said, ``Well, I've been 
working on this stuff for 7 years, now. And I grew up in a national 
park; I believe in what I'm doing today.''
    But I'll say again, this is an act of humility for all of us. When 
we were flying today over the North Rim, when we got further west along 
the Canyon, Bruce looked at me and he said, ``See, there's some dormant 
volcanoes, and you can see the residue of the ash.'' And I said, ``When 
did that volcano erupt?'' He said, ``Oh, not very long ago, 10 or 20,000 
years.'' And if you look out here you see, 10 or 20,000 years from now, 
if the good Lord lets us all survive as a human race, no one will 
remember who set aside this land on this day. But the children will 
still enjoy it.
    So I say to all of you, I hope you will go forth from this place 
today with a renewed dedication to the long look ahead, with a renewed 
sense of pride and gratitude, with a sense that we have reaffirmed our 
humanity as well as our devotion to our natural home, and a sense of 
humility that we are grateful, we are fortunate, and we are obligated to 
take the long look ahead.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

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Note: The President spoke at 11:15 a.m. at Grand Canyon Hopi Point. In 
his remarks, he referred to hiker Ann Weiler Walka, who introduced the 
President; and Robert L. Arnberger, Superintendent, Grand Canyon 
National Park.