President Obama is creating three more new national monuments to the 10 already established, this time highlighting black history, the nation’s dark internment record, and classic American scenery. And late Wednesday key House Republicans slapped Obama’s latest “land grab.”
With the snap of his finger, Obama this week will grant monument status to Colorado’s Brown’s Canyon, Chicago’s Pullman Historic District, home to the first black union, and Hawaii’s Honouliuli Internment Camp.
His moves — in the past drawing fire from critics of executive action and the president’s protection of vast amounts of land — are already winning support from liberal groups like the League of Conservation Voters, who said in a statement, “We can’t wait to see what’s next.”
But Republicans miffed with past monument decisions and the president’s promise to go around Congress to build his presidential legacy jumped on the moves.
House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop was the first to hit Obama’s use of the Antiquities Act of 1906.
“President Obama has sidelined the American public and bulldozed transparency by proclaiming three new national monuments through executive fiat. The Obama Administration claims these designations have public support, but we know that is a complete stretch of the truth,” said the Utah Republican. “This White House has shown once again its utter and complete disdain for the public process, Congress and the communities most impacted by these unilateral, unchecked land designations,” he added.
And Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn accused the president of thumbing his nose at Congress and the public’s wishes. “Top-down, big government approaches and land grabs through executive order disenfranchise concerned citizens, and that’s exactly what happened in the Browns Canyon region,” said the Colorado Republican.
“The president’s unilateral designation of Browns Canyon casts aside the concerns raised by local citizens whose concerns about grazing rights, water rights and the inability to manage and fight wildfire in the area that will now never be satisfactorily addressed. People must realize that national monuments created by presidential executive order under the Antiquities Act often become underfunded and neglected orphan properties,” he added.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
