Republicans Angry About New National Monument

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In all of the duties, official and otherwise, conferred upon the office of the president, acts of conservation, protecting our country’s natural resources and beauty, are among the last great powers of the president seen as overwhelmingly favorable in the court of public opinion — nestled safely between kissing babies and bestowing medals upon our nation’s veterans.

Last week, President Obama created The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in south-central New Mexico. It is the eleventh such national monument that he has declared since taking office in 2008. At approximately 500,000 acres, it is also his largest by far.

However, Republicans have taken issue with his decision citing threats to national security as well as New Mexico’s economy as reasons for not moving forward with the project.

Fortunately for President Obama, they do not have a say in the matter.

In order to understand why the opposition is somewhat paralyzed, it is necessary to examine the history of national monuments in this country and how they are given that distinction. (Unfortunately, there is no three-minute video from “Schoolhouse Rock!” that explains it.)

Presidents have a longstanding tradition of shirking Congress in the creation of national monuments, because the Antiquities Act of 1906 gives a president the power to declare a national monument without consulting congress.

President Theodore Roosevelt, noted object of Republican fanboydom, signed the Antiquities Act into law in 1906 and first used it to subvert Congress in the declaration of Devils Tower in Wyoming (made famous in that one Spielberg movie) as the first national monument.

The story goes: Roosevelt believed Congress was not acting quickly enough to bestow National Park status upon Devils Tower and was afraid the site would be ruined by the time they actually did get around to voting on it, so he declared it a national monument before Congress acted.

Since the time of Roosevelt, more than 16 presidents from both sides of the aisle have used the Antiquities Act to create national monuments.

All these rampant acts of executive conservation running unchecked have proven to be too much for House Republicans, who passed a bill in March called the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act to amend the Antiquities Act in order to limit the power of the president to create national monuments.

The bill has yet to go before the Senate, which likely would not pass it. Even still, it is less likely the president would sign a bill limiting his powers into law.

Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the author of the bill, wrote an open letter to the president recently about the newly declared Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. He cited concerns that the declared monument would impede security efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border and noted that it could threaten the economic welfare of those living in the area.

In response, the U.S. Border Patrol noted that no such threat to security existed, stating that its efforts to patrol would not be impeded. As far as it being bad for business, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney cited an independent study earlier this week, which noted that tourism and business to the area would actually increase and could grow the economy by more than $7.4 million each year.

Sadly, by amending the Antiquities Act through the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act, Congress would become involved with the process of declaring national monuments. Given Congress’ track record for accomplishing tasks in a timely manner, conservation efforts would likely become greatly stymied.

Joel Mazmanian is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine. Follow him on Twitter@joelmazmanian.

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