PUBLIC LANDS: House Republican wants to rein in president's ability to designate monuments
Nick Juliano, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Wednesday, January 16, 2013
A Utah Republican is resurrecting an effort to gut the president's ability to designate new national monuments.
A bill introduced yesterday by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), H.R. 250, would amend the Antiquities Act to require Congress to approve any new monument designations. It was one of several public-lands- and energy-related bills Chaffetz introduced as the 113th Congress gets up and running, including a measure aimed at promoting a hydropower project in his state.
The "Antiquities Repeal Act" is identical to legislation introduced in the last Congress by former Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.), who retired at the end of the last session. Chaffetz was a co-sponsor of that bill, which received a subcommittee hearing but no other action in the House.
The House last year adopted a similar amendment -- requiring a state's legislature and governor to sign off on monument designations -- to a bill aimed at safeguarding public lands access for hunters and fishermen (E&E Daily, April 18, 2012). The effort to amend the Antiquities Act ultimately died in the Senate.
Chaffetz recently joined other Utah Republicans in opposing a push from conservationists and an outdoor industry association to create a 1.4-million-acre monument around Canyonlands National Park (E&E Daily, Nov. 16, 2012).
The bill's first stop, if it receives a hearing, will be in front of the Natural Resources Committee's subpanel on public lands and environmental regulation, which is chaired by fellow Utah Republican Rob Bishop, who says reforming the Antiquities Act will be among his top goals this session (E&E Daily, Jan. 16).
Bishop said he is willing to explore other options to limit the president's monument designation authority after efforts to overhaul the Antiquities Act fell short last year. The 1906 law allows presidents to designate national monuments, and critics of the law charge that those designations can interfere with mining and oil and gas drilling.
A Chaffetz spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.
Chaffetz yesterday also reintroduced legislation he had offered in the previous session of Congress aimed at facilitating hydropower development on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project.H.R. 254 would eliminate a requirement that a hydropower developer reimburse the Bureau of Reclamation $106 million for the cost of developing a project on the system.
