NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Sen. Udall says sensitive Colo. parcel not up for presidential designation
Scott Streater, E&E reporter
E&E: Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall (D) strongly dismissed claims by two GOP congressmen who recently suggested the Obama administration is considering designating a sensitive area on the state's northwest side as a new national monument despite local opposition.
Udall said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell assured him yesterday that President Obama will not use his authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate as a national monument the Vermillion Basin, a remote area of northwest Colorado prized by hunters and hikers for its wilderness character. Environmental groups have proposed that the area be permanently protected, and Interior has studied the idea in recent years.
"Secretary Jewell confirmed for me today that the Vermillion Basin is not in line for a national monument designation through the Antiquities Act," Udall said in a statement. "When exercised in close consultation with the local community, the Antiquities Act is an important tool that has been used throughout Colorado's history to preserve and protect many of the iconic public lands that strengthen our special way of life and support our outdoor-recreation economy.
"That said, I am glad Secretary Jewell has rebutted the rumors some lawmakers have used to create uncertainty for the residents of northwest Colorado," he added.
The "lawmakers" Udall referenced in his statement are Colorado Reps. Scott Tipton (R) and Cory Gardner (R).
Gardner is challenging Udall in what is expected to be a tightly contested race for his Senate seat in November.
Tipton and Gardner earlier this month wrote a strongly worded two-page letter to Jewell criticizing the president's use of the Antiquities Act to designate 11 new national monuments in the past five years without congressional support, most recently in May, when he designated the nearly 500,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico (E&E Daily, July 10).
They sent the letter to Jewell a day before a House subcommittee hearing during which GOP lawmakers and some local law enforcement officials ripped the New Mexico monument designation, saying it will compromise border security and represents a prime example of executive overreach (E&E Daily, July 11).
But the letter to Jewell penned by Tipton and Gardner specifically warned the president against designating the Vermillion Basin as a national monument, arguing that it would negatively affect the local economy and is not supported by a majority of the community.
"The designation of Vermillion Basin as a national monument would result in a lasting, if not permanent, adverse economic impact on the communities of Northwestern Colorado, including their ability to sustain and create jobs," Tipton and Gardner wrote. "Local elected officials and stakeholders have recently sent letters asking that any consideration of the Vermillion Basin as a national monument be halted until broad consensus and community support from all sectors are secured."
They wrote that Interior has for years discussed protecting so-called treasured landscapes, including the Vermillion Basin and roughly 13 million additional acres across the West. A leaked Interior draft internal document in 2009 detailed 14 sites, including Vermillion, that could be candidates for new or expanded national monument designations under the Antiquities Act.
Tipton and Gardner asked in the letter to Jewell that Interior provide them with "a list of lands being considered for national monument designation or any special designation by the President through the use of the Antiquities Act."
"The original intent of the Antiquities Act was to provide protections for at-risk lands facing an immediate threat. However, the lands the President is now targeting, such as the Vermillion Basin, already have such protections in place," the letter stated. "We are proponents of a bottom-up approach to public lands designations to ensure public participation from local communities."
The letter continued, "When the President unilaterally designates a monument under the Antiquities Act without local support, he is essentially imposing his will over the objections of the American people. This disconcerting development speaks to the urgent need to update the Antiquities Act and give the American people a voice in the process."
Josh Green, a spokesman for Tipton, said yesterday that Interior has not yet responded to the July 9 letter to Jewell and that Tipton remains unconvinced that a Vermillion Basin designation is off the table.
"Congressman Tipton would like to see this in writing from Secretary Jewell," Green wrote in an email.
The use of the Antiquities Act to bypass Congress and protect landscapes has been extremely controversial for years, and members of both the House and Senate have proposed legislation that would restrict the president's use of the law in the future.
But conservation groups, including the Conservation Lands Foundation, have noted that Tipton in April 2012 joined Udall and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) in signing a letter to President Obama encouraging him to use the Antiquities Act to designate the 4,700-acre Chimney Rock Archaeological Area as a national monument.
Obama designated the Chimney Rock National Monument in southwest Colorado in September 2012, a move that was ripped by GOP congressional leaders, including House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.).
Tipton, specifically, has remained a vocal critic of bypassing Congress to establish new national monuments.
Tipton most recently worked with Udall on a proposal to elevate the Colorado National Monument to a national park but abandoned the idea this month, citing a lack of community support and a persistent fear from area leaders that the redesignation could do more harm than good to the local economy (E&E Daily, July 8).
