Antiquities Act

[anatta]

WASHINGTON — President Trump departed for Utah on Monday to announce what could be the largest rollback of federally protected lands in history.

Trump's decision on the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments would mark an unprecedented use of presidential power to shrink the national monument designations made by two of his predecessors.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has recommended that Trump vastly reduce the size of the monuments, stripping them of federal protections and instead turning over stewardship to state and tribal governments.

"We're going to be doing something that the state of Utah and others have wanted to be done for many, many years," Trump said Monday at the White House before leaving for Utah. "So important for states' rights and so important for the people of Utah."

And with typical Trumpian flair, the president hyped the announcement as "one of the great, really, events in this country in a long time."


Ranchers, local governments and some tribal leaders and other residents have applauded Trump's decision. Environmental and most tribal groups have condemned the decision and promised to fight it in court, questioning whether the president can rescind a national monument without an act of Congress.

Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, national monuments can be designated either by Congress or the president. President Barack Obama was particularly active in designating new and expanded monuments, bringing more land and water under federal protection than any president in history.

Trump signed an executive order in April asking for a review of his predecessors' use of the to designate federal lands as national monuments. That designation can protect those lands from development, mining and drilling.

Trump's order specifically targeted two monuments in Utah:

► Bears Ears National Monument, designated by President Barack Obama by proclamation a year ago. The monument encompasses 1.4 million acres in southern Utah, including the distinctive twin mesas that give the monument its name. The Bears Ears and surrounding sites are considered sacred to many American Indian tribes.

► Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, designated by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The site in southern Utah contains a series of escalating canyons and gorges, and is the largest land area designated as a national monument.

Before making the announcement at the Utah State Capital Monday afternoon, Trump is scheduled to meet with Mormon leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and tour Welfare Square, the Mormon social services complex.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nts/919209001/

[anatta]

Sates like Utah and Nevada are where more than half the land within state borders is managed by the federal government

[Русский агент]

Drill baby drill.

[Getin the ring]

I do believe in preserving as much land as possible, to remain untouched by humans, but 1.4 million acres does seem a bit much.

In reality I'm good either way on this one

[Troll]

Wonder why he doesn't undo any President W chose? There's an African burial ground in New York we could exploit.