Legislation would require congressional approval of new designations

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

A new bill in Congress aims to keep the pressure on the Obama administration when it comes to naming additional national monuments that could further hinder grazing access on public lands.

Legislation by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., would require congressional approval of any new monument designations and would require restrictions on public lands to be narrowly tailored.

Nunes realizes the bill has virtually no chance of passing in the current Congress but is using it as a guidepost in case Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives this fall, said Damon Nelson, the congressman's legislative aide.

"We're drafting legislation to get things done, but we also understand the political realities of this majority and their view of access to public lands," Nelson said. "There's always a look to November, and if the Republicans regain a majority in the House in the next cycle, the congressman believes ... we would move this legislation."

The bill is the latest fallout from an internal Interior Department memo that surfaced earlier this year detailing plans to designate as many as 14 new national monuments on 13 million acres across the West.

The memo identifies several new monuments in California, including the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument to include Klamath River tributaries, and also names parts of the Owyhee Desert in Oregon and Nevada and the San Juan Islands in Washington as possible monuments.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has told a Senate committee the memo was merely an attempt to gather ideas from his staff.

Nunes argues there are already 71 national monuments covering some 136 million acres in 26 states, and that the 5.9 million acres designated by President Bill Clinton devastated local economies.

His bill quickly gained support from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Public Lands Council, which have called for greater transparency in the way monuments are designated under the 1906 Antiquities Act.

If nothing else, PLC executive director Dustin Van Liew hopes Nunes' bill will serve as a deterrent against the naming of more monuments.

"I believe the pressure that's been kept up on the part of the Natural Resources Committee in the House probably has gotten the attention of the administration, in that they might want to think twice about the designations they were researching," said Van Liew, who is also the NCBA's director of federal lands.

But Nelson doesn't believe the bill will necessarily stop President Barack Obama from setting aside swaths of new public lands. He noted that Clinton, in his last days in office, designated portions of the Sierra and Sequoia national forests despite vehement opposition from local residents.

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Rep. Devin Nunes: http://nunes.house.gov/