Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act

Floor Speech

Break in Transcript

Mr. STEWART. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank my good friend and, really, one of my heroes, Congressman Bishop of Utah, for bringing attention to, I think, this very important topic, especially one to my home State of Utah.

To my friends across the aisle, I think you have to twist yourselves into pretzels in order to object to this bill. In 1996, nearly 2 million acres in the heart of my district were locked up in the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument--nearly 2 million acres.

It was the largest national monument created in the history of the United States. This massive monument was created with a stroke of the President's pen, without any consultation, without even notice given to the local population, no phone calls, no conversations, nothing.

The President didn't even have the courage to step into my State when he created this monument. He stood on the Arizona border and said: I create a national monument over there.

If the President desires to create new large national monuments, surely he can believe that conducting a thorough environmental analysis is a good thing. NEPA was specifically designed to mandate that Federal agencies stop and think about proposed actions and make sure that those actions are appropriate.

It also mandates that all of those who are impacted by that decision would have sufficient information and approval. If the creation of a national monument is a good idea, shouldn't the monuments have to undergo public scrutiny?

And if the President can take 5 years--5 years and counting--to approve, say, the Keystone pipeline, can't we take an appropriate amount of consideration before we create another massive monument? That is what democracy is all about. That is all that this bill asks for.

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