DeFazio: Republicans Have Turned Their Backs on Teddy Roosevelt's Conservation Legacy

Press Release

Today, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR) blasted House Republicans for voting to gut Presidential authority to designate new wilderness, National Parks, and National Monuments outlined in the Antiquities Act. The Republican legislation, H.R. 1459, would turn back the clock to a pre-Antiquities Act era when efforts to protect and conserve irreplaceable American landscapes were stalled in Congressional morass.

"Republicans say they want to give Congress more control over designations. Let's take a look at what Republican leadership has done with the control they already have. Over the past 4 years, the Republican majority has passed legislation to sell off our public lands to the highest bidder, they have passed multiple bills that would open our public lands to destructive and virtually unregulated mineral and energy extraction, and they shutdown access to our parks, monuments and refuges with their tea-party led government shutdown. This bill is simply pandering to the ideologues that disagree with the majority of Americans who want to protect our public lands for future generations," said DeFazio.

Under H.R. 1459, Presidential monument designations would be needlessly complicated, meaning most or all monument proposals would be subject to the political gridlock of Congress. The legislation would amend the Antiquities Act to require application of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to Presidential National Monument designations over an arbitrary size of 5,000 acres. Designations under 5,000 acres would not trigger NEPA but could be declared for only three years, unless designated by an Act of Congress. It would limit Presidential declarations of National Monuments to one per state, per four-year presidential term, without an act of Congress. And it requires written permission from land owners to include private property within the boundaries of a National Monument and requires a feasibility study to analyze the cost to the federal government.

As the record of Republican leadership in the House demonstrates, a three-year temporary monument status, pending Congressional action, would effectively halt the establishment of permanent National Monuments under 5,000 acres. Important proposals like Cesar Chavez and Harriet Tubman might never have been accomplished. Conservation initiatives and recreation on public lands are a net positive for gateway communities and the American economy. According to a 2013 report by the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation generates $6.4 billion in consumer spending and supports 6.1 million direct jobs.

Nearly 90 conservation designation bills have been introduced to the House in the last two Congresses. Only four have become law. In response to the failure of the Republican Congress to move forward on these conservation bills, DeFazio and Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) released a letter in January co-signed by 109 House Democrats urging Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to protect and conserve national treasures under the Antiquities Act.

Source