Hands off monuments, Cabinet member is told

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is wasting time and money by conducting a review of more than two dozen federally protected areas — including Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and the Pacific Remote Islands — to determine whether they should be abolished or their boundaries restricted, according to a letter sent to Zinke on Thursday and signed by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and 85 other House Democrats.

Hanabusa is the ranking member of the Federal Lands Subcommittee, which is responsible for issues relating to national monuments.

The House members argue that President Donald Trump, who ordered the review in April, doesn’t have the authority to significantly alter national monuments, which were designated by past presidents under the 1906 Antiquities Act. That power lies with Congress, they argue.

“While stewardship of America’s national monuments is your solemn responsibility, the continued existence of those national monuments is ours,” the letter states.

The Antiquities Act was established as a way to ensure the protection of the country’s natural resources and historic sites — which House members suggest is important now more than ever, particularly with the growing threats of climate change.

“Wildfire, drought, sprawl, invasive species, unmet maintenance needs, and more threaten the unique natural, cultural, and historical resources you manage on behalf of the American people,” House members wrote. “Families living on Indian reservations face among the highest rates of poverty and illness in the world. A changing climate is melting the glaciers for which the National Park near your hometown is named.”

Zinke is from Bozeman, Mont., near Glacier National Park.

“Given these significant and growing challenges, developing a report to the president regarding the use of authority he does not possess is a misuse of your time and the public’s money,” the letter concludes.

Trump’s order, which appears to be unprecedented, instructed the Interior Department to review large monuments established or expanded after 1995. During an April news conference announcing the executive order, Trump suggested that the designations were an example of federal overreach and amounted to a “massive federal land grab.”

“It’s gotten worse and worse and worse, and now we are going to free it up,” Trump said. “This should never have happened.”

The order quickly touched off a debate as to whether a president actually has the power to significantly amend or rescind a national monument designation.

Under one analysis, a president can modify a monument’s designation, but revoking a designation entirely could require congressional approval, according to research published in 2000 by the Congressional Research Service.