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Not so fast on that national monument! Alaska Sen. Murkowski’s bill would require congressional approval before a president could ‘lock up’ public lands and waters Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced legislation to make it tougher for presidents to designate new national monuments.
The bill, titled the Improved National Monument Designation Process Act (S. 2608), would “block the Obama administration from unilaterally using the Antiquities Act to lock up millions of acres of public lands and waters,” Murkowski said in a July 17 press release.
“Alaskans know what happens when the president unilaterally closes millions of acres of public lands - it means a loss of jobs and a hit to the economy,” Murkowski said.
Presidents, under the Antiquities Act of 1906, have the power to declare public sites as national monuments. Such a designation can put the sites off-limits to such activities as oil and gas development.
Some environmentalists have urged President Obama to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a national monument.
Obama already has established several national monuments during his time as president.
Controversial marine monument Murkowski’s four-page bill would require a president proposing a national monument to first obtain congressional approval, and to certify compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
The bill also addresses requirements for marine national monuments. It says the president may not declare any area of the exclusive economic zone to be a national monument without congressional authorization as well as the approval of nearby states or territories.
Murkowski’s bill appeared to be inspired by a White House announcement on June 17 that the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the central Pacific Ocean might be expanded. This has upset commercial fishing interests.
President George W. Bush established the nearly 87,000-square-mile Pacific Remote Islands monument in 2009 under authority of the Antiquities Act. A federal website says the June 17 announcement indicated Obama’s intent to “make a broad swath of the central Pacific Ocean off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities.”
Support for bill Murkowski is the senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and co-chair of the Senate Oceans Caucus.
“My legislation is designed to ensure that our oceans are not locked away with a stroke of the president’s pen,” she said. “The continued foreclosure of our lands and waters threatens economic activities from fishing to exploration for oil and natural gas.”
Murkowski’s bill found favor with Alaska resource industry players.
“We applaud Sen. Murkowski’s leadership in introducing legislation that places reasonable limits on the president’s power to make far-reaching conservation land withdrawals in all 50 states, both onshore and off,” said Rick Rogers, executive director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska.
One problem today is that “decisions under the Antiquities Act are made behind closed doors,” said Joe Plesha, general counsel for one of the nation’s top fish processors, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp.
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