Rob Bishop (Asshole - UT) Bill Would Ban Creation Of N Monuments Over 1 Sq Mile In Size
In addition to size restrictions Bishop has proposed for the Antiquities Act — such as capping new monuments at 85,000 acres — O'Mara has also knocked revisions that would prohibit monuments from protecting "natural geographic features" and instead limit sites to those with relics, artifacts, or human or animal remains. O'Mara pointed to Roosevelt's designation of the Grand Canyon as a site that would have been excluded "because it was about the ecological value more so than about the cultural artifacts."
Conservationists also reject Ebell's assertion that the protections available under the Antiquities Act are no longer necessary, because of both restrictions available to federal land managers and the thorough exploration of the American West in the last century. "There are credible threats to some of these resources; speed matters," O'Mara said. Moreover, environmentalists note that Congress itself — which under the Constitution's Property Clause has sole authority over the nation's lands and territories — has been hesitant, or simply unable, to achieve new park designations in recent years.
"I don't think there's fewer important places. There's been very few designations coming through the House, and there's been disagreements between the two chambers," O'Mara said.
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The last major burst of congressional action to convert monuments to parks came in 1994, when the 103rd Congress converted California's Joshua Tree, Arizona's Saguaro and Nevada's Death Valley. "We want to point out what a dramatic shift this would be for the future," O'Mara said. "It would eliminate one of the most important conservation tools. ... Congress still has a check. If there's an action that the president makes that Congress doesn't like, they can act."
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