Bears ears to be cut by 80%

These leaders first come to power through democratic elections and subsequently harness widespread discontent to gradually undermine institutional constraints on their rule, marginalize the opposition, and erode civil society.

Basically this is largely being done because some on the far right didn't like anything that Obama did, and now want to undo it.

No President has ever abolished or revoked a national monument proclamation, so the existence or scope of any such authority has
not been tested in courts. However, some legal analyses since at least the 1930s have concluded that the Antiquities Act, by its terms, does not authorize the President to repeal proclamations, and that the President also lacks implied authority to do so. Under this view, once a President has applied the Antiquities Act to protect objects of historic or scientific interest, only Congress can undo that protection. On the other hand, Presidents have deleted acres from national monuments, proclaiming that the deleted acres do not meet the Antiquities Act’s standard that the protected area be the “smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”

After their establishment by a President, national monuments often have been expanded or reduced over time by subsequent Presidents, or within the same administration. For example, Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and was later expanded by Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower. President John F. Kennedy later issued a proclamation adding 2,882 acres and removing 3,925 other acres from the monument. President Kennedy cited the Antiquities Act as authority, declaring that “it appears that it would be in the public interest to add [the 2,882-acres] to the Bandelier National Monument because they possess unusual scenic character together with geologic and topographic features, the preservation of which would implement the purposes of such monument,” and that “it appears that it would be in the public interest to exclude from the detached Otowi section of the monument approximately 3,925 acres of land containing limited archeological values which have been fully researched and are not needed to complete the interpretive story of the Bandelier National Monument....” As another example, the former Mount Olympus National Monument was diminished in acreage three times after its establishment—including once by nearly half—before it was ultimately redesignated by Congress as a national park in 1938.

Antiquities Act authority to add new acres to national monuments appears analogous to the authority to create monuments in the first place; however, diminishment of national monuments potentially may raise distinct issues. While the Antiquities Act does not expressly address changes in the size of national monuments, it does contain a provision governing monument size: reservations of land for monuments “shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” At least one analyst has contended that the same logic cited above against presidential abolishment of national monuments should also prohibit presidential modification of national monuments to diminish their size. However, the 1938 Attorney General opinion discussed above contemplates reduction of monuments in size pursuant to the “smallest area” language:

While the President from time to time has diminished the area of national monuments established under the Antiquities Act by removing or excluding lands therefrom, under that part of the act which provides that the limits of the monuments “in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected,” it does not follow from his power so to confine that area that he has the power to abolish a monument entirely.

Thus, despite some potential ambiguity in the phrasing of the Antiquities Act, there is precedent for Presidents to reduce the size of national monuments by proclamation. Such actions are presumably based on the determination that the areas to be excluded represent the President’s judgment as to “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” It remains undetermined whether removal of a high enough proportion of a monument’s acreage could be viewed as effectively amounting to an abolishment of the monument.

Obama setting aside millions of acres as he did adversely affected far more people than Trump cutting the acreage down a bit will.

how many petitions were sent

Humboldt Environmentalists Hold Unofficial Ceremony to Rename Vault Toilets After Trump’s Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Encourage Public to Take a ‘Stinky Zinke’ In His Honor

SteveP...I am not concerned about it because it won't happen. It isn't going to happen in the scenic areas of Bear's Ears either. In fact, I doubt if any of you notice any changes in the areas you are likely to frequent.

In other words they are proudly discconnected from any morally or ethically bound historical timelines. This is about obsessions with power, abject greeed and hatred for anyone who has ever stood in their way.

What's wrong with public/congressional input/environmental reviews BEFORE establishing these huge monuments?

What's wrong with public/congressional input/environmental reviews BEFORE establishing these huge monuments?

So trashman, in your view, the federal government is the only entity capable of taking care of areas like this?

So trashman, in your view, the federal government is the only entity capable of taking care of areas like this?

fatdad with all respect, I am doubtful of that legal argument. It's something that could be researched, but it seems to me that the power to designate is the power to un-designate.

Aw sh#t, can't help myself.

Hey Jody, don't you just love the way these watermelon greenies who live in urban bubbles get all "states-rights" about gun control, immigration, sanctuary, etc.--but when it comes to big fed western land-grabbin, well, they couldn't give two shits about a representative process or what the local "hicks" want?

The good news is that the autocratic edicts these lib drones prefer to live under are just as easily undone. For now.

The dirty little secret is that righties love open space and wilderness just as much--probably more--than lib urbanites and your average Taos/Jackson/Telluride/Boulder/Sun River/Leavenworth fantasy-land, well-funded bubble nut. The righties just seem to care about democracy too. Oh, the shame.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there are hereby set apart and reserved as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area described on the document entitled "Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument" attached to and forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 1.7 million acres, which is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.

As is the Trump witch hunt

I'm sure he has a bottomless closet of skeletons. Pity you don't see that.

feralfae

Boulder climber
in the midst of a metaphysical mystery

Dec 4, 2017 - 06:22pm PT
This is sort of long, but please contact your congress critters about this if you are so inclined, to have it stricken from the bill even now. It has been brought to the attention of Survival International, as it was rather hidden in the tax cut bill (no comment) and it is a violation of the agreement that First People's lands that were turned over for NWRs would remain pristine. It is a betrayal of the government, federal and state. Of course, AK has the most corrupt state government of any. Google it! I think Kentucky may be fifth. Anyway, here is the letter we have to share with everyone we think might have an interest. Thank you.
ff


On behalf of the Alaska Friends Conference, the Representative Committee reached unity on the following statement of support.

November 27, 2017

“Let Love be the first motion.” – John Woolman

“It is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed. For them, land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God and from their ancestors who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values. When they remain on their land, they themselves care for it best. Nevertheless, in various parts of the world, pressure is being put on them to abandon their homelands to make room for agricultural or mining projects which are undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture." - Pope Francis in his message from the Encyclical Laudato Si’ “On care for our common home,” #146

Urgent Greetings to Friends Everywhere,

In the spirit of love for this land called Alaska and sensitivity to the interconnected web of all life that live here, we of the Alaska Friends Conference (Quakers), invite you to stand with us in solidarity with the Gwich’in people (see http://ourarcticrefuge.org/take-action/,);; the Episcopal Church and other faith groups in opposition to proposed oil exploration and development in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region known as the “1002 Area” in our nation’s current legislative discussions. Our call rises out of respect and deep concern:
For the Sacred and vital sources of life.
For traditional cultures and people who strive to live in harmony with their natural surroundings.
For the negative impacts that our continued dependency on fossil fuels is having on our climate, our peoples (and native cultures disproportionately,) our life forms and our lands.

We ask Friends around the world to join us in prayerful support and urgent acts of advocacy.

Unlike other areas of the North Slope currently developed for oil extraction, the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) lies within an area known as ““Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit, “ (“The Sacred Place Where Life Begins”) to the Gwich’in People who have subsisted on the areas’ resources for thousands of years. The Porcupine Caribou Herd, the foundation of the Gwich’ins’ subsistence culture and way of life, uses this area for birthing and nursing their young. For the Gwich’in People, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created in part because this area is Sacred.

We live in challenging times in Alaska; acutely aware of the devastating instability of our climate yet largely dependent on the fossil fuel development that drives it. In Alaska Friends Conference we see the injustice and unsustainability in this balance. We seek examples for living in harmony with our surroundings, to develop ties and traditions in keeping with this place. We are moved by the deeply rooted knowledge, respect and reverence the Gwich’in people hold for the places where they strive to live. In keeping with Pope Francis’ message above, when Gwich’in people express grave concerns for human impacts on the sensitive ecosystem of the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain, we receive their concerns with no less weight than we would hear Catholics speak of the Vatican, or Jews of Jerusalem, or Muslims of Mecca or any other people with regard to their sacred, tradition- and culture-bearing sites. We are moved to accompany them.

We recognize that not all Alaska Native groups are of a single mind on this issue. In the absence of clear consensus, we are ultimately left to discern a path forward based on our own principles and understanding of Truth. In discouraging further oil extraction, in protecting the Arctic Coastal Plain and the Porcupine Caribou Herd that is dependent on this area, in standing with the Gwich’in Nation, which encompasses both Alaskan and Canadian villages and other Alaska Natives and residents who have deep spiritual and cultural ties to this same area, this call reflects our understanding of Love in the Greater Good.

Please, join us in prayer and advocacy. We would be happy to answer questions, or for further information, contact the Gwich’in Steering Committee directly at http://ourarcticrefuge.org/.

On behalf of Alaska Friends Conference (Quakers),

There are already environmental laws in place that CAN'T be reversed or ignored that require mining clean-up, pollution control, etc.

Have to add Patagonia and REI to my list of boycotted businesses. They won't miss me though, don't

No doubt. So did Hillary. Probably far more.

They never could get the bill out of committee for a vote

You are right Lituya...and I have known for years that it is useless to try and convey a little common sense to these people. It is pretty much a lost cause as the haters are going to hate, and the chicken littler's are going to keep causing the sky to fall...but it does keep my blood flowing to argue with them.

I can't believe so many climbers are against national monuments.

Fat Dad, you haven't seen the whimsical and capricious side of the NPS that I have.

Effort to shrink Bears Ears National Monument started before Donald Trump was elected president

Sen. Orrin Hatch and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, were key players in the anti-monument campaign.

Hatch pitched the anti-monument cause as a “fight back against Washington overreach,” mirroring the GOP nominee’s drain-the-swamp campaign mantra.

While polls and pundits expected a Hillary Clinton presidency, Hatch and others had already started laying the groundwork to overturn any Obama action should Trump win the White House. And when he did, the concerted, full-court press began, according to officials involved at several levels of the Utah effort.

“It started well before,” said Boyd Matheson, president of the Sutherland Institute, which helped lead the fight against the monument and subsequently to shrink it. “Every elected official from the mayors to the commissioners, every single elected representative, got engaged in it. It was the real, Utah cumulative, everybody-pull-together kind of thing.”

The Trump administration had a lot to do in the transition, mainly because many in the campaign had bought into the narrative that Hillary Clinton would win. With the whole Cabinet to nominate, a White House to staff and pending national security and domestic agendas to be plotted, public lands weren’t on the top of the list.

But they were for Utah leaders.

“Utah definitely made sure that it was on the president’s radar,” Matheson said.

The effort included calls, emails, letters and sit-downs with transition officials.

Climbing at Indian Creek was not threatened before Obama's Bears Ears designation, it is not threatened now.

@BraveRacistCowboy - not sure what Juan mopping the floors at the burger joint has to do with public empty-lands management.

Is the former monument getting converted back to its original public land designation (national forest, BLM, or whatever) or is it getting sold to private interests and will no longer be public land?

still public. just more open to extraction, drilling, more likely to face ATVs etc, LESS likely to face fixed anchor ban, hordes of (climbing and other) tourons, etc

After years of GWB and BHO open-borders immigration policy, I wonder just how much of an impact setting aside 800k acres really has. Immigrants use resources too.

Is the former monument getting converted back to its original public land designation (national forest, BLM, or whatever) or is it getting sold to private interests and will no longer be public land?

Utah State Senator David Hinkins told the crowd they had won a battle but said he didn’t believe they have yet won the war. Hinkins added, “We need to get control of these lands under the State of Utah.”

Presidents have reduced monuments in the past, though not as much as Trump’s plan. He proposes shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent and Escalante by about half its size. Opponents say a president can only designate a monument and it’s up to Congress to reduce it.

"Congress clarified that in a 1976 law, the Federal Lands Management Act, which does have an express provision saying the Secretary of Interior cannot modify or revoke any national monuments,” says Kirsten Engel, a law professor at the University of Arizona.

No monuments have been reduced since that act passed. Engel also says there’s never been a Supreme Court case on the issue. So it’s new legal territory.

More people = more strain on natural resources.

The difference in the per capita impact on resources of undocumented vs. the white middle class is astronomical.

The game is to distract and divide.

Lituya, once again, please expound on the "open-borders" policy in place prior to the present time?

Lituya, again, please expound on the relationship between immigration policy and protection of federal lands?

pressure to extract, develop, use land is directly related to the number of people using resources

racist tool

Opposing illegal immigration is not racist. On the other hand, stereotyping immigrants as "Juan" and worthy only of "mopping the floor at the local burger joint"--as you did--certainly is.

Cowboy didn't make the judgment call about Juan only being fit for handling the busy end of the mop, you did. Moreover, while you may believe that supporting illegal immigration is not racist, many racists support illegal immigration. Many others point to immigrants (typically the brown ones) as a straw man for every other ill in society, even when some of those ills are created by their own political choices.

Just so we're clear, whites and Latinos in California are economic equals now, right? I mean, when you go out to your local crag, on public land, in your SUV, and pull out your bag with $15k or $20k worth of play things there are non-whites all around you too. Right?

Sorry Fats, but "Juan" is a fiction created out of a stereotype by Cowboy himself--despite his later attempts to edit and claim that he is a real. Bizarre, frankly.

Anyhow, your predictable trotting out of the brown-hater lies at the heart of why white liberal paternal racism is probably the most insidious brand on the shelf.

“This is not about energy. There is no oil and gas assets. There is no mine within the Bears Ears monument before or after, so the argument that President Trump stole land is false, nefarious and a lie,” Zinke told reporters in a Dec. 5 press call.

That said, many Republicans here are tired of Hatch too. I talked to a couple a few days ago that indicated they would happily vote for Romney instead of Hatch in a primary

Despite their political differences, Hatch was a longtime friend of fellow senator Ted Kennedy, speaking at his memorial service and publicly suggesting Kennedy's widow as a replacement for Kennedy in the Senate.

yet ya'll have no problem sticking your noses into the business of other states.

Is some organization actually paying you to post their crap on blog sites, or were you suddenly gripped by a revelation, & joined the verbal battle against liberals & the America we grew up with?

Oh my, Fritz, it's another conspiracy!!