In a final report sent Thursday to President Donald Trump about the fate of 27 national monuments, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke didn鈥檛 recommend any of the monuments be eliminated鈥攂ut he advised shrinking some of them.
So far,聽Zinke has recommended downsizing at least three monuments: the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears (he recommended this reduction聽back in June)聽and the 1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante, both in Utah, and Cascade-Siskyou in Oregon, the . All three have generated huge controversy. Timber companies want to log areas of the 170,000-acre Cascade-Siskyou monument, which was established by President Bill聽Clinton but expanded by President Barack聽Obama. Grand Staircase-Escalante has been wildly debated聽since Clinton established it in 1996. Though studies have shown that the gateway area around聽the monument has benefited economically, some locals and politicians still loathe the designation, while energy companies want another crack at its coal and other resources. Bears Ears, meanwhile, has angered some locals who feel it was imposed from above and shuts down resource-extraction聽opportunities.听
Four months ago, Trump 聽requiring immediate review of all national monuments made or expanded to 100,000 acres by the Antiquities Act since 1996. Since then, six of those 27 monuments鈥攊n Montana, Arizona, California, Idaho, Washington, and Colorado鈥攈ad already escaped the chopping block. Which of the remaining 18聽monuments still on the list are targets for resizing, however, is still unknown. Oddly, Zinke would not release聽the names publicly. (The Washington Post got its information about the Utah and Oregon monuments through sources it kept anonymous.)聽According to Zinke's聽report, they include聽monuments where聽adherence to the stated goals of the Antiquities Act 鈥渨ere either arbitrary or likely politically motivated or boundaries could not be supported by science or reasons of practical resource management.”聽He would recommend聽modifications to 鈥渁 handful鈥 of such monuments, he .听The final decision is now up to the White House, the Department of Interior told 国产吃瓜黑料.
Other presidents have trimmed their predecessors鈥 national monuments. According to Zinke鈥檚聽report, 18 monuments have had their boundaries redrawn in the past. In 1963, John F. Kennedy聽 in New Mexico while聽also adding 3,000 acres, declaring the changes to be in the public interest.听If Trump takes the new advice of his Interior Secretary, however, the scale of the reductions would be聽unprecedented, and any final decisions will likely be determined in court.
Now the process moves to the president鈥檚 desk, where the public has no say鈥攊ronic, given that a聽stated reason for the review was to give the American public a larger say聽in the future of the lands in question.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 think he has the authority to cut these monuments into pieces,鈥 says Nada Culver, senior counsel for the . While presidents can create monuments, destroying them is 鈥渘ot within the scope of this president鈥檚 authority,鈥 she says. The Wilderness Society, among others, will sue to stop it. The state of California, tribes, environmental groups, and businesses including Patagonia have warned they would also sue the administration to block any dramatic action to erode the monuments.
Opponents of the review roasted Zinke on Thursday. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 recommendations cement his legacy as the most anti-park Interior Secretary in history,鈥 says Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the left-leaning .听
To Culver, of the Wildernes Society, the whole review process聽felt like a sham. Zinke visited just eight of the 27 monuments in question. He solicited public comments and then seemed to discount them in the report. 鈥淎nd then to not even have the respect for the American public to tell them what he鈥檚 recommending? It鈥檚 insulting. There鈥檚 no other word for it,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 feel like the American people have taken this a lot more seriously than the Secretary of the Interior.鈥
Can Trump do what Zinke recommends? The administration seems to think so. 鈥淸T]here is no doubt that President Trump has the authority to review and consider recommendations to modify or add a monument,鈥 Zinke wrote in his report. In truth, though, no one really knows for sure. The 1906 Antiquities Act gives the president the power to create national monuments. Nothing in the act gives the president the power to abolish or diminish a monument. Previous reductions have never been challenged in court.
Now the process moves to the president鈥檚 desk, where the public has no say鈥攕omewhat ironic, given that a聽stated reason for the review was to give the American public a larger say in the future of the lands in question. What followed is thought to have been the largest two-month collection of opinions on public policy in the history of the federal government: some 2.8 million comments poured in about the fate of the monuments, with the vast majority in strong support. More than 99.2 percent of people who commented opposed the elimination or reduction of the monuments, according to a recent survey.
It鈥檚 unclear how Zinke interpreted that outpouring of support as a cry to reduce the monuments. His report acknowledged the broad consensus while also dismissing it as the result聽in part聽of motivated special interest groups. Comments 鈥渄emonstrated a well-orchestrated national campaign organized by multiple organizations,鈥 the report read. 鈥淧roponents tended to promote monument designation as a mechanism to prevent the sale or transfer of public land. This narrative is false and has no basis in fact,鈥 it continued. It also made a flawed argument about the downside of public lands:
Proponents also point to the economic benefits from increased tourism from monument recognition鈥ncreased visitation also places an additional burden and responsibility on the Federal Government to provide additional resources and manpower to maintain these lands to better support increased visitation and recreational activities.
In other words, it might cost Uncle Sam too much if people get out and enjoy the monuments.听
Zinke鈥檚 report pleased critics of the Antiquities Act. Speaking to reporters just before the secretary鈥檚 announcement, Republican Representative Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and perhaps the act鈥檚 fierce critic, praised Zinke鈥檚 work as fostering a much-needed conversation about the use and鈥攊n Bishop鈥檚 eyes鈥攁buse of the presidential power.听
In his Thursday press conference, Bishop latched onto the language in the 1906 law that says the designated national monuments 鈥渟hall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management.鈥 That intention has been warped in recent years, he contends, turning presidents into 鈥渄ictators.鈥 Recent monuments have been 47 times larger than the nation鈥檚 first national monuments, he claims. (That number is distorted by the massive Papah膩naumoku膩kea National Marine Monument in the Pacific, which is nearly 583,000 square miles in size.)
There is nothing wrong with monuments per se, Bishop continued Thursday. 鈥淭his is about process and the rule of law…. It鈥檚 about how we protect resources, not if we protect resources.鈥