Should Trump Rescind the National Monuments Obama Protected?

On his way out of the Oval Office former President Barack Obama declared a large swath of Utah and Nevada as national monuments, which brought his total monument designations as president to 29, encompassing more than 533 million acres. Republicans bristled at the move, but the Antiquities Act of 1906 gives each president the broad authority to turn federal lands into protected national monuments without the approval of Congress. Last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order setting up a review of every national monument designated over the last two decades.

"Today, we are putting the states back in charge," President Trump said when he signed the executive order on the Antiquities Act. But Democrats argue the White House isn’t trying to put states in charge. They say they’re putting the oil and gas industry in the driver’s seat.

"I understand Trump and his allies in the gas and oil and extraction industry are lusting after these monument designations as a potential source of revenue and profit for them," Rep. Raul Grijalva (R-Ariz.) told reporters at the Capitol. “But these monuments along with the public lands are the greatest testament to this democracy and this nation that we have – it is a tangible symbol that every American owns a little part of this great legacy.”

While Congress has abolished 11 national monuments in U.S. history, Trump’s threat to overturn previous president’s national monument designations is unprecedented. That’s why Grijalva says the environmental community is prepared to take the president to court over his actions. "We feel it’s the legal opinion of many that Trump does not have the singular legal authority or power to undo these monuments that have been designated by other presidents," Grijalva added.

Republicans in Congress are also planning to overhaul the Antiquities Act to prevent future presidents from using their authority under that law to the extent that Obama did.

"At minimum – at minimum it has to be modernized," Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) told Countable. He’s the Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “Right now the president has unlimited authority based on situations that happened when there were only 46 states in the nation. What’s happening is hurting people.”

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-- Matt Laslo

(Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management / Public Domain)