Trump executive order could rescind national monuments

  Trump executive order could rescind national monuments

WASHINGTON - President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday questioning the future of more than two dozen national monuments, recognized by the last three presidents to set aside millions of acres of development.

When asked by Home Secretary Ryan Zinke for an unprecedented review of national monuments, Trump can force a question never before tested in the 111-year history of the Antiquities Act: Whether a president can overturn the proclamation of a president Establish a national monument.

The signing of the executive order in the Interior Department Wednesday, Trump called the creation of President Barack Obama's national monuments an "atrocious abuse of power"

"Y se ha vuelto cada vez peor y peor, y ahora vamos a liberar hacia arriba" dijo. "Esto nunca debería haber ocurrido.

Trump's executive order points to 21 years of proclamations beginning in 1996. That time frame encompasses the "bookends" of two of the most controversial national monument designations of recent history: President Clinton's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996 For President Obama's National Monument ears bears in 2016. Both are in Utah, and they faced opposition from congressional and state delegation.

Zinke's review could lead to a recommendation that Trump rescind, reshape or modify existing national monuments, and conservation groups say the order endangers monuments that must be permanently protected because of their beauty, wildlife And vulnerability.

This review is a first step for restoration of monuments, which we will fight to the end, "said Rhea Suh, chair of the Natural Resources Defense Council." These public lands belong to all of us.

Because each National Monument designation comes with its own set of restrictions, the Trump administration could leave designations in place at the same time as loosening federal protections. In the executive order, Trump said national monument designations "create barriers to achieving energy independence ... and otherwise restrict economic growth.

The review could also lead to a new mapping to reduce existing monuments. The act of antiquities requires that the protected area be "limited to the smallest area compatible with the care and handling of objects to be adequately protected.

"The antiquities act does not give the federal government unlimited power to enclose millions of acres of land and water, and it's time we ended this abusive practice," Trump said, echoing a common complaint from lawmakers. Western state.

Zinke was careful Tuesday to say that there is no default result for his review. "This is what the executive order does not do: The executive order does not remove any monument from a designation. The executive order does not loosen any environmental or conservation regulations in any land or marine areas," he said. "This is a review of the last 20 years.

                                                      El secretario del Interior Ryan Zinke.
                                                         MICHAEL REYNOLDS, la EPA

He said earlier designations have all too often excluded those most directly affected by the designations. "The local community, loggers, fishermen, those areas that are affected must have a voice and a voice," Zinke said.

Unlike a national park, which must be established by Congress, presidents can establish a national monument by simple proclamation.

Once established, no president has ever revoked a national proclamation monument - but Congress has taken steps to abolish 11 monuments long in history.

Many more have changed.

"There is no doubt that the president has the authority to modify a monument," Zinke said at his confirmation hearing. "I would like to think that (if) the president would annul a monument, which would be questioned and then the court determine whether or not the legal framework Allows or not ".

The executive order asks Zinke to review designated monuments in the last 21 years and provide a report within 120 days. However, the report makes a special case for the Earl Ears Memorial - one of Obama's latest official acts at the office - calling for an interim report in 45 days.

Zinke said the review applies only to national monuments of 100,000 acres or more, but the order itself also includes any national monument "not made to adequate public disclosure.