House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01) released the following statement after President Obama announced his intentions to unilaterally proclaim three new national monuments using the Antiquities Act of 1906. 

“President Obama has sidelined the American public and bulldozed transparency by proclaiming three new national monuments through executive fiat. The Obama Administration claims these designations have public support, but we know that is a complete stretch of the truth.  The cost to taxpayers is anyone’s guess and the impacts upon local communities are unknown.  Congress has demonstrated that it can work in a collaborative fashion to fully vet and approve designations that have support from the public and their elected representatives. This White House has shown once again its utter and complete disdain for the public process, Congress, and the communities most impacted by these unilateral, unchecked land designations.”

The President’s designations include Pullman Historic District in Chicago, Illinois, Browns Canyon in Salida, Colorado, and the site of a World War II-era internment camp in Honouliuli, Hawaii, and will be formally announced on Thursday, February 19, 2015. 

Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (CO-05), stated: “Despite his calls to be the most transparent administration in history, President Obama has once again chosen to stifle public input and thumb his nose at Congress. Top-down, big government approaches and land grabs through executive order disenfranchise concerned citizens, and that’s exactly what happened in the Browns Canyon region. During my time in Congress, I have heard from hundreds of locals who don’t want to see Browns Canyon declared a National Monument. The President’s unilateral designation of Browns Canyon casts aside the concerns raised by local citizens whose concerns about grazing rights, water rights, and the inability to manage and fight wildfire in the area that will now never be satisfactorily addressed. People must realize that national monuments created by Presidential executive order under the Antiquities Act often become underfunded and neglected orphan properties. This is because they are created outside the normal Congressional process and without local consensus, robbing the people of fair and open input. Browns Canyon does not deserve this kind of second-class status.”