National Monuments Review: It's Not Too Late to Speak Out

It’s too late for Bears Ears, but If you’d like to voice your opinion on the other National Monuments under review, you have until July 10. 

 

A quick review, Executive order 13792 mandated that all National Monuments created or expanded after January 1, 1996, be reviewed and potentially altered if the monument exceeds 100,000 acres OR if the “Secretary [of the Interior] determines that the designation or expansion was made without adequate public outreach and coordination with relevant stakeholders…..”  Size doesn’t matter.  Maine’s Katahadin Woods and Waters is under review and it is less than 100,000 acres.

 

Executive Order 13795, “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy” (82 FR 20815, May 3, 2017) puts Marine National Monuments in the cross-hairs as well.  Led by the Department of Commerce, Marine National Monuments under review are: the Marianas Trench, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, the Pacific Remote Islands, Rose Atoll, and Papahānaumokuākea.

 

Papahānaumokuākea is also a World Heritage Site, qualifying for listing because of it’s “outstanding universal value.” 

 

The public comment period, your opportunity to tell Secretary Zinke and the Interior Department what you think about the 27 National Monuments potentially on the chopping block ends July 10, 2017 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.  

 

You can make your voice heard by going to this government website https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001 and clicking on the “Comment Now!” button in the upper right corner.  

 

You can also contact your state’s congressional representatives.  The internet will have their official contact information. 

 

Another option is to lend your voice to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private non-profit group.  You can go to their “Action Center” by clicking here https://savingplaces.org/action-center#.WVPU7caZPeQ scroll down and find the link to “Speak Up For National Monuments.”  Clicking on the “Take Action” button will take you to a form with pre-filled text to include in a customizable email you send through their website.

 

If you’d like to read the actual text of the Interior Department’s call for public comment, a summary of it’s actions relating to the National Monuments, and a list of Monuments under review. Click here   https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-05-11/html/2017-09490.htm

 

The link takes you to the relevant pages of the Federal Register, the federal government’s official catalog of “Proclamations and Executive Orders; Documents Having General Applicability and Legal Effect; Documents Required To Be Published by Congress” among other things.  If you’d rather have the citation, here it is. 

 

Federal Register Volume 82, Number 90 (Thursday, May 11, 2017)

Notices: Pages 22016-22017

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office

FR Doc No: 2017-09490

 

Department of the Interior: Office of the Secretary “Review of Certain National Monuments Established Since 1996; Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment.”