WILDERNESS REPORT #49 June 22, 2001

A bi-weekly update on the happenings in the Wilderness movement brought to you by the Wilderness Society’s Wilderness Support Center.

National Monuments created under the Antiquities Act have played a vital role in protecting our nation's special places, archeological sites, and cultural, historical, scenic, and ecological resources since President Theodore Roosevelt's designation of Devil's Tower National Monument in 1906. Fourteen Presidents, Republican and Democratic, have used the Antiquities Act dozens of times to set aside special places on the public lands threatened by potential incompatible uses or commercial exploitation.

Today, some of our newest National Monuments have been targeted for energy development. Spectacular landscapes containing important archeological features, unique ecological attributes, or places of special historic significance -- places like the Grand-Staircase Escalante, Upper Missouri River Breaks, Carrizo Plain, and Hanford Reach National Monuments -- have been targeted by advocates of energy development for drilling, mining, or reduction in size to accommodate such activities, despite the fact that there is very little potential oil and gas in these National Monuments.

During the House floor consideration of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, H.R. 2217, this past Thursday, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) offered an amendment that would protect our new National Monuments created under the auspices of the Antiquities Act from mineral leasing.

The amendment, which passed in a 242-173 vote (including 47 Republicans) prohibits the expenditure of federal funds for any pre-leasing or leasing activities in National Monuments under the Mineral Leasing Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

The amendment states: No funds provided in this Act may be expended to conduct pre-leasing, leasing and related activities under either the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) within the boundaries of a National Monument established pursuant to the Act of June 8, 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) as such boundary existed on January 20, 2001, except where such activities are allowed under the Presidential proclamation establishing such monuments.

"The Republicans who know that conservation is conservative were the ones who put the amendment over the top. We’re proud they did the right thing and voted to protect all of our national monuments," said Jim Scarantino, the Executive Director of Republicans for Environmental Protection.