Clinton Considers
Monument Proposal
01:29 PM ET 12/14/99
By KEVIN GALVIN, AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking to expand
protections for ``lands we hold sacred,'' President Clinton
promised today to consider adding four sites to the list of
national monuments in the American West. Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt presented the sites to Clinton, who announced
the recommendations but reserved any final decision until next
year.
But speaking to environmentalists and
administration officials gathered in the Roosevelt Room of the
White House, Clinton seemed inclined to accept the referral.
``By giving these lands national monument
status, we would ensure that they could be passed along to
future generations healthy and whole,'' Clinton said.
No purchases would be required, Clinton
said, because all four monuments are on federal land. ``There
is no greater gift we can offer to the new millennium than to
protect these treasures for all Americans for all time,'' he
said.
Additionally, Clinton was sending to
Congress today a list of 18 natural and historic sites he
would like to see protected under the administration's ``Lands
Legacy Initiative,'' a $652 million program to protect farms,
forests and urban parks.
``I believe there are certain places
humankind simply cannot improve upon,'' Clinton said. ``We
must use this time of unparalleled prosperity to ensure people
will always be able to see these places as we see them
today.''
Babbitt recommended designating 1 million
acres along the north rim of the Grand Canyon as the Grand
Canyon-Parashant National Monument; 71,100 acres on federal
lands north of Phoenix as the Agua Fria National Monument;
thousands of small federally owned islands, reefs and rocks
along the California coast as the Coastal National Monument;
and 8,000 additional acres of the Pinnacles National Monument
near San Jose, Calif.
``These recommendations are very much in the
spirit of the philosophy of the president's protection of our
national treasures,'' White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said.
But state officials say the proposal would cause financial
hardship to the local economy by removing the land from the
tax base and scuttling business ventures.
``I am very concerned about the lands being
eaten up by the federal government,'' Arizona Gov. Jane Hull
said.
National monuments can be designated by the
president under the Antiquities Act of 1906 or by an act of
Congress. The law gives the president authority to protect any
land that has historic, scientific or archaeological
significance.
Under the monument designation, land has
increased protection against development such as mining,
although some activities including cattle grazing are still
allowed.
In Phoenix on Monday, Sen. Jon Kyl said he
is writing a letter urging Clinton not to go forward with
Babbitt's proposal. Calling the proposal ``government by
decree,'' Kyl said it would send a message that the federal
government doesn't care what Arizonans think.
``It's wrong and I don't think the state of
Arizona is going to stand by and let this happen,'' Kyl said.
Mohave County Supervisor Carol Anderson said
the county is already struggling to support services, and the
preservation designation would make it worse.
But while lawmakers criticized the proposal,
it was cheered by environmental groups.
Protecting the areas from mining and
off-road vehicles ``just makes common sense,'' said Rob Smith,
a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club. ``This Congress has been
very reluctant to protect land. The time has come to make a
move.'
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