DeFazio Statement on President Obama’s Designation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

For Immediate Release: May 21, 2014
Contact: Jen Gilbreath (Resources), 202-225-4081

DeFazio Statement on President Obama’s Designation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument

WASHINGTON, DC--House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) today applauded President Obama’s designation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces, New Mexico. President Obama is establishing the Organ Mountains as a National Monument using powers granted by Congress under the 1906 Antiquities Act. In January, DeFazio led 109 Democrats on a letter to the president, requesting he use these powers to protect iconic landscapes jeopardized by Congressional inaction.

DeFazio issued the following statement in response:

“Since 1906, both Republican and Democratic presidents have used the authority granted to them by Congress to protect some of our most iconic and treasured national lands. The Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Zion, Olympic, the Statue of Liberty, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal were protected with the same presidential designation that President Obama is using to protect the Organ Mountains today. I fully expect the House Republicans, who have been openly hostile to the preservation of public lands, to ignore the overwhelming community support for this monument, start crying crocodile tears, and oppose this designation. For years, bipartisan Senate and House bills to protect the Organ Mountains have been stalled in this dysfunctional Congress. If Congress actually did its job and passed good conservation bills that incorporated years of local input, presidential designation wouldn’t be our only option. I applaud President Obama and Secretary Jewell, and urge them to continue their good work to protect our irreplaceable open spaces.”

BACKGROUND

For more than 100 years, the Antiquities Act has been an important tool that has led to the protection of some our most iconic landscapes and valuable cultural resources, including the Grand Canyon and the recently enacted Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument. The 112^th Congress was the first Congress in 40 years that failed to permanently protect any of America’s treasured landscapes.

FACTS

Sixteen of the 19 Presidents since 1906 created 137 monuments, including the Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Zion, Olympic, the Statue of Liberty, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

President Franklin Roosevelt used his authority the most often—on 28 occasions.

President George W. Bush proclaimed the most monument acreage, virtually all in marine areas, including the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with approximately 89 million acres; the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, with 60.9 million acres; the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, with 55.6 million acres; and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, with 8.6 million acres. The latter three areas form the largest protected ocean area in the world.

Out of the 137 Monuments created since 1906, 32 have been redesignated as National Parks.

Three Presidents had the opportunity to use the Antiquities Act but chose not to (Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush).

Although President Reagan was one of three Presidents not to use the Antiquities Act, he signed 43 wilderness bills into law designating a net total of 10.6 million acres.

During the dedication ceremony of the new National Geographic Headquarters, President Reagan said, “What is a conservative after all but one who conserves, one who is committed to protecting and holding close the things by which we live…. And we want to protect and conserve the land on which we live — our countryside, our rivers and mountains, our plains and meadows and forests. This is our patrimony. This is what we leave to our children. And our great moral responsibility is to leave it to them either as we found it or better than we found it.” -- June 19, 1984

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