A proposed amendment to the Antiquities Act could block protection of marine areas and set a precedent that would have serious ramifications for future public lands protection. The Antiquities Act empowers the President to designate National Monuments, but Sen. Mary Landrieu is seeking to restrict this power through the next two years. Tell your Senators to block such an amendment, which would set a dangerous precedent by precluding protection for important areas.
The Antiquities Act has previously been used to protect millions of acres of public lands in Alaska, to establish Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, as well as to protect lands now in Grand Teton National Park. The next conservation legacy of the Antiquities Act could be several Marine National Monuments the Bush Administration is considering.
However, Sen. Landrieu's proposed amendment would preclude these protections while also establishing a precedent that could be used by Congress to pre-empt future presidents from protecting other important lands and marine areas. Landrieu is responding to oil and gas industry complaints about proposed Gulf of Mexico protections, but her amendment would have the effect of preventing the President from protecting lands or waters as National Monuments anywhere in the US through the end of his administration and into the first year of the next president.
If this campaign to limit the Antiquities Act is not defeated, it could also threaten the public lands legislation package in the Senate — which contains seven different wilderness provisions and thus represents the greatest hope for further wilderness designations this year. Tell your Senators they must oppose Sen. Landrieu's plan to amend the Antiquities Act!
