Senate Bill would Repeal Presidential Power to Designate National Monuments

"Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho has introduced a bill, S. 228, to block presidents from establishing national monuments. In a news release, Crapo criticized 'top-down national monument designations' as potentially harmful to the local economy and public access," reports Judith Kohler before flipping the top-down argument on its head.

According to Kohler, "recent monument designations have been the result of years of work and lobbying by diverse community coalitions. In other words, the president was responding to grassroots campaigns, just as other chief executives from both political parties have since 1906."

Kohler cites examples in Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, and Idaho in describing the local and regional coalitions it takes to achieve National Monument designation. The overall argument of the article, references the larger threat to the conservation movement: "It is critical to preserve the Antiquities Act, which gave us Grand Canyon National Park, Muir Woods National Monument, the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument…and many, many more."