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Hastings combats feds' land claims
Hands off Washington state, U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings demanded Friday by filing a bill in Congress that would prohibit the establishment of a national monument in Washington without an act of Congress. The 4th District Republican is trying to stem the tide of federal land claims in the West after statements Thursday by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt that the government will aggressively increase its ecosystem protection efforts in the West. "We in Central Washington are all too familiar with the federal government's attempts to ignore local input," Hastings said. "My bill sends a strong message that no one - not even the president of the United States - should have the authority to designate land without adequate public comment and approval by Congress." Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., hadn't discussed the bill with his staff late Friday, but his spokesman, Tom McArthur, said his boss agrees in spirit with Hastings' approach. "They want to keep local control over the land that we have out here and not let the people back East dictate how we are going to live," McArthur said. Hastings' bill is not directly related to the Hanford Reach, which is being considered for federal protection as a Wild and Scenic river. It's debated whether a president could designate the Reach as Wild and Scenic, but the idea comes up every time future control of the Columbia River's best salmon spawning ground is mentioned. Instead, Hastings is trying to keep bureaucrats off land the administration may want to claim under the 1906 Antiquities Act - a controversial measure that allows the president to create national monuments without going through Congress. The law was the first general act to protect archaeological resources and prohibits excavation or destruction of historic and prehistoric sites on federal lands. It also gives the president wide discretion to designate landmarks or places of "scientific interest" and take as much federal land deemed necessary for "proper care and management." One section also allows for the "relinquishment" of private lands to the government. Babbitt said Thursday at the University of Denver Law School that he would urge the president to use the Antiquities Act as often as necessary because the West is "filling up," according to a report by the Knight-Ridder news service. Babbitt said the administration would not be stalled on land protection measures in its final months and is creating a new monument management system under the Bureau of Land Management. Describing the administration as being "in the seventh inning," Babbitt said: "This team isn't going to just walk off the field." In 1996, Babbitt declared the Grand Staircase- Escalante in Utah a national monument, and in January, he put another 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon under federal protection. Hastings' staff said President Clinton announced this week an intention to declare a new 400,000-acre monument in the Sequoia National Forest. Other recent land declarations include the California Coastline National Monument and 71,000 acres south of Phoenix called the Agua Fria National Monument. At the Grand Canyon, Babbitt compared Clinton with former President Theodore Roosevelt, who took pride in setting aside remarkable or pristine lands under federal protection, including Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908. "It is a fabulous moment in the history of this canyon," he said. | ||