Interlude #2 - A Serious Matter - Public Comment to Protect National Monuments
My apologies for another interlude, but I have a favor to ask of all of you.
Our travels in May took us through two major National Monuments - the Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante. These monuments are under threat. The President has asked the Secretary of the Interior to review the status of all large sized monuments created since 1996. The purpose of the review is to determine whether the status was properly granted for the proper reasons, and whether the size of the monument should be reduced or the monument status removed altogether (both legally questionable actions but . . .).
In response to the public comments regarding the Bears Ears evaluation, Interior Secretary Zinke decided to issue only a preliminary report to the President and has extended the comment period until July 10, 2017. I ask that you go online and submit a comment to the effect that these monuments were properly granted National Monument status through a process that included adequate public outreach and coordination with all relevant stakeholders, and that the present designation and size of each appropriately balance the protection of landmarks, structures and objects the Antiquities Act provides should be protected, and that the area of each monument is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
If some of the wording sounds like legalese, it is. Using the words of the act itself is one way to insure that your comment must be considered.
If you are interested in commenting, here is the government website that provides notice of the comment period (note the government has blocked a direct link through the URL so please cut and paste the following into your web browser):
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001
Here is a direct link to provide public comment (similar cut and paste required):
https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=DOI-2017-0002-0001
If you wish to find out more about National Monuments and the Antiquities Act, here is a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report that is written in fairly plain English (easy enough for a Congressman to understand - so pretty basic):
CRS-National Monuments and Antiquities Act
If you are interested, here are my comments that I sent Secretary Zinke as an uploaded file through the website.
Daniel Terrell Public Comments
Also, please do not be put off by the website hinting that the comment period may be over (in particular for the Bears Ears National Monument comment period). I have found the official notice stating that the comment period for all the national monuments listed on the website above has been extended to July 10 (with a statement that if you’ve already filed a comment for Bears Ears, you need not do so again - it will be considered). If you’ve already filed a comment on the Bears Ears - great, send another comment for all the other National Monuments.
Thank you.
Again, thank you.
Dan