Capitol Hill Blue Lawsuit Challenges Clinton's National Monument Legacy Thursday, August 31, 2000 By MICHAEL DOYLE WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's legacy of creating sprawling new national monuments, like the one in California's Sequoia National Forest, is now being challenged on constitutional grounds. Opponents of the new monuments are suing Clinton in federal court in Washington for what they say is his unconstitutionally ambitious use of the 1906 Antiquities Act. Clinton has used the law this year to create the 328,000-acre Giant Sequoia National Monument, the 195,000-acre Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington and others. "The Antiquities Act was written for antiquities," William Perry Pendley, president of the Denver-based Mountain States Legal Foundation, said Thursday. "It was not written to set aside vast expanses of territory because it's pretty or has old trees." A conservative group that's historically received funding from companies including Texaco, Exxon, Chevron and the Coors Foundation, the Mountain States Legal Foundation has previously challenged other monument designations by Clinton. All told, Clinton has used the unilateral powers provided by the 1906 law to designate 3.7 million acres as national monuments. With about five months left in his presidency, this is more than any of his predecessors except President Jimmy Carter. "All of them are worthy of protection," Council on Environmental Quality spokeswoman Mary Hanley said Thursday, adding that "we certainly don't agree" with the thrust of the newly filed suit. The lawsuit specifically targets the Hanford monument and three others established this year in Arizona, Oregon and Colorado. The Giant Sequoia monument established in April is not included in the lawsuit, but San Joaquin Valley opponents of the new monument are closely tracking the latest legal arguments. "We're going to see how that flies," said Fresno resident Tom Barile, chairman of a coalition that's fought the Giant Sequoia monument. "If it doesn't work, then we'll try something else." Barile's group, the Sierra Nevada Access, Multiple-Use and Stewardship Coalition, now claims about 82 organizations as members. Barile said the group's possible own legal challenge to the Giant Sequoia monument might develop over the next several months, based on grounds similar to those included in the new lawsuit. Barile said he is also still waiting for government agencies to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documents related to the Giant Sequoia monument. The Council on Environmental Quality has likewise not yet provided documents in response to a FOIA request filed by the Bee last March. So far, no legal challenge - or, for the most part, legislative challenge - has succeeded against the 100-plus national monuments created under the 1906 law. The simply worded law authorizes presidents, acting without congressional approval, to protect "objects of historic or scientific interest" by designating national monuments "which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with ... proper care and management of the objects to be protected." The Mountain States Legal Foundation contends Clinton exceeded his constitutional authority by going far beyond this "smallest area" language in creating large monuments. The core legal question is: When Congress uses such vague words, where does the president's discretion end? A 1920 Supreme Court decision involving the Grand Canyon has persuaded officials since that the president enjoys great leeway in determining a monument's size. Pendley, though, contends Congress has subsequently clarified that a president's environmental actions including Antiquities Act declarations must be more tightly constrained. © 2000 Scripps-McClatchy Western Service ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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