Wednesday morning the House Natural Resources Committee marked up a number of bills including HR 1254. According to language within the bill, HR 1254 would “Direct the Secretary of the Interior to transmit to the House of Representatives certain information relating to the Secretary’s Treasured Landscape Initiative, potential designation of National Monuments, and High Priority Land-Rationalization Efforts.”
HR 1254 was moved forward to the full House without recommendation.
According to Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA), a portion of the documentation was received shortly before the committee vote. However, it was still not complete.
This House Resolution goes back to information that was leaked from the Department of Interior a while back. It outlined exactly how and where 17 new national monuments in the west could be designated with only the President’s signature. That right is given to the President through the Antiquities Act. The question this legislation aims to answer is where and who that leaked information came from.
For background information on the potential national monument designation, visit “More National Monuments Planned for the West.”
© Northern Ag Network 2010
Haylie Shipp