Grand Canyon. Zion. Acadia. For over a century, presidents have used the Antiquities Act to preserve our natural and cultural treasures as national monuments -- monuments that have gone on to become iconic national parks. But Utah's Representative Rob Bishop just introduced a bill that would gut the Antiquities Act and allow the president to erase existing national monuments. He's calling it the National Monument Creation and Protection Act, but that's dishonest -- this is an effort to dismantle protections for our public lands and waters.
This is the most extreme attack on the Antiquities Act we have ever seen, and it deserves a resounding defeat. Representative Bishop's bill is his latest attempt to hand our public lands over to the highest bidder.
Bishop’s bill – H.R. 3990 -- would limit the Antiquities Act to protecting fossils, artifacts, and buildings – not natural wonders like canyons, mountains, and coral reefs. It would place arbitrary size caps on monuments and would forbid the creation of new marine monuments to protect our oceans. And our existing monuments would be threatened too -- this legislation would give the president the power to shrink them.
Bishop’s bill has moved out of committee and could come to a vote at any time. Tell Congress to keep our public lands protected and oppose H.R. 3990.