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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scumbria who wrote (137555)	4/11/2001 7:10:28 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

``Behind Closed Doors: The Abuse of Trust And Discretion In The Establishment Of The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.'' CHAIRMAN'S SUMMARY The majority staff of the House Committee on Resources will release a staff report today on the subpoenaed national monument documents received from the Clinton administration. The documents show that the designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was politically motivated and probably illegal. It is very important that these documents are opened up for public scrutiny. They show the American people that the designation of the monument was politically motivated; that the administration engaged in a concerted effort to keep everything secret in order to avoid public scrutiny; and that the administration admitted that the lands in question weren't in danger and weren't among the lands in this country most in need of monument designation. The White House abused its discretion in nearly every stage of the process of designating the monument. It was a staff drive effort, first to short-circuit a congressional wilderness proposal, and then to help the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign. The lands to be set aside, by the staff's own descriptions, were not threatened. ``I'm increasingly of the view that we should just drop these Utah ideas * * * these lands are not really endangered.''--Kathleen McGinty, chair, Counsel on Environmental Quality [CEQ]. The documents also show that claims by the administration that the monument was created to save Utah from foreign coal mining was nothing but a front to make the idea look legitimate. The administration was already several months into the process of creating the monument before anyone even mentioned throwing in the Kaiparowits Plateau. The administration added the Kaiparowits, with its attendant Andalex coal leases, at the last minute so they could claim they were protecting some endangered lands. The documents are loaded with evidence of a concerted effort by the Department of the Interior [DOI] and CEQ staff to circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]. Staff was aware that the law requires NEPA compliance, with its attendant public input process, when national monument proposals come out of an agency. The documents show how DOI and CEQ spent months trying to create a paper trail to make it look like the idea came directly from the President. ``We need to build a credible record that will withstand legal challenge * * * so [this] letter needs to be signed asap so that the secretary has what looks like a credible amount of time to do his investigation of the matter.''--Kathleen McGinty, chair, Counsel on Environmental Quality [CEQ]. Probably the most telling, yet unsurprising, document is where CEQ Chair Kathleen McGinty fills-in President Clinton on the Political Purpose of the national monument designation: ``It is our considered assessment that an action of this type and scale would help to overcome the negative views toward the Administration created by the timber rider. Designation of the new monument would create a compelling reason for persons who are now disaffected to come around and enthusiastically support the Administration * * *'' Ms. McGinty continued by noting that: ``[T]he new monument will have particular appeal in those areas that contribute the most visitation to the parks and public lands of southern Utah, namely, coastal California, Oregon and Washington, southern Nevada, the Front Range communities of Colorado, the Taos-Albuquerque corridor, and the Phoenix-Tucson area.'' Ms. McGinty noted that there would be a few who would oppose the designation, but they were generally those ``who in candor, are unlikely to support the Administration under any circumstances''. Translation: Designating the monument would help get Clinton western electoral votes in the 1996 election. He would lose Utah, but he didn't have a chance at winning that State anyway. These documents should make it clear to the American people that the real reason that the administration used the Antiquities Act on these lands was to circumvent congressional involvement in public land decisions, to evade the public involvement provisions of NEPA, and to use our public lands as election year props. The Clinton administration's actions show not only a disregard for the State of Utah, but a blatant disregard for America's public land laws, and a contempt for the democratic process. James V. Hansen, Chairman Subcommittee on National Parks & Public Lands resourcescommittee.house.gov