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H.C.R. 17

             1     

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE USE OF

             2     
PRESIDENTIAL POWER TO CREATE NEW NATIONAL

             3     
MONUMENTS IN UTAH

             4     
2010 GENERAL SESSION

             5     
STATE OF UTAH

             6     
Chief Sponsor: Michael E. Noel

             7     
Senate Sponsor: David P. Hinkins

             8     
             9      LONG TITLE
             10      General Description:
             11          This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor urges the President of
             12      the United States and the United States Congress to refrain from designating new
             13      national monuments in the San Rafael Swell area, the Cedar Mesa area, and any other
             14      area in Utah.
             15      Highlighted Provisions:
             16          This resolution:
             17          .    expresses opposition to the presidential creation of any large area national
             18      monument, as an abuse and violation of the Antiquities Act's
             19      smallest-area-compatible mandate;
             20          .    urges the President of the United States and the United States Congress to refrain
             21      from using the Antiquities Act to designate new national monuments in the San
             22      Rafael Swell area, the Cedar Mesa area, and any other area in Utah;
             23          .    declares that this unchecked exercise of power concentrated in the President
             24      portends serious consequences for Utah and essentially coronates the President,
             25      giving him the ultimate ability to determine the fate of nearly 70% of the entire state
             26      with the mere stroke of an unchecked presidential pen;
             27          .    urges Congress to check the President's authority to exercise this power by


             28      amending the Antiquities Act to clarify its actual intent, which is to establish small discrete
             29      monuments or memorials as existed in Utah prior to the unfortunate creation of the 1996 Grand
             30      Staircase National Monument;
             31          .    expresses support for S 3016, introduced in the United States Senate, which would
             32      prohibit the further extension or establishment of national monuments in Utah,
             33      except by the express authorization of Congress; and
             34          .    calls on the United States government to manage federal public lands in Utah
             35      according to state and local government plans, policies, and public input as
             36      promised by the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 and the United
             37      States constitutional guarantee of a republican form of government on equal footing
             38      with all states in the Union, or otherwise to convey the federal public lands to Utah
             39      for proper care and management, consistent with the Constitution's Framers'
             40      original intent.
             41      Special Clauses:
             42          None
             43     
             44      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
             45          WHEREAS, the Antiquities Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 431, empowers the President of the
             46      United States to singlehandedly bypass congressional, state, and local land management
             47      policies and tie up any federal land in Utah through national monument declarations;
             48          WHEREAS, a recent confirmed United States Department of Interior (DOI) internal
             49      memorandum declares that the 75-by-40 mile San Rafael Swell and surrounding "canyons,
             50      gorges, mesas, and buttes," plus an area of unspecified size referred to as the Cedar Mesa area,
             51      among others, "may be good candidates for National Monument designation under the
             52      Antiquities Act;"
             53          WHEREAS, the San Rafael Swell and surrounding areas and the Cedar Mesa area
             54      described in the DOI memorandum are in Emery, Wayne, and San Juan Counties, Utah;
             55          WHEREAS, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the United States Constitution grants the
             56      United States government the power to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the District of
             57      Columbia and over all "places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which
             58      the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful


             59      buildings";
             60          WHEREAS, no lands in the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas of Utah fit into
             61      this category;
             62          WHEREAS, the United States Constitution delegates to the government of the United
             63      States no other power of exclusive jurisdiction over land in Utah, other than that referenced in
             64      Article I, Section 8, Clause 17;
             65          WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "The
             66      powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
             67      are reserved to the States";
             68          WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 4 of the United State Constitution states, "The United
             69      States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican Form of Government";
             70          WHEREAS, the constitutional guarantee to Utah of a republican form of government is
             71      abrogated and violated when the President of the United States purports through the Antiquities
             72      Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 431, to exercise exclusive jurisdiction with the mere stroke of a pen over
             73      lands in the San Rafael and Cedar Mesa areas that do not fit the category of Article I, Section 8,
             74      Clause 17, exclusive jurisdiction land;
             75          WHEREAS, lands in the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas of Utah are currently
             76      managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) pursuant to the Federal
             77      Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976, and the Act directs BLM to manage public
             78      lands according to Resource Management Plans (RMPs) which "shall be consistent with State
             79      and local plans to the maximum extent [the Secretary of Interior] finds consistent with Federal
             80      law and the purpose of [FLPMA]";
             81          WHEREAS, the state of Utah and the counties of Emery, Wayne, and San Juan have
             82      recently completed an expensive and protracted multi-year FLPMA and National
             83      Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process with the BLM and the public to revise and update
             84      the BLM's RMPs in planning areas which include the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas;
             85          WHEREAS, the revised RMPs do not call for the creation of national monuments in
             86      the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas;
             87          WHEREAS, creating national monuments in the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa
             88      areas would violate and undercut the integrity of the RMPs revision process in Emery, Wayne,
             89      and San Juan Counties where the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas are situated, and


             90      would be inconsistent with the plans and policies of the state of Utah and those counties and
             91      their duly elected governmental boards and leaders, all in violation of the constitutional
             92      guarantee of a republican form of government as well as violating federal statutory consistency
             93      requirements of FLPMA;
             94          WHEREAS, a presidential proclamation declaring national monuments in the San
             95      Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas would single-handedly bypass the revised RMPs and the
             96      universal opposition by the duly elected leaders of the state of Utah and the counties where
             97      those lands lie;
             98          WHEREAS, a presidential proclamation of this type would constitute an illegitimate
             99      arrogation of exclusive jurisdiction over lands by the President, exceeding the bounds of
             100      legitimate and lawful authority permitted by the United States Constitution;
             101          WHEREAS, the Antiquities Act states, "The President . . . may reserve as a part [of a
             102      national monument] parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the
             103      smallest areas compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. .
             104      . ." (italics added);
             105          WHEREAS, the size of the 1996 Grand Staircase National Monument in Garfield and
             106      Kane Counties far exceeded "the smallest areas compatible" with the feigned object of that
             107      monument;
             108          WHEREAS, the size of the San Rafael Swell area stated in the DOI memo, namely
             109      75-by-40 miles plus surrounding canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes, is staggering in terms of a
             110      national monument;
             111          WHEREAS, Utah favors protecting the remarkably scenic, recreational, and sensitive
             112      areas of the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas, however highest and best use of vast
             113      tracts of land in those areas is continued grazing and environmentally sensitive energy and
             114      mineral development done in such a way as to protect and preserve the scenic and recreational
             115      values;
             116          WHEREAS, as history has demonstrated in the case of the Grand Staircase National
             117      Monument, many thousands of acres of important grazing and mineral and other multiple use
             118      resources and values have been closed to reasonable development due to the multi-hundred
             119      thousand acre national monument designation;
             120          WHEREAS, Senator Bob Bennett has introduced S 3016 in the United States Senate,


             121      which would prohibit the further extension or establishment of national monuments in Utah,
             122      except by express authorization of Congress; and
             123          WHEREAS, Utah's economy, industry, culture, way of life, and its viability as a
             124      sovereign state guaranteed a republican form of government depend on reasonable multiple-use
             125      access to the BLM lands in the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa areas of the State, most of
             126      which will be taken away through national monument designation:
             127          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
             128      Governor concurring therein, express their opposition to the presidential creation of any large
             129      area national monument, as an abuse and violation of the Antiquities Act's
             130      smallest-area-compatible mandate.
             131          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor oppose the
             132      presidential creation of new national monuments in the San Rafael Swell area, Cedar Mesa
             133      area, and any other area of Utah.
             134          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor declare openly to
             135      the United States government that this unchecked exercise of power concentrated in the
             136      President portends serious consequences for Utah, as nearly 70% of the State is federally
             137      owned.
             138          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor declare openly to
             139      the United States government that the exercise of this power would essentially coronate the
             140      President, giving him the ultimate ability to determine the fate of nearly 70% of the entire state
             141      with the mere stroke of an unchecked presidential pen.
             142          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor urge Congress to
             143      check the President's ability to exercise such power by amending the Antiquities Act to clarify
             144      its actual intent, which is to establish small discrete monuments or memorials as existed in
             145      Utah prior to the unfortunate creation of the 1996 Grand Staircase National Monument.
             146          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor strongly urge the
             147      federal government to manage federal public lands in Utah according to state and local
             148      government plans, policies, and public input as promised by the Federal Land Policy
             149      Management Act of 1976 and the United States constitutional guarantee of a republican form
             150      of government on equal footing with all states in the Union, or otherwise convey the federal
             151      public lands to Utah for proper care and management, consistent with the original intent of the


             152      Constitution's Framers.
             153          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor express support
             154      for S 3016, introduced in the United States Senate, which would prohibit the further extension
             155      or establishment of national monuments in Utah, except by express authorization of Congress.
             156          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the President of
             157      the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United
             158      States House of Representatives, and to the members of Utah's congressional delegation.




Legislative Review Note
    as of 2-25-10 9:28 AM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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