Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is introducing a bill to restore congressional involvement and approval for decisions on large tracts of federal land.
What the Bill Does
Specifically, Rep. Gosar's Legislative Approval for National Designations (LANDs) Act requires congressional approval for federal land withdrawals of 5,000 or more acres and sets limits on national monument designations.
For instance, a national monument cannot exceed 640 acres without congressional approval, private property owners must give consent when their property is part of the monument, and the Act prohibits the reservation of water rights through a designation.
The bill limits the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows the President to unilaterally declare public federal lands national monuments.
What Gosar is Saying
"For more than a century, the Antiquities Act has been abused to allow presidents to lock up enormous amounts of public land with the stroke of a pen. That is not how representative government is supposed to work," Rep. Gosar said in a press release, adding, "The LANDs Act puts the people and their elected representatives back in the driver's seat. If millions of acres are going to be withdrawn from multiple use, Congress should have a say."
The Precedent
Last September, the Arizona congressman introduced legislation to nullify the declaration of two Arizona landmarks as national monuments, arguing that they prevent access to much-needed resources.
Specifically, Gosar's bills target the Ironwood Forest National Monument in Southern Arizona, created by President Bill Clinton in 2000, and the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, created by President Joe Biden in 2023.
Ironwood sits on large deposits of gold, zinc, copper, lead, and silver, while the Footprints area has uranium, resources that prove instrumental in American energy independence.
"The Antiquities Act was never intended to be a tool for radical environmentalists and their political cronies in Washington, D.C. to block access to America's abundant and much-needed resources," Gosar previously stated.
