{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://gosar.house.gov/editorial/arizonans-agreeno-new-national-monument", "Arizonans Agree...No New National Monument", "2016-11-18", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Paul Gosar", "G000565", "gosar.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Arizonans Agree: No New National Monument\nThe Hill\n\t\t\t\t\tBy: Congressman Paul Gosar\n\t\t\t\t\tNovember 18, 2016\nDuring President Obama\u2019s two terms in office, we have undoubtedly witnessed the rise of the greatest threat to our Republic: the unprecedented abuse of Executive overreach. The president has openly bragged about using his \u201cphone and pen\u201d as a loophole to avoid the Constitution, the legislative process and accountability to the American people. It is a dangerous precedent that is nearly impossible to undo.\nOne of the powers given to the president is the ability to set aside land for monuments and national parks which comes from the outdated Antiquities Act of 1906.\u00a0 This law was originally intended to protect prehistoric Indian ruins and artifacts on federal lands in the West and included language to limit these designations to \u201cthe smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects.\u201d President Obama has exceeded the intent of the Antiquities Act more than any other president. To date, he has designated or expanded 27 national monuments. These unilateral declarations have locked up 548,744,157.31 acres of land and water. There is no possible way that 548 million acres is \u201cthe smallest area compatible\u201d for these new monuments.\n\t\t\t\t\tNational monument designations under the Antiquities Act typically have significant consequences for energy development, grazing rights, water rights, wildfire prevention and other important land management activities. These declarations also result in some of the most restrictive land-use regulations possible and negatively affect hunting, fishing, OHV and other recreational activities. Unilateral designations that circumvent Congress typically result in devastating costs for rural America and our future economic prosperity. For every new acre claimed for the federal government, there is an acre of private land lost. Such actions exacerbate challenges for local communities to fund things like education and infrastructure as lands that are added to the federal rolls can no longer be put to beneficial use.\nSince 2010, extremist environmental groups have been pushing a far-left proposal\u00a0that explicitly seeks to lock-up 1.7 million acres in the Grand Canyon Watershed. Shamefully, proponents have lied to the American people by stating this idea was initiated by tribal governments. This\u00a0proposal was put forth by the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wilderness Society. The real intentions of these shortsighted self-interest groups are clear as they boldly state in their communications that this land grab is needed to prevent hunting, fishing, mining, timber harvesting, OHV use, grazing and energy development on this massive swath of land.\n\t\t\t\t\tTo put the size of this land grab in perspective, the proposed 1.7 million acre Grand Canyon Watershed Monument would be significantly larger than the 1.2 million acre Grand Canyon National Park. It\u2019s a watershed though so there will be no new monies from Congress, no significant tourism dollars and no significant jobs created as a result of this land grab. It\u2019s important to remember that the Grand Canyon National Park is already protected by the Grand Canyon Protection Act, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act as well as multiple other regulations and laws. The proposed national monument is miles away from the actual Grand Canyon itself.\nIn April, I held a listening session on this potential monument where hundreds of people showed up in person and watched live on Facebook to voice their opposition. Jim Parks, representing the Arizona Farm Bureau, testified, \u201cWithin the bounds of the proposed Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument are over 64,000 acres of Arizona State Trust lands and almost 28,000 acres of private land. This alone violates federal and state laws, as it amounts to a \u2018taking\u2019 of these state and private lands.\u201d Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey stated, \u201cThe Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument [proposal] is not narrow, targeted, warranted, or being considered through an open cooperative public process.\u201d\nEric Duthie, Town Manager of the Town of Tusayan, testified, \u201cTusayan would become the only municipality entirely swallowed up in this monument.\u201d Bob Lynch, an Arizona water law expert, stated, \u201cThe designation will only complicate the ability of the United States and the State of Arizona to work together to improve [the Four Forest Restoration Initiative] for watershed purposes and to protect it from catastrophic wildfire...Designation of the monument will tie up not only any future surface water use but any future groundwater use as well.\u201d\nThis widespread opposition was confirmed in April of this year by\u00a0a scientific poll conducted by Coleman Dahm and Associates\u00a0which found that 71.6% of Arizonans are against the proposed national monument. While some special-interest groups have commissioned push polls and manipulated job numbers in attempting to show support for this misguided proposal, Arizonans have made it clear that they oppose this land grab and that future management of this area should be driven by a collaborative process that includes local stakeholders. Affected communities deserve to have a voice in the land designation process before President Obama circumvents Congress and bars the people of Arizona from even more land.\nRep.\u00a0Paul Gosar\u00a0represents Arizona\u2019s 4th District and is a member of the Natural Resources Committee.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://gosar.house.gov/editorial/arizonans-agreeno-new-national-monument"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4465972781181335, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}