Angie Craig: “Yesterday afternoon President Clinton stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and proclaimed, by Executive order, through…”

“Yesterday afternoon President Clinton stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and proclaimed, by Executive order, through the National Antiquities Act, the designation of a national monument in southern Utah of 1.7 million acres. Was his action illegal? No. It certainly was not, or it does not appear to be at this moment. What is frustrating to those of us in the West who have large expanses of public land is that the President sought no counsel, did not even consult with the Senators from Utah until the very last minute, did not talk to the Governor, to the State legislators or to the county commissioners in whose counties this large expanse of 1.7 million acres was involved. He simply stood on the banks or the edge of the Grand Canyon and proclaimed--yes, this is a device that was used by President Roosevelt who set aside the Grand Canyon years ago; it was a device that was oftentimes used prior to the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act or the Federal Land Use Management Act, NEPA and FLMPA, because there was no certain public process to ensure the protection of valuable lands or, more importantly, to involve the public in them.”