The Latest On: National Monuments
Paul Achitoff, Managing Attorney, Mid-Pacific Office, Earthjustice: "Frankly, it's just not legal. They're not here to advise the President or anybody else on what the provisions of the monument should be. We want an investigation of senior leadership at West Pac, which has been behind these efforts."
Heidi McIntosh, Managing Attorney, Rocky Mountain Office, Earthjustice: "The Antiquities Act was really a one-way designation authority that allows the president to designate monuments, but it doesn't grant the president any authority to reverse the designations of his predecessors. When [the president] exercises his power, he's standing in the shoes of Congress. In the same way a president can't, on his own, mend or revoke acts of Congress, he can't go back and amend or revoke monuments, either."
Heidi McIntosh, Managing Attorney, Earthjustice: "Challenging a national monument is extraordinarily difficult. The Utah Association of Counties and others who challenged the designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument found that out."
