Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the House Committee on Natural Resources markup of H.R. 3990, a radical attack on our public lands and the Antiquities Act, League of Conservation Voters Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld released the following statement:

“House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop’s radical bill guts the Antiquities Act, arbitrarily limits the scope and size of protected lands and waters, prohibits marine national monuments, and gives presidents authority to shrink existing national monuments. Many of our national parks like Acadia, Grand Teton, Arches, and Olympic were first protected as national monuments under the Antiquities Act, which was signed by President Teddy Roosevelt and used by 16 presidents of both parties. But if this radical anti-parks bill were in place at the time, those treasured places would not be protected today.

“This bill is particularly outrageous coming on the heels of people across the country submitting more than 2.7 million comments opposing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s sham monument review. Congress and the Trump administration should abandon their shameful assaults on our national parks and monuments.”