Orrin Hatch

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Ogden Standard-Examiner and the Provo Daily Herald. -Team Hatch

Here we go again.

Fourteen years ago, President Bill Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument without Utahns' input or consent. Now we have the Obama administration poised to do the same thing.

Just last week an Obama administration memo was leaked that outlines two Utah areas for the president to consider for monument designation through the use of the Antiquities Act of 1906. Limited in scope, this act allows the president, without input from Congress or the public, to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest ..., the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected."

The language is clear. The Antiquities Act is meant to protect objects or very specific sites, not to manage large tracts of public lands. To use it to circumvent the public's input into the management of their lands is an abuse of the public trust and of the law.

The Obama administration fails to understand that public lands belong to the people -- not to the president, secretary of the Interior or narrowly focused single-issue advocacy groups.

For this reason, Congress has set up laws requiring a public process for land management decisions and has designated the National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service to manage the nation's 671 million acres of public land.

Understanding full well that this land belongs to the people, Congress has required these agencies to use public processes before making decisions.

Indeed, it was a public process led to the designation of 13 tracts of Forest Service land as wilderness in Utah. The same holds true for the designation of wilderness tracts in Paria Canyon, Tooele and Washington counties and other areas. I am currently working with elected officials in Piute and Beaver counties and all interested stakeholders on legislation to establish a land-management template in that region. The same thing is happening in other parts of the state.

While federal lands belong to all Americans, citizens who live and work amid the public lands that could be designated as wilderness have the greatest stake in their management -- and they deserve special consideration.

All this was tossed aside in 1996, when Clinton misused the Antiquities Act to designate Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It didn't matter that the action was opposed by members of the Utah congressional delegation, the governor and state legislators, and local elected officials. The president thought it was more politically expedient to appease extreme environmental groups than to consult Utahns or conform to the limits of the Antiquities law. That's why the president chose to announce the monument designation while safely across the border in Arizona instead of at the monument itself, which sits entirely in Utah.

Whether one is for or against the monument is beside the point. Citizens should oppose any abuse of power by their government, and this action was a colossal abuse of government power. It was wrong to abuse the Antiquities Act then and it would be just as wrong to do it now.

To hear that this administration may be prepared to follow in President Clinton's footsteps is extremely disappointing. Our president, who was supposed to represent "change," is looking more like the president of "Here We Go Again."

At least in this case, unlike what transpired with the Grand Staircase, the proposal was leaked. As a result, I was able to secure commitments from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar not to move forward without Utahns' input. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert was able to get similar commitments.

I hope that our conversations on this matter will prompt the administration to do the right thing.