The long-running push by politicians in Washington D.C. to privatize public lands and scale back national monuments is now coming to a head, as a sympathetic White House starts to endorse efforts that could lead to the irresponsible development and eventual elimination of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico. As the White House and Department of the Interior continue to review additional protected public lands and national monuments, Congressman Pearce could be a deciding vote in whether the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks stays protected or is opened up to industry.

President Donald Trump has already eliminated protections for millions of acres of public lands in Utah. Now Congress is considering bills to codify that decision and to broaden the powers of the executive branch of government to lift protections for even more acres of public land with even less accountability.

Rep. Pearce’s track record on public lands and national monuments, including a committee vote in favor of weakening the Antiquities Act — a bedrock public lands law signed by President Theodore Roosevelt — and his public support for the Trump administration’s national monument review, suggests that he could vote in favor of scaling back protections for public lands across the American West, including in New Mexico, again.

CONGRESS AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO PUBLIC LANDS, INCLUDING ORGAN MOUNTAINS-DESERT PEAKS

In April 2017, President Trump instructed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to “review any national monument created since Jan. 1, 1996, that spans at least 100,000 acres in a move he said would ‘end another egregious use of government power.’”^[1] The President’s ordered review threatens over 20 national monuments in the West, including the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico. During the executive order signing, the president also took aim at the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that allows the executive branch to designate and protect national monuments. President Obama designated the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in 2014 using the Antiquities Act.

Though the Interior Department announced in September 2017 that the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks would not be reduced in size by this first-round review, a weakening of the Antiquities Act through other legislation currently under consideration by Congress could enable the President to scale back the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in the future. ^[2]

As a result of the review and a preview of what could come for other monuments, the President and Interior Department in December 2017 shrunk two Utah monuments — Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante — by two million acres, “the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history.”^[3] Using the Antiquities Act, President Obama designated Bears Ears and President Clinton designated the Grand Staircase-Escalante.

REP. PEARCE HAS AN ALARMING TRACK RECORD ON PUBLIC LANDS

Congressman Pearce supports the Trump administration’s review of national monuments. He tweeted, “a review of expansive monument designations will ensure we are responsibly conserving lands while boosting economy.”^[4] Rep. Pearce also wrote an op-ed arguing that downsizing Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument would “boost” the economy of Dona Ana County, and praised the Trump administration’s review of national monuments because he said it would “loosen the bureaucratic grip that Washington has over thousands of acres and help put our lands back where they belong – in the hands of New Mexicans.”^[5] Notably, Rep. Pearce was silent on the administration’s drastic reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

Congressman Pearce voted in the House Committee on Natural Resources for H.R. 3990, a bill sponsored by Congressman Bishop to weaken and overhaul the Antiquities Act. The bill would allow any current or future president to revoke national monument designations without Congressional approval, which would mean that Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument could be wiped off the map at any moment. It would also make it more difficult to designate new national monuments by narrowing the definition and scope of what lands can be protected. It would specifically prohibit the creation of monuments larger than 85,000 acres and would “require that local county commissioners, the state legislature and the governor approve any new monuments, and give presidents authority to revoke or downsize existing monuments.”^[6]The legislation passed out of committee 23 to 17, entirely along party lines, with 23 Republicans voting for it, and 17 Democrats voting against it.^[7] Weakening the Antiquities Act could threaten the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in the future.

Rep. Pearce was opposed to the initial designation of Organ Mountains Desert-Peaks National Monument in 2014, which he called “one of the largest land grabs” and a “‘reckless use of executive powers'” that was symptomatic of the federal government’s “war on the west.”^{[8] [9] [10]}Pearce also believed that the Obama administration disregarded law when it made the designation.

Rep. Pearce introduced in 2013 a bill to “prohibit all future monument designations except those approved by Congress,”^[11] and in 2015, he voted for an amendment to block the presidential declaration of new national monuments in certain counties of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

WHAT PEARCE DOES NEXT WILL DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF WESTERN PUBLIC LANDS

Westerners, including New Mexicans who Rep. Pearce represents, want and expect public lands to maintain public access, provide world-class recreation and tourism opportunities that support businesses and jobs, support healthy, thriving communities, and be protected for the next generation – a mix only possible when our government and industry strikes the right balance between energy development and conservation.

New Mexico’s public lands are supposed to be managed for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, which generates $9.9 billion in consumer spending annually and supports 99,000 jobs.^[12] Yet, the oil and gas industry has the system rigged in its favor, and under the Trump Administration, development is being prioritized above every other use of our public lands, including outdoor recreation. This Administration’s efforts to eliminate common-sense protections for hiking trails, big game herds, and drinking water – in the misguided pursuit of “energy dominance” – is a grave threat to New Mexico’s public lands, economy, and our natural heritage.

Any additional votes by Rep. Pearce for the anti-public lands bills currently under consideration in Congress would be a vote to upend that balance. We sent Rep. Pearce’s office a letter asking him to clarify his positions on public lands and the anti-public lands legislation outlined above; we have yet to hear back.

^[12] “Rigged – Why Oil & Gas Development is Already the Dominant Use of New Mexico’s Public Lands,” Western Values Project

Also published on Medium.