CEI Supports Reducing Federal Lands for National Monuments, Returning Lands to Private Ownership

Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, responded to the Interior Department’s assessment of the use of federal land as national monuments:

“Successive presidents have misused the Antiquities Act of 1906 to lock up tens of millions of acres of federal lands. Secretary Zinke’s review of recent abuses is a start, but if news reports are correct, President Trump will need to go much further. For example, the new national monument in Maine should be abolished and the land returned to private ownership. The two multi-million acre national monuments in Utah should be reduced to a few hundreds of acres each.”

See CEI’s previous comments applauding President Trump for calling for this assessment here.