Monument Designations News Today

Of once untouchable land and utah conservatives have lobbied hard to regain control of it. joining us now former interior secretary under obama sally jewell who helped establish the monument during her tenure. lets start. the administration claims utah needs the land back because cattle grazing is limited and its taking 3 million acres out of state. its a power grab. why dont these arguments make sense to you? >> they dont make sense because these have been federal lands all along. and the natio...

On both sides, no? >> yeah. and i should disclose ben jacobs is a friend of mine but the most damming report came from the fox crew that was in the room that he put his hands around his neck, slammed him to the ground and you can hear on the audio he went completely crazy. this is not a stable person. so this is going to carry him around. this is has defined him already. for whatever he does in his congressional career, whatever monuments he votes to unmonument, this is going to be the thing tha...

Rescind or remove protection from some of the areas within these national monuments, well be prepared to litigate. >> reporter: the antiquities act has been abused, the smallest area come patable to be protected. the average size has increased from 422 acres to millions of acres. >> in some cases, monument designations have placed public lands off-limits for grazing, fishing, mining, multiple use, and even outdoor recreation. >> we heard already this morning that there is an interest in emphasiz...

Rescind or remove protection from some of the areas within these national monuments, well be prepared to litigate. >> reporter: the antiquities act has been abused, the smallest area come patable to be protected. the average size has increased from 422 acres to millions of acres. >> in some cases, monument designations have placed public lands off-limits for grazing, fishing, mining, multiple use, and even outdoor recreation. >> we heard already this morning that there is an interest in emphasiz...

Accomplish? >> its definitely a part of that 100 days review and the president trying to rack up a win. just for your audience to clarify, this executive order does not actually resend any previous monument designations. as an order of review and the president will look at this review and determine if these national monument designations should be adjusted or modified. as you are discussing, you have locals who are saying, we think the previous president overreached, he went too far and designat...

Come. the act also clarifies and law -- despite this clear directive smallest area, has too often become the exception rather than the rule. as an example, teddy roosevelt, president i deeply admire. his first monument, the devils tower in wyoming was about 1200 acres. yes, and recent years, weve seen single monuments span tens of millions of acres. in some cases, monument designations have placed public lands off-limits for grazing, fishing, mining, multiple use, and even outdoor recreation. a ...

What the obama administration has done. you look at the monument designations, 1.35 million acres, the obama administration has done this thing for 550 acres so its a relatively small portion. waiting until the end of the presidency when the administration doesnt have to answer for this for a very long time is certainly something that republicans are going cry foul about. jon: back to the two national monuments that the president has created, im from the west, theres a lot of federal land out th...