Babbitt Thumbs Nose
At Congress Again

WASHINGTON — The Secretary of the Interior has raised the ire of Congress by refusing to provide a list of proposed national monument sites.

During a meeting of the House Resources subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands on Oct. 19, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said no to Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., when Shadegg asked Babbitt for a list of sites the Clinton Administration is considering for designation as "national monuments," a classification which gives special environmental protections to the property.

"The American people and their congressional representatives should not be left out of land use decisions which have significant local impact," Shadegg says.

A spokesman for Babbitt claims, however, that the secretary did not refuse. The Interior Department spokesman says there is no list.

A Resources Committee spokesman counters that they were not asking for "the list," but rather "a list."

Tuesday's hearing focused on a bill to establish the Shivwits Plateau in Arizona as a National Conservation Area. Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., author of the legislation, says the designation would protect the Shivwits Plateau from the administration's attempts to bypass Congress and designate the area as a national monument.

A committee staffer says congressmen from both parties are becoming increasingly irritated by Babbitt's lack of cooperation on a number of fronts.

In 1996, when Clinton designated the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, the administration did so without consulting Utah's congressional delegation or Congress, Shadegg says.

(Worse, the Clintonistas were setting up chairs in the Grand Canyon for the monument announcement even while they were solemnly assuring Utah's governor that no such designation was planned. No list, indeed! For these people, a baldfaced lie is as integral a part of the day as a hearty breakfast, but then, no one with integrity could work for a man so utterly devoid of that trait as William Jefferson Clinton. — Ed.)