EDITORIAL : CLINTON'S CHASM PRESIDENT PLAYS POLITICS ON A MONUMENTAL SCALE.PRESIDENT CLINTON set up his traveling tent show on Wednesday on the edge of the spectacular Grand Canyon in Arizona for the purpose of creating a new national monument (and more importantly, a shameless election-year photo opportunity). However, the 1.7 million acres of dramatic red-rock landscape that he made a monument was in southern Utah, 70 miles away. Apparently, the president felt safer signing the law with a great chasm separating him from the people of Utah, not all of whom wanted a new national monument. Clinton's move was designed to appease environmentalists who have fought to block development of one of the nation's largest known coal reserves by a Dutch-owned company. Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table). by drawing on a 90-year-old law that allows him to act without congressional approval, thus sidestepping Utah's elected Republican congressional leaders and ignoring pleas from Utah's Gov. Michael O. Leavitt not to proceed. Utah's officials have long argued for mining the land and creating jobs. But the newly created monument is located between two magnificent sites that are already protected: Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce Canyon National Park, 35,835 acres (14,513 hectares), SW Utah; est. 1924. The Pink Cliffs of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, c.2,000 ft (610 m) high, were formed by water, frost, and wind action on alternate strata of softer and harder limestone; the result is colorful and unique erosional forms, including miniature cities, cathedrals, and spires. and Capitol Reef National Park. More importantly, designating land as a national monument doesn't categorically prevent mining. Clinton administration officials refused to say definitively that the action would prohibit mining. In other words, Clinton's action was mostly show. He snubbed Utah without any political risk because he has no chance of winning there. But he does hope to score points in neighboring Arizona, which is not affected by the decision and where Democrats believe they have a chance to win. And when all is said and done, Andalex Resources could still negotiate a mining deal on the land, although it might be more difficult. We are not flatly opposed to declaring this particular area, or part of it, as a national monument. What we object to is the high-handed way the president created one without consulting the people of Utah. No wonder there is a sagebrush sagebrush, name for several species of Artemisia, deciduous shrubs of the family Asteraceae (aster family), particularly abundant in arid regions of W North America. The common sagebrush (A. tridentata), called also big sagebrush, is a silvery-gray low shrub with a pungent odor of sage, although it is unrelated to the true sage. rebellion in parts of the West. |
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