Trump review threatens to rip up Obama protections for wilderness areas
by Oliver Milman in New York from on (#2MCVX)
- Interior secretary to review past presidents' national monument designations
- Trump says 'massive federal land grab' should never have happened
Donald Trump has triggered a review of protections that cover more than a billion acres of US public land and waters in a move that could potentially rescind the designation of several national monuments declared by previous presidents.
Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order relating to the Antiquities Act, a law introduced by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 which gives presidents the ability to name areas of federal land and waters as national monuments. The order directs Ryan Zinke, the secretary of the interior, to review about 30 national monuments that are larger than 100,000 acres and have been declared since 1996.
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