Colorado’s Republican delegation strongly urged President Biden not to weaponize the Antiquities Act and impose a slew of new land-use restrictions just to get U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet reelected.
But being the Party of Spite and Malice, that’s exactly what Biden and the Democrats plan to do next week when the president comes to Colorado to campaign for Bennet.
On Wednesday, Biden is expected to make his way to the WWII-era military training area known as that empty open space where Camp Hale once operated, wave his magic presidential wand, and unilaterally bypass Congress to declare it a national monument.
Behold the majesty of the, uhm …
So anyway, the designation is expected to lock up critical mineral exploration and interfere with wildfire prevention efforts, but Democrats don’t care.
Colorado Republicans got wind of Biden’s plans to make an end-run around Congress and make this play in order to keep Bennet’s seat and Democrat control of the Senate, and in a Sept. 23 letter said:
For years, partisan big-city Democrats – with the full backing and support of the far-Left green energy cartel – have attempted to implement massive new land grabs through the so-called Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act. The CORE Act land grab seeks to impose increased land restrictions on nearly 400,000 acres, 73,000 acres of which would be designated as new wilderness and close numerous forms of outdoor recreation and multiple-use, exacerbating wildfires in the process.
Year after year, efforts to pass the CORE Act through the Congress have failed. For the last several years, House Democrats have attached the CORE Act to the National Defense Authorization Act – a completely unrelated piece of legislation. As those efforts have also (predictably) failed, radical Colorado Democrats are now calling on you to weaponize the Antiquities Act – an outdated 1906 law that permits the President to designate certain lands as national historic monuments – and apply it to key provisions of the CORE Act.1 We urge you to reject this overreach and request for unilateral use of executive power. There is no compelling reason why local opposition and the United States Congress should be ignored or undermined, particularly as CORE Act proponents have not been able to get their egregious bill and related provisions signed into law after more than a decade.
Given the challenges on the Colorado River, now is certainly not the time to be trampling on and usurping private water rights, and there are significant water rights that could be negatively impacted through an Antiquities Act designation in the requested areas.
Without local buy-in, any designation of land under the Antiquities Act will be subject to considerable controversy, as well as never-ending litigation.
Even the Washington Post admits the move is purely political, acknowledging “Bennet’s bid for a third term has attracted national attention as Democrats battle to keep their razor-thin majority in the Senate.”
Colorado Public Radio reports the White House has not confirmed the purpose of Biden’s visit, but every major news outlet is reporting the planned designation.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was just here a few days ago to boost Bennet’s reelection with the announcement that taxpayers spent $3.3 million to double the size of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.
It’s almost as if Bennet is taking control of hundreds of thousands of acres from Colorado natives and giving it to the federal government, in exchange for some media events and hype to get his pathetically unaccomplished ass reelected.