[House Report 111-510]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
111th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 111-510
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DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO TRANSMIT TO THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATING TO THE POTENTIAL
DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS
_______
June 23, 2010.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Rahall, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
together with
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 1406]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the
resolution (H. Res. 1406) directing the Secretary of the
Interior to transmit to the House of Representatives certain
information relating to the potential designation of National
Monuments, having considered the same, report favorably thereon
without amendment and recommend that the resolution be agreed
to.
PURPOSE OF THE RESOLUTION
The purpose of H. Res. 1406 is to direct the Secretary of
the Interior to transmit to the House of Representatives
certain information relating to the potential designation of
National Monuments.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H. Res. 1406 is a resolution of inquiry that directs the
Secretary of the Interior to transmit to the House of
Representatives, not later than 14 days after the date of the
adoption of the resolution by the full House, copies of all
Department of the Interior documents, maps, records (including
electronic records), communications and other information
dating from July 1, 2009, and later referring to or relating to
a specific internal draft document of the Department of the
Interior concerning the potential designation of National
Monuments. Under clause 7 of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee must act on such a
resolution within 14 legislative days or a privileged motion to
discharge the Committee will be in order in the House.
Under the rules and precedents of the House, a resolution
of inquiry is one of the methods used by the House to obtain
information from the executive branch. According to volume 7,
chapter 24, section 8 of Deschler's Procedure, it is a ``simple
resolution making a direct request or demand of the President
or the head of an executive department to furnish the House of
Representatives with specific factual information in the
possession of the executive branch.''
An earlier resolution of inquiry (H. Res. 1254) introduced
by Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA) on this same subject, as
well as other matters, was ordered reported without
recommendation by the Committee on May 5, 2010. That earlier
resolution sought numerous documents and significantly more
broad categories of information. H. Res. 1406 asks only for the
information related to the specific internal draft document on
the potential designation of National Monuments.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H. Res. 1406 was introduced on May 27, 2010 by
Representative Hastings of Washington. The resolution was
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. No hearings
were held on the resolution. On June 16, 2010, the full Natural
Resources Committee met to consider the resolution. The
resolution was ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by voice vote.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives does not apply, as H. Res. 1406 is not a bill
or joint resolution.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this resolution. The Committee
estimates implementing this resolution would not result in any
significant costs. The Congressional Budget Office did not
provide a cost estimate for the resolution.
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
resolution does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this resolution is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to transmit to the House of Representatives certain
information relating to the potential designation of National
Monuments.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This resolution contains no unfunded mandates.
EARMARK STATEMENT
H. Res. 1406 does not contain any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9 of rule XXI.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This resolution is not intended to preempt any State, local
or tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
H. Res. 1406 would make no changes in existing law.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
Over three months ago, Committee Republicans sent a written
request to Interior Secretary Salazar seeking documents related
to an internal memo that revealed the Administration's
potential plans to unilaterally designate up to 13 million
acres as new national monuments. Such a designation could have
a dramatic impact on the livelihoods and jobs of Americans and
rural communities all across the Western United States.
Despite repeatedly claiming that there is no ``hidden
agenda,'' the Interior Department has done nothing but
stonewall efforts to make these documents public. In fact, the
Department has failed to produce even one single additional
page from this memo beyond pages 15-21 that the Committee
Republicans exposed.
The night before the Committee's previous markup when the
first resolution of inquiry was considered, the Department
released 383 pages of e-mails and documents, but purposefully
withheld 2,016 pages of documents. While these e-mails
contained no substantial information--they did not even provide
the attachments shown in the e-mails--they did raise even more
questions about the Administration's plans.
We know that other pages of this document do exist and that
the Department of the Interior apparently does not want the
American people to find out what the document says. At this
point, only pages 15 to 21 have been revealed and they were
leaked, not released. The Department continues to withhold
pages 1 through 14 as well as pages 22 and higher. Why is the
Department refusing to disclose ALL of the pages?
We now know that other agencies were involved in preparing
this document--not just the Bureau of Land Management. The e-
mails reveal that other Department of the Interior agencies
including the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of Reclamation were
involved in contributing to this document. What were the
proposals for new designations or actions within each of these
agencies?
The resolution of inquiry--House Resolution 1406--passed
with a bi-partisan vote of the Committee on Natural Resources.
The Committee's favorable vote should result in the American
public getting answers to these questions. The Department
should promptly transmit a complete copy of the document along
with the 2,016 pages of related material they have identified
and gathered as being responsive to our request but are
nevertheless deliberately withheld from the public.
The Resolution is very straight forward. It simply directs
the Department of the Interior to transmit to the House of
Representatives material that is specifically identified in the
resolution as:
Copies of all Department of the Interior documents,
maps, records (including electronic records),
communications and other information dating from July
1, 2009, and later referring to or relating to the
document containing ``Attachment 4 Prospective
Conservation Designation: National Monument
Designations under the Antiquities Act'' and marked
``Internal Draft--NOT FOR RELEASE'', including that
document in full, all attachments in full, and all
iterations of that document, and related similar
documents.
This will not require extra work or distract the Department
from other responsibilities. They have this information readily
available. It was assembled weeks ago. All they need do is make
it public. There is no justifiable reason for the Department to
keep these documents secret. This resolution puts the Committee
on Natural Resources on the side of full disclosure and
transparency, principles that Members on both sides should be
proud to support. It is now time for the Department to make all
the documents public. If the Department fails to disclose all
of the documents following action by the Committee to favorably
report House Resolution 1406, then it will be up to the
Committee to act again and take what steps are necessary to
compel the Department to disclosure the documents.
Doc Hastings.