Spring has sprung and so has the House’s mood for passing environmental
bills! The U.S. House of Representatives took a major step forward
toward giving the rugged and wild
Grand Canyon National Monument,
adjacent to the National Park, the protection it deserves. In a
bipartisan vote of 278 to 140, the National Landscape Conservation
System (H.R. 2016) passed.
“We could not be more excited that
the House is taking decisive action to protect our natural treasures,”
says Preservation Advocate, Christy Goldfuss. “The
Grand Canyon National Monument
neighbors the National Park, so this will help to preserve a landscape
like no other, full of big horn sheep and desert tortoise.”
The
Grand Canyon National Monument
is just one of the many jewels contained in the Conservation System,
which is comprised of Bureau of Land Management Lands, such as national
monuments,
wilderness areas, and national conservation areas. A similar bill S.
1139 has passed through the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources
Committee. It now awaits a floor vote in the Senate.
This win
in the House comes on the heels of another environmental victory last
week, when the House passed H.R. 1187 to Expand California Marine
Sanctuaries. That bill would double the size of the
Gulf of
Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries off the coast of
California.
“We
applaud the House for continually supporting legislation that supports
our environment,” Goldfuss continued, “and we hope the Senate will soon
follow suit, by sending the National Landscape Conservation System to
the President’s desk.”
