Title: National Monument CAP Act
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
National Monument Creation and Protection Act
This bill amends the Antiquities Act of 1906 to allow the President to declare by public proclamation an object or objects of antiquity (currently, historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest) that are situated on lands owned or controlled by the federal government to be national monuments. "Objects of antiquity" means relics, artifacts, human or animal skeletal remains, fossils, and certain buildings constructed before enactment of this bill.
The bill prescribes limits on land that may be declared to be a national monument based on acreage, proximity to other national monuments, whether it has been reviewed by the Department of the Interior or Agriculture (USDA) under the National Environmental Policy Act, and whether it has been approved by each county and state within whose boundaries it will be located.
Such limitation shall not apply to a designation made to prevent imminent and irreparable harm to the object or objects of antiquity to be protected. Such exception shall end after one year and may be used only once.
The President may reduce the size of any declared national monument: (1) by 85,000 acres or less; or (2) by more than 85,000 acres only if the reduction has been approved by each county and state within whose boundaries the monument will be located and reviewed by Interior or USDA under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The bill prohibits any land from being declared as a national monument in a configuration that would place nonfederally owned property within the monument without first obtaining the owners' written consent.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3990 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3990

To amend title 54, United States Code, to reform the Antiquities Act of 
                     1906, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 6, 2017

   Mr. Bishop of Utah (for himself, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. McClintock, Mr. 
 Gosar, Mr. LaMalfa, and Mr. Westerman) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 54, United States Code, to reform the Antiquities Act of 
                     1906, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Monument Creation and 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON SIZE; CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE OBJECTS.

    Section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``historic landmarks, 
        historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of 
        historic or scientific interest'' and inserting ``object or 
        objects of antiquity'';
            (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``confined to the 
        smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of 
        the objects to be protected'' and inserting ``in accordance 
        with the limitations outlined in subsections (e), (f), (g), and 
        (h)''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Limitation on Size of National Monuments.--Except as provided 
by subsections (f), (g), and (h), after the date of the enactment of 
this subsection, land may not be declared under this section in a 
configuration that would create a national monument--
            ``(1) that is more than 640 acres; and
            ``(2) whose exterior boundary is less than 50 miles from 
        the closest exterior boundary of another national monument 
        declared under this section.
    ``(f) Exception for Monuments of Less Than 5,000 Acres.--Subsection 
(e) shall not apply to the designation of a national monument under 
this section if the national monument so designated--
            ``(1) would be less than 5,000 acres;
            ``(2) would have all exterior boundaries 50 miles or more 
        from the closest exterior boundary of another national monument 
        declared under this section; and
            ``(3) has been reviewed under the National Environmental 
        Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) by the Secretary of 
        the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as appropriate.
    ``(g) Exception for Monuments of 5,000 Acres and up to 10,000 
Acres.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subsection (e) shall not apply to the 
        designation of a national monument under this section if the 
        national monument so designated--
                    ``(A) would be at least 5,000 acres but not more 
                than 10,000 acres; and
                    ``(B) would have all exterior boundaries 50 miles 
                or more from the closest exterior boundary of another 
                national monument declaration under this section.
            ``(2) Other requirement.--A monument described in this 
        subsection shall be subject to the preparation of an 
        environmental assessment or environmental impact statement as 
        part of a review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 
        1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). The choice of environmental 
        review document shall be within the discretion of the Secretary 
        of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as 
        appropriate.
    ``(h) Exception for Monuments 10,000 Acres and up to 85,000 
Acres.--Subsection (e) shall not apply to the designation of a national 
monument under this section if the national monument so designated--
            ``(1) would be at least 10,000 acres but not more than 
        85,000 acres;
            ``(2) would have all exterior boundaries 50 miles or more 
        from the closest exterior boundary of another national monument 
        declaration under this section; and
            ``(3) has been approved by the elected governing body of 
        each county (or county equivalent), the legislature of each 
        State, and the Governor of each State within whose boundaries 
        the national monument will be located (and the Governor of each 
        such State has transmitted a copy of each such approval to the 
        President).
    ``(i) Exception for Emergency Designation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subsection (e) shall not apply to the 
        designation under this section of a national monument of any 
        acreage amount if designation is made to prevent imminent and 
        irreparable harm to the object or objects of antiquity to be 
        protected by the designation.
            ``(2) One year limitation.--A national monument designation 
        under this subsection shall terminate on the date that is one 
        calendar year after the date of the designation.
            ``(3) One time designation.--Land designated as a national 
        monument under this subsection--
                    ``(A) may only be so designated one time; and
                    ``(B) may not also be permanently designated as a 
                national monument under this section.
            ``(4) Rights and uses.--Land designated as a national 
        monument under this subsection shall remain subject to--
                    ``(A) valid existing rights; and
                    ``(B) uses allowed on the day before such 
                designation under an applicable Resource Management 
                Plan or Forest Plan.
    ``(j) Presidential Authority To Reduce Size of Declared 
Monuments.--The President may--
            ``(1) reduce the size of any national monument declared 
        under this section by 85,000 acres or less; or
            ``(2) reduce the size of any national monument declared 
        under this section by more than 85,000 acres only if the 
        reduction--
                    ``(A) has been approved by the elected governing 
                body of each county (or county equivalent), the 
                legislature of each State, and the Governor of each 
                State within whose boundaries the national monument 
                will be located (and the Governor of each such State 
                has transmitted a copy of each such approval to the 
                President); and
                    ``(B) has been reviewed under the National 
                Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
                seq.) by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary 
                of Agriculture, as appropriate.
    ``(k) Non-Federally Owned Property.--After the date of the 
enactment of this subsection, land may not be declared as a national 
monument under this section in a configuration that would place non-
federally owned property within the exterior boundaries of the national 
monument without the express written consent of the owners of that non-
federally owned property.
    ``(l) Effect of Declaration on Federal Funds.--No declaration under 
this section shall be construed to increase the amount of Federal funds 
that are authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year.
    ``(m) Water Rights Associated With a Declaration.--Water rights 
associated with a declaration under this section--
            ``(1) may not be reserved expressly or by implication by a 
        declaration under this section; and
            ``(2) may be acquired for a declaration under this section 
        only in accordance with the laws of the State in which the 
        water rights are based.
    ``(n) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Declaration; declared.--The terms `declaration' and 
        `declared' shall only include the creation or expansion of a 
        national monument under this section.
            ``(2) Land.--The term `land' shall not include submerged 
        land or water.
            ``(3) Object or objects of antiquity.--
                    ``(A) The term `object or objects of antiquity' 
                means--
                            ``(i) relics;
                            ``(ii) artifacts;
                            ``(iii) human or animal skeletal remains;
                            ``(iv) fossils (other than fossil fuels); 
                        and
                            ``(v) certain buildings constructed before 
                        the date of the enactment of this subsection.
                    ``(B) The term `object or objects of antiquity' 
                does not include--
                            ``(i) natural geographic features; and
                            ``(ii) objects not made by humans, except 
                        fossils (other than fossil fuels) or human or 
                        animal skeletal remains.''.
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