U.S. President creates Chimney Rock National Monument

September 23, 2012

Friday saw U.S. Barack Obama issue a proclamation making the south-western Colorado site of  a. This the third national monument Obama has created, without an, using authority granted to the President under the 1906.

As the newest of country's 103 national monuments, Chimney Rock consists of the 4,726-acre (19 km2) of  in, Colorado. It will continue being managed by the. In Friday's proclamation, Obama said the site "incorporates spiritual, historical, and scientific resources of great value and significance".

introduced House Bill 2611 last year, attempting to designate the area a national monument; his bill passed in the House of Representatives, but stalled over election-year politics in the Senate. Fiscal conservatives in the Senate blocked the measure, fearing it could increase administrative costs. Supporters insist any additional costs would be negligible. The President's action has met with bipartisan support from within the of Colorado; although national Republican leaders have criticised presidential use of the 1906 act, citing concerns that where mineral, or fossil fuel, resources may be present such action "locks them up".