Statement on Signing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
Issued 2009-03-30 by Barack Obama
Plain-English Overview
AI-generated summary explaining what this action does, who it affects, and why it matters
President Obama signed a major land conservation bill called the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This law protects millions of acres of federal land as wilderness, adds more than 1,000 miles of rivers to the National Wild and Scenic River System, and designates thousands of miles of trails for the National Trails System. It creates three new units in the National Park System, expands several existing parks, establishes a new national monument called the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, and creates four new national conservation areas. The bill also authorizes programs to study climate change effects on natural resources and establishes a program aimed at reducing wildfire risk.
This legislation affects protected lands across the country, including places like Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan, Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, Mount Hood in Oregon, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and Zion National Park in Utah, among others. The bill also includes the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, which creates coordinated research activities through the National Institutes of Health to find treatments for paralysis and promotes better rehabilitation services and equipment for Americans living with paralysis.
In his signing statement, President Obama noted one provision where he interprets the law differently than written. The law says the Secretary of the Interior must appoint certain members to a commission based on recommendations from House members, but the President stated he will treat these recommendations as considerations rather than requirements, since conditioning appointments on congressional recommendations would restrict his constitutional appointment power.
AI-generated summary for educational purposes
Constitutional Analysis
How this action fits (or doesn't) within Article II authority and existing law
This signing statement ("Statement on Signing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009") was issued alongside a bill the President signed into law. Signing statements allow presidents to express constitutional or policy objections to specific provisions of legislation they have just signed. Their legal weight and constitutional propriety have been contested since the practice became common in the 1980s.
Critics — including the American Bar Association — argue that using signing statements to announce an intent to not enforce portions of a law effectively creates a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York (1998). Defenders argue presidents have a duty to identify constitutional concerns and that signing statements are a legitimate form of executive interpretation. The constitutional propriety depends on whether this specific statement announces non-enforcement or merely records the President's views.
Official Summary
Administration of Barack H. Obama, 2009 Statement on Signing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 March 30, 2009 Today I have signed into law H.R. 146, the "Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009." This landmark bill will protect millions of acres of Federal land as wilderness, protect more than 1,000 miles of rivers through the National Wild and Scenic River System, and designate thousands of miles of trails for the National Trails System. It also will authorize the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System within the Department of the Interior. Among other provisions, H.R. 146 designates three new units in our National Park System, enlarges the boundaries of several existing parks, and designates a number of National Heritage Areas. It creates a new national monument—the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument—and four new national conservation areas, and establishes the Wyoming Range Withdrawal Area. It establishes a collaborative landscape-scale restoration program with a goal of reducing the risk of wildfire and authorizes programs to study and research the effects of climate change on natural resources and other research-related activities. <P