PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RELATING TO "GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA: MOTOR VEHICLES"

On 2025-04-29, Representative Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2) delivered a floor speech titled "PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RELATING TO "GLEN CANYON NATI" in the House.

PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RELATING TO "GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA: MOTOR VEHICLES"

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 71 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1706-H1709] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RELATING TO ``GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA: MOTOR VEHICLES'' Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 354, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 60) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the National Park Service relating to ``Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: Motor Vehicles'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 354, the joint resolution is considered read. The text of the joint resolution is as follows: H.J. Res. 60 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior relating to ``Glen Canyon National Recreation Area: Motor Vehicles'' (90 Fed. Reg. 2621), and such rule shall have no force or effect. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The joint resolution shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees. [[Page H1707]] The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Huffman) each will control 30 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman). General Leave Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 60. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Arkansas? There was no objection. Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 60, led by Representative Maloy. This is an important effort that will overturn an onerous and unnecessary regulation designed to restrict off-highway vehicle access and recreational use of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. House Republicans are committed to pursuing a comprehensive approach to restoring multiple use and public access to our Federal lands, one that favors commonsense land management and prioritizes community buy- in over preservationist policies that are cooked up here in Washington, D.C. As chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, I have often said that some of our most meaningful work increasing access to our public lands will maybe never be a headline on FOX News or CNN, but it will make the front page of your local paper. Established by Congress in 1972 to enhance public recreation, the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is a premier tourist destination that offers world-class water-based, backcountry, and off-highway recreation opportunities. Off-highway vehicle recreation predates the recreation area's establishment and has allowed visitors for generations to explore some of the most remote and beautiful stretches of this remarkable landscape. Consistent with this history, the National Park Service issued a rule in 2021 that expanded the permissible uses of off-road vehicles throughout Glen Canyon, but groups quickly sued, leading the Biden administration to enter into a hasty and secretive settlement against the wishes of local communities. Under that agreement, the Park Service issued a revised rule in the waning days of the Biden administration that restricts motorized uses in Glen Canyon, overturning decades of precedent and severely restricting public access and recreation opportunities. Under this new rule, dozens of miles of popular trails and shorelines are closed off to highway vehicles in what the State of Utah called de facto wilderness management. Even small road closures can have profound consequences for public access. For example, the National Park Service effectively cut off access to the adjacent 1.45 million-acre Henry Mountains travel management area by closing just one-half mile of road in the new rule. Some of the most popular trails in this area, including the Flint Trail and Poison Springs Loop that are pictured behind me, were also shut down under this rule. What is especially nonsensical about this is that these trails aren't even maintained by the National Park Service. The local county maintains them. These restrictions are unnecessary and, frankly, lack common sense. Many of these routes are restricted to off-highway vehicles and remain open to conventional vehicles. This creates public safety concerns by incentivizing the use of vehicles that are not meant to handle rough terrain and rugged trails. Restricting off-highway vehicles also disproportionately affects disabled individuals, who often rely on ATVs or side-by-sides to gain access to remote areas of our public lands. The State of Utah compared the decision to limit off-highway vehicles while still allowing for conventional vehicles as akin to designating parts of Lake Powell exclusively for yachts while restricting more accessible fishing boats and kayaks to less desirable sections of the lake. In totality, this rule ensures that only the most able-bodied and wealthy will be able to have access to areas of Glen Canyon that used to be open and accessible to everyone. Utah boasts $9.5 billion of outdoor recreation economy driven largely by motorized recreation. By shutting down some of the State's most popular motorized recreation trails, the National Park Service is shutting down a main engine of economic growth in some of the poorest, most rural counties. Earlier this year, Congress passed the first-ever bipartisan, comprehensive recreation package aimed at growing, not restricting, our Nation's $1.1 trillion outdoor recreation economy. The EXPLORE Act passed unanimously in both the House and Senate, a rare feat that demonstrates the overwhelming support for opening more of our public lands to outdoor recreation, not locking up our lands and throwing away the key. In keeping with that, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important joint resolution, which will restore off-highway vehicle access to treasured public lands. I again thank Congresswoman Maloy for her excellent work and leadership on this effort. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this resolution would nullify a National Park Service rule that manages motor vehicle use within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It is a commonsense rule that this resolution targets, and it outlines where cars and off-road vehicles are allowed to travel within the boundaries of the national recreation area. It shouldn't be controversial. It shouldn't be political. The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is a very popular destination. It offers ample opportunities for backcountry exploration across 1.25 million acres of public land. To put that in perspective, this area is larger than the entire State of Rhode Island. Now, the National Park Service is tasked with managing park units in a manner that balances public access and enjoyment while ensuring responsible stewardship of the natural environment. That is their job. Achieving that balance can be a tall order under the best of circumstances. It has become even more difficult as the Trump administration works to dismantle the National Park Service. More than 12.5 percent of the entire workforce has left the agency since Donald Trump took office. It has only been a little more than 100 days, and we are already down 2,000 rangers and park employees. House Republicans have stood by and watched, and now they are proposing a resolution that undermines national park management even further. As a reminder, this resolution would repeal a rule that manages all motorized vehicle access within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a unit of the Park Service that is home to very fragile ecosystems like the Orange Cliffs adjacent to Canyonlands National Park and countless cultural and archeological resources. Initial planning started way back in 2007 and was not finalized until the first Trump administration published an overly permissive record of decision in 2018. A court determined that the 2018 version of the rule did not do enough to consider the environmental consequences of allowing off-road vehicles on certain roads, so the Park Service went back to work and they published a new rule that achieved a better balance. The updated rule, which is being targeted today, balances visitor use and access with the long-term stewardship and management of park resources. Despite some of the rhetoric that we may hear from the other side of the aisle, the Park Service did not shut off access to off-road vehicles. Nothing could be further from the truth. The rule allows off- road vehicles on 388 miles of road within the park, only closing access to approximately 6 percent of the existing roadways to protect sensitive resources. Even those roads are still open to cars, jeeps, and other street- legal vehicles. They are just closed to vehicles that have the ability to travel off-road and cause severe damage in proposed wilderness and other sensitive landscapes. That is 94 percent of the roads in this Park Service unit open to motor vehicles, including off-road vehicles, and [[Page H1708]] then just 6 percent where only street-legal vehicles are allowed. That is a very reasonable tradeoff that protects the park for future generations. It is also worth noting that Congress has never used the Congressional Review Act in the way it is being used

Referenced legislation: HJRES60, HJRES60, HRES354