Wisconsin Congressmen vote against the preservation and designation of many future Federal National Monuments.

Saving federal land from looting, excavation or their destruction would seem like a good thing, unless you’re a Wisconsin congressman hell bent on big oil profiting from oil and mineral exploration.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 passed so presidents could quickly save national monuments, instead of going through a lengthy congressional battle. It was for "... the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest. President Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower National Monument on September 24, 1906 … (and) the Grand Canyon National Monument"-Wikipedia.

Because Obama went ahead with a few other proclamations, our GOP leaders were outraged:

The most recent proclamations were the establishment by President Barack Obama of Fort Ord National Monument in California on April 20, 2012,Chimney Rock National Monument on September 21, 2012,[3] and Cesar E. Chavez National Monument on October 8, 2012.[4] President Obama created a further five National Monuments on March 25, 2013, including the First State National Monument in Delaware, the first National Park Service site in that state.[5]”

Can you blame our GOP leaders outrage and push back; the federal preservation of monuments? From Roll Call:

ANTIQUITIES ACT OF 1906: The House passed a bill (HR 1459) to weaken presidential authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to preserve certain federal lands in their natural state. The law was enacted to give presidents a quick means of preventing the looting of archeological and historical resources such as Indian relics on federal land. But critics say modern-era presidents have been overly aggressive in giving “national monument” protection to federal acreage in the West. The bill limits presidents to one national-monument designation per state in their four-year term and subjects preservation decisions to lengthy National Environmental Policy Act reviews.

I know, Republicans are big on national environmental policy, but still (I kid). Voting to prevent the proliferation of many future federal monuments from dotting our already gorgeous country side: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble