October 9, 2018 — The national monument that former President Barack Obama established in the Atlantic Ocean survived a court challenge Friday, with a federal judge finding that the majesty of even underwater lands is worthy of protection.
Appropriating words that President Teddy Roosevelt once used to praise the Yosemite Valley, the Canyon of Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg noted that the Canyons and Seamounts of the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean are a “region of great abundance and diversity as well as stark geographic relief.”
“Dating back 100 million years — much older than Yosemite and Yellowstone — they are home to ‘vulnerable ecological communities’ and ‘vibrant ecosystems,’” Boasberg’s 35-page opinion continues. “And, as was true of the hallowed grounds on which Roosevelt waxed poetic, ‘much remains to be discovered about these unique, isolated environments.’”
When Obama created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in 2016, he relied on a 1906 law passed in Roosevelt’s administration.
A year later, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and four other groups filed suit to unravel the 5,000-square-mile designation: They claimed that high seas do not qualify as the small “parcels of land” discussed in the Antiquities Act.