April 4, 2016 — It turns out there are limits to how far even the Obama administration will go to please the green lobby. The White House has opted not to designate an area of the Atlantic off Cape Ann as a national monument, which would have closed it to commercial fishing and activities such as oil or gas exploration or extraction — permanently.
Gov. Charlie Baker last fall had written to President Obama of his objections to the pending national monument designation for Cashes Ledge and a second area known as the New England Canyons and Seamounts, largely because of the unilateral nature of the decision. Some members of the state’s congressional delegation had also raised concerns.
Commercial fishing is already restricted around Cashes Ledge, an underwater mountain range. The monument designation was expected to make those restrictions permanent, but the White House Council on Environmental Quality told a gathering of fishermen and regulators March 24 that Cashes Ledge is no longer being considered (no decision has been made on the other area).