Brendan Smialowski
POTUS scored major points with environmentalists across the country Monday, bypassing Congress to designate land in five states as new national monuments. The monuments commemorate Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in Maryland; the San Juan Islands in Washington; the leader of the “Buffalo Soldiers” in Ohio; as well as two other now protected sites in Delaware and Pennsylvania. “These sites honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country,” Obama said in statement. There was plenty of opposition from Republicans, but Obama cited the 1906 Antiquities Act, which he has previously used to create four other national monuments. The White House has said costs will be minimal to protect these areas.