Paul LePage Asks Trump ‘To Make Maine Woods Great Again’ By Reversing Monument Status

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House in Augusta, Maine. Lepage said Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, he intends to seek "spiritual guidance" in hopes of qu... FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House in Augusta, Maine. Lepage said Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, he intends to seek "spiritual guidance" in hopes of quieting a controversy he created when he left an obscene message on a Democratic lawmaker's voicemail and then said he wished he could challenge him to a duel and point a gun at him. LePage said he doesn't intend to talk to the media anymore, a claim he has made before. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) MORE LESS
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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s governor has asked Republican President Donald Trump to undo Democratic former President Barack Obama’s designation of a national monument.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage asked Trump to take the unprecedented step of returning land in the northern part of the state to private ownership in a Feb. 14 letter. Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby’s foundation donated the land in hopes of revitalizing a struggling rural area.

The governor says if the land remains a federal monument the state should manage it to avoid economic damage. He says he wants to “make the Maine woods great again.”

LePage says he’s hopeful Trump will heed opponents of the monument in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which sent Trump an electoral college vote.

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says it’s a “real legal question” whether Trump can undo the designation.

Quimby’s son calls LePage’s letter disappointing.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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