Colorado is on the front lines of federal land acquisition, fighting to keep the federal government out of our backyard on multiple fronts.
oped: This was posted March 4, 2010 by Shawn Martini in Industry, Legislative, Rural Life, Wildlife/Environment
And where pray tell was our elected officials on this matter? Asleep at the helm as usual...thus it came to a head in the Bundy Ranch attack by non other than Senator Harry Reid and his gestapo BLM agents.
Congress needs to get off the pot have a cup of hot coffee and start Impeachment hearings on the entire Obama administration for sedition/corruption bordering on Treason and abuse of the US Constitution /Bill of Rights! Failure to do so will result in a Convention of States and a possible secession movement!
Senator Jim DeMint took to the pages of the Washington Post this morning to raise the alarm about a planned, 10 million acre Western land grab by the Obama administration.
A secret
administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal
government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New
Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining
and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue
that’s essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.
President
Obama could enact the plans in this memo with just the stroke of a pen,
without any input from the communities affected by it.
The memo was leaked by a Department of Interior official to Utah Congressman Bob Bishop.
According to the memo, around 380,000 acres of BLM and private land in Colorado would be subject to a “conservation designation” under the National Monument designation of the 1906 Antiquities Act. The Vermillion Basin, northwest of Craig, and the Alpine Triangle near Ouray are listed in the memo. This designation would close the areas off to multi-use activities including, mining, hunting, grazing, oil and gas development and other recreational activities.
“President Obama spoke last month at his State of the Union address about the need to use America’s natural resources. It does not make much sense to recognize the need to put America’s vast stores of energy resources to use, and then work to limit access to them. Especially in this economy,” said Alan Foutz, President of Colorado Farm Bureau.
The memo shows that the goal of the designations is to limit multiple use activities and the potential development from oil and gas companies. It says all kinds of animals would be better off under the designation, like the coyotes, badgers, prairie dogs, elk, deer and pronghorn.
“”Deer and elk populations are thriving and we in Colorado don’t need help from the federal government in order to manage them effectively,” added Foutz.
Citing the “unique landscape” and “scenic qualities” the memo notes that the vermillion basin is “currently under threat of oil and gas development, which will forever alter the region.”
Here ya go: Senator Reid and his Chinese buddies...green energy research/development in the area of the Bundy ranch!
In Nevada, the Obama administration might make another monument in the Heart of the Great Basin because it, supposedly, is a “center of climate change scientific research.”
Interior staffers also note in the report that the Alpine Triangle carries about 25,000 acres of patented mining claims that could be used to support backcountry cabins and second home development, which would “threaten the landscape.”
A Potential Fix
Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) is introducing legislation, H.R. 4716 , with Congressman Mike Coffman (CO-06) that would safeguard Colorado from arbitrary presidential monument designations and ensure that all future national monument designations only occur through an open and transparent process that includes input from local officials, residents, and stakeholders.
“Colorado
has a rich supply of natural energy that if used responsibly can
provide high paying jobs and reduce energy costs. But this
Administration just doesn’t get it. It seems President Obama and
Secretary Salazar would rather lock up our valuable Western resources
than help lower energy costs and create jobs. At the very least, they
owe it to the people of Colorado to discuss their agenda in an open
manner,” said Congressman Lamborn.
“This
legislation will help ensure that any decision to further restrict
access to valuable natural resources is done so with the full input and
knowledge of the people of Colorado. Congressman Lamborn and I call on
the entire Colorado delegation to support this bill. It will ensure that
the people of Colorado have a voice in what happens in our state,”
explained Mr. Coffman.
Over the last forty years, the federal government has spent nearly $13 billion adding hundreds of thousands of acres to the federal estate. In fact, an area larger than the size of Florida has been added to federal lands since John F. Kennedy was president.
Past Indiscretions
Congressman Bishop says that he released the
document because he does not want to see another land grab like what
happened under previous administration.
Several past presidents have made gratuitous use of the National
Monuments designation to give back-room favors to their environmentalist
supporters. The law allowed Former President Clinton to single-handedly
create 19 new national monuments, expand three others and prohibit
recreational use over 5.9 million acres without ever consulting anyone.He unilaterally closed the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah to oil and gas development, without ever consulting the public or state, local and federal officials. Prior to the designation, the 135,000 acre region was responsible for producing 65,000 barrels of oil a year. The designation even sparked a Supreme Court case.
President Jimmy Carter used the executive to lock up more land than any other president; all in the name of “conservation.” He took more than 50 million acres in Alaska despite heavy opposition from the state.
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