Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land, sparking rallies
Source: The Guardian
Land totaling the size of Connecticut has been targeted in a new bill in the Republican House, uniting hunters and conservationists in opposition.
Now that Republicans have quietly drawn a path to give away much of Americans public land, US representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah has introduced what the Wilderness Society is calling step two in the GOPs plan to offload federal property.
The new piece of legislation would direct the interior secretary to immediately sell off an area of public land the size of Connecticut. In a press release for House Bill 621, Chaffetz, a Tea Party Republican, claimed that the 3.3m acres of national land, maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), served no purpose for taxpayers.
But many in the 10 states that would lose federal land in the bill disagree, and public land rallies in opposition are bringing together environmentalists and sportsmen across the west.
Set aside for mixed use, BLM land is leased for oil, gas and timber, but is also open to campers, cyclists and other outdoor enthusiasts. As well as providing corridors for gray wolves and grizzly bears, low-lying BLM land often makes up the winter pasture for big game species, such as elk, pronghorn and big-horned sheep.
Jason Amaro, who represents the south-west chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, describes the move as a land grab.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/31/public-lands-sell-congress-bureau-management-chaffetz
Matthew28
(1,797 posts)Wants to destroy our natural treasures and kill off even more animals. Republicans truly are the cancer of our society and we need to find the vaccine.
DFW
(54,349 posts)As one who has had to confront cancer for real recently, that is exactly what they are. A destructive, creeping ultimately fatal disease of rogue cells that are difficult to contain and threaten the very life of the host in which they are spreading.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)underpants
(182,769 posts)Snowflake lost the popular vote
Dems picked seats in the House AND Senate
WHERE IS THE MANDATE?
0rganism
(23,944 posts)2010 and 2014 gave them all the mandate they need for now
we have a lot of work to do if 2018 is going to give us anything different
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,338 posts)Soon, they will have the Supreme Court.
That's all the mandate they need.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)But I'm not. For all their odes to the West and Cowboys and ranges, all West is to the rich is the hope of getting richer. These folks have destroyed countless amounts of prices land just to go ahead and make a few bucks, and will have no problem turning this into a wasteland as long as they get paid. This is especially funny in Utah, were the Mormons like JC supposedly consider Utah the promised land. If this is how you treat your promised land, I will not have much faith in what you say, pun intended. The next time I see a politician and a cowboy hat talk about how all the feds need to do is leave West alone and that they will take care of it, I'm going to laugh. Of course, the first Nations stopped laughing about three centuries ago.
geretogo
(1,281 posts)NCjack
(10,279 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)FreeStateDemocrat
(2,654 posts)American M$M hits!
not fooled
(5,801 posts)their evil CEOs and shareholders expect to grab some for their own selves.
Crash2Parties
(6,017 posts)MBS
(9,688 posts)OK, what can we do, everyone?
Rallies are good, but how can we STOP this giveaway and destruction of our national heritage?
gristy
(10,667 posts)and now there it is.
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)They do know there will be the next generation, then the next, next... If they sell off all the protected common lands...
Oh, I am just speechless.