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Chair Of House Subcommittee On National Parks Calls Parks, Other Federal Lands Unconstitutional

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U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees national parks and other federal lands, says it is unconstitutional for the federal government to own those tracts.

And while the Utah Republican would like to see most federal lands in the West turned over to the states, he said the federal government can keep national parks "because they’re not moneymakers anyway."

Rep. Bishop made the comments recently in Las Vegas, where he was appearing at a Western Republican Leadership Conference meeting, part of which focused on federal control of public lands in the West.

According to a report from Think Progress, a nonpartisan arm of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the congressman told those attending the conference that nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it provide for such federal land ownership.

During a slide presentation to the conference the Republican said, "Federal government owns one out of every three acres in this country. If it’s west of Denver, it’s one out of every two acres. If this kind of federal control is good, then the Soviet Union should have been the Garden of Eden. But what this presents to us – and I defy you to find anywhere in the Constitution where this is allowable - but what it defines to us is – the second slide if you would – everything in red are the states that had the hardest time funding their educations system."

In its report on the meeting Think Progress pointed out that Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2 of the Constitution provides that “Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”

Rep. Bishop also told Think Progress that he fully supports mining near Grand Canyon National Park, and says it would have "no impact on the Grand Canyon water or tourism that happens to be there."

U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials last week announced their preference to extend a moratorium on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon for 20 years. After a 30-day waiting period, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be able to sign off on the plan.

There has been legislation introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives to block the administration from enforcing the moratorium. In July the House Appropriations Committee amended Interior's budget bill to tie the administration's hands on the matter.

Comments

Anon at 9:08 -- there's a huge difference between Utah and Michigan.  Utah was not an industrial state dependent upon pretty much a single industry.  There is no way you can compare the two in any way.


Obviously, Lee, they have little in common, especially their governing political parties.  One might ask Orin Hatch what he would do with Michigan.  Certainly wouldn't get a PC response but the answer would get to the core of the problem.  A decent and respected leader who is probably heartbroken to view this country as it is now but could still muster the drive to remain hopeful.


How do these bozos ever get elected?


Who's Bozos, yours or mine, lol?


I just sent the following email to Rob Bishop: 

Rep. Bishop is using a twisted claim that wilderness areas along the Mexican border make it difficult to detect and capture illegal immigrants and smugglers.  Yet Border Patrol officers and National Park rangers who patrol and protect the border say that wilderness areas actually make their job easier because they know that any movement detected there is probably illegal.

Two more men who were captured in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last spring were just convicted.  A note in the National Park Service's Digest today says:  "On March 28th, rangers tracked a group of suspected drug smugglers into the Alamo Canyon area of the park, an area open to and frequented by visitors. The smugglers dispersed when approached by rangers, but two were caught and six backpacks with 291 pounds of processed marijuana were seized. The two men – Omar Sandoval-Ventura and Jose Martin Burgos-Diaz – were convicted of smuggling. Burgos-Diaz was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison earlier this year; on October 24th, Sandoval-Ventura was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison."

These bring to at least four the number of smugglers captured, tried and sentenced this year alone.

When will Mr. Bishop finally stop trying to use lies to convince Americans that wilderness is bad and poses a security threat when he surely knows that his claim is false?


Lee, I agree, Rep. Bishop hasn't been a 100% supporter of NPS but then Billy Malone isn't either.  There is a dark side to most things and some of the darker elements of both NPS and really/especially, the DC culture.  A tried and effective way of hiding the darkness is to use any number of popular poll tested disguises/words to grease things.  So, anyone that might see through the smoke and is concerned is smeared any number of ways.  The border is not safe for anyone and it appears that the Feds as much as the different agencies may want to secure it, this administration is all about their politics in a way unseen before.  I truly love these wild places and have the opportunity to get into them more than most particularly more than President Obama who's three hour bus ride through one of the great wonders of the world was a mere political photo op.  Hardly comparable to other Presidents of character that did indeed sense the intimate greatness that these places impart.  So, for myself I prefer the tough realities of honest debate to the deception, lies and fraud  no matter what party.  
Respectfully


Anonymous, perhaps you'd like to come out from behind your veil of secrecy? Otherwise we might assume that you're pushing an agenda against the current administration;-)

To say that, "This administration is all about their politics in a way unseen before" seems to greatly trivialize the elements of the previous administration that precipitated two wars abroad and the financial/economic chaos here at home.

And don't overlook that this president is not a trendsetter in creating the "political photo op." Have you forgotten the aircraft carrier shot? Or even President Clinton's photo op on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to designate a national monument in Utah?

Don't misunderstand my position, either, as the current administration has been disappointing in a good number of areas. At the same time, don't forget there are 535 other folks up on Capitol Hill who have more than a small pull on the country's rudder.

The point, of course, is that all politics are slimy. Some just more than others. Seemingly long gone are the statesman and stateswoman who seemed/tried to work in the nation's best interests.

As for the realities of the border debate, I'll let the GAO handle those:

/2010/11/gao-report-environmental-laws-dont-greatly-impede-border-security-southwest7175

/2011/04/distilling-facts-about-securing-southwestern-border-mexico-can-be-tricky7999


Kurt, thank you for having my back on this.

Anon -- have you ever heard of Paul Hoffman?  Do you know who he was and what he tried to do under orders from President Cheney and his little buddy?

I agree with Kurt that President Obama has been a disappointment in many areas.  But given the current flock of potential potentates from the other party, I'll have no choice but to vote for him again.


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