Republicans move to sell off 3.3m acres of national land, sparking rallies
- Land totaling the size of Connecticut has been targeted in a new bill
in the Republican House, uniting hunters and conservationists in
opposition
-
Chaffetz, a Tea Party Republican,
claimed that the 3.3m acres of national land served “no purpose for taxpayers”.
-
The 10 states affected are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
-
House Bill 621
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 GOP’s 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.
Hey guys, FYI, 621 and 622 are new enough that your congressman may not have a stance on them yet - and that being the case, it’s a lot easier to weigh in because they won’t be retracting anything (as everyone knows, most Republicans are the kind of dumb that doubles down).
I just called mine and the fellow I spoke to hadn’t even heard of it yet (and thus continued to treat me like a person rather than an annoyance), so this is a good time to call and say DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE to them.
Article dated Tuesday 31 January 2017
For the purposes of tracking these, current as of Feb 1 2017:
- H.B. 621 - Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2017, currently referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
- H.B. 622 - Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act, currently referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture.
And here are the committee memberships, in case one of your representatives is on there:
Wtf “no purpose to taxpayers”
What about preserving natural environments? Protecting wildlife? Teaching the next generation? About appreciating and respecting nature?
Do you really not see how selling off fucking national parks not only screws us over in the future, but is an insult to American history? Theodore Roosevelt would be rolling in his grave.