Bureau Of Land Management Forecloses Oil Leasing, Utah Sues 4:48 PM 06/11/2014
In yet another spat between the Bureau of Land Management and residents of a western state, Utah is suing the federal agency after it unlawfully foreclosed oil and gas leasing on unprotected lands. (RELATED: Victory for Cliven Bundy, Nevada rancher who challenged feds)
Utah’s litigation alleges that the BLM is imposing ‘wilderness criteria’ on lands outside designated wilderness and wilderness study areas. Uintah County and the Utah Association of Counties is joining the suit, claiming that they have been left out of key management decisions.
In response, federal lawyers argued that Utah had failed to show actionable injury arising from the BLM’s move, given that the agency has not actually reached a final decision and is temporarily assessing the lands for conservation value.
Disputes like these are part and parcel of why title to federal lands west of the Colorado/Nebraska line should be transferred over to western states for better and more efficient management, said Carl Graham, director of Sutherland Institute’s Center for Self-Government in the West, at an event hosted by Americans for Tax Reform on Wednesday.
A recent study conducted by the Nevada Public Land Management Task Force discovered that state-managed lands yielded gains of $28.59 per acre, while BLM-managed lands resulted in a loss of 91 cents per acre.
“Western lands have provided cheap, abundant and often renewable food, energy, minerals, timber and reaction for the entire nation for generations. Who better to conserve and steward those resources than the people who live in the lands and have tended them for generations?” Graham argued.
"A recent study conducted by the Nevada Public Land Management Task Force discovered that state-managed lands yielded gains of $28.59 per acre, while BLM-managed lands resulted in a loss of 91 cents per acre."
That says it all!
******************* "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." Abraham Lincoln
"Either the Republican party will reform itself or its going the way of the wind." Pat Caddell at CPAC
Remember this back in 1996?: "GRAND CANYON, Ariz. President Clinton on Wednesday used his executive powers to transform 1.7 million acres in southern Utah into national monument land, an act intended to protect the coal-rich expanse from mining and other development."
It's obvious that long-term the Dems intend to remove as much of the land in the West from being economically productive. It is become increasingly clear the governments of the western states have got to act on their own. In this case, for example, the Utah authorities should tell the BLM to shove it and then threaten to arrest any federal agent who attempts to impede oil and gas production on those unprotected lands.
It has come to that.
We were asked for ID to get into a national park but it is racist to ask for voter ID?~~Comment on FB