President’s $12.2 Billion 2012 Budget for Interior Focuses on Spending Discipline, Strategic Investments, and Vital Missions

President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 Budget request of $12.2 billion for the Department of the Interior reflects fiscal discipline, setting priorities and cutting worthy programs, while investing responsibly to sustain the national economic recovery and maintain Interior’s vital missions and strategic goals. The investments proposed in the 2012 Budget are balanced by reductions in other programs, recognizing the Nation’s need to live within its means to ensure a legacy of economic strength...Press Release

With all this fiscal discipline and the President's 5-year freeze on discretionary spending, how will the Great Outdoors Initiative fare? Never fear, the property-grabbing virus is alive and well:

The 2012 Budget calls for a landmark investment of $5.5 billion for Interior's AGO programs and requests full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) land acquisition and grant conservation programs. To support the America's Great Outdoors initiative, the Administration's Budget request for both Interior and the U.S. Forest Service totals $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the full amount of revenue generated each year from oil and gas development that is dedicated for land acquisition and conservation. Interior's 2012 Budget includes $375.0 million for Federal land acquisition, $200 million for an expanded LWCF State grants program including competitive grants, and $100 million for Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Grants. As part of the 2012 development process, the Department leveraged the activities of Interior’s bureaus and the Forest Service to coordinate land acquisition and conservation strategies to maximize conservation outcomes in geographic focal areas.

Better hope you are not in one of those geographic focal areas. I could say more but this is a family publication.