Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Bill would give states control over large chunks of federal forests to raise money to pay for local roads and schools

Idaho Republican Rep. Raul Labrador is looking past the November election with a bill that would give states opportunities to show they do a better job managing national forest lands. Labrador knows his bill, which would establish pilot projects to turn over about 1 percent of Idaho’s 20 million acres of national forests to the state to manage, is not going to fly now. Not with a Democratic Senate — which has blocked similar plans in the past — and with a Democrat in the White House. But Labrador is laying the groundwork with the Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act for a time when the GOP controls the Senate. Campaigning in Idaho in February, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney expressed support for state management of federal lands. Romney’s proposal, which he said came after talking to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, was offered as an alternative to Rick Santorum’s call to transfer ownership. “It just gives every state the opportunity to manage their lands with local control, which is what we want,” Labrador said. The plan has been a nonstarter for environmental groups, even those working in collaboration with Idaho counties and the timber industry. The groups want to keep federal lands managed by federal agencies...more

1% is a "large chunk"?


Looks like they've gone from transfer of ownership, to state management, to state management of 1%.

The text of the bill is not available from the GPO yet, but it appears to only apply to Forest Service land.

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