U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Carson
City, told the Nevada Legislature Monday he’s “a big proponent of
transferring much of our land back to local or state government
control.” Me too!
Heller and the rest
of Nevada’s congressional delegation recently engineered a transfer of
130,000 acres of federal land to the state, a transfer that will benefit
the Fallon Naval Air Station and Clark, Elko, Humboldt, Lyon and Storey
counties. That’s a good start for those of us who think the Feds
control way too much of our Nevada lands — more than 85 percent of our
state, to be specific.
Renegade
Southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy didn’t do us any favors, however,
when he and his ultra-right wing posse rode into town to convince the
Legislature to demand that the federal government turn over all of the
Nevada land it controls. That’s not going to happen, of course, but it’s
an issue worth discussing in a serious way, as Heller did on Monday.
Even though Bundy and his merry band of fervid followers managed to
make fools of themselves, they did trigger a necessary discussion on why
so much of our state land area has been controlled by Washington-based
bureaucrats.
That’s the case because
the silver barons who engineered statehood for Nevada in 1864 agreed to
“forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated lands lying
within said territory.” That sounds like the old Panama Canal treaties,
downright un-American.
Well, President Carter disavowed the Canal treaties and I see no reason
why Nevada’s elected representatives can’t negotiate a more equitable
agreement with the Feds in the 21st century. Those of us who believe in
states’ rights don’t understand why we should sit by and acquiesce in
this continuing federal land grab.
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