Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Dems’ Lame-Duck Land Grab

Environmentalists hate sprawl — except when it comes to the size of their expansive pet legislation on Capitol Hill. In a last-ditch lame-duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government-lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas. Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5. Yes, the hurdles are high. But with Reid and company now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock. The sweeping bill bundles up scores of controversial proposals, including the creation of massive new national-monument boundaries and wilderness areas along the southern border that are opposed by ranchers, farmers, local officials, and citizens. One New Mexico activist, Marita Noon, said the federal plans to usurp nearly a half-million acres in her state would result in an “illegal-immigrant superhighway” off-limits to border-security enforcement. Security analyst Dana Joel Gattuso pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report on how environmental permitting rules and land-use regulations have hampered policing efforts at all but three stations along the border...more

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