After several months of criticism over new policies, the way it rounds up wild horses and other issues, officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management took time Tuesday to lay out the agency’s economic contributions. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and BLMDirector Bob Abbey also emphasized efforts to encourage energy production on federal land, both for traditional uses and more modern, renewable sources. In Idaho, the BLM’s effects include almost 5,000 direct jobs and more than 2,000 jobs related to BLM activities. Almost four-fifths of the direct jobs are related to recreation, which brought in more than 6 million visitors and more than $300 million in 2010. Grazing contributed more than $35 million and timber added more than $18 million. “The BLM is one of the nation’s top revenue generating agencies,” Abbey said. “We return $4 in revenue for every $1 that has been appropriated in Congress. All together, the BLM generates $112 billion in economic benefits.”...more
BLM is one of the few agencies who generate income. When I was in D.C., only the IRS generated more revenue for the feds.
The article mentions criticisms over new policies, but that's not what this is about.
Their budget is about to get cut and that brings out all the bells and whistles.
2 comments:
BLM and Forest Service prohibition of livestock grazing has devastated local economies through out the State of Nevada. It can be demonstrated that federal regulations cause environmental problems and cost money regardless of what spin Mr. Abby puts on his statistics. For example, recently Dr. Lesperance reported that cattle numbers statewide dropped from 700,000 in 1982 to 450,000 in 2009. Sheep numbers have dropped to about 80,000. Much of the change was due to prohibitions of grazing on federally regulated lands (called grazing reductions by the agencies). Looking at just the lost numbers of cattle, each animal unit costs the owner at least $350 per year as the cash operating costs of a ranch, and the value of each ranch can be $2325.00 per animal or more. This indicates that $87,500,000 per year of cash spent as business operating expenses is no longer circulating within local economies of Nevada. If the BLM did not exist the energy production would be developed by private enterprise and the grazing productivity would be managed by private enterprise for profit. Private stewardshp and private business decisions mean that local economies through out the western states would prosper to the benefit of the whole country.
Floyd Rathbun
Fallon,NV
Floyd, thanks for your comment.
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