Monday, April 20, 2015

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Defends Federal Land Management

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today defended the federal government’s land management and brushed off calls from legislators in Alaska, and other states, to seize federal lands. Jewell spoke at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, to a standing room only crowd, many from a nearby conference of the outdoor recreation industry. It was a room strongly in favor of preserving federal land. Jewell urged them to make their views known at every level of government. “These are lands that belong to all American people. Just because they’re in the boundary of a state does not mean they belong to the residents of that state. They belong to all American people,” she said. The Alaska House last week passed a bill demanding the federal government turn over its lands in Alaska to the state. Similar measures have passed in other western states. Speaker of the Alaska House Mike Chenault, like other Republican legislators, says it’s a just cause. “I’m not afraid of a fight, and I’m not afraid of doing what I think is right,” he said, in supporting the bill in Juneau. Jewell doesn’t sound too worried. “While there has been a fair amount of rhetoric and even some laws passed in state legislatures, there’s none of them that have been found to be constitutional with regard to a takeover of federal public lands by states,’ she said. “So there’s a lot of talk but there hasn’t been a lot of action.” The talk in Alaska grew louder this winter, when the Obama Administration announced a series of anti-development measures in the state...more



Legislation to "seize" federal land? Most of the bills are calling for a study on the possibility of transferring some of these lands back to the states.   Does Jewell believe it is not "constitutional" for the states to conduct these studies?  She knows it is, but like many in the enviro community Jewell is doing her best to mislead and distort the issue.  Why are they working so hard to prevent these studies?  The feds do a study before they acquire lands, why shouldn't the states?  Let's get the facts out there first and then debate the issue.  What are they afraid of?

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