Can you believe Ca. is
leading the way on states rights over federal lands? Plus endangered species,
ranchers and dogs.
U.S. sues California
In a release the Department
of Justice announced it had filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of California against the State of California, Governor of
California Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., and the California State Lands
Commission. The feds are seeking a declaration that California Senate Bill 50,
enacted in October 2017, is unconstitutional and seeking an injunction against
implementation of this state law. Under the law California has the first right
to purchase federal lands or to arrange for a specific buyer.
SB 50 interferes with
federal land conveyances in the State of California says the Justice
Department. The California law gives a
state agency the power to block the sale, donation or exchange of federal lands
by the federal government to any other person or entity. SB 50 also “seeks to
penalize (up to $5,000) any person who knowingly files real estate records
pertaining to a federal land transfer unless the California government
certifies that the transfer complies with state law.”
“The Constitution empowers the federal government—not state legislatures—to decide when and how federal lands are sold,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “California was admitted to the Union upon the express condition that it would never interfere with the disposal of federal land.”
The feds say the
California law violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and the
Property Clause, which purportedly gives to Congress the authority to regulate
and dispose of the federal lands.
California Lt.
Governor Gavin Newsom, a member of the State Lands Commission and a Democrat
running for governor, says the feds are “attacking our state and our very way
of life." California Democrats reportedly welcomed the latest fight and
vowed to defend the law.
This lawsuit is replete with historical, political and legal
ironies. It is like the Civil War all over again. We now have Democrats
defending states’ rights on federal lands and Republicans defending the
supremacy of the almighty feds. The Democrats adopting the position of the
Bundy family while the Republicans claim the right to commit reconstruction on
these lands.
I say it is time the states receive an Emancipation Proclamation with
respect to these lands.
Farm Bill and
endangered species
The
House Ag Committee is marking up a Farm Bill that allows EPA to approve
pesticides without consulting with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Republicans
on the House Agriculture Committee see the language as a “commonsense reform”
to an “onerous and conflicting” consultation process that needs to be
modernized. More than 60 agriculture groups in January wrote a letter urging
Agriculture Committee leaders to include the provision in the bill, saying the
current review and permitting requirements are “redundant” and provide no
additional environmental benefit, but instead impose additional costs on farms
and businesses. The language grants EPA the “express authority and
responsibility to ensure the protection of threatened or endangered species and
critical habitat in connection to pesticide registrations.” They report it has
taken the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service over two years to complete just
three registration reviews. With over 1,600 separate ingredient reviews due in
the next six years, it is clear some type of reform is necessary.
This is upsetting to the enviros. “It’s
a poison-pill rider in the most literal and unfortunate way,” said Jordan
Giaconia with the Sierra Club. It takes just one harmful chemical to be
injected into the ecosystem to cause widespread damage, he said. “The
ramifications are pretty far reaching.” You would think
they’d be happy, because look what the Republicans are giving them: billions of
dollars each year to be spent on the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands
Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation
innovation grants, the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program,
and on and on. The enviros should be happy and the Republicans should be
ashamed, but neither seems to be.
Susan Combs
The former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and State Comptroller Susan
Combs was recently appointed Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish, wildlife and
Parks at the Department of Interior and the enviros are getting what they
deserve on this one. For months now Senator Durbin 0f Illinois has had a hold
on her nomination to be the Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and
Budget. Why? Because of what Zinke was doing on national monuments. The enviros
were successful there, but now they have to deal with her being over the agency
that administers the Endangered Species Act, he he.
The media has been filled with headlines of Combs being an “enemy” 0f
endangered species. "Putting Combs
in charge of the Fish and Wildlife Service is like appointing an arsonist as
the town fire marshal," said Stephanie Kurose with the Center for
Biological Diversity.
However, these stories are distorting her record. I've known and worked with Susan Combs since she was the Commissioner of Ag in Texas, and I don't believe she disagrees with the intent of the ESA. What she will bring is a reasonable reading of the act along with some common sense approaches on how to implement its various provisions. In reality, that is what the enviros fear.
No arson by the town fire marshal here. Just Sheriff Susan Combs putting an end to the enviros game of using the ESA as a land-use control device instead of a species protector.
However, these stories are distorting her record. I've known and worked with Susan Combs since she was the Commissioner of Ag in Texas, and I don't believe she disagrees with the intent of the ESA. What she will bring is a reasonable reading of the act along with some common sense approaches on how to implement its various provisions. In reality, that is what the enviros fear.
No arson by the town fire marshal here. Just Sheriff Susan Combs putting an end to the enviros game of using the ESA as a land-use control device instead of a species protector.
Udall & Heinrich
New Mexico livestock organizations, both north and south, are united in
their opposition to the anti-grazing language in the President Obama
proclamations creating the two most recent national monuments in New Mexico.
That united opposition is of apparently no importance to the New Mexico
Senators. They have introduced the America’s Natural Treasures of
Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of
States (ANTIQUITIES) Act of 2018. Among other things, the legislation
“officially declares Congress’ support for the 51 national monuments
established by presidents in both parties between January 1996 and April 2017”
and states that presidential proclamation creating national monuments “cannot
be reduced or diminished” except by an act of Congress. In other words, it
would permanently place in law the two anti-grazing proclamations affecting New
Mexico ranching families.
Perros in peril?
Environmental researchers are now calling dogs an “invasive” species, or
an “invasive mammalian predator” or a “non-native
introduced species that are wreaking havoc on the ecological balance of many
sensitive ecosystems.” They cite research claiming “domesticated dogs have
imperiled 188 threatened species of animals and caused 11 mass extinctions
globally!”
They will be coming
after your dog next. Will we hear a new battle cry, “Canine free by ‘23”?
Until next time, be a
nuisance to the devil and always check that cinch.
Frank
DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of
a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois
Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation
This column first appeared in the May editions of the NM Stockman and the Livestock Market Digest
1 comment:
That's because it State's rights of first refusal over citizens to buy or arrange for another party to buy Federal land.
The purchasing funds come from the new gas tax, as allocated by SB 1.
When the state aquires either Federal or private land, it doesn't keep up on paying the county property taxes ... which is one reason why rural counties are short on funds.
Post a Comment