On Jan. 28, U.S. Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-MT) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) introduced the bipartisan “Public Lands in Public Hands Act.“ The bill would protect outdoor access to fishing and hunting and other outdoor recreational uses by requiring the approval of Congress to sell or transfer public land.
The Journal’s editorial board strongly encourages Rep. Jeff Hurd to co-sponsor this bill and stand up for our public lands, the heart and soul of the 3rd Congressional District’s communities, economies and western heritage. The board also urges Sens. Bennet (D-CO) and Hickenlooper (C-CO) to voice opposition to the sale of America’s public lands.
The bill is a response to Republican interest in selling our public lands as a way to remedy our national debt which, at $36.22 trillion, is a staggering figure creating rightful concern among Americans.
It is also set to increase under President Donald Trump’s promise to extend his 2017 tax cuts and add $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The new border security measures Trump is seeking would add billions to the deficit, as well.
Reducing spending was a common refrain during Trump’s campaign and has come to roost with his request of lawmakers to identify trillions of dollars in savings through the budget reconciliation process.
What may be less known is that the nation has carried debt since its inception starting with the American Revolutionary War. That continued to grow until 1835 when Congress sold federally owned lands at the same time they cut the budget. Ever since, from economic depressions to deadly pandemics, the deficit has continued to rise.
With a real estate developer in office, it is of little surprise that a majority of Republican lawmakers are resurrecting the idea of selling off federally owned public lands – the birthright of 335 million Americans – to generate revenue to offset tax cuts designed to benefit the wealthiest of Americans.
The state of Utah is once again taking the lead to seize public lands, this time with a misleading state taxpayer-funded public relations campaign working to convince Utahans there are ‘unappropriated’ lands that historically belong to Utah. This is simply not true. At statehood, Utah agreed to relinquish so-called ‘unappropriated’ lands.
Utah leaders have gone so far as attempting to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Jan. 13 denied ‘original review’ of the state’s request that 18.5 million acres of federally owned and managed lands in Utah be placed under state control.
The state claims the federal government’s ownership of these lands is unconstitutional and sought to sidestep Congress by going straight to the Supreme Court to seek a judgment that would require federal officials to sell or transfer the land.
The strategy Utah officials are counting on – as are Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota who supported the state’s lawsuit – is that the services the federal government provides, such as catastrophic wildfire mitigation, would bankrupt any state landlord. The only recourse would be to raise taxes – which won’t happen – lease or sell lands to the highest bidder.
The strategy entirely ignores the fact that the 18.5 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land generates $6.7 billion in economic output, 36,000 jobs and $788 million in tax revenue for Utah each year. Comparatively, in 2023, Colorado’s outdoor recreation economy (hunting, fishing, boating, winter sports, biking, RVing, camping, hiking, motorcycling, and more) accounted for $17.2 billion in economic activity and 132,600 jobs, 4.3% of all state employees.
The whole effort is a terribly cynical and myopic view of the value of public lands, only as a commodity.
Rep. Zinke, President Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary from 2017-2019, said in a Jan. 27 article by the Washington Times, “It’s a ‘no’ now. It will be a ‘no’ later. It will be a ‘no’ forever,” he said.
On behalf of all constituents in the 3rd Congressional District, we urge Rep. Hurd, who lives in and has practiced law in the growing outdoor recreational economy of Mesa County, to join his colleagues in Montana and New Mexico and say no, not now or ever, to selling our public lands.
