Free Republic

Rep. Rob Bishop has a radical plan for changing public land policy, and it starts with an experiment in his home state of Utah. The Republican is known for shaking things up with his dry sense of humor and occasional belligerence toward Obama administration officials. Easily identified by his three-piece suits and coiffed white hair, the new House Natural Resources Committee chairman is trying to turn his panel from a legislative backwater into a driver of reform. Washington Examiner: With the Land and Water Conservation Fund, I hear a lot about how the states need more control. But how can...

A decision to ban oil and gas drilling on state land in Pennsylvania was met with praise and criticism, with an industry leader describing it as a "lose-lose." Louis D'Amico, president and executive director of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, said the moratorium struck a blow against an industry that's already returned more than $700 million in revenue to the state in the last seven years. "This is a lose-lose for Pennsylvania's taxpayers and energy consumers," he said in a statement Thursday.

alestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas is livid over the decision by the government earlier Sunday to assign about 4,000 dunams (988 acres) of land in Judea and Samaria as state land. Most of the land involved is in the Gush Etzion region. The decision opens the possibility of further construction in the region. The decision is one of Israel's responses to the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Sha'ar. The three were kidnapped in Gush Etzion and their bodies were found several weeks later in a field near Hevron. Speaking Sunday evening, Abbas spokesperson...

Amid the growing standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal government, reports are growing that Senate Majority Harry Reid’s little-known ties to a Chinese solar energy giant could be playing a major role in the confrontation. Reid, D-Nev., and his oldest son, Rory, a former chairman of the Clark County, Nev., County Commission, are both deeply involved in a plan by ENN Energy Group to build a huge solar farm in southern Nevada, according to a Reuters report from August 2012. Land the Bundy family has been using for cattle ranching is getting in the way of that...