Posted on 11/11/2008 6:59:44 PM PST by Domandred
A national private property rights groups is urging its members to “deluge” Republican Sen. Mike Crapo’s office with calls and e-mails urging him to back off of the Senate bill that would protect wilderness and public land ranchers in Owyhee County.
But Fred Grant, president of another national private property group and one of the leaders of the collaborative group that negotiated Crapo’s bill says the claims of the American Land Rights Association that Crapo has sold out private property rights “is not right or truthful.”
The American Land Rights Association sent out an alert Monday urging its members to target Crapo for his efforts to gain votes for the Omnibus Public Lands Bill, a collection of 150 bills, including more than a half dozen wilderness measures to protect more than 900,000 acres of wild land in Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Virginia and West Virginia.
The bill includes Crapo's Owyhees legislation, which has finally come to the floor after six of talks by the coalition of ranchers and environmentalists. The bill would protect 517,000 acres as wilderness, another 315 miles of rivers as wild and scenic and help ranchers with a series of land transfers, buyouts and the establishment of a science center.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatesman.com ...
I'm not entirely up on the issue, but working with Reid to get passed during the lame duck session I just can't see as being a good thing.
Maybe you can shed some light? You’ve usually been pretty on top of rancher vs .gov issues.
From Stewards of the Range
November 11, 2008
Re: The Omnibus Federal Lands Bill (HR 5151)
To: All Stewards of the Range and American Land Foundation members
Attached is a letter that has been faxed to Senator Harry Reid and all other members of the Senate regarding HR 5151, the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill. This bill may be voted on as early as Monday, November 17, 2008.
Unfortunately, the leadership of the Senate included the Owyhee Public Land Management Act (S. 2833), sponsored by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) that was negotiated in good faith over the past eight years by Fred Kelly Grant and a dozen or more other interested entities, including the ranchers of Owyhee County.
Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) has done an exemplary job of bringing together such diverse groups as ranchers and environmentalists, along with County officials, to craft an agreement that is fully supported by the local community and those directly impacted.
This is a model piece of legislation that should be allowed a vote on its own. Every member of the Senate should look to this bill as the manner in which land use bills should be created. It is truly a shame that this locally-constructed bill, whose impact will only be felt in the limited jurisdiction where it was created, has been attached to 149 other bills, most of which were crafted with the top-down command-and-control approach that has placed our federal and private land in jeopardy.
It is an equal shame that some opposing the Omnibus bill have sought to attack Senator Crapo, the only member of the Senate who has introduced a private property rights friendly bill, and have also neglected to distinguish the Owyhee bill from the package and work to have it voted on as a stand-alone bill.
The Omnibus Bill bands together 150 bills, of which 149 impose land use controls and regulations that restrict public access, eliminate multiple use, restrict or eliminate energy studies and development, and tacitly amends such acts as the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and the National Forest Management Act. These acts will be administratively amended by agency decisions based upon the provisions in the National Landscape Conservation System Act (S. 1139), which is buried in this bill.
Senator Harry Reid is determined to pass the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill out of the Senate next week, and we must oppose this action. However, with your help, we can send a message to the Senate that the Owyhee Public Lands Management Act should be voted on as an independent bill. You can let your Senators know that the Owyhee bill is the model for how land use legislation should be prepared by calling 202-224-3121.
Click Here to Read the Letter http://cts.vresp.com/c/?StewardsoftheRange/b70655f6fc/dab0b00d15/40da52e910
So the Crapo portion they like, and would like to see it get an up or down by itself. They don’t like that it was thrown in with a bunch of other bills that they don’t like.
Makes sense. I’d rather have everything voted up or down on it’s own merits.
And almost seems like the Dems put Crapo’s bill in the mix to get Crapo’s vote on other stuff he would normally no vote on...what was it they called that for the bailout package? Sweeteners.
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