Posted on 10/07/2013 4:01:37 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
A Democratic member of Congress is using the government shutdown to pressure the Department of the Interior to prohibit oil and gas exploration on federal land.
Energy companies should not be able to use federal lands if those lands are closed to hikers and campers, according to Rep. Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Grijalva started an online petition to demand that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “stop mining [on] public lands while visitors are locked out.”
“Fossil fuel and logging companies shouldn’t have special access to our federal lands while rangers, hikers and the rest of us are locked out,” the petition states.
Grijalva is the ranking Democratic member of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. That panel oversees 600 million acres of federal land.
He sent a letter to Jewell and Vilsack last week urging them to halt fossil fuel extraction on federal land “until visitors can return.”
“The lack of oversight of these potentially hazardous activities greatly concerns me, especially because of the scarcity of manpower to respond to emergencies, pollution issues or other rapid response needs,” he wrote.
Grijalva is a long-time foe of the energy industry, has pushed for additional fees on mining companies, and has vehemently opposed the construction of the popular Keystone XL pipeline.
Industry groups say Grijalva is using the government shutdown as an excuse to accomplish an eventual goal of completely ending fossil fuel extraction of federal land.
“The same groups pushing for bans during the government shutdown have also pushed for bans when the government was up and running, so I think this might be more about capitalizing on opportunity than recommending substantive energy policy changes,” said Steve Everley, spokesman for the site Energy In Depth, which is run by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, in an emailed statement.
Grijalva has used previous budget battles to attempt to levy additional fees on the fossil fuel industry.
He and Rep. Tom Udall (D., Colo.) pushed efforts during the “fiscal cliff” fight of 2012 to impose a 12.5 percent tax on miners who profited from extraction activities on federal land.
Those fees would impose additional costs on a number of companies that gave money to the campaign of Grijalva’s Republican opponent in his 2012 reelection battle.
Grijalva’s office did not return a request for comment.
That’s the first thing I thought would happen after hearing that the Government kicked people out of their homes that were on Government land.
Insanity.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.) <<<<<<< A major traitor who really represents Mexico.
The States need to take these lands back.
Raul Grijalva is an ethnic bigot. His allegiance is first and foremost to Mexico.
I asked the fat pina (you may know him a grijalva) why we are still paying income, business and payroll taxes if the govt is shut down. Can you believe it, he didn’t answer.
This shutdown demonstrates how liberals behave when they face opposition.....they become vindictive, callous and abusive.
Now imagine what they could do if they controlled your healthcare.....no approvals for organ transplants, closing of medical facilities, forcing emergency patients to wait for treatment, etc.
FReepers must spread the word. Use every means at your disposal to link the vindictive closing of monuments to the future denial of healthcare.
Churches, gatherings, Facebook, whatever....get the word out and destroy liberalism!
He’s an avowed communist too. No joke.
I certainly do follow his logic, and I'll up the ante.
The federal government should not have control of these lands if they are going to use that control to lock the public out.
Aside from military bases and office complexes, the government has no business owning vast swathes of land. Control of western lands in particular should be handed off to the states. The agencies that manage those lands should be divided up and likewise handed over to the states. If they want to fund and employ those people, that's their call.
As far as I'm concerned, even the states should not own vast holdings such as these, they should be sold off to US citizens (and only US citizens).
Minority Americans:
Stop sending us these bastards . . .
Seriously.
I was thinking he should be jailed for Un-American activities.
Note to Democrats:
Last time I checked we are (or at least used to be) a Constitutional Republic made up of free citizens with the fundamental rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
President Obama and his Democrat followers are demonstrating with their actions that they view us a Subjects of the Imperial Federal Government – only allowed to do what they choose to let us do.
Mr Obama, we are not your slaves!
He would have been ousted if the Dems + 1 “Independent (not really an I) hadn’t gerrymandered the district.
Boycott grijalva, Arizona will be better off for it.
Yep.
I am becoming more and more convinced that a third party or more specifically, Libertarian candidates are going to sweep the upcoming elections.
Both Democrat/Libertarians and Republican/Libertarians that focus their massage on just a few issues can win big.
The first issue would be the “dis-functional Government” and the next would be NSA/IRS/DHS spying on Americans.
Here is a guy who wants to keep mines and energy
companies from PAYING the federal government.
That’s either lunacy or Treason
Raul Grijalva is an ethnic bigot. His allegiance is first and foremost to Mexico.
__________________________________________________________
Is that an allegiance to the “New Spain” in Mexico or the indigenous Mexicans ?
The Mexican ruling class is pretty much of white European/Spanish decent. They have no problem moving their problem to the US.
Internally, Mexico is an extremely racist country.
Mexico. “New Spain” ceased to exist in 1824.
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