Posted on 03/25/2009 2:07:23 PM PDT by jazusamo
WASHINGTON — Congress on Wednesday set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness - from California's Sierra Nevada mountains to the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.
The legislation is on its way to President Barack Obama for his likely signature.
The House approved the bill, 285-140, the final step in a long legislative road that began last year.
The vote came two weeks after the House rejected the bill amid a partisan dispute over gun rights. The measure was brought up again in the Senate and approved last week, setting up Wednesday's vote.
The bill - a collection of nearly 170 separate measures - would be one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in a quarter-century. It would confer the government's highest level of protection on land in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
Supporters called the bill landmark legislation that will strengthen the national park system, restore national forests, preserve wild and scenic rivers, protect battlefields and restore balance to the management of public lands.
Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill a "land grab" that would block energy development on vast swaths of federal land.
"After nearly a decade during which our parks were taken for granted and our range lands were scarred by a spider-web of roads and (drilling) well pads," the lands bill "represents a new dawn for America's heritage and American values," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and other Republicans complained that the measure would lock up millions of acres of land that could be explored for energy and used for other development.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Doesn’t the Communist Manifesto say something about this?
In 1932, William Z. Foster, Chairman of the Communist Party USA explained how Point No. 1 of the Communist Manifesto, the abolition of private property, would be fulfilled. He said, "The establishment of an American Soviet government will involve the confiscation of large land estates in town and country, and also the whole body of forests, mineral deposits, lakes, rivers, and so on." The U. S. Communist Party Chief, Gus Hall, stated, "The battle will be lost, not when freedom of speech is finally taken away, but when Americans become so adjusted or conditioned to getting along with the group that when they finally see the threat, they say, ‘I can’t afford to be controversial’."
Sadly, your analysis is spot on. Some legacy we are leaving for our grandchildren...a debt ridden third world country producing nothing but childish emotional platitudes.
The Fed lands in this article are lands that are already owned by the feds (taxpayers) and has been designated as protected "park lands" to make them fall under the feds rules for parks. i.e.NO DRILLING!
Just watch the play.. it's a repeat. Possibly different props on the stage.
None
This is a deliberate attempt to make the USA a third world nation
What gets me, especially after the “no legal standing” rulings on O’s birth certificate, is how a bunch of lawyers and Sierra Club members have any standing in states where they don’t reside.
Zero is giving up on revenues like this for this stupid land grab.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/an_end_to_dependence_on_middle.html
Are these people nuts? Do they think a simple road is going to harm any migratory animal? In their misguided reverence for "Mother Earth," these religious zealots (and that's what they are) have thrown common sense completely out the window.
I also noted this:
Hastings and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to allow visitors to national parks to carry concealed, loaded weapons. A federal judge last week struck down a Bush administration rule allowing loaded guns in parks and wildlife refuges.
It looks like the Constitution shredders won on that round too. What a sad day for America.
(By the way, I'm back now until April 13, when I hit the field again. Thanks for the ping!)
Good article, thanks for the link.
I truly believe the enviro nuts don’t give a whit about energy of any kind being produced here at home. They always argue the point that something catastrophic can or will happen.
Right now in the Mojave desert east of Barstow, CA the enviro nuts are taking up a move against a company that wants to put in a large wind generation facility, among other things they say the desert is too fragile.
They fight against solar and wind installations because they’re eyesores. I’m very familiar with the So CA deserts, I was born there and spent a lot of time there and tho much of it is beautiful some times of the year it’s desolate and well suited to wind and solar power, IMO.
In a simple word, YES!
Look at the caribou population increase after the Alaska pipeline went in. There were dire predictions by the enviro nuts and they were wrong but being wrong didn't slow them down, they still attack and tie everything up in lawsuits.
Good to see you back and will keep pinging. :)
Thanks, Jaz!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.