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Utah to seize its land back from the federal government
Washington Times ^ | 12/4/2014 | Sylvia Van Peebles

Posted on 12/06/2014 7:23:46 AM PST by HomerBohn

The federal government has 31.2 million acres of Utah's land, and Utah wants it back.

According to the Washington Times on Wednesday, in three weeks, Utah plans to seize control of its own land now under the control of the federal government. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, in an unprecedented challenge to federal dominance of Western state lands, in 2012 signed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” which demands that Washington relinquish its hold on the land. The land being held represents more than half of the state’s 54.3 million acres, by Dec. 31.

State Rep. Ken Ivory, who sponsored the legislation, isn't deterred even though the federal government hasn't given any indication that it plans to cooperate. “That’s what you do any time you’re negotiating with a partner. You set a date,” said Ivory. “Unfortunately, our federal partner has decided they don’t want to negotiate in good faith. So we’ll move forward with the four-step plan that the governor laid out.” That plan involves a program of education, negotiation, legislation and litigation. “We’re going to move forward and use all the resources at our disposal,” stated Ivory, who also heads the American Lands Council, which advocates the relinquishing of federal lands to the control of the states.

One might ask why Utah wants it's land back now. Well, it seems there’s hydrocarbons in those hills. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Tuesday that an analysis from three state universities states that Utah can afford to take over more than half the state from the federal government, and may even be able to make more money on it than the feds have. It should be noted that the transfer would require either an act of Congress or a successful lawsuit.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: alc; federallandgrab; socialistgovernemtn; utah
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To: Ben Ficklin

Thanks for wording my point better than I could.

I assume you’ll agree that the question of whether the decisions the government makes about managing its land are wise is an entirely separate one.


41 posted on 12/06/2014 8:46:55 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: HomerBohn; Utah Binger; Pete-R-Bilt; Godzilla; glock rocks

Go, Utah!!


42 posted on 12/06/2014 8:47:50 AM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: HomerBohn

43 posted on 12/06/2014 8:48:48 AM PST by Scooter100
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To: HomerBohn
It should be noted that the transfer would require either an act of Congress or a successful lawsuit.

I wonder what would happen if a state (better yet, a large number of states) simply activated the state guard to politely go in and take control of national forest - BLM land - national wildlife refuge - etc. land, escorting federal forest rangers, BLM employees and suchlike off the property and wishing them a nice day.

It would also be great to see Texas, Utah, Arizona and other like-minded states send in the guard or state police to take over the operation of national parks the next time a president (invariably a dem) shuts them down. What would the federales do, one wonders?

44 posted on 12/06/2014 8:50:07 AM PST by Spartan79 (I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man. Jefferson)
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To: Scooter100

That’s shocking.


45 posted on 12/06/2014 8:50:27 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: cpdiii
Republican Congress passes an act for those lands ... revert back to the states

The word you're looking for is "transfer," not "revert."

Using revert is every bit as false as Muslims using the same word to refer to converts.

46 posted on 12/06/2014 8:51:25 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: unixfox

Pretty much...


47 posted on 12/06/2014 8:52:51 AM PST by null and void (The better I know obama, the less I fear a president Biden.)
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To: Scooter100

Some land, especially in the East and Midwest, was purchased from private owners by the US.


48 posted on 12/06/2014 8:54:07 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: HomerBohn

if the house and senate republicans do anything this year they must support this move.

Without the federal lands in the west Washington loses much of her imperal control over the people there.


49 posted on 12/06/2014 8:54:57 AM PST by Monorprise
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To: Ben Ficklin
This misconcept flows from the notion that when govt imposes land use restrictions on private land, it is considered to be a "partial taking".

Private ownership with government control is the very definition of fascism.

50 posted on 12/06/2014 8:55:26 AM PST by null and void (The better I know obama, the less I fear a president Biden.)
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To: Sherman Logan

US Constitution Article 1, section 8

“and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.”

What part of Supremacy clause is not understood here?


51 posted on 12/06/2014 8:55:33 AM PST by Mechanicos (Nothing's so small it can't be blown out of proportion.)
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To: HomerBohn

Good.

I hope it’s phenomenally successful.


52 posted on 12/06/2014 8:57:13 AM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: trisham

The process of achieving statehood moved gradually and historically from east to west. I submit that something legal happened in Washington that changed the way the new territories became states. You can see by the line of demarcation that something happened. Is there anyone at FR, a history major, who might fill us in on the legislation that brought this about?


53 posted on 12/06/2014 8:58:06 AM PST by Scooter100
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To: Sherman Logan

the epa uses the legal title to the land as a means to impose thier rules upon the people of the area.

that is why we want washington out.


54 posted on 12/06/2014 9:01:36 AM PST by Monorprise
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To: Scooter100

Big election majorities in the state legislatures won this past election by the Republicans is just the chance to accomplish lots of conservative goals.


55 posted on 12/06/2014 9:02:28 AM PST by Zenjitsuman (New Boss Nancy Pelosi)
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To: Scooter100

Unless I’m confused, nothing drastic changed.

In all the states after the original 13 (and TX, VT, ME, HI which were all unique), the federal government acquired title to all land not already privately owned when it acquired the territory.

In the eastern states, most though not all of this land was pretty quickly sold or homesteaded. In western states the vast majority of the land was not economically attractive enough for private owners to appear, so it just stayed in federal ownership. Title wasn’t transferred because there were no buyers.

Starting in the 1890s or thereabouts, the government withdrew increasing amounts of land from the “for sale” group. Reasons usually involved conservation. The process was approximately complete by the mid-20th.

The major thing that “happened,” leading to the difference in the map, is rainfall. Land in much of the West is essentially worthless without water rights, so nobody bought it.

This tendency was aggravated by locals who would buy land at the entrance to a drainage, for instance, into private ownership, and therefore control in practice access to an immensely larger block of land without having to invest capital in buying it. Sometimes they start to think of it as “their land.”

Since the mid-20th the feds have increasingly made land management decisions some of the locals don’t like. But one doesn’t acquire title to land simply because you or your grandparents live next to it.


56 posted on 12/06/2014 9:09:44 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: HomerBohn

Utah and everyone else should remember Murphy’s Law:

“A Smith and Wesson beats 4 Aces”

Putting the lands back under state jurisdiction is a good thing, so long as we remember how the other side plays cards.

Just my $0.02


57 posted on 12/06/2014 9:10:48 AM PST by jimjohn (You don't get the kind of government you want, or the kind you need. You get the kind you deserve.)
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To: HomerBohn

Good for Utah.


58 posted on 12/06/2014 9:11:23 AM PST by Democrat_media (call Congress 202-224-3121 to stop Obama's executive order for Amnesty for illegals)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
One more item to add to the long list of things that can be accomplished if we elect a conservative President in 2016.

Good luck with that..

59 posted on 12/06/2014 9:12:03 AM PST by cardinal4 (Certified Islamophobe..)
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To: Monorprise

I understand wanting the feds out.

Though I am a little confused why rural inhabitants of Nevada assume state officials will necessarily be more sympathetic to the land use policies they might prefer.

Nevada is, somewhat counter-intuitively, the 3rd most urbanized state, at 94% of the population.


60 posted on 12/06/2014 9:12:48 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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