Posted on 02/22/2016 10:25:45 AM PST by magellan
Real estate mogul Donald Trump would not let states take control of federal lands, the Republican presidential candidate said in a recent interview.
"I don't like the idea because I want to keep the lands great, and you don't know what the state is going to do," Trump said during a talk with Field & Stream magazine earlier this week.
The trade publication, sitting down with Trump at Las Vegas' Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, had asked about the issue of turning over federally controlled lands to individual states -- an idea previously floated by rival 2016 contender and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and supported by staunch states-rights activists.
The proposal has also received more attention in light of recent actions by radical conservatives like Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his son Ammon Bundy, who led an armed group earlier this month in occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon to protest federal land use policies.
Trump cautioned, however, that states would be unpredictable in maintaining the designated lands.
"I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble?" Trump asked. "I don't think it's something that should be sold."
He added: "We have to be great stewards of this land. This is magnificent land. And we have to be great stewards of this land."
The billionaire businessman suggested later in the interview that while he was a fan of oil and gas companies drilling and fracking on federal lands, protecting the earth should still be a top priority.
"I'm very much into energy, and I'm very much into fracking and drilling, and we never want to be hostage again to OPEC and go back to where we were. And right now, we're at a very interesting point because right now there's so much energy," Trump said. "And maybe that's an advantage and maybe--actually, it's more of an advantage in terms of your question because we don't have to do the kind of drilling that we did."
"I am for energy exploration, as long as we don't do anything to damage the land. And right now we don't need too much -- there's a lot of energy," he said.
What a moron. He’s a real small government type, huh? /sarc
Hand Federal Land to The Donald!
(*ducks*)
Another Trump position I disagree with.
Example - California
Wrong side of the issue.
90% of the federal western land should be handed BACK to the states for them to do what they want with it.
The FEDGOV apparatus shouldn’t be in charge of so much REAL ESTATE, you would think someone who is a REAL ESTATE genius would KNOW BETTER...
Trump supporters will see this as another brilliant statement.
Keep the lands great...don't know what the state is going to do". And this is what passes as policy in the Trump universe yet he leads in the polls. Un fuc*en real!!!
Ping.
He has also said the ranchers caught up in the protest in Burns, Oregon are victims of federal land policy.
Trump will likely take a look at it and decide policy on a case-by-case basis.
Because it is true that pawning land off from one government to another may not solve the problem, in fact, may make it worse.
I think he will hear from the ranchers and make decisions that put their needs in perspective.
A republic, if you can keep it.....
Another misstep, IMHO.
Totally disagree with this.
Immigration, military, jobs, tax cuts...that’s all folks.
In the next hour this thread will have75 posts of screaming Trump supporters explaining what Trump really meant and how he’ll make America Great again.
I disagree with Trump on this.
However, he is probably suffering from a geographical problem.
When I lived back East, I would have agreed with him. We thought that federal lands were the Grand Canyon, etc. It wasn’t until I moved out west that I realized that the feds controlled not only the Grand Canyon, but boatloads of acres around it...far too much land, in fact. I mean, nobody wants to get rid of the federal parks, right?
If you drive from LV up to SLC, you will see some national parks and they are beautiful, but you will also see vast expanses of land that say “BLM Federal Property” that are as flat and nondescript as any you will find anywhere.
Don’t worry. Sarah will straighten him out. :)
Which I dont understand. His popularity seems to be the stuff of cult status not unlike Chairman O.
Yeah, he’d rather use eminent domain for himself...
Trump is wrong on the issue of federal ownership of state’s lands. Most Americans haven’t read into it and they tend to think of how wonderful is Yogi and Yellowstone Park, but there is a great constitutional error in the feds claiming ownership of that which isn’t theirs, and there is an economic error in not opening up lands for settlements that would easily support communities and/or individuals.
America was not created so the fed can protect hunters and fisherman from the east so they can hunt out west.
I still support Trump. He needs to be educated as does the vast majority of Americans. This is not crucial in the sense that the right to life or the right to keep and bear arms are.
Sad indeed. Don’t understand what otherwise intelligent people see in him...
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