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[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
The federal government owns about a third of America.
Since we’re on a path to bankruptcy, it would be smart to sell some unused property.
President Donald Trump’s Interior Secretary says it may be worth as much as $200 trillion. Selling just a fraction of it would reduce our enormous debt.
Not just that — since government doesn’t manage things well, selling or leasing some would leave it in better condition.
Federal bureaucrats have been slow to do controlled burns and remove deadwood that becomes fuel for fires.
“Fires on federal lands accounted for more than half of the acres burned,” says the Congressional Budget Office.
But whenever a politician suggests selling any land, environmental activists freak out.
Jennifer Mamola of The John Muir Project says the government must hold on to every bit of land it owns “to solve our biodiversity crisis.”
“What is a biodiversity crisis?” I ask her in my new video.
“Human fingerprints are on the scale, and we are out-tipping it!”
Like many activists, she’s not knowledgeable about science.
“We are in very tumultuous weather times,” she tells me. “The fact that Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina is just unprecedented!”
No, it’s not. Hurricanes hit North Carolina all the time.
“I guess I mean the travel trajectory, right? … (Helene) started in the Gulf and then it went all the way up. Seems pretty unprecedented — going inland.”
Actually, lots of hurricanes go inland. Floyd caused catastrophic flooding; almost every river basin in eastern North Carolina surpassed 500-year flood levels. Matthew brought record flooding. Florence caused about $17 billion in damages.
Still, Mamola sees weather changes. “It’s really not that predictable anymore because we have our thumb on the scale. … In the nearly 40 years I’ve been alive, we’re definitely seeing a shift! … D.C., I’ve lived there 10 years. We had a drought last summer!”
But drought isn’t more common. The EPA says the last 50 years have actually been wetter than average.
If the government sells any land, Mamola says, loggers and mining companies will destroy it.
Climate media company The YEARS Project peddles a deceitful video that says, “Imagine the Grand Canyon filled with oil rigs. That’s the world Pendley wants to live in.”
“Pendley” is William Pendley, who ran the government’s Bureau of Land Management during Trump’s first term.
I confront him with what the activists say:
“Picture Yellowstone being strip-mined for coal. These are the kinds of policies he advocates for.”
“Absolutely not!” he replies. “We’re not going to do parks. They made it up!”
He wants to sell, as Congress has done for decades, “multiple-use” land: “It’s supposed to be used (for) oil and gas, mining, grazing.”
He says private leaseholders would manage it better.
Also, says Pendley, “The best forest managers are tribes and states because they’ve got skin in the game.”
The governors of Utah and Nevada agree. They, too, want the feds to release some land.
Most of Utah is federally owned. Utah sued the feds for the right to buy some of it. But so far, no success.
In Nevada, 80% of land is federally owned and controlled. Gov. Joe Lombardo wants “immediate and systematic release of federal land.”
“Why should it be controlled by the federal government?” I ask Mamola. “What if Utah or Nevada say they can do it better?”
Mamola replies, “They’re not going to be able to maintain it.”
But the feds don’t maintain it! The Park Service is $23 billion behind on repairs.
Despite the incompetence of federal management, Mamola wants the feds to buy even more land.
“They own 50% of the West. Isn’t that enough?” I ask. “What would be enough?”
“I’m happy to give up some of the East Coast,” she replies.
Yikes.
But the silly people win. They’ve convinced voters that no land should ever be sold. Sen. Mike Lee saw which way the political winds were blowing. He withdrew his proposal to sell public lands.
Too bad. We’re deep in debt. The feds should at least lease unused land.
Washington bureaucrats don’t need to control half the West.
Quit selling land to China and Bill Gates we dont need any of them owning a piece of America
The 19th Amendment was a sad day in history.
How about starting with all of the vacant buildings the Feds own?
How about we lease the vacant bureaucrats to Qatar? They can do the jobs the Qataris won’t. I figure we could do without a million or so of them without noticing the difference. They can send the money they earn back to their relatives at a graduated tax rate of 90 percent. As migrants the bureaucrats will add major bonus points to their DEI profiles for when they return after their 7 years of oppression. Let’s see, 7 times 1 million, times say 10,000 per year earnings will be 70 billion, minus the 10 percent after taxes and we get 63 billion. Hmmm that’s not much of the debt. Okay, let’s lease them for another 7 years and keep going until the debt is paid off. We can also help them with any necessary chain migration. It will be a great experience for putting on their kids’ college applications. They can all go to Yale on what will be the beautiful new campus in Education City. With that as an incentive, the bureaucrats will be sure to be lined up around the corner eager to claim their spot.
This is a subject that is not brought up enough.
Only totalitarians can be comfortable with the government controlling so much of the land.
Idiots like Jennifer Mamola think the world should be static, and remain the same as it was on the day of their “precious” birth. After all, living in DC for ten years makes her an expert on drought. Also, idiots like her love sustainability, until they are confronted with actual sustainability. Living in Wyoming, I’ve watched many coal mines and how their reclamation works. The land is literally left in better condition after it is mined, and they spend billions reclaiming the mines. Logging actually helps a forest, opening up area for meadows which grow grass, and reducing fire danger. And guess what–someone please tell this idiot that trees are renewable, and grow back. (I just drove back through Yellowstone last week, and the new growth trees from the Yellowstone fires about 25 years ago, are doing great!) In other words, Jennifer, get your ass out of DC and go take a look at Yellowstone. Trust me, no one is going to
strip mine Yellowstone Park. That is about as stupid a comment as a person could make. Additionally, plants, including trees breathe CO2 and produce oxygen. Go back and read a junior high science book from the sixties or seventies, and not the crap they now teach.
The federal government extorted vast tracts of the West from territories as a condition of admission to statehood. Governing and owning are distinct, and the cession of territorial “public lands” was plainly not optional. All this domain empowers a federal government never imagined by our founders and greatly at odds with their intent.