Bob Abbey, the director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, recently said Utah lawmakers’ efforts are “divisive and unproductive.” “It’s sad that they are spending so much time debating something that has absolutely no chance of ever happening in the real world.”
Joseph Weber
FoxNews.com
3/27/2012
Several Western states, fed up with a federal government some claim is locking down public land against oil drilling, are demanding Washington return millions of acres to state control.
The pleas mark a new front in the battle over states’ rights, and one state has already codified its demand into law.
Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, signed a law several days ago that asks the federal government to return 20 million acres, which could be used to develop oil and other natural resources to bolster the state economy.
Republican state Rep. Ken Ivory said Tuesday the land is worth trillions of dollars in oil and mineral resources, which would be developed in a responsible way.
“The first thing you do is protect the national park, monuments and other open space,” he told FoxNews.com. Then, he said, lawmakers would create a so-called “public lands commission” managed by the state — that would hold sway over the natural resources buried in the rock.
Ivory pointed to North Dakota, where the recent development of oil and natural gas has resulted in a booming state economy, with one of the country’s lowest unemployment rates.
The article continues at FoxNews.com
