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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 05:20 AM Mar 2012

Utah demands US government return public lands to state

Source: Reuters

Utah demands US government return public lands to state
24 Mar 2012 04:10
Source: reuters // Reuters

By Debbie Hummel

SALT LAKE CITY, March 23 (Reuters) - The state of Utah, long resentful that almost two thirds of its territory belongs to the U.S. government, says the time has come to reclaim land it gave up more than a century ago in order to become a U.S. state.

Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, signed into law on Friday a bill demanding that the federal government relinquish ownership of roughly 30 million acres (12 million hectares) of public land in Utah by 2015 or face a state lawsuit challenging its continued control of that property.

Shrugging off warnings from state attorneys that the legislation, backed primarily by Republicans, is likely unconstitutional and could lead to a protracted but futile legal battle, Herbert called such a dispute "a fight worth having."

The measure, opposed by conservation groups, caps years of rising indignation in Utah's conservative political establishment over the fact that about 65 percent of the Western state's land mass is owned by various federal agencies, the bulk of it by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM).





Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/utah-demands-us-government-return-public-lands-to-state



[center]

Governor Gary Herbert[/center]
33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Utah demands US government return public lands to state (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2012 OP
Rightwing -vs- the Constitution again GreydeeThos Mar 2012 #1
They might not. Privatization of all public assets is a major GOP goal that's working well to buy... freshwest Mar 2012 #31
This could work. Rick Santorum thinks he's Moses...maybe if they agree to take him jtuck004 Mar 2012 #2
ATTN: Governor Herbert Botany Mar 2012 #3
K&R... stonecutter357 Mar 2012 #12
Not just Zion longship Mar 2012 #15
I think he wants to turn it into a strip mine. alfredo Mar 2012 #18
+1 - nt Ohio Joe Mar 2012 #21
Herbert! Herbert! Herbert! Frank Cannon Mar 2012 #4
The governor is a smug nitwit! MADem Mar 2012 #5
The wingnuts know their days are numbered CanonRay Mar 2012 #6
As soon as they return all the tax dollars we paid to them CreekDog Mar 2012 #7
I don't think he cares, just as long as mining, oil, and timber interests line his pockets. alfredo Mar 2012 #19
Is there a process to reduce a state to a territory? Thor_MN Mar 2012 #8
Ha ha! I can think of a number of states that need to go back to remedial statehood classes! MatthewStLouis Mar 2012 #20
I'm sick of this states rights BS! Crowman1979 Mar 2012 #9
next summer when a forest fire hits in Utah the Gov. can call the Koch Brothers. Botany Mar 2012 #11
"states rights" = racist codeword to the right underpants Mar 2012 #27
That's funny mercuryblues Mar 2012 #10
Fine. Just as soon as the good people of Utah reimburse the US coffers for every penny spent kestrel91316 Mar 2012 #13
Governor Douchebag wastes taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuit tabasco Mar 2012 #14
He & his buddies should be responsible for replacing the public's money if they loose. glinda Mar 2012 #24
Do they have the tax base EC Mar 2012 #16
He wants to then sell the land to the extraction industries like mining, and oil companies. alfredo Mar 2012 #17
I can't believe all you Nervous Nellies! bluedigger Mar 2012 #22
Gary Herbert "using the public's money for his/their own selfish destructive purposes". glinda Mar 2012 #23
I think a better approach for him to take... RevStPatrick Mar 2012 #25
Giving the lands to Gop/Corporations Iliyah Mar 2012 #26
that's exactly what they want to do newspeak Mar 2012 #28
Hey Gov how about all those Mormons "gaming the system"...the Fed system? underpants Mar 2012 #29
And they wanna point the finger at inner-city blacks. Crowman1979 Mar 2012 #32
Which in turn herbert will return to the rightful owners: Tikki Mar 2012 #30
Bingo, then the rest of the state. mikekohr Mar 2012 #33

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
31. They might not. Privatization of all public assets is a major GOP goal that's working well to buy...
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 06:08 PM
Mar 2012

Last edited Sat Mar 24, 2012, 07:08 PM - Edit history (1)

The allegiance of their cronies. In every state, they're doing it. This would be a huge win for them in UT and they're pushing the sell off of all public lands in the GOP controlled US Congress now. With that much land in their hands, they'd set up their feifdoms and rule as they please. Welcome to neo-feudalism, complete with religious doctrine. It would be naive to deny that's what they want.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
2. This could work. Rick Santorum thinks he's Moses...maybe if they agree to take him
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 06:59 AM
Mar 2012

and his followers, let them wander around in the desert for 40 days and nights to see if they still want to play American Taliban....then let Utah rent them the land to set up their own kingdom.

He might take that as a sure deal, instead of subjecting us to commercials for what would probably be a losing campaign. Might even convince Etch-a-Sketch to come with him, make him head of finance or something.

Botany

(70,291 posts)
3. ATTN: Governor Herbert
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 07:00 AM
Mar 2012

Now can the Dept. of Interior bill the state of Utah for managing those
lands for the past 100 + years? How about just the costs for fighting
forest fires that Uncle Sam picked up?



BTW Governor please don't use any of the roads and or infrastructure on those public
lands and now go and hire some more professionals to do the range land management too.

And Utah can also pay back all the money that Zion National Park has brought into the
State too.

Dumb ass right wing tea bagging shit for brains idiots.

longship

(40,416 posts)
15. Not just Zion
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 10:22 AM
Mar 2012

Utah has more national parks than any other state. Bryce, Arches, Zion, etc. There's a bunch there.

Probably wants to turn Zion into a Mormon based amusement park. It's already appropriately named.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
5. The governor is a smug nitwit!
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 07:54 AM
Mar 2012

Two headers that caught my eye:

State Republicans spearhead effort to reclaim the land

Conservation groups are opposed to the move



Say no more!

CanonRay

(14,038 posts)
6. The wingnuts know their days are numbered
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 08:25 AM
Mar 2012

and the big push is on to get their agenda in before it all comes crashing down.

CreekDog

(46,192 posts)
7. As soon as they return all the tax dollars we paid to them
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 08:33 AM
Mar 2012

and all the money that paid for Central Utah Project.

and all the money they made because the Feds protected lands Utah would've detonated bombs on if given the chance. (except for Gov. Matheson)

MatthewStLouis

(904 posts)
20. Ha ha! I can think of a number of states that need to go back to remedial statehood classes!
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 11:43 AM
Mar 2012

Maybe any state which receives more tax dollars than it gives needs to have its statehood legitimacy examined.

Botany

(70,291 posts)
11. next summer when a forest fire hits in Utah the Gov. can call the Koch Brothers.
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 09:25 AM
Mar 2012

Last edited Sat Mar 24, 2012, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)





Sorry about Park City, Utah Gov. the nasty federal government couldn't
get to the fire.

Love, Barack Obama

underpants

(182,279 posts)
27. "states rights" = racist codeword to the right
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 01:16 PM
Mar 2012

and my first read of this was "A black guy has our land!!" I think that is what this is about

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
13. Fine. Just as soon as the good people of Utah reimburse the US coffers for every penny spent
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 10:00 AM
Mar 2012

on firefighting to preserve those lands over the decades, and all the trails and campgrounds and ranger stations built, and all the wildlife management and protection efforts, etc etc etc.

It's probably many many billions of dollars. We'll be waiting.

(crickets chirping)

 

tabasco

(22,974 posts)
14. Governor Douchebag wastes taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuit
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 10:13 AM
Mar 2012

Another day, another republican moron fucking up our country.

EC

(12,287 posts)
16. Do they have the tax base
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 10:59 AM
Mar 2012

to manage more land? Or does he have corps lined up ready to buy it for a song?

bluedigger

(17,077 posts)
22. I can't believe all you Nervous Nellies!
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 12:28 PM
Mar 2012

What possible harm could come from fracking the shit out of Arches National Park?

 

RevStPatrick

(2,208 posts)
25. I think a better approach for him to take...
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 12:51 PM
Mar 2012

...would be to secede from the Union.
That's sure to go over well!

Iliyah

(25,111 posts)
26. Giving the lands to Gop/Corporations
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 12:56 PM
Mar 2012

means future wastelands for our children. When I read sci-fi books and watch sci-fi movies, this comes to mind. It won't be nothing left to enjoy, well at least for us "little" people. Greed upon Greed, use up the environment for profit. Fuck these assholes. We need to vote this MFs out!

newspeak

(4,847 posts)
28. that's exactly what they want to do
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 01:20 PM
Mar 2012

is give the oil corporations and mining carte blanche. I lived in Moab and environmentalism is very, very important in that area. Nothing like going to one of the state parks and seeing an obscene oil drill.

Some of the most beautiful areas in the world. I still miss it.

And talk about fracking, if they did that in the moab area, it's a lot of fault lines. going into arches national park, driving up, you can see the fault line.

underpants

(182,279 posts)
29. Hey Gov how about all those Mormons "gaming the system"...the Fed system?
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 01:20 PM
Mar 2012

Welfare receipts

Church leaders have encouraged their flock to take advantage of government assistance in the form of welfare and the WIC (woman-infant-child) programs.[citation needed] Since the government recognizes only one woman as the legal wife of a man, the rest of his wives are considered single mothers and are eligible to receive government assistance. The more wives and children one has, the more welfare checks and food stamps one can receive. By 2003, for example, more than $6 million dollars in public funds were being channeled into the community of Colorado City, AZ. In his book Under the Banner of Heaven (p. 15), Jon Krakauer writes that, "Fundamentalists call defrauding the government 'bleeding the beast' and regard it as a virtuous act." Carolyn Campbell ("Inside Polygamy in the '90s,", 102) adds, "The attitude of some polygamists is 'the government is untrustworthy and corrupt, and I'm above it, but give me those food stamps and free medical care.'"[83]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-Day_Saints#Welfare_receipts


A well known practice of Mormons

Tikki

(14,539 posts)
30. Which in turn herbert will return to the rightful owners:
Sat Mar 24, 2012, 01:22 PM
Mar 2012

The Shoshoni, Piaute, Ute, Navajo and Goshute. Y/N?


Tikki

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