Thus it begins.
In case you missed it, even before the 45th president was inaugurated, U.S. House rules were changed to make it easier to transfer federal public lands to states (“Measure Easing Public Lands Transfer Concerns Hunters, Others,” Jan. 20-21 Peninsula Daily News).
This is a much subtler approach than attempting to sell national parks, proposed [in 2006] under George W. Bush’s administration.
It could mean transferring national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, national refuges and even national parks to states.
The states would then have to manage these lands with state dollars.
Few, if any, states could afford this, so they would have to sell the lands to the highest bidder, likely corporations that would make massive profits by extracting the resources from those lands.
Thus, our former federal public lands would be managed to maximize short-term profits for stockholders rather than for the benefit of the citizens of the U.S.
I would assume states would have to agree to transfers.
Thus, cash-strapped states and/or those heavily influenced by corporations would be first in line to agree to such transfers.
This is a concern for everyone and everything that needs clean air and water for healthy survival.
The federal lands belong to all of us, not just those living in the states where those lands reside.
Our federal representatives must hear from us that this transfer of federal lands to states will not be tolerated.
Write, call, email your representatives now.
Robert Vreeland,
Port Angeles