As soon as the Biden administration unveiled the America the Beautiful initiative, Republican lawmakers proposed a bill blocking the plan.
Introduced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-3) and cosponsored by 22 other Republican lawmakers, the 30×30 Termination Act would nullify Section 216 of Executive Order 14008 by President Joe Biden, which stipulates preserving 30 percent of the nation’s lands and oceans by 2030. The bill also prevents spending any federal monies to carry out the program or any future similar program.
“The Biden administration has made clear they will ignore the input of opposing counties when adding more federal land to the rolls and that they believe grazing, responsible energy production and other land uses that contain emissions should be prevented on federal lands,” Boebert said in a statement.
“Locking up 30 percent of all our land and water within the next decade is a dream killer for future generations and local economies and will also prevent Americans from utilizing their public lands and enjoying the outdoors. In the West, we are all too familiar with government land grabs, and we can see this one coming from a mile away.”
Boebert and lawmakers contend the initiative amounts to a “land grab” to “preserve or conserve” 30 percent of the lands and oceans and would require an additional 681 million acres under federal control. Currently, the federal government manages 640 million acres of land, the majority in the West, and 750 million acres of water under the Antiquities Act.
In addition to preventing federal money, the bill prohibits unilateral 30×30 designations under the Antiquities Act and no net loss of non-federal land in states and counties containing 15 percent or more of federal land. It also ensures no net loss on multiple-use lands unless a federal statute has authorized such action. The bill requires congressional approval for the withdrawal of federal lands from mineral development.
“The federal government already possesses millions of acres it already cannot manage well. We have witnessed millions of acres of forest land burned in recent years, wild horse populations that grow exponentially and are in peril, and a backlog of national parks maintenance and closure,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-1), one of the bill’s cosponsors in a statement.
“Before locking up more land and water in perpetuity without congressional approval, we should implement the reforms necessary to properly manage the federal government’s current possessions, leading to countless benefits like reducing wildfire risk, better utilization of natural resources to supply our renewable energy demand, and getting more water to our farmers, ranchers and urban users soon to be under rationing.”
In an editorial for the Washington Examiner, Boebert wrote more than half of her district, which encompasses the Western Slope and southwestern Colorado, is federal land and is growing. “If the West’s experience has taught us anything, it’s that environmental extremists and the swamp have no problem using the heavy hand of government to control our daily lives,” Boebert wrote.
Garfield County Commissioners, which is in Boebert’s district and home to her Rifle, CO-based restaurant Shooter’s Grill, signed a letter supporting Boebert’s bill at their meeting on May 12. The commissioners agreed with Boebert the administration’s plan to preserve 30 percent of land amounts to a “land grab.”
Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said at the meeting 62 percent of the land in the county is currently in a state of conservation and the problem with the 30×30 initiative is that “nobody has addressed conservation and what that definition is.”
“What we’re trying to protect against is that 30 percent of those lands become wilderness lands and become sterile, and we lose the multi-use purpose of those lands,” said Jankovsky.
Other bill supporters include other counties in Boebert’s district, Colorado Wool Growers Association, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, off-road recreation associations, property rights groups and Gov. Pete Ricketts (R-NE).
“Thank you to Congresswoman Boebert and everyone who is stepping up to stop President Biden’s radical climate agenda and the 30×30 plan,” Ricketts said in a statement. “It will take an all-hands-on-deck effort to stop the Biden-Harris administration.
“They are attempting to undermine the prerogative of states and private landowners to manage their land and natural resources. Together, we can push back on federal overreach and protect our way of life.”
Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) have introduced a companion bill in the Senate. In a statement, Marshall said, “Farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists, and no one knows what’s best for the land better than those who work on it day in and day out. The best thing the federal government can do is trust the environmental judgment of farmers and ranchers and let them do what they do best: Steward the land.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
