Calls for 30% of All Federal Land in the West to be Given to the States by 2030
House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci today announced that he and Representatives John Gillette, Gail Griffin, and Austin Smith have each introduced measures to push back against Democrat President Joe Biden’s abuse of power and control over lands in Arizona.
House Concurrent Memorial 2007 (HCM 2007), sponsored by Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, urges the President to repeal the recent designation of the Grand Canyon Footprints National Monument in Northern Arizona and oppose any such designation in the state of Arizona in the future.
“In 2023, despite vehement state opposition, Democrat President Joe Biden designated the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument outside the Grand Canyon National Park,” said Majority Leader Biasiucci. “This restricted access to approximately 1 million acres of state and federal land located in Northern Arizona, which contain some of the state’s best land for ranching, farming, mining, logging, hunting, recreation – activities that local communities depend on for social and economic support. It also contains some of the largest deposits of high-quality uranium in the world. If allowed to stand, it will forever close this area to new uranium production and will continue America’s reliance on uranium supplied from foreign nations.”
House Concurrent Memorial 2005 (HCM 2005), sponsored by Representative Austin Smith, pushes back against President Biden’s “30×30” agenda, which seeks to take 30 percent of all federal lands out of economic production (such as mining, energy, and agriculture) and, thereby, reduce our ability to provide for national food security and energy and mineral independence. It calls on Congress to pass, and the President to sign, a “Reverse 30×30” initiative to give 30 percent of all federally controlled land in the West to their respective states by 2030.
“The federal government is the largest landowner in the United States, controlling almost one-third of the entire land in the country,” stated Representative Smith. “Over 90 percent of this land is in Western States. In Arizona, 42 percent of the land is controlled by the federal government. Under the equal footing doctrine of the U.S. Constitution, this land should have been given to their respective Western States upon statehood.”
House Concurrent Memorial 2008 (HCM 2008), sponsored by Representative John Gillette, calls for the Antiquities Act of 1906 to be repealed or amended to reaffirm that entire landscapes, animate life, such as birds and mammals, and common plants and vegetation are not considered “landmarks, structures, or objects” under federal law. In 1950, Congress amended the Antiquities Act to provide an exemption for the state of Wyoming, which requires the “express authorization of Congress” to declare any additional national monuments in that state. HCM 2008 calls on Congress and the President to extend the exemption to all Western States.
“The Act, which was intended to preserve only historic landmarks, structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest, has been repeatedly misused to set aside vast parcels of real property,” Representative Gillette said. “The Act requires the President to designate only ‘the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects,’ but, since 1906, the size of each designation has increased with each additional monument. Since 1906, over 23 national monuments have been declared in Arizona, totaling 3.7 million acres, with Arizona now containing more national monuments than any other state (19 in total).”
House Concurrent Memorial 2006 (HCM 2006), sponsored by Representative Gail Griffin, calls for Congress to enact legislation that requires the express authorization of Congress, the state, and each county affected before any additional federal land grabs may be declared in Arizona.
“The intrusion and overreach of the federal government, including President Biden’s economically harmful 30×30 initiative, pose the greatest threat to Arizona’s lands, further preventing the state from deciding what is best for its citizens,” said Representative Griffin. “The federal government has been unable to financially support and maintain its existing federal lands and has done an exceedingly poor job of stewarding these resources, both economically and ecologically, which often results in lands that are squandered, mismanaged, and closed to the public. The federal government should be giving existing federal lands to the states, not taking more land out of local control. State ownership is more efficient, thoughtful, accountable, and locally driven, which improves public access, environmental health, and economic productivity. Congress must enact legislation to protect the local customs, cultures, and historical uses of federally controlled lands by prohibiting the federal government from taking any additional federal mineral, land, water, or other national resources within Arizona’s borders out of economic production without the express consent of Congress, the legislature, and affected counties.”
House Concurrent Memorial 2004 (HCM 2004), also sponsored by Representative Austin Smith, urges Congress to promptly enact legislation requiring the federal government to give to an affected state or county one acre of federal land for every acre the federal government removes or withdraws from the respective state or county.
“Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the federal land policy shifted from disposal, where land could enter the local property tax base, to permanent federal retention as untaxable federally controlled land,” said Representative Smith. “Recent federal initiatives have attempted to further erode property rights, pilfer more federally controlled land, and redesignate multi-use land as conservation land. Imposing federal preservation management on Arizona lands obstructs our state’s land management objectives and reduces rural communities’ ability to provide local public services. Arizona has been damaged by the inordinate cost and substantial uncertainty regarding the national government’s infringement on Arizona’s sovereign control of federally controlled lands within its borders. Had the federal government disposed of all land in Arizona at the time of statehood, Arizona would have generated substantial tax revenues to the benefit of public schools and the common good. It is time to start giving federal lands back to the states.”
