By Jake Morphonios, ETNR
January 29, 2016
Currently the 'federal government' lays claim to 64.5% of the lands in the state of Utah, much to the ire of both the people of Utah and their representatives, but all that is about to change.
After three years of the 'federal government' refusing to discuss the matter with the state government, Governor Gary Herbert is moving forward with plans to seize the 31.2 million acres of Utah land from the 'federal government' and restore control of the lands to the people of Utah. The action is unprecedented.
In 2012, the Utah legislature passed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act". This law demanded that the 'federal government' relinquish its hold on the land by December 31st, 2015, but Washington DC didn't so much as blink. Now that the deadline has passed, Governor Herbert intends to take the lands 3 weeks from now. The seizure entails a 4-step plan including education, negotiation, legislation and litigation, and the state is prepared for the costs involved for the effort.
This past Monday, a 784 page report entitled "An Analysis of a Transfer of Federal Lands to the State of Utah" demonstrated that the state government was fully capable of doing the job that has, until now, been performed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service.
The report's analysis indicates that the state would incur approximately $280 million in costs to manage the lands. However, with an expected $332 million in royalties from mineral resources development, Utah will actually turn a profit from taking control of their own lands.
The news is welcomed by Americans all across the west who have grown weary of the abuses of the 'federal government' against ranchers, miners, loggers, farmers and other property owners who have been harassed and abused by the BLM and other federal bureaucracies.
The question remains - How will the 'federal government' respond? It is one thing to crack down on a small pockets of citizen resistance groups, but quite another to face off against an entire state. For now, groups such as the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, led by Ammon Bundy, can take heart that movement to restore constitutional freedom is well underway.
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https://www.facebook.com/CitizensForConstitutionalFreedom.NEWS/photos/a.1649978758609487.1073741830.1648792115394818/1656621687945194/?type=3&theater
16 comments:
Good for this Governor! A real man! He must be in touch with Judge Anna. We need more like him!
We will see how the 'gov't thugs for hire' will respond to this,... bye bye BLM,... and good riddance. Your 'authority' will not stand constitutionally.
All lands belong to the people, not the governments.
First the Bundy's, now we get the good cop, Governor Herbert.
He's going to get the public land for his cronies all legal, even though latest polls show public lands managed for all the public is favored over states getting these lands to do what has already been done to school trust lands sold in crony capitalist deals.
Utah is ground Zero
See the map at From the trenches .com that refers to this attempt
Utah has a history of poorly managing federal lands they have acquired, they practically gave away 50 percent of the school trust lands Given them at statehood thus far.
Those charged with managing the trust, sold lands to cronies or acquired them themselves for a pittance, so now the school trust proceeds are minuscule.
Governor Gary Herbert has been a real estate man.
Fishermen in Utah fought him and the legislature and the developers in court because they tried to steal the public's access and use of public streams in Utah.
Fortunately the fishermen, their lawyers won in court or King Herbert and developers would have stolen public waters for their real estate empire ! Keep the commons for the common man.
OK, but who gets the URANIUM?
Our BLM lands in New Mexico are very poorly managed too. Recently, we as a family bought 4 All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) to enjoy the many off roads New Mexico has to offer us, what we found when traveling these obscure dirt roads was trash, cans, bottles, food wrappers, gun shells, mufflers, and more.
We took it upon ourselves to clean up this mess when we found it, so every weekend after that first weekend since the purchase of our off road vehicles we as a family have taken plastic garbage bags with us when we ride, without fail we have come home with several bags filled to the brim with trash from the BLM managed lands.
While the State is "A government" it has legal standing to these so called "Federal" lands. It's up to the people to control their governments and States are more responsive than the Federals. So don't look a "gift horse in the mouth", support the Governor. The Federals will not submit, legally or physically.
If it gets "physical" even the governor will be limited. The National guard if called out can be "Federalized" and taken out of control of the Governor. I would suggest County Sheriffs form posses with 5 armed citizens per deputy, all nice and legal like. Militias must coordinate and be willing to cooperate with their Sheriffs, and UT Hwy Patrol operating under the Governor.
UT Patriots will still be in a dog fight, but this is looking more like a big fracas for sure, and Most Importantly on Favorable Ground.
Gov Herbert - god bless you - and keep a guard around you at all time. Your life is in danger!! Stay safe
The Constitution only permits lands in states for ports and forts to the Federal Government. It certainly would appear that the Fed has simply usurped the territory it claims is its. So far I have not seen that mentioned. The only thing they might fall back on is "promote the general welfare", but from what I have seen the Fed does a poor job of taking care of the land they claim is theirs.
Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court decides what is Constitutional and those nine judges are influenced by some factors other than the Constitution. For example, it appears that Judge Roberts was influenced by bribes to vote for Obamacare. and three of the judges are closet Communists and they will vote for federal control and against the States. Besides they obviously hate religious people (Utah is full of them) and country folks. We can hope and if they rule against us, then we must pursue other avenues.
Which people ? And who is to administer the distribution of the land. I am sure it won't be you or I.
So true.
OK, but let's start by first seizing the federal land owned by the military.
Thanks to most of that land being proving grounds, the land will overall be in worse shape than that owned by the BLM, NPS, and so on. It should be reclaimed first to give the land more time to recover before to the point where it will be useful for farmers and ranchers.
-T.J. Thomas
Awesome if true.
For every dollar Utah receives in Federal revenue, only $.86 in taxes are sent to the Federal government, making Utah one of the states most dependent on US tax dollars.
Utah, please go it alone. The rest of us are tired of subsidizing you.
No, Anon, the US Supreme Court is not the ultimate decision maker on what's Constitutional or not. The Federal Govt is NOT permitted to own any land outside the ten-square miles of land known as the District of Columbia. The Feds are only permitted to MANAGE the lands outside of DC - not own them .. thus, they have NO authority to seize State and private lands, even if valuable resources such as precious metals (gold, silver, etc.) and/or minerals such as uranium are located there, and sell them - to foreign entities. This is part and parcel of Common Law, inherited from Britain.
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