State legislators want Congress to hand over all mineral rights and federal public lands in Wyoming except Yellowstone
As Western lawmakers float a variety of bad ideas for transferring federal lands to states, a group of Wyoming state senators are making a particularly outrageous request of the federal government. On Thursday, those lawmakers pushed forward a resolution demanding Congress turn over all federal lands and mineral rights in the state of Wyoming. The only exception to their roughly 50-million-acre request would be Yellowstone National Park, which was established by the U.S. government before Wyoming gained statehood.
“All Americans should be very concerned about this proposal, because I’m sure other Western states would do the same thing if this was somehow allowed,” Earl DeGroot, one of the original supporters of Keep It Public Wyoming and the admin of Wyoming Sportsmen for Federal Lands, tells Outdoor Life. “I moved to Wyoming forty years ago to be near public land, and I stay here for the federal land. Land that belongs to all Americans, not just the state of Wyoming or a handful of legislators.”
Supporters of Senate Resolution 2 are claiming that the massive land transfer would put Wyoming on “equal footing” with other U.S. states. It passed the Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee by a 4-1 vote Thursday. Sens. Tim French (R-Powell), Troy McKeown (R-Gillette), and Laura Pearson (R-Kemmerer) backed the measure alongside Sen. Bob Ide (R-Casper), the resolution’s lead sponsor. Sen. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo) was the only committee member who voted against it.
Crago did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why he voted against the resolution. But his main concerns, according to WyoFile, were related to legal complications around mineral rights, and the cost of grazing leases on federal land, which he worried could increase under state ownership. As we reported last month, BLM grazing leases could cost stockgrowers 500 to 1,000 percent more under state management.
Aside from disagreeing with the principles of SJ2, DeGroot says it’s a legal non-starter that makes poor economic sense. He says it would run afoul of the Wyoming Constitution, which states that the people of Wyoming disclaimed “all right and title to the unappropriated public land lying within [its] borders” upon receiving statehood. DeGroot also points to an independent study from 2019, which found that the State could not afford to manage millions of acres of federal land, along with multiple surveys showing strong support among Westerners for policies that protect, expand, and conserve public lands.
https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/wyoming-senators-federal-land-demands/
Don’t Let Politicians Convince You That Selling Public Lands Is the Solution to America’s Housing Affordability Crisis
https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/wyoming-senators-federal-land-demands/
h/t Coastie Patriot