Is the Dept of Int Planning a 13M Acre Land Grab?

[BigBear]

Is it just me, or does the name "Hidden Gems" sound like a low-end trailer park?

I was thinking along the lines of "family jewels"


....

[Jumpstart]

IMHO, the government having any more control over any more land is un-American.

[OgenRwot]

Polis submitted the bill today.

Here is an article

Here is the bill

[theGinsue]

Damned lying, thieving, sons-a-........

[mx'r]

We'll one day not care so much. Just ask the Indians....

[OgenRwot]

The problem for us is that nobody outside of Colorado cares about this bill. Their constituencies don't give two shits about open land in Colorado so they can vote for it without retribution. What does that mean? Even if everybody here, including Polis, vote against the bill it will still pass with flying colors and we'll be SOL and locked out of our mountains.

[Beprepared]

I've been hearing about this for some time, thanks for the details. Yes, it is unlawful and not American for the Feds to own 1/3 of our land. I wish the western states had more foresight like Arkansas. Back when the Feds were establishing all the first parks and monuments, they turned all their potential sights into state parks, effectively blocking the Feds. My family and I are National Park junkies. There are to many parks with way more land then is necessary. Not to mention the amount completely uninteresting places.
FARGING BASTEGES!

[ERNO]

The problem for us is that nobody outside of Colorado cares about this bill. Their constituencies don't give two shits about open land in Colorado so they can vote for it without retribution. What does that mean? Even if everybody here, including Polis, vote against the bill it will still pass with flying colors and we'll be SOL and locked out of our mountains.

I don't live in Colorado, I live in Maryland; but if the land grab is meant to stop the land rapist's oil shale, gas coal mining and drilling rights; I'm all for it.
Here, over on the eastern seaboard, the mountain-top mining occuring in West Virgina is turning out to be a enviromental catastrophe. Which entails removal of whole mountain tops to get at the coal seam; meanwhile dumping the residue at the bottom of the mountain's below, where the streams are.
Obama is trying to stop the process; but the banks are one of the best ways to stop the land rapists, by denying the financing to run there earth destroying projects.