Our president has been saying a lot lately about how much he would like America to return the tradition of saying, “Merry Christmas.” Yesterday, he said Merry Christmas in a big way…with one of the largest public land giveaways in US history.
Ho, Ho, Ho!!!
Plenty has been said about this already, but I’ll risk saying a few more. It’s been argued that removing these designations and returning the land to ‘private use’ will benefit the admittedly poor people in the counties around them. This would be a valid argument if only it were so. As usual, it is the big mining and oil companies and a small number of land owners who will benefit from this move. Their actions may or may not create jobs, which may or may not put dollars into the pockets of some needy people, but the land will definitely suffer and we can NEVER fully recover what has been lost. And, the overwhelming majority of dollars won’t be going into the pockets of working people…it will go to people ‘working’ in executive boardrooms.
I’ve traveled extensively in Utah and it’s a great state. It’s very unfortunate that neither its congressional delegation, governor nor apparently the majority of its people give much of a hoot about the wonderful they live in.
Don’t buy the crap about federal bureaucrats in Washington and Federal ‘overreach.’ The enemies of our public lands have no problem overreaching when it suits them. The land belonged to you before it was a monument. It belongs to you now, not just SOME of the people in Utah. We, the American people can decide what to do with OUR land. Unfortunately, until we get a president who values the natural beauty of this land, that’s not gonna happen.
But to the mineral extractors, ranchers and oil barons, well…Merry Christmas!