Op-eds
Simpson Issues the Following Statement on Provision to Defund DOI’s Wild Lands Initiative
Washington,
February 11, 2011
“I have a long list of concerns about the Department of Interior’s ‘Wild Lands’ initiative, not the least of which is the fact that it was rolled out without giving the public an opportunity to comment on it and without the opportunity for congressional oversight. I’m concerned that this initiative will make it more difficult to make good land management decisions and result in increased litigation. The responsibility for making land management designations belongs to Congress, not the agency, and by including language in the CR to defund this initiative, I hope to force the Department to work with Congress on this issue.”
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, issued the following statement about language included in H.R. 1, the FY11 Continuing Resolution, to prohibit the use of funding for the Department of Interior’s new “Wild Lands” policy: “I have a long list of concerns about the Department of Interior’s ‘Wild Lands’ initiative, not the least of which is the fact that it was rolled out without giving the public an opportunity to comment on it and without the opportunity for congressional oversight. I’m concerned that this initiative will make it more difficult to make good land management decisions and result in increased litigation. The responsibility for making land management designations belongs to Congress, not the agency, and by including language in the CR to defund this initiative, I hope to force the Department to work with Congress on this issue.”
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