“In the West, we know that if you don’t graze on public lands, you don’t graze at all,” said Simpson. “Creating a federal buyout program is a huge step toward ending grazing on public lands, which would have a devastating impact on local economies throughout the West and would have unintended consequences on the environment. Now is not the time to ignite another War on the West.” Read more »

Most areas affected by CIEDRA are existing federal lands that are currently designated as wilderness study areas. As such, the federal government already manages them as if they were wilderness, which means that land use in this area is significantly restricted right now. Because the federal government has complete discretion over this land today, federal agencies could further restrict access, or even designate the area as a national monument without any local input. Read more »

Congressman Mike Simpson today came out in strong opposition to H.R. 5088, America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act. This legislation cedes authority over all waters in the United States to the federal government, including water currently regulated by states, and makes it subject to regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act. Read more »

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is advocating for continued access to recreation on public land, sending a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar regarding the use of the Antiquities Act. The letter followed up to a recent hearing by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment where Simpson addressed concern that was raised over a Department of Interior internal planning document that identified 17 potential sites for new or expanded national monument designation in the western United States under the Antiquities Act. Read more »

 Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is an original cosponsor of legislation that would provide a reasonable, long-term solution for fees paid by owners of cabins on Forest Service land.  H.R. 4888, the Cabin Fee Act of 2010, would replace the existing flawed appraisal system for determining fees and establish a tiered yearly fee structure based on current appraisals and tied to inflation to… Read more »

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson advocated for a comprehensive national energy policy today during a hearing with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Salazar testified on the President’s FY2011 Department of Interior budget request before the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, of which Simpson is Ranking Member. Simpson is a strong supporter of an “all-of-the above” energy policy that will make our country energy independent. Read more »

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson discussed the impact on Idaho of the recent sage-grouse decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with Interior Assistant Secretary Tom Strickland.  Strickland testified today before the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, of which Simpson is Ranking Republican Member, regarding the President’s FY 2011 budget request. Earlier… Read more »

Noting that Interior’s ruling is now facing a court challenge, the Delegation and Governor said that Secretary Salazar is to be commended for his determination—and he should stand by his decision concerning sage grouse. “We need to ensure that our collective attention to this important issue does not wane or is overshadowed by inaction in the coming months,” the Idahoans wrote. Read more »

During the hearing, Simpson asked Director Abbey what the BLM is doing to address the significant backlog in grazing permits. Last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that sage-grouse is “warranted but precluded” from listing under the Endangered Species Act. Simpson expressed his concern that this decision would put an additional burden on the BLM, which is responsible for managing most of the current sage-grouse habitat, without providing additional resources for the agency to address its current backlog. Read more »

“We’re not talking here about trying to reduce arsenic from 100 parts per billion to ten, we’re talking about communities having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce it by two parts per billion. It should be up to rural communities to determine if twelve parts per billion is acceptable for their drinking water, or if they should tax people out of their homes in order to try to obtain EPA’s arsenic standard of ten parts per billion,” said Simpson. “Nobody cares more about the safety of a community’s drinking water, or is more eager to do the right thing to protect it, than the people who live, work and raise families there.” Read more »