Federal Lands Policy

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. I would like to thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Texas, for taking the time to lead on this important conversation about the size of the U.S. Federal footprint.

It is a conversation that many Americans, specifically those living east of the Mississippi River, have never had to think much about. However, in Western States like my home State of Arizona, we face unfair burdens on our communities due to the fact that over 90 percent of all Federal land is located in the West. In Arizona, only 18 percent of the land remaining in the State is privately held.

Where land is locked up by the Federal Government, the government controls all aspects of use, development, and access. Local school districts and businesses suffer, having no private land base to grow or tax to support infrastructure.

Imagine the impact on corn if only 18 percent of the land in Iowa was privately held, or cotton production in Mississippi or oranges grown in Florida. The agriculture that defines many Eastern States would be severely limited if they faced the same Federal footprint that Arizona and Western farmers must confront.

Farmers and ranchers in the West face a tsunami of bureaucracy preventing them from doing their jobs. Additionally, energy development, including traditional and renewable energy, is almost nonexistent on Federal lands.

I have held numerous townhall meetings and field hearings to hear from small-business owners, sportsmen, farmers, ranchers, elected officials, and many other stakeholders who adamantly oppose furthering the reach and size of the Federal Government's footprint.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that the Federal Government management agencies like the BLM have identified hundreds of thousands of acres of Federal land for disposal that the agency admits it is not effectively and efficiently utilizing.

Imagine for a moment that the BLM knows it has land that it doesn't use and yet the Federal Government still keeps the land for itself. The BLM is not alone though. In April of this year, it was reported that the National Park Service has a nearly $12 million deferred maintenance backlog. Wow.

The Forest Service Federal footprint is 192.9 million acres, and the total Federal estate exceeds more than 635 million acres.

When businesses and the private sector don't develop their leases quickly enough for the extremist environmental groups, they are labeled as ``greedy.'' Yet these same groups give the Federal Government a pass and actually encourage them to acquire more land. The Federal Government is supposed to represent we the people, not the special interest groups like the Sierra Club.

In order to return Federal land that is not being used back to the State and communities who desperately need it, I am proud to have introduced a commonsense solution that ensures public lands are utilized more efficiently, while also yielding significant benefits for stakeholders.

This legislation, known as the HEARD Act, establishes an orderly process for the sale, conveyance, and exchange of Federal lands not being utilized by public land management agencies that have been identified for disposal.

The HEARD Act will yield significant benefits for education, sportsmen, agriculture and natural resource users, counties and States by establishing a revenue-sharing mechanism that ensures a fair return for all.

Now the Heard Act is modeled after the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. This Federal law, enacted in 1998, has a proven track record of success in Nevada. To date, more than 35,000 acres identified by the BLM for disposal have been sold, conveyed, or exchanged in Nevada, and sales have generated nearly $3 billion in revenue.

The revenue-sharing mechanism instituted by this law has benefited education, enhanced recreational opportunities, public access, and achieved better overall management of public lands. Imagine what we could do if we returned public lands that were up for disposal back to the public and back to the State.

It is long past time that Congress takes action to responsibly shrink our 635-million acre Federal footprint and empower western States to have a voice in determining our land management policies.

I thank the gentleman from Texas for giving me the time to talk about this.

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