Letter to The Honorable Barack Obama The President of the United States

Letter

On December 22, 2010, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued Secretarial Order No. 3310 (Order) which created a new "Wild Lands" policy. This directive requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to inventory all lands under BLM's authority and to manage designated lands for their wilderness values. For the states of the Rock Mountain West, within whose borders are millions of acres of BLM-managed lands, this new policy has the potential for severe economic consequences.

The prevailing federal law, the Federal Nad Policy Management Act (FLPMA) establishes an orderly process for establishing the multiuse of lands where appropriate -- be that grazing, recreation, or oil and gas development. State and local government play an active role in assisting BLM with these endeavors. The Secretarial Order destroys this process and threatens school funding and jobs at a time we can least afford such impacts.

As Chairman of the Western Governors' Association and Governor of a state which will be adversely impacted, I request the opportunity to meet with you while I am in Washington, DC for the National Governors' Association meeting February 2-March 1 to discuss this policy. My fellow western governors also may want to join me in discussing this issue with you. As it stands, this policy is seen by many of us a representing a new "War on the West," which I believe is not your intention.

Thank you for your timely and positive consideration of this request. When your staff established a date and time for our meeting, please have them contact my scheduler, Bobbi-Jo Meuleman, at 208-443-2100 or bobbi-jo.meuleman@gov.idaho.gov, to confirm the appointment.

As Always -- Idaho, "Esto Pereptua"

C. L. "Butch" Otter
Governor of Idaho

Source