[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   PUBLIC LANDS IN THE WESTERN STATES

  (Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming. Mr. Speaker, let me first of all thank the 
Speaker for his remarks. I am certain that all of us join in our 
sympathy for those two tragedies.
  Mr. Speaker, today I plan to introduce legislation that would 
transfer the lands currently administered by the Bureau of Land 
Management to the State in which the lands are located; namely, all 
Western State Members are joining in sponsorship of the bill.
  Currently, the BLM controls nearly 270 million acres of land in the 
United States; 18 million acres of this land is located in my home 
State of Wyoming. This places a heavy burden on the people of my State 
and significantly affects Wyoming's economy. This is not parklands, not 
wilderness lands, these are not recreational lands in the sense of 
wildlife refuges; these are lands left over, frankly, after 
homesteading that nobody else wanted at that time.
  BLM also places a heavy budgetary burden on the taxpayers. Their 
budget is about $1.2 billion.
  My bill would return the BLM lands back to the States and would solve 
these problems. It would save money and the long debate over grazing, 
timber, and oil and gas leases on these lands and give the States the 
ability to control their own futures. It is a great solution, fair to 
both the Feds and the States. This bill makes common sense and it would 
certainly reinvent the way our public lands are managed. It supports 
the goal of good Government, and I urge all of my colleagues in this 
effort to reform the way the public lands are managed.

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