What They are Saying About Biden’s Colorado Land Grab
Kathleen Sgamma, President, Western Energy Alliance stated, “Designating more national monuments like Camp Hale adds to the list of protected lands that the federal government struggles to fund and maintain. There is already a $22 billion backlog of conservation and infrastructure projects for protected lands, while costs continue to balloon because of government mismanagement. The bright spot is that GAOA provided secure funding for conservation derived almost exclusively from federal oil and natural gas production. On the other hand, Biden has been intent on eliminating federal oil and natural gas since day one of his presidency. It’s not clear the president is aware that oil and natural gas and conservation are directly linked. An attack on one is an attack on the other. Therefore, the president’s policies have created a double whammy that put the future of Camp Hale and other public lands at risk.
“In addition, the White House has initiated a withdrawal for the Thompson Divide while advancing a false narrative that energy development and land protection are mutually exclusive. Oil and natural gas activity has taken place in the Thompson Divide area since the 1940s while conserving the land. We can do both: we can develop energy while protecting the land. The area remains a vital resource and is located within the second largest potential natural gas reserve in the United States. There’s no need to lock away public lands and minerals, especially at a time of high energy prices.
“We’re proud that revenues from oil and natural gas production on non-park, non-wilderness public lands provides the vast majority of the $2.8 billion annually for federal conservation. However, if Biden’s attacks on our industry are not reversed, over time the revenue stream for these conservation programs will dry up. Compounding the problem, the cost of protecting iconic places has swelled under the current administration. Money that should be spent in the field protecting places like Camp Hale is being squandered in Washington, D.C. on excessive paperwork and bureaucracy.”
Chelsie Miera, Executive Director, Western Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said: “While the President is running to OPEC to increase production, or considering lifting sanctions on Venezuela to increase theirs, he is further restricting American Natural Gas, crushing jobs here, worsening the global climate and inflation and asking to be dependent on foes, instead of ourselves. All while undermining the work of expert staff at the BLM for political points ahead of the midterm elections.”
Conservatives for Property Rights stated, “Property rights conservatives oppose Pres. Biden’s Colorado land grab abusing the Antiquities Act. Shame on you, Mr. President!”
Richard Manning, President, Americans for Limited Government, said, “The Biden administration had the audacity over the weekend to blame President Trump for high gasoline prices and then this week remove 280,000 acres in Colorado from responsible domestic energy production, mining and timbering. This action is irresponsible and dangerous as anyone who has been paying attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt at energy extortion against Europe should realize. Incredibly, Joe Biden would rather have our nation held hostage by foreign energy producers who don’t like America very much than to allow safe development of those resources here. One wonders at times, what country he thinks he is representing?”
New Mexico Business Coalition stated, “NMBC strongly opposes the Biden administration’s attempted land grab in SW states utilizing the 1906 Antiquities Act. We support Rep. Boebert and encourage New Mexico’s Congressional members to fight back too!”
Tim Stewart, President, U.S. Oil and Gas Association stated, “Westerners - and Coloradans in particular - are the best in the world at two important things – developing energy responsibly and protecting our own lands. We have demonstrated that ability for over 100 years. It’s baffling how the Biden Administration is so eager to shake a tin cup at a South American dictator for more energy on Monday and then take 280,000 acres of Colorado resources off the table on Wednesday.”
Heritage Action for America said, “As gas prices are skyrocketing, Biden is BLOCKING American energy production in Colorado, making us more reliant on foreign energy. Make no mistake, Biden’s energy assault is by design.”
Trail Preservation Alliance, Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, and Colorado Snowmobile Association, stated, “We are disappointed that only a small portion of the 280,000 acres addressed in today’s proclamation was protected for recreation, while all 280, 000 acres has been lost for oil and gas exploration when the country is facing unprecedented fuel prices.”
Margaret Byfield, Executive Director, American Stewards of Liberty, stated, “This monument designation is precisely what we have feared the Biden administration would use to accomplish his initiative known as 30 x 30 locking up 30 percent of our nation’s lands and waters by 2030. This administration cares nothing about the environment, but wants to destroy American’s ability to own and use private property and all the natural resources our nation has been blessed with. I fear this is only the beginning of Monuments being used across our nation to implement the greatest land grab in American history.”
The Ute Indian Tribe of Utah called Biden’s Camp Hale – Continental Divide National Monument “an unlawful act of genocide” and said, “[The White House] moved forward with a monument on our homelands without including us. They talk about tribal consultation, but their actions do not match their words. We cannot support a monument on our homelands that does not include the Tribe. It is a disgrace to our ancestors to exclude the Tribe in the care and protection of these burial sites. We are shocked that 200 years later, nothing has changed. This unlawful action by the President today is a desecration of our ancestors that remain buried on our homelands. Many of these Ute ancestors passed on seeking to protect these lands from further encroachment and others left us as part of the forced death march at the hands of the United States as we were moved out of Colorado at gunpoint. The Ute Indian Tribe will not stand by to accept further genocidal tactics that continue to be perpetuated against our people and our ancestors that came before us. The United States President is doing what the United States has always done and we will use all lawful measures at our disposal to stop this…Nothing is being done to secure our Reservation homelands where we live and work. Indian reservation homelands must be protected and secured above all else! Every day, BLM and the State take more and more of our resources. Resources that we reserved to provide for future generations of our Tribe. The President must take action to restore and secure our Uncompahgre Reservation homelands. We hear all these headlines about actions for Indian tribes, but where is this Administration on securing our homelands, increasing law enforcement to protect our communities, protecting our waters, and defending our lands and resources in federal court. All too often the Secretary and Assistant Secretary are chasing their own priorities and not the priorities of Indian tribes. Or, even worse, they are often sitting on the wrong side of the table and not fulfilling the President's commitments and solemn trust responsibility to Indian country. The President's actions today in declaring these National Monuments in the manner he did is a national disgrace.”
Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee Chairman and Uncompahgre Band Member Shaun Chapoose stated, “We've tried to work with this Administration, but time after time they refuse to address the real issues tribes are facing. Even on our traditional homelands, they refused to work closely with us. These new monuments are an abomination and demonstrate manifest disregard and disrespect of the Ute Indian Tribe's treaty rights and sovereign status as a federally recognized Indian Tribe. If it's a fight they want it's a fight they will get.”
Myron Ebell, Director, Center for Energy & Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute, said, “President Biden’s withdrawal of 225,000 acres of federal land from mineral, oil, and gas production and the creation of a 53,000 acre National Monument in Colorado are just two pieces of the Biden administration’s accelerating war on the West. These and other massive withdrawals from resource production—including hardrock mining, oil and gas, timber, and livestock grazing—of federal lands designated by Congress for multiple use are destroying rural economies and at the same time degrading the environment across the eleven Western States where the federal land agencies control more than half the land.”
Aaron Johnson, Vice President of Public Affairs, Western Energy Alliance said, “Biden has made his opposition to federal oil and natural gas development on public lands well known. As a candidate, he promised no oil development on federal lands. Since January 2021, his administration has ignored laws like the Mineral Leasing Act and implemented a near-total ban on mandated quarterly lease sales of public lands. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden has leased the fewest acres of any president going as far back as President John F. Kennedy. If not reversed, over time, the production of oil and natural gas from federal lands will dry up, and so will the revenues for these conservation programs. Wind and solar energy are not able to fill the gap. National monuments, parks, and other public lands will ultimately suffer and deteriorate from lack of upkeep.”
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert stated, “Rather than working on real issues like reducing inflation and improving the economy, Joe Biden came to Colorado to unilaterally lock up hundreds of thousands of acres through the stroke of his pen and prevent Coloradans from using our public lands for activities that we want and need. Shamefully, Biden ignored the concerns and opposition of impacted communities so he could appease Green New Deal extremists. Equally troubling, they hid their true motivations and failed to be transparent about the harm and restrictions that will result from this massive land grab. With gas prices skyrocketing, OPEC decreasing its oil production, and Americans already struggling to pay their utility bills, this land grab to shut down American energy and natural resources production could not come at a worse time.
“I have a few questions the fake news should ask Joe Biden about his land grab: With gas prices approaching $4.00 per gallon, how does preventing oil and gas production on 280,000 acres help and when will you stop your attacks on responsible energy production? Since you are also preventing mining on 280,000 acres, where are you going to get the minerals for all your electric vehicles, children mining with their bare hands in the Congo? Why did you claim you are taking today’s action in part to benefit the tribes, when the nearest tribal reservation is 4 ½ hours away? How many fewer trips overseas would you have to take to beg OPEC and the Saudi Prince to increase oil production if you allowed responsible energy production on the lands you locked up today? Why did you put the priorities of Green New Deal extremists ahead of hard-working Coloradans? How many catastrophic wildfires are going to burn as a result of your land grab that prevents timber harvesting and forest management?”
“As if it weren’t enough for Joe Biden to deplete our emergency strategic petroleum reserves for political gamesmanship and then getting brushed off by OPEC after begging them to increase oil supply, he is now doubling down on incompetence," House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (AR-04) said. "Taking even more domestic production off the table is attacking American energy production, American jobs, American workers and leaving American consumers to pay the tab.”
Background:
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has actively led local stakeholders and Members of Congress in opposition to Biden’s proposed land grab.
Despite significant local opposition and concerns, Joe Biden unilaterally implemented a massive land grab in Colorado, preventing responsible energy production and mining on 225,000 acres for 22 years and creating a new 53,000-acre national monument in Colorado that will also prevent these activities as well as forest management and timber harvesting.
The Thompson Divide mineral withdrawal is the latest in a string of Biden administration attacks on American energy and mineral development. President Biden has leased less acreage for oil and gas development than any president in history while simultaneously depleting the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), making the U.S. increasingly vulnerable to the whims of OPEC+ nations. At a time when Americans are facing rising prices at the pump, this action will ban new energy development in a region with longstanding oil and gas production.
The CORE Act, land grab legislation introduced by Senator Bennet, sought to lock up more land on nearly 400,000 acres, 73,000 acres of which would be designated as the most extreme land designation of new wilderness. For more than a decade, the CORE Act landgrab failed to get the support necessary to be signed into law.
Because of their failure to pass a bill through Congress, despite Democrats controlling the House, Senate, and Presidency, Green New Deal extremists and out of touch politicians asked Biden to unilaterally lock up the land. The real goal of the extremists that made this revised request is to permanently prohibit mining, timber harvesting, as well as responsible oil and gas production on this land.
Presidents on both sides of the aisle have abused the Antiquities Act ~270 different times to lock up hundreds of millions of acres of land and water. The Camp Hale National Monument is the first national monument designated by Biden under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Obama-Biden administration abused the Antiquities Act more than any other administration in history, using it 34 times to lock up 553,599,880 acres of land and water as national monuments, representing 66 percent of all of the land and water ever designated as a national monument using the Antiquities Act. The Obama-Biden administration used the Antiquities Act to lock up an average of 189,589 acres every day in office, or an area roughly equivalent to the size of Biden’s home state of Delaware for every month of the administration.
The federal government already owns and controls ~640 millions acres in the U.S. There are 424 National Parks Units and the National Parks maintenance backlog is a staggering $12 billion. The U.S. burns up more than 10 million acres of forest and land each year, and more than 60 million acres are in need of management and considered high risk. The federal estate is much too large already, and we simply aren’t taking care of the lands and assets already under federal control.
Stakeholders who formally objected over the years to legislation containing CORE Act provisions and/or the use of the Antiquities Act to accomplish Biden’s land grab include: American Energy Alliance, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Forests Resource Council, Americans for Limited Government, American Loggers Council, Archuleta County (Colorado), Arizona Cattle Growers Association, Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona Power Authority, Arrowhead Snowmobile Club, Becky Norton Dunlop, Assistant Secretary, Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior (1988-1989), BlueRibbon Coalition / Sharetrails, Buena Vista Snowdrifters, California Farm Bureau, Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy & Environment, Cheyenne County (Colorado), Coalition of AZ/NM Counties, Colorado Blizzards, Colorado Consulting Foresters, Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Livestock Association, Colorado Oil & Gas Association, Colorado Snowmobile Association, Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition, Colorado Wool Growers Association, Conservatives for Property Rights, Dolores County (Colorado), Douglas Creek Conservation District, enCore Energy, The Energy Council, Federal Forests Resource Coalition, Flattoppers Snowmobile Club, Freemont County (Colorado), Gene Glover, County Commissioner of Rio Grande County (Colorado), Golden Vertex Corp., Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, Grant County Cattle Growers Association (New Mexico), Gunnison County SnoTrackers, Heritage Action for America, Holy Cross Powder Hounds, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, Idaho Freedom Foundation, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Industrial Minerals Association – North America, Lake City Continental Divide Club, Less Government, John Galusha, County Commissioner of Huerfano County (Colorado), Mesa County (Colorado), Midvalley Snowmobile Club, Mineral County (Colorado), Montezuma County (Colorado), National Mining Association, National Stone Sand and Gravel Association, New Mexico Business Coalition, New Mexico Federal Lands Council, North Park Snow Snakes, Off-Road Business Association, One Voice, Pikes Peak High Riders, Platoro West Inc., Prime Fuels Corp., Protect Americans Now, Public Lands Council, Public Lands for the People, Rifle Snowmobile Club, Routt Powder Riders, Sabre Gold, Sangre Snowrunners Snowmobile Club, San Juan Sledders Snowmobile Club, S&W Adventure Riders, San Juan Trail Riders, Snow Country Explorers, Summit Snow Riderz, Trails Preservation Alliance (Colorado), Uncompahgre Valley Trail Riders, United 4-Wheel Drive Association, United Snowmobile Alliance of America, Washington Farm Bureau, West Slope Colorado Oil & Gas Association, Western Energy Alliance, White River Conservation District, White River Snowmobile Club, Wolf Creek Trailblazers, and Yavapai County Cattle Growers.
Members of Congress who formally objected to Biden’s land grab include: Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO-03), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Ken Buck (CO-04), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Russ Fulcher (ID-01), Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Paul Gosar (AZ-04), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Troy Nehls (TX-22), Scott Perry (PA-10), and Adrian Smith (NE-03).