Bubba Ray Boudreaux
1 ton status
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), left, criticized the administration's
"stealth tactics" in announcing the ruling over the holidays. Sen. Patrick J.
Leahy (D-Vt.) called it "another dilution of the 'public' part of 'public
lands.' " (Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 25, 2002; Page A06
The Bush administration is about to make it easier for state and local
governments to gain control over roads and paths on federal lands, a move
environmentalists and some lawmakers say will spur development in wilderness
areas and national parks.
A rule to be published Thursday in the Federal Register creates a streamlined
procedure to resolve title disputes over who controls rights of way along
many roads, trails and rivers that cross federal lands, Interior Department
officials said yesterday.
The policy allows the Bureau of Land Management to disclaim federal ownership
"in a wide variety of property interests that may be in dispute," according
to a BLM summary of the rule. It waives a 12-year limit on when applications
can be filed and allows any entity, not just the owners of record, to ask the
federal government to relinquish its interest in a parcel.
Environmental groups and their allies on Capitol Hill said the policy would
make national parks and other public lands more vulnerable to development.
And they criticized the timing of the announcement during the holiday season
when most Americans' attention is elsewhere.
"Once again the administration is using stealth tactics to pay off special
interests and do tangible damages to public resources," said Sen. Joseph I.
Lieberman (D-Conn.).
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said the rule "will let the administration
enter into closed-door negotiations for paving our national parks, refuges
and forests. It's another dilution of the 'public' part of 'public lands.' "
Federal officials denied such charges. They called the policy an
administrative answer to complaints by state and local governments,
especially in the western United States, that "clouded titles" have made it
difficult to build and improve roads and impose new traffic patterns.
"The purpose of this rule is to allow county and state governments to try to
work it out with the federal government so they don't have to sue us," said
James Hughes, deputy director for policy and programs at the BLM, "or we
don't have to go to the Congress to try and pass a special bill to fix up a
boundary dispute or some property ownership dispute."
For instance, Hughes said, the rule may help quell an intergovernmental fuss
over bad land surveys, or account for changes caused by river or beach
erosion. Or it might clarify the status of land that was transferred to local
control upon statehood, or later in a land exchange, but on which the federal
government kept rights of way for water or power lines, he said.
"Now we're saying, 'Hey, we haven't used that [land]. So now we're going to
disclaim any interest in keeping the right of way,' " Hughes said, offering
an example of how the new policy is supposed to work.
The new rule could affect the tens of thousands of claims that states and
counties have made to ownership of roads across the West based on a provision
of the 1866 mining act known as Revised Statute 2477. The law, intended to
give prospectors easy access to their claims, grants use of right of ways for
highways over federal lands that are not reserved for public use.
Environmental groups say the most claims are in Utah and Alaska, where
officials are seeking control over not just roads, but also over old mining
trails, off-road vehicle trails and dry river bottoms.
"This isn't really about transportation," said Heidi McIntosh, conservation
director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "This is about who is
going to be able to control or protect federal public lands. . . . The timing
of this is no coincidence. They're hoping that as few people as possible are
going to notice what they are doing here. It's out-Grinching the Grinch on
Christmas."
Tim Bristol, executive director for the Alaska Coalition in Juneau, said the
new rule "could have huge impacts" on his state, where land claims snake all
over the map.
"In Alaska, the governor and the Bush administration will really use this as
a stalking horse for development and building roads across public lands,"
Bristol said. "We're going to have our hands full. We're going to need a lot
of people out there to stick up for these places that we'd like to see remain
wild and roadless."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
"stealth tactics" in announcing the ruling over the holidays. Sen. Patrick J.
Leahy (D-Vt.) called it "another dilution of the 'public' part of 'public
lands.' " (Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 25, 2002; Page A06
The Bush administration is about to make it easier for state and local
governments to gain control over roads and paths on federal lands, a move
environmentalists and some lawmakers say will spur development in wilderness
areas and national parks.
A rule to be published Thursday in the Federal Register creates a streamlined
procedure to resolve title disputes over who controls rights of way along
many roads, trails and rivers that cross federal lands, Interior Department
officials said yesterday.
The policy allows the Bureau of Land Management to disclaim federal ownership
"in a wide variety of property interests that may be in dispute," according
to a BLM summary of the rule. It waives a 12-year limit on when applications
can be filed and allows any entity, not just the owners of record, to ask the
federal government to relinquish its interest in a parcel.
Environmental groups and their allies on Capitol Hill said the policy would
make national parks and other public lands more vulnerable to development.
And they criticized the timing of the announcement during the holiday season
when most Americans' attention is elsewhere.
"Once again the administration is using stealth tactics to pay off special
interests and do tangible damages to public resources," said Sen. Joseph I.
Lieberman (D-Conn.).
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said the rule "will let the administration
enter into closed-door negotiations for paving our national parks, refuges
and forests. It's another dilution of the 'public' part of 'public lands.' "
Federal officials denied such charges. They called the policy an
administrative answer to complaints by state and local governments,
especially in the western United States, that "clouded titles" have made it
difficult to build and improve roads and impose new traffic patterns.
"The purpose of this rule is to allow county and state governments to try to
work it out with the federal government so they don't have to sue us," said
James Hughes, deputy director for policy and programs at the BLM, "or we
don't have to go to the Congress to try and pass a special bill to fix up a
boundary dispute or some property ownership dispute."
For instance, Hughes said, the rule may help quell an intergovernmental fuss
over bad land surveys, or account for changes caused by river or beach
erosion. Or it might clarify the status of land that was transferred to local
control upon statehood, or later in a land exchange, but on which the federal
government kept rights of way for water or power lines, he said.
"Now we're saying, 'Hey, we haven't used that [land]. So now we're going to
disclaim any interest in keeping the right of way,' " Hughes said, offering
an example of how the new policy is supposed to work.
The new rule could affect the tens of thousands of claims that states and
counties have made to ownership of roads across the West based on a provision
of the 1866 mining act known as Revised Statute 2477. The law, intended to
give prospectors easy access to their claims, grants use of right of ways for
highways over federal lands that are not reserved for public use.
Environmental groups say the most claims are in Utah and Alaska, where
officials are seeking control over not just roads, but also over old mining
trails, off-road vehicle trails and dry river bottoms.
"This isn't really about transportation," said Heidi McIntosh, conservation
director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "This is about who is
going to be able to control or protect federal public lands. . . . The timing
of this is no coincidence. They're hoping that as few people as possible are
going to notice what they are doing here. It's out-Grinching the Grinch on
Christmas."
Tim Bristol, executive director for the Alaska Coalition in Juneau, said the
new rule "could have huge impacts" on his state, where land claims snake all
over the map.
"In Alaska, the governor and the Bush administration will really use this as
a stalking horse for development and building roads across public lands,"
Bristol said. "We're going to have our hands full. We're going to need a lot
of people out there to stick up for these places that we'd like to see remain
wild and roadless."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
