The GOP and ALEC's Brazen Plan to Sell Off America's Public Lands to the Fossil Fuel Industry @alternet

The GOP and ALEC's Brazen Plan to Sell Off America's Public Lands to the Fossil Fuel Industry @alternet:

"Not surprisingly, the effort to privatize public lands is driven in part by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that relies heavily on financing by extractive industry leaders to distribute cookie-cutter legislation to state legislatures in hopes that they will enact bills to roll back fundamental conservation laws. Many of the people pushing for the takeover of America’s public lands are also tied to radical fringe groups who don’t represent mainstream views.  By mid-January, a House bill (H.R. 621) was introduced by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz identifying 3.3 million acres of America’s public lands across 10 states to be 'disposed of' and sold off. “What’s worthless to allies of the fossil fuel industry for all except oil and gas extraction has irreplaceable value to the American people for hiking, hunting, camping, fishing and countless other pastimes that Teddy Roosevelt first acknowledged were central to the strength and well-being of this nation,” the Wilderness Society said in a statement responding to the bill. “Today, those outdoor pastimes have a $646 billion value and contribute millions of American jobs to rural communities without harming the lands and waters themselves.” Miraculously, a little over a week after proposing his land disposal bill, Rep. Chaffetz announced in a midnight Instagram post that his bill would "die." Congressional offices had reportedly been overwhelmed by calls from people who want to keep our wild lands public, including many of Chaffetz's own constituents, who were concerned about the possibility of losing access for hunting, fishing, hiking and camping.  Rep. Chaffetz did the right thing in listening to an overwhelming tide of constituents who castigated him for such an un-American piece of legislation. But this is just one victory in a broader defense of public lands at large."