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* Creates 1.5 Million Acres of New Wilderness
* Withdraws 1.2 Million Acres from Mineral Production
* Designates 1,200 Miles of New Wild and Scenic Rivers
* Expands 110,000 acres of national monument land
* Adds 400,000 acres of recreation, conservation, and special management areas
It is a massive land and water grab being rushed through the House without even a committee hearing in the Natural Resource Committee, which has oversight on these issues.
Additionally, many of the lands under consideration in this bill do not even meet the basic characteristics to be considered wilderness. Instead, the bill arbitrarily designates these areas despite not qualifying for protection under the Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
When lands are placed into Wilderness protection they fall under the “let it burn” management practices of the agencies. All maintenance has to be done with hand tools, nothing mechanical. When wildfires are sparked, they let them burn. This threatens the life and property of citizens, while damaging the resources proponents seek to protect.
And, importantly, this bill raises critical national security concerns. The areas designated for permanent mineral withdrawal contain the rare earth minerals our nation needs for high tech products, batteries and other key products — forcing us to continue our dependency on delivery from Europe and China.
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