GQP Whines 30 X 30 Lands Plan Lacks Details; Provide Nothing In Their Turn But Same Cliches
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Biden committed to the policy — which aims to address climate change and protect biodiversity — in an executive order signed in late January and directed the Interior Department to propose guidelines on determining how to tally land and waters. The agency issued that report last week to the National Climate Task Force led by White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, but the White House has yet to release it to the public (Greenwire, April 27)
During a nearly two-hour session, Republican lawmakers reiterated their concerns that the 30x30 pledge is a "haphazard goal" that will "lock up millions of acres of land and water." "True conservation is about managing our lands and waters for their environmental quality, not quantity," Westerman said.
Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale (R), who criticized federal land management in his state as subpar compared to state and private efforts, likewise slammed the 30x30 program as an "arbitrary top-down government mandate." Rosendale added: "Locking up millions of acres of land with unclear goals in mind would result in countless negative impacts on both our economy and our environment."
Westerman pointed to a massive public lands package approved by House lawmakers earlier this year as an example of what GOP lawmakers fear. Democrats touted the bill, in part, because it would help to achieve the 30x30 goals. H.R. 803, the "Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act," would set aside more than 1.2 million acres of federally managed lands from new oil and gas or mining claims. The measure passed largely along party lines, 227-200. Eight GOP lawmakers supported the bill (E&E News PM, Feb. 26)
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