The Patriot Post® · States Consider Federal Land

Legislators from several Western states met Friday in Salt Lake City to discuss gaining state control of federal lands. They say that timing the meeting just after the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch was a coincidence, but that such a problem was waiting to happen. “What’s happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger problem,” said Republican Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart. The federal government owns 84% of Nevada, and similar outsized portions of many other Western states. The debate isn’t new, either. In fact, it’s ebbed and flowed for decades. The Constitution grants the federal government authority over land “purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be,” provided it has a purpose, such as “the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.” This hasn’t been interpreted very strictly over the last century, and if the states are serious now, don’t expect the feds to leave quietly.