US to make 'wild' public land eligible for protection

[EnglishLady]

BBC News Dec 23

The US is to make millions of acres of public land eligible for wilderness protection, officials have said.

The order reverses former President George W Bush's policy forbidding the government from doing so.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday said the new policy would help to protect public land "for current and future generations to come".

In 2003, the Bush administration opened million of acres in the Rocky Mountains to potential commercial development.

Under the new policy, announced on Thursday, the US Bureau of Land Management will have the authority to designate certain public land as "wild lands" and recommend they be roped them off from future commercial development.

Congress will then decide whether those areas should be permanently protected as wilderness. It is unclear how long land can remain under the "wild lands" designation before a decision has to be made.

"Americans love the wild places where they hunt, fish, hike, and get away from it all, and they expect these lands to be protected wisely on their behalf," Mr Salazar said in a statement.

The order repeals a policy initiated by President George W Bush's interior secretary, Gale Norton, which effectively halted the Bureau of Land Management's authority to recommend new land for wilderness protection.

Environmental groups said that policy left millions of pristine acres vulnerable to oil and gas development and off-road vehicle use

 

[Turtle]

Good. If it weren't for the efforts of a relatively small number of people, the Grand Canyon and all the surrounding land would have been destroyed by mining interests. And that's just one example.

 

[xiggi]

Just another way to keep us dependent on foreign oil. Much of this land had coal shale and such that could be used to produce oil. The region is also rich in natural gas and the number of producing wells in that area are one of the reasons natural gas prices remain much more stable than does oil prices. If the enviro's have their way not only will it not be used for commercial use it will not be open to hunting, snowmobiles, hiking or humans at all.