Weeks after an anti-government militia’s takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge, legislators are presenting bills to loosen federal authority over public land

Congress is to consider two bills that would allow states to hand over vast tracts of federal land for mining, logging or other commercial activities – just weeks after the arrest of an armed militia that took over a wildlife refuge in Oregon in protest at federal oversight of public land.



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The legislation, which will be presented to the House committee on natural resources on Thursday, would loosen federal authority over parts of the 600m acres (240m hectares), nearly one-third of the land mass of the US, it administers.

A bill put forward by Republican Don Young would allow any state to assume control of up to 2m acres of the national forest system to be “managed primarily for timber production” in order to address what Young claims is a decline in national logging rates.

A further bill, written by Republican Raúl Labrador, would allow state governors to assign up to 4m acres of land as “forest demonstration areas”, which would allow logging free from any federal water, air or endangered species restrictions.

The bills, which will be heard by a Republican-dominated committee, come just two weeks after the dramatic end to the armed militia occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge in Oregon. The 41-day occupation, which resulted in the fatal shooting of the militia’s spokesman before the arrest of the rest of the group, was sparked by the group’s anger at federal land use regulations.

The heavily armed militia, led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy, said the occupation could last for “several years”, with some saying they were willing to die for the cause. Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz recently aligned himself with sentiments expressed by the group, releasing an advertisement in Nevada that criticized federal control of public land.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ammon Bundy leads the militia takeover at Malheur national wildlife refuge in Oregon last month. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

“If you trust me with your vote, I will fight day and night to return full control of Nevada’s lands to its rightful owners,” Cruz said in the advertisement. The Texas senator came third in the Republican caucus in Nevada.

Environmentalists have decried the latest attempt to strip federal control from public land, warning that endangered species and vital ecosystem services, such as clean water, will be put at risk.

“The natural resources committee is pretty radicalized at this point,” said Bobby McEnaney, senior lands analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The fact that they would react to what’s happened in Oregon to advance an agenda to take land from the federal government is seriously tone deaf.

“Most of this committee didn’t condemn the actions at Malheur, so this is not completely unexpected. The agenda here is being driven by oil, gas and timber industries. The Republicans are interested in a deregulation race to zero.”

Donald Barry, senior vice-president for conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife, said the authors of the bill were in a “time warp”.

“One would expect this kind of thing would happen in the 1900s, but not the 21st century,” he said.

“National forests are no longer viewed by the public as an ATM machine based on the exploitation of natural resources. They are places to hike, camp and to be protected in order to provide clean water supplies. The American people clearly realize this now.

“The idea that states will manage this land well is just an illusion. They don’t have the resources to do so, which means there will be a fire sale for mining and timber companies. The American public would lose access to these lands. Those days should be behind us.”

The authors of the bills, along with the committee chairman, Rob Bishop, were all approached for comment.