78-14-A4

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Federal Lands

Transcript A short time ago I commented on what seems to be the federal government's determination to acquire even more land than it already owns. In that commentary I gave some rough estimates of the percentages of land in some Western states which remain in under federal ownership. Since then, I've received a few queries as to those estimates and even some suggestions that I might have exaggerated. Actually my estimates were modest by at least a few percentage points. Anyway, here is an accurate listing of several states. Of Alaska's total acreage, 96.4 percent is federally owned; California 45 percent and Arizona 43.9 percent. That, of course, is only a partial listing. The federal government owns one-third of the United States--that would be equal to all the land east of the Mississippi River. In my previous commentary I spoke mainly of those private land owners who were being persuaded by bureaucrats to give up their land, thus increasing the federal preserve. But there is more at stake than that, and all of us have reason to be concerned about Uncle Sam as a land baron. The Dean of the University of Arizona College of Mines has written some articles for the Arizona DAILY STAR summarizing the situation. He tells us that 50 percent of all known energy sources are in these federal lands. Yet, in 1976, they only accounted for 10 percent of our total energy production. According to Dean William Lesher, the federal government has been locking these lands up as fast as new energy sources are discovered on them, thereby preventing production which could make us less dependent on foreign sources. In 1968 only about one-fourth of federal lands had been withdrawn from use. Six years later that had become three-fourths, and no one knows the current rate of withdrawal. Under the Ford Administration, a study was made when it became known that a number of federal agencies had been withdrawing such lands piecemeal, not coordinating with each other. That study was made public just before the new administration took over. It revealed that no one in Washington knows how much of the federally-owned mineral lands have been removed from use. And it doesn't look as if we're going to find out because the Secretary of the Interior in this administration, Cecil Andrus, has suppressed the report. Now the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, under their own interpretations of the Wilderness Act, are trying to look up an additional 90 million acres in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. One of the richest natural gas strikes in years was made within recent months in that area. Why is the government so anxious to lock up this land--much of which is barren? Is it a fear that more strikes will be made? Hard as it may be to believe that, is there any other explanation? We're so used to calling this one-third of our nation, federal land, isn't it time we remembered that the very term means it belongs to us--to the people of America? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-14-A4 Production Date 10/10/1978 Book/Page RihoH-337 Audio Youtube? No
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