Privatization
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Of all those wilderness, plus side-payment (to non-wilderness interest) bills that have suddenly emerged, this is the worst. Washington County, Utah is the fastest growing part of the state because it is scenic desert country–warm in the winter, and cool in one’s air conditioned house in the summer. It’s a magnet for LDS retirees and…
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Out-of-state developer Howie Rich’s Proposition 2 got the bum’s rush in Idaho, losing by an overwhelming 76-to 24%. Except for $50 all of the money spent in Idaho on behalf of the ballot initiative came from Howie’s group. Conservative Idaho voters saw it for what it was, a radical effort to remake the foundations of…
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It ‘s a case of buyer’s remorse. Oregon voters were suckered into passing a proposition like that before ten states this November, only Oregon did it in 2004. Now the state’s much praised land use lies in ruins and the Oregon taxpayers owe billions of dollars to developers whose “rights” were taken away by sound,…
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“In Montana, we said it’s a bad idea to pen up a bunch of elk, feed them oats and have fat bankers from New York City shoot them while they’ve got their heads in a grain bucket,” Schweitzer said Wednesday during an interview in the Boise offices of The Associated Press.
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There are many copycat measures in other states. I have heard of almost no non-paid support for prop 2, which would by trick not only take away the protection you get from zoning but defeat efforts to conserve open space all over the West. The features in Prop 2 on “takings” have no historical basis…
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After being repeatedly slapped down by folks all across the political spectrum, the BLM, at least in Wyoming, hasn’t learned that Americans love their public lands, and they don’t want them sold off. This latest proposal is in eastern Wyoming. The media picked up the story a few days ago. At first it seemed like…
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Potlatch has joined a growing trend toward access fees. It is the largest private land owner in Idaho, with almost all of its land in the Idaho Panhandle and in North Central Idaho. There is also a continuing battle over US Forest Service, BLM, and other public land management agencies charging access fees. Story in…
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Idaho’s Senior US Senator Larry Craig chairs the Senate subcommitte that has hearings on CIEDRA and the Owyhee Initiative today. CIEDRA has already passed the House of Representatives where notorious Richard Pombo chairs the committee. His pound of flesh was insistence that the very beneficial buyout of East Fork of the Salmon River ranchers be…