This Land is My Land – Keep Out
Across the Western states, the movement to privatize public resources is once again rearing its ugly head. Led by corporate shills, phony foundations, and using the shield of “property rights”, plans move forward in several states to transfer federal lands to the states where they will become easier targets for corporate control. Our state legislators and even our Montana representatives in Washington are not immune to the deluge of money that is being made available.
The Montana Republican Party supports the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, U.S. President, other public officials and citizens of Montana and the United States to fully exert their efforts and powers to support granting federally managed public lands to the states; and in accordance with the Enabling Act of 1889. ~Plank of the Montana Republican Party Platform.
The idea of transferring federal lands to state or private control is, of course, nothing new. Most of us remember the incendiary rhetoric of the “Sagebrush Rebellion” during the 1980s and we have all seen the pictures of armed militia members guarding the ranch of Nevada Tea Party rancher Cliven Bundy. Fewer remember the original iteration in 1907 following the creation of the original western forest reserves that would become our National Forests.
Pueblo [CO] Democrat Alva Adams launched a campaign to force federal cession of public domain lands to the states in which they lay. “Such a change of control,” he said, would “give the state home rule over its entire territory and exempt every citizens of Colorado from the liability of being a trespasser” in his own region. “Such a transfer,” he concluded, would also “promote the dignity of the state and advance the welfare of the people.” Cession, of course, never happened, but the idea gained enough advocacy Westwide to create serious federal concern. Not insignificantly, too, it provided a precedent for the second “Sagebrush Rebellion” nearly a century later.
An interesting twist has been added to the current model of the old argument by the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The Citizens United decision unleashed unlimited spending by corporations through nonprofit groups that aren’t required to disclose their funding sources. Spending by issue groups soared to unheard of levels.
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In one recent example of how corporate money is being used to obfuscate and confuse debate on important subjects, a flurry of letters to the editor, blog posts and websites across the west by a corporate shill named Will Coggin have appeared in many newspapers and other outlets supporting the idea of returning control of federal lands to the states. In his opinion pieces, Coggin attacks nonprofit conservation groups including Trout Unlimited, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership as “out-of-state radical environmentalists” ““camouflaging their [anti-gun, anti-energy] efforts by manipulating the more politically conservative sportsmen community”.
The “camouflage” claim coming from Coggin is quite interesting. He makes these claims without disclosing that he works for one of Washington, D.C.s largest lobbying and public relation firms. He claims to be the “director of research for the Environmental Policy Alliance” which is a PR front group founded by public relations specialist Richard Berman.
Berman and Co. wages deceptive campaigns against industry foes including labor unions; public-health advocates; and consumer, safety, animal welfare, and environmental groups. Nicknamed “Dr. Evil” by his critics, Berman’s targets range from the Humane Society of the United States to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The purposely named EPA claims to be a project of the Bozeman-based “Center for Organizational Research & Education”, which itself morphed last year from the Berman-created “Center for Consumer Freedom” which was set up by Rick Berman to attack PETA and food safety advocates on behalf of restaurant interests. Berman has created hundreds of web sites, foundations and phony nonprofit groups with the sole purpose of attacking the enemies of his corporate clients. The land transfer groups work with organizations like the American Lands Council (501(c)), which is one of the primary movers behind the push to transfer federal lands to the states as well as the Koch/Exxon/BP-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (501(c)) which writes model laws, including land transfer bills, and “trains” state legislators in corporate objectives. The transfer of federal lands into state hands is being advocated primarily by oil, gas, timber and mining interests to make it easier for them to get their hands on our natural resources. And, of course, these same interests are large contributors to nonprofit “foundations” set up by Mr. Berman.
It’s easy to get lost in the myriad claims and fake advocacy, but don’t be fooled. The entire purpose of these confusing and deceptive practices is not to protect your property rights, it is to make our natural resources easier targets for business interests. It is much cheaper to buy a state legislature than to gain control through federal legislation.
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