Center for Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, March 6, 2017

Contact: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org

Rep. Bishop Proposes $50 Million Plan to Seize, Privatize America's Public Lands

WASHINGTON— Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has released his latest plan to seize, dismantle and privatize America's public lands. Bishop's 2018 budget request released late Friday calls for handing over public lands to states and private interests for unfettered drilling, fracking, mining, grazing and development. 

“Rep. Bishop is sadly mistaken if he thinks the public is going to stand by and watch him privatize and destroy our national forests, wildlife refuges and other magnificent public lands,” said Randi Spivak, the Center for Biological Diversity's public lands director. “The public's deep and abiding love for our shared public lands has united people across the country to fight back against these destructive proposals.”

Bishop's proposal includes a $50 million price tag for taxpayers.

“Hear this now, Rob Bishop: You will be soundly defeated. You may have the financial backing of Exxon, BP and Halliburton, but you do not have the support of the American people, who collectively own these lands,” Spivak said. “When Bishop says he wants to get rid of ‘burdensome regulations,' he's talking about the very laws that protect our drinking water, the air we breathe, the habitat wildlife needs and the cherished places where we play and explore.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.2 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

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