One Way ALEC Wants to Bankrupt Your State

As we all know - the sole purpose of ALEC is to benefit and profit of ALEC corporate members.

Some of the things that ALEC does are meant to destroy your state - and here is one.  A slow easy bleed of the money in your state - until your state can no longer afford to exist anymore - unless of course you go begging to AL:EC corporate interests to fund and run your state - also known as Fascism!

 

Most are not paying attention to the issue highlighted below.

This piece of nastiness spreading across the USA gives a whole new meaning to ALEC's espoused "limited government".

Bankrupt the states and then you can have only one government - Kochistan, Exxonistan, Mobilstan,

Most are not paying any attention to the destruction being done by the American Legislative Exchange Council with this spreading evil.

And that makes ALEC happy.  Disinterested citizens just make its job of evil nastiness that much easier.

So here we go  ...   

ALEC introduced the Sagebrush Rebellion Act. This bill seizes BLM lands for the states, letting industry-friendly states like Utah lease or sell formerly public lands to mining companies without the long review process mandated by the BLM.

And this

2014 Congressman Raúl Grijalva has asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to "investigate the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in efforts to pass bills at the state level" that undermine federal authority over state lands and thwart the agency's duties.

What's happened so far?

Nada 

then-director of ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, Todd Wynn, wrote

"In 2014, expect more states to press this issue both in the East and the West as state legislators are likely to continue to work together through ALEC and other organizations in order to gain back their land,"

Gain back "their" land - Federal land is "their" land.
I kinda thought (in a cautiously informed type of way) it was "we the people's " land.

And they have

At great risk to your state treasury

In the past few years, efforts by a growing fringe of state lawmakers to take over national public lands have surfaced in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Just a few examples

ARIZONA

In Arizona, Melvin's measure calls for the transfer of lands to the state from the federal government. He brought the bill to Arizona after hearing about it late last year from the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization that often provides state lawmakers with model legislation, written by its own staff.

According to Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen, who serves on ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force:

    She also believes the bill would allow the state to lift a new ban on uranium mining on 1 million acres of public land outside the Grand Canyon.

MONTANA

Sadly, that’s just not the case. This isn’t a true “Sagebrush Rebellion.” It’s a corporate bait-and-switch scheme meant to open America’s natural resources to immediate extraction. The cash funding these efforts is as dark as Sauron and the lawmakers pushing these ideas are either blinded by dogma or they’ve received some support and, quite possibly, some political funding that comes burdened with expectations.

After the success in Utah, ALEC and the Koch-backed, Kansas-based Americans for Prosperity are busy working their dark magic in other state legislatures. In Montana, they have been joined by Richard Berman’s spin-off group, the so-called Environmental Policy Alliance that’s spent the better part of a year trying to trash the reputations of sportsmen who have championed conservation causes. And now this triumvirate of secretly funded influence-peddlers has found a Montana lawmaker willing to carry their water -- one Jennifer Fielder (R), from Thompson Falls.

NEW MEXICO

Two bills introduced in the state legislature would create a task force to study the feasibility of transferring control of federal lands to the state. House Bill 291, sponsored by Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamagordo, would create a 17-member committee to look into “options” for transferring federal lands to the state, as well as state and federal lands to Indian tribes and land grants.

Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, has introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

In a place like Taos County, which is about half federal lands, the impact would be substantial. Federal employees with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management make up a sizable portion of the local workforce. The feds pay the county government about $1.5 million a year to cover property tax revenue that can’t be collected on federal lands.

Herrell and Sharer - both ALEC members 

And besides the economic disaster that was mentioned in the paragraph above. in relation to wages and tax revenue - you have more danger to your state treasury.

Snips from an Op-Ed from the Jamestown Sun you have these additional threats against your state – threats being pushed by legislators of the American Legislative Exchange Council

Well, I am no fan of federal agencies, but the notion that state agencies, like the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) could do a better job, is insane.  

The costs alone of fire suppression and
defending myriad lawsuits against anti-logging groups
[and anti-fracking groups and anti-mining groups]
would bankrupt the State
{DNRC estimates it would cost $500 million a year for the state to manage the 25 million acres of public land the state would magically inherit. Reservations, wilderness areas and national parks would be exempt.)
"The state can't manage the land it has right now." Which is true. Some of the most mismanaged, overgrazed lands are sections leased to ranchers for grazing.
One important point overlooked by promoters of these land transfer schemes is grazing fees and recreational access.
Also, we hunters battled for years to get access rights to hunt on state lands and finally achieved that in 1995. However, one may only camp two days on state-owned lands before having to move camp. How'd you like to embark on a 10-day elk hunt and have to move camp every other day?
Don Allen, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Speaking at a 500-person rally in Helena this month he said, "Let's assume that the states can take over all of the federal lands. Let's assume that tomorrow the State of California controls all the land in its borders. How long before the anti-hunting organizations have a ballot initiative to outlaw regulated hunting in California? I give it five years or less."

I also have confidence in the American people nationwide. Public land is their land too — it does not belong solely to the residents of western states.

I don’t

And that makes ALEC happy. 

Disinterested citizens just make its job of evil nastiness that much easier.

In Conclusion

ALEC and their political shills are shitting all over the places people love, places that our fragile ecology needs to remain healthy, and places that serve Arizona's important hospitality sector -- in order to cuddle the balls of the extractors, who chew up the land, send the profits elsewhere, and leave us ruined landscapes.