Colorado AG Candidate Promises Legal Fight To Seize America’s National Forests And Public Lands

BY TOM KENWORTHY

In previously unreported comments that were captured on video, Colorado Republican attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman can be seen telling supporters that she intends to lead a legal fight against the U.S. government to seize America’s national forests and public lands for state ownership and control.

The video appears to have been posted publicly by the Independent attorney general candidate David Williams in July. It shows Coffman describing her plan to attend the annual Conference of Western Attorneys General this summer with a “mission” to build support for taking over America’s public lands. Coffman says public land “has been taken from us” and that “it is time that the Western attorneys general join together and fought back against the federal government, and we took back that land.”

Across the West, there is a growing group of fringe politicians advocating a transfer of America’s public lands to state ownership and control. Critics have noted that the proposals would saddle state taxpayers with the high costs of fighting wildfires and managing national forests and public lands, resulting in higher taxes and a sell-off of public lands to private interests.

National public lands make up 36 percent of Colorado, help support a $13.2 million outdoor recreation economy in the state, and are a top destination for tourism to iconic places such as Pikes Peak, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and the Maroon Bells. Notwithstanding the proposal’s high costs and opposition from politically-powerful Western hunters and anglers, however, politicians in eight Western states have continued to pursue legislative efforts to seize national forests, parks, and public lands, prompting skepticism about the constitutionality of such proposals among many of their own attorneys general and legal authorities.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/10/3578488/colorado-ag-candidate-national-forests-public-lands/