Kemmis, Freudenthal and the BLM Montana, Policy Issues, The Big Strategy, Wyoming

Awhile back we had a discussion on Daniel Kemmis's “This Sovereign Land”. Some of his points center around the thesis that states and groups of local governments would have a better handle on local issues than a distant federal government. Kemmis isn’t a Sagebrush Rebel, rather he goes to the motivation of such uprisings and comes back with a reasoned, mature argument for active, strong regional and state governments. Something Democrats should love.

The Kemmis argument is being played out in Wyoming (and possibly Montana) between the Bureau of Land Management and the state government, namely, Western Democrat Dave Freudenthal:

Western states need to band together and oppose a federal move to disregard state laws protecting the rights of landowners affected by mineral development, an advocate for landowners in Wyoming said.

Laurie Goodman of the Landowners Association of Wyoming told a Montana panel Thursday that the Bureau of Land Management was attempting to avoid applying a new Wyoming law to lands where it owns the mineral rights.

The Wyoming law gives surface owners more bargaining power and rights when dealing with oil and gas producers seeking to extract the minerals owned by someone else under their land. When the land surface and minerals underneath are owned by two different parties, it is known as a split estate.

And from the Billings Gazette in June:

The federal government maintains a new state law providing protections to landowners from oil and gas development does not apply to the 11 million acres of Wyoming land on which the federal government owns the mineral rights.

The stance by the Bureau of Land Management would mean the law would not apply to 92 percent of the 12 million acres where there are separate owners of the land and the minerals underneath -- so called split estates.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Attorney General Pat Crank maintain the state law does apply to private land over federally owned minerals.

"If the BLM wants to sue us, I think they should do so," Crank said Tuesday. "I think we would ultimately be successful if they brought such a challenge."

The theme of a distant east-coast establishment ruling much of the West is an almost constant theme in politics out here. Just because the Sagebrush Rebellion and the State's Rights effort were mostly Republican in origin and fought against good intentioned federal laws doesn't mean the entire issue should be tainted for Democrats. This topic, who has control of the West, is an opportunity for Democrats to argue for good, strong government that protects people, local economies and communities against large outside interests.

Other posts:
Ranchers & Cowboys Rebel Against the GOP
Don't cry for the roadless rule

Emmett O'Connell | October 28, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) Permalink: Kemmis, Freudenthal and the BLM Montana, Policy Issues, The Big Strategy, Wyoming

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