Wyoming Minerals Committee

Casper, WY October 15, 2012 Ken Ivory 801.694.8380 ken@americanlandscouncil.org

The 4 Whys?

The 4 Whys?

John Kenneth Galbraith

Where socialized ownership of land is concerned, only the USSR and China can claim company with the United States.

The Western States had had enough ...

The federal government is not disposing

of our public lands as it promised;

We cant tax the lands to adequately fund

education

Our ability to grow our economy and

generate well-paying jobs is stifled; and

The federal government is hoarding our

abundant minerals and natural resources.

1828 !

20th Congress, 1st Session, House of Reps., Rep. No. 125, Graduate Price of Public Lands, February 5, 1828 Mr. Duncan, from the Committee on the Public Lands, to which the subject had been referred, made the following

REPORT: If these lands are to be withheld from sale, which is the effect of the present system, in vain may the People of these States expect the advantages of well settled neighborhoods, so essential to the education of youth, and to the pleasures of social intercourse, and the advantages of religious instruction. Those States will, for many generations, without some change, be retarded in endeavors to increase their comfort and wealth, by means of works of internal improvements, because they have not the power, incident to all sovereign States, of taxing the soil, to pay for the benefits conferred upon its owner by roads and canals.

When these States stipulated not to tax the lands of the United States until they were sold, they rested upon the implied engagement of Congress to cause them to be sold, within a reasonable time. No just equivalent has been When these States stipulated not to tax the lands of the United States until they given States for a engagement surrender of an to attribute were sold, those they rested upon the implied of Congress cause them to be sold, within a reasonable time. No just equivalent has been given those of sovereignty so important to their welfare, and States for a surrender of an attribute of sovereignty so important to their welfare, and an equal standing with the original to to an equal standing withStates. the original States.
A remedy for such great evils may be found in carrying into effect the spirit of the Federal Constitution, which knows of no inequality in the powers and rights of the several States;

20th Congress

No. 726.

2d Session

APPLICATION OF MISSOURI FOR A CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM OF DISPOSING OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.

the State of Missouri never could have been brought COMMUNICATED TO THE SENATE JANUARY 26, 1829. to consent not to tax the lands of the United States To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: whilst unsold; and not to tax therespectfully landsshoweth: sold That until fiveof The memorial of the general assembly of the State of Missouri the system disposing of the public lands of the United States now pursued is highly injurious, in many respects, to years thereafter, if it had been understood by the the States in which those lands lie, . . . with the present condition of the western States. But the general assembly will state that a perseverance present system manifestly appears to them to be . . . contracting parties that in athe system was to be pursued an infringement of the compact between the United States and this State; and tha the State of which would prevent nine-tenths of those fromof Missouri never could have been brought to consent not to lands tax the lands ever becoming the property persons in whose the United States whilst unsold; and notof to tax the lands sold until five years thereafter, it had been understood by the contracting parties that a hands theyifmight be taxed .
t

system was to be pursued which would prevent nine-tenths of those lands from ever becoming the property of persons in whose hands they might be taxed.

The 4 Whys?

Why? No. 1
Why were the 1828 Western States successful in securing the transfer of their public lands?

The 1828 Western States . . .

knew their public lands history; knew their rights; banded together; and refused to take NO for an
answer.

How the West Was Created ...

From the Journals of the Continental Congress, Tuesday, October 10, 1780, pages 915-16:

Resolved, That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular states, . . . shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican states, which shall become members of the federal union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence, as the other states . . . That the said lands shall be granted and settled at such times and under such regulations as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.

By the United States in Congress assembled. April 23, 1784 : Resolved, that so much of the territory ceded, or to be ceded by individual states, to the United States shall be divided into distinct states in the following manner ...

THIRD. That they in no case shall interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled; nor with the ordinances and regulations which Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. That such state shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the said original states

July 13, 1787, An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio (Northwest Ordinance)

to provide also for the establishment of States, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States The legislatures of those new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers

U.S. Constitution Article IV, Section 3 New States

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.

 it is the real interest of each and all the States in the Union, and

the price of these lands shall be reduced and graduated, and that after they have been offered for a certain number of years the refuse remaining unsold shall be abandoned to the States and the machinery of our land system entirely withdrawn. It can not be supposed the
particularly of the new States, that compacts intended that the United States should retain forever a title to lands within the States which are of no value, and no doubt is

President Andrew Jackson 1767-1845

the general interest would be best promoted by surrendering such lands to the States.
entertained that

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States that the public lands be retained in Federal ownership, unless ... it is determined that disposal of a particular parcel will serve the national interest. FLPMA, sec. 102(a)(1)

2009 U.S. Supreme Court Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs (Unanimous Decision)
[T]he consequences of admission are instantaneous, and it ignores the uniquely sovereign character of that event to suggest that subsequent events [acts of Congress] somehow can diminish what has already been bestowed. And that proposition applies a fortiori [with even greater force] where virtually all of the States public lands . . .are at stake.

Examples of Legal Authority

Enabling Acts are "solemn compacts" and "bi-lateral [two-way] agreements" that are to be performed "in a timely fashion" (Andrus v. Utah, 1980); The federal government holds territorial lands in trust for the several states to be ultimately created out of the territory." (Shively v. Bowlby, 1894); "Whenever [i.e. once] the United States shall have fully executed these trusts, the municipal sovereignty of the new states will be complete, throughout their respective borders, and they, and the original states, will be upon an equal footing, in all respects whatever." . . . the United States never held any municipal sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of soil in and for the territory ... of the new States ... except for temporary purposes, and to execute the trusts created by the acts of the Virginia and Georgia Legislatures, and the deeds of cession executed by them to the United States, and the trust created by the treaty with the French Republic of the 30th of April, 1803, ceding Louisiana." (Pollard v. Hagan, 1845).

U.S. Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Decision (June, 2012) Federal Govt Powers Limited By Constitution

The Federal Government has expanded dramatically over the past two centuries, but it still must show that a constitutional grant of power authorizes each of its actions. (Emphasis added.)

U.S. Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Decision (June, 2012) States Powers NOT Limited By Constitution

The same does not apply to the States, because the Constitution is not the source of their power. state governments do not need constitutional authorization to act. ... Our cases refer to this general power of governing, possessed by the States but not by the Federal Government, as the police power.

U.S. Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Decision (June, 2012) State Jurisdiction Checks Federal Power

The Framers thus ensured that powers which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people were held by governments more local and more accountable than a distant federal bureaucracy.

U.S. Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Decision (June, 2012) State Jurisdiction Checks Federal Power

The independent power of the States also serves as a check on the power of the Federal Government: By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power.

U.S. Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Decision (June, 2012) States Must Act Like Independent Sovereigns

In the typical case we look to the States to defend their prerogatives by adopting the simple expedient of not yielding to federal blandishments when they do not want to embrace the federal policies as their own. The States are separate and independent sovereigns. Sometimes they have to act like it."

Copyright (c) 2011 Ken Ivory All Rights Reserved

In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself. -- James Madison, Federalist 51

Copyright (c) 2011 Ken Ivory All Rights Reserved

Copyright (c) 2011 Ken Ivory All Rights Reserved

Copyright (c) 2011 Ken Ivory All Rights Reserved

Our Unprecedented System?

The Line as Understood for nearly 150 Years

Congress has been given the right to legislate on . . . particular subject[s], but this is not the case in the matter of a great number of other vital problems of government, such as the conduct of public utilities, of banks, of insurance, of business, of agriculture, of education, of social welfare and of a dozen other important features. In these, Washington must not be encouraged to interfere.

Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D-NY), March 2, 1930

With No Material Change in the Constitution, Why the Dramatic Increase in Federal Spending?

Today, Federal Spending is approximately 26% of GDP

1792-1930, Federal spending averaged approx. 3% of GDP

Federal Felonies in Constitution 3 Federal Felonies Today > 5,000

Where theres No Line, Theres No Limit. Where theres No Limit, Ultimately, theres No Liberty.

The Line

. . . this Constitution deserves approbation [praise] . . . [for] the accuracy with which the line is drawn between the powers of the general government and those of the particular state governments. . . . the powers are as minutely enumerated and defined as was possible . . .
James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention, 4 Dec. 1787

The Line
"It must be done by the States themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted either by themselves or by the General Government."
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Archibald Stuart, 1791.

Our Unprecedented System!

State Legislatures will

jealously and closely watch the operations of this Government, and be able to resist with more effect [better] than any other power on earth can do; and

the greatest opponents to a Federal Government admit the State Legislatures to be sure guardians of the people's liberty.

James Madison, Introduction of the Bill of Rights, The Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, First Congress

" it will be their own FAULTS , if the several states suffer the federal sovereignty to interfere in the things of their respective jurisdictions."
John Dickinson (Fabius), Letter III, 1788 (all caps in original)

Why? No. 2

Why the difference?

The 4 Myths
You Gave Up Title to your Public Lands You Cant Manage These Lands These Lands Belong to All of Us This is Unconstitutional

Why? No. 3

Why does it matter?

Education Equality

A Tale of Two Cities [States]

Amount by which North Dakota (which controls its lands and resources) increased per pupil funding over national average:

$3,700

Amount to compete with North Dakota (600,000 X $3,700):

Amount to get to average (600,000 students X $3,642):
Total Funding Gap for Utahs Children:

$2.22 Billion

$2.18 Billion

$4,405,200,000

Congressman Rob Bishop

(1 min, 6 seconds)

Because we dont control our land, we lose. . .

Property tax Income tax Severance Tax Royalty Payments Economic Multiplier Effect

Economic Self-Reliance

Utahs $13 Billion Annual Budget

Utahs Looming $5.2 Billion The $5.2 Billion of FederalHole Funds Budget
Utah Spends Annually

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson testify to the Senate Budget Committee March 8, 2011 (2 min, 45 seconds)

If we dont start immediately to reform entitlements, cut federal spending and increase revenues, we have about three years until we face a total fiscal collapse. . . . As to the 30-50% of your state budgets that comes from the federal government, you have seen the high water mark.

David Walker Former Comptroller General of the United States 1998-2008

To Infinity, and Beyond!

We have the resources, if we have the will . . .

Why Would We Not Want Increases in Jobs . . . Wealth . . . Tax Revenues? May 15, 2012

Environmental Quality

This map shows locations that experienced wildfires greater than 250 acres, from 1980 to 2003. Credit:
Bureau of Land Management/U.S. Forest Service/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Bureau of Indian Affairs/National Park Service/USGS

Is It Too Late To Defuse The Danger Of Megafires?

... this forest, it's averaging about 900

trees per acre. Historically it was probably about 40. ... we're facing is a tree epidemic. ... forest this dense
is dangerous. ... the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed, he explains. ... where the state capital gets most

of its water.
Trees help slow down the flow, but big wildfires take out the trees. They even burn the soils. They convert from something that's like a sponge to Saran Wrap,
Armstrong says. In the aftermath of a wildfire within this watershed, that would flood like the Rio Grande, for heaven's sakes; that would come down a wall of water, and debris and ash and tree trunks, and create devastation in downtown Santa Fe. Suddenly, they find that the entire mountain is in their backyard.

This is the nightmare city managers have in the Southwest: fire, then flash flood.
http://www.delmarvapublicradio.net/post/it-too-late-defuse-dangermegafires

Wildlife Preservation

Baby Golden Eagle Survives Wildfire

The 70-day-old eaglet had suffered burns on its talons, beak, head and wings. Its flight feathers had melted down to within an inch or two of its wing and tail and at a little more than 5 pounds, was very underweight. ... His survival is nothing short of a miracle.
(ABC News, July 9, 2012) http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/07/baby-eagle-survives-wildfire/

Why? No. 4
Why dont we do something about it?

HB 148 Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act: Establishes a deadline of December 31, 2014 for the federal government to
extinguish title to the public lands; Utah works with the federal government, and a governing partner, to transfer the public lands directly to the state; Charges Utahs Constitutional Defense Council to prepare legislation for the uniquely sovereign actions, including legal action, the state will take to secure the promises at statehood (i.e. Enabling Act);

Protects the National Parks, congressionally designated wilderness lands, and other Utah heritage sites; Establishes the Utah Public Lands Commission to manage the multiple use and the sustainable yield of Utahs abundant natural resources; o Existing uses such as recreation, hunting, fishing, grazing, mining, etc. will be protected and managed by the UPLC (by Utahns, for Utahns, and guests from around the world); Five percent (5%) of the sales of the lands, if any, go to the Permanent Fund for public education, 95% go to pay down the public debt (disincentive to sell); Most lands will be managed by the UPLC for multiple use with 100% of the mineral revenues controlled by the state.

Sometimes they have to Act Like It.

Hundley and Chamberlain Combine for 52 points ...

Mission
The American Lands Council coordinates with concerted efforts of state, county, and local governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals to secure and defend local control of land access, land use, and land ownership through (i) Education, (ii) Political Persuasion and Coordinated Action, (iii) Legislation (local, state and national), and (iv) Litigation.

What Can I Do? The Ask: 2 X 3

* Study 2 Things (Andrew Jackson 1833 Veto Statement)
www.AmericanLandsCouncil.org Resources Tab

* Teach 2 People
* Engage and Encourage 2 Jurisdictional Giants

Are We Not A State?

www.AmericanLandsCouncil.org

www.AreWeNotAState.com

Thank You!
Ken Ivory 801.694.8380 Ken@americanlandscouncil.org