Mark Souder: “first let me make it clear that I strongly support this legislation and also the necessary appropriations to follow…”

“first let me make it clear that I strongly support this legislation and also the necessary appropriations to follow through on the authorizing, and I think it is important we do it as soon as possible. I would first like to express on the record a concern here, and that is that while it is a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved, I personally believe there should have been a land swap. I believe the land swap was a reasonable request. What this is going to do is cost the taxpayers money that could have been used in other environmental projects in other parks around the country where we are still trying to buy out inholdings, to pay back people who, in fact, are restricted in their land use. That said, for 17 years that has not happened. The owner is continuing to be deprived of his ability to use his property, and we do not want him to develop condominiums or housing developments along the beautiful Crystal River. It would destroy a very scenic area. So we have little choice in this area about what to do, and I believe this legislation will indeed compensate the owner, protect all the national park lands and expand the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.”