Niki Tsongas: “Last week, the Republican majority pushed through legislation attacking clean air, clean water, and blocking public…”

“Last week, the Republican majority pushed through legislation attacking clean air, clean water, and blocking public transparency into payments made to foreign governments by oil and mining companies. Today we are considering legislation that will roll back opportunities for the American people to have a say in how our Nation's public lands are managed. The idea that there should be national public lands that belong to and are managed on behalf of the American people is a value that dates back to the founding of our country and is embedded in our Constitution. Generation after generation of Americans has endorsed the idea that our public lands should be managed to balance many competing uses: recreation, responsible economic development, sustainable resource extraction, renewable energy, military purposes, and conservation of historic American landscapes, just to name a few. We all want to see this important aspect of our national heritage managed in an effective and efficient manner, balancing conservation for future generations with sustainable productivity for local communities. The Bureau of Land Management's Planning 2.0, as it is known, will help us better achieve this balance on the approximately 245 million acres of land managed by the BLM.…”