On the recordDecember 9, 2015
I appreciate that statement by the gentlewoman from Massachusetts. I do not disagree with anything she said, and I think I said that a while ago, that there absolutely is a legitimate Federal claim from the middle of the river to the south bank. That has been the case ever since 1803. The gentlewoman is exactly right in laying that out. The problem is that the Bureau of Land Management has said now the south bank is as much as a mile to the south of where it is because they refuse to follow the survey method that the Supreme Court mandated. They have done these spot surveys the chairman mentioned. It is not a question about the middle of the river to the south bank. It is a question of where the south bank is. In some cases, it is a tremendous difference back, and that is where they confiscate the land. It is because their new interpretation of the south bank is far, far away from the river, as I say, as much as a mile. That is the issue. That is the reason the only way to solve this is to have a professional survey define the south bank using the criteria set by the Supreme Court, and then that decides it. Will there continue to be Federal land between the south bank and the middle of the river? Absolutely. BLM has said they don't know what they are going to do with it because it is a narrow strip of sand.…
