The Town of

Resolution No. 14-01-?08-002

  
 
   

     
   

       

    

RESOLUTION for the Town of Star Valley Ranch Wyoming to fully
support the Republican National Cemmittee Resolution, the State of
Wyoming and neighboring states to Implement the transfer of Public Lands
back to their respective states.

Whereas the federal government promised all newly created states - in
their statehood enabling contracts that it would transfer title to the public
lands;and

Whereas this promise to transfer title to the public lands is the same for all
states east and west of Colorado; and

Whereas the federal government honored this promise with Hawaii and all
states east of Colorado and today controls on average less than 5% of the
lands in those states; and

Whereas the federal government has failed to honor this same promise
with MTand today still
controls more than 50% of all lands in these states (more than 80% of the
state of and

Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States declared these enabling
act contracts to be ?solemn compacts? with enforceable rights and
obligations on both sides; and

Whereas, in 1976 the United States Congress ended its nearly two
hundred year public policy of beneficially transferring ownership of public
lands by passing the Federal Land Policy Management Act and

Whereas public lands previously held in trust for the individual states were
managed for their resource value prior to the passage of and

Whereas after the passage of FLPMA our public lands are instead being
managed perpetually for their conservation value; and

 

Whereas local, state, and national economies are all being adversely
impacted by the loss of use of the natural resources thus being managed;
and

Whereas Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), Secure Rural Schools (SRS),
and other public offsets are financially inadequate, have been unreliany
funded, and do not adequately compensate the States for the breach of
their Enabling Acts, and

Whereas in Hawaii V. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the US. Supreme Court
unanimously declared ?the consequences of a State?s admission are
instantaneous" such that Congress does not have the authority to .
unilaterally alter or diminish ?the uniquely sovereign character of that event"
particularly ?where virtually all of the State?s public lands are at stake;? and

Whereas under the guise of ?sequestration? to cut federal expenses, the
federal government is cutting western states? revenues in the form of PILT,
SRS and FML (Federal Mineral Lease) cutbacks; and

Whereas states east of Colorado pay billions each year to subsidize
western states-to not use their lands and resources to educate their own
children and care for their own communities; and

Whereas western states already manage millions of acres of state public
lands generating more revenue with less expense and less environmental
damage in general than federally managed public lands; and

Whereas the National Association of Forest Service Retirees recently
issued a paper describing the unsustainability of current federal forest
management practices; and

Whereas the resulting increase in catastrophic wildfires ls needlessly killing
millions of animals and destroying habitat and watershed for decades; and

Whereas western states are incurring inordinate expenses to suppress
forest fires related to failed federal forest policies; and

Whereas the federal government discourages capital investment and job
creation by taking 10 times longer to approve energy development permits
than states where the federal government honored the promise to transfer
title to the public lands; and

 

 

Whereas the Institute for Energy Research discovered in 2013 that there is
more than $150 trillion in mineral value locked up in federally controlled
lands;

Whereas in 2012 the United States Government Accountability Office
testified to Congress that there is more recoverable oil in UT, CO, and WY
than the rest of the world combined locked up in federally controlled lands;
and

Whereas legal analyses by the Sutherland Institute and The Federalist
Society conclude that the intent of the parties, the text, and the context of
the statehood enabling acts, obligate the federal government to dispdse of
public lands; 

Therefore, be it resolved that the Town of Star Valley Ranch in full support
of the Republican National Committee Resolution as It calls upon the
federal government to honor to all willing western states the same
statehood promise to transfer title to the public lands that it honored with all
states east of Colorado;

Be It Further Resolved that the Town of Star Valley Ranch in full support of
the Republican National Committee Resolution as it calls upon all national
and state leaders and representatives to exert their utmost power and
influence to urge the imminent transfer of public lands to all willing western
states for the benefit of these western states and for the nation as a whole.

For the Town of Star Valley Ranch:

 

 

Attest:

  

?2   f: I I
St/ella Maokey, Clerk