Press Release

ALEC Urges President and Federal Government to Consult with States on Energy Resources and Public Lands

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
 Kaitlyn Buss
Phone: 202-742-8526
Email: kbuss@alec.org

 ALEC Urges President and Federal Government to Consult with States on Energy Resources and Public Lands

Washington, DC—(February 1, 2012): The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is sending a strong message to the federal government in regards to management of lands and energy resources within state borders.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama said, “Over the last three years we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration…” Unfortunately, compared to 10 years ago, oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent. Also, over the past few years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed and finalized numerous overreaching and inefficient air and water rules that will dramatically increase energy costs, negatively impact jobs and the economy, irreparably damage the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and trample on state sovereignty in the process.

“Every year the federal government further erodes state sovereignty by handing down decisions on the use of energy on public lands,” said Wyoming State Sen. Bebout, a member of ALEC’s International and Federal Relations Task Force. “It’s time to restore the states’ co-equal status with the federal government as written in the Constitution.”

The lack of cooperation and the recent onslaught of EPA regulations violating states’ rights is in direct opposition to a recently passed ALEC resolution requesting that the federal government “confer and consult” with states on public lands and energy resources. This resolution, reflecting the sentiment of ALEC’s more than 2000 state legislative members from across the country, was approved earlier this month by the ALEC Legislative Board of Directors.

ALEC’s resolution titled Resolution Requesting that the Federal Government Confer and Consult with the States on Management of Public Lands and Energy Resources, recognizes that state governments have an inherent interest in how the federal government manages public land and energy resources. Therefore, state governments should be included in the formation and execution of any significant policy impacting these resources.

“The stakes are high and states like Texas who depend on public trust lands demand a seat at the table when decisions are made,” said Texas State Rep. Tom Craddick, ALEC’s former national chairman.

Recently, 33 current and former governors and lieutenant governors, 27 groups of state and local officials, 13 state legislative bodies, and ten state agencies across the country have opposed the escalating EPA expansion into states. The groups of state and local officials comprise of thousands of state legislators, utility commissioners, agricultural department officials, foresters, drinking water administrators, fish and wildlife agencies, solid waste management officials, state wetland managers, mayors, counties, and cities.

States that have already actively voiced opposition to federal government overreach include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

ALEC further calls on Congress and the Administration to “commit to greater consultation with the states and to recognize cost-benefit and job-impact analyses must be addressed in order to understand how federal regulations impact states and their respective citizens.”

ALEC policies, resolutions and model bills are approved by our legislative members and are the result of nonpartisan research and analysis.

For more information on ALEC’s work on the impact and significance of federal regulations on the states, refer to ALEC’s publication EPA’s Regulatory Trainwreck: Strategies for State Legislators available at: www.regulatorytrainwreck.com.

For more information about ALEC’s work on state sovereignty visit: www.alec.org/initiatives/restore-the-balance

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, with more than 2,000 state legislators across the nation and 100 alumni members in Congress. ALEC’s mission is to promote free markets, individual liberty, and federalism.


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