Federal lands
Federal lands are lands in the United States for which ownership is claimed by the U.S. federal government, pursuant to Article Four, section 3, clause 2 of the United States Constitution.[1] As of March 2012, out of the 2.27 billion acres in the country, about 28% of the total was owned by the Federal government according to the Interior Department.[2] The United States Supreme Court has upheld the broad powers of the federal government to deal with federal lands, for example having unanimously held in Kleppe v. New Mexico[3] that "the complete power that Congress has over federal lands under this clause necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect wildlife living there, state law notwithstanding."[1]
Ownership of Federal lands in the 50 states, including subsurface rights.
Primary federal land holders
Laws regarding federal lands
Proposed laws
- Three Kids Mine Remediation and Reclamation Act (H.R. 697; 113th Congress) - a bill that would authorize the sale of approximately 950 acres of federal land to the city of Henderson, Nevada.[4] The land used to be a mine and now needs significant environmental remediation and reclamation.[5]
- North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2013 (H.R. 2259; 113th Congress) - a bill that would withdraw 430,000 acres of federal lands in Montana from programs to develop geothermal and mineral resources.[6][7] The law would forbid mountaintop removal mining and other natural resource development.[7] The affected lands lie adjacent to Glacier National Park and already have some protections.[6] The bill follows up on an agreement between Canada and the United States on how to protect the trans-border area from the effects of mining.[8] In the 2010 agreement, Canada agreed not to do any additional mining on the British Columbian Flathead with the expectation that Montana would do the same thing to its land.[8]
See also
- Crown Estate
- Article Four of the United States Constitution#Clause 2: Federal property and the Territorial Clause
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Paul Rodgers, United States Constitutional Law: An Introduction (2011), p. 100-101.
- ↑ Lipton, Eric, and Clifford Krauss, "Giving Reins to the States Over Drilling", New York Times, August 23, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ↑ Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529 (1976).
- ↑ "H.R. 697 - Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
- ↑ "CBO - H.R. 697". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "CBO - H.R. 2259". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Scott, Tristan (30 March 2013). "Daines to introduce legislation protecting North Fork Flathead". Missoulian. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Frye, Katrin (31 January 2014). "A major step towards protection of the North Fork Flathead River". Montana Public Radio. Retrieved 4 March 2014.