TO: The Honorable Ryan Zinke FROM: Chairman Rob Bishop and Bruce Westerman Dear Secretary Zinke: On August 2, 2017, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report titled, "Evaluation of DOI's Ability to Track Data for Land Purchases Made with Grant Funds." Read the entire letter HERE. Read more »

Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a markup on four bills including H.R. 5032 (Rep. Dave Brat, R-VA). The bill removes a federal land-use restriction on a piece of land in the town of Louisa, Virginia so that it may be repurposed to provide residents with a safe supply of drinking water.   Louisa has spent millions of dollars studying ways to comply with… Read more »

The Committee on Natural Resources today held a legislative hearing on the Protecting America’s Recreation and Conservation (PARC) Act discussion draft, which proposes to reauthorize and reform the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Chairman Bishop commented following the hearing: “Today, we heard from states and local park advocates on the need for more money for the successful… Read more »

Today, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) released a discussion draft of legislation titled the “Protecting America’s Recreation and Conservation (PARC) Act,” which includes several substantive reforms to update the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), enacted in 1965. “The LWCF’s current lopsided funding ratio makes limited funds available to establish recreation projects and facilities that… Read more »

The Obama Administration has spent years invading broad parts of the economy from finance to health care, but less noticed is the takeover of, well, actual land. Witness the standoff over a 50-year-old public land program that has devolved into a watering hole for seizing private property. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, whose Congressional authorization expired on Sept.… Read more »

Today, House Committee on Natural Resource Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement in response to an editorial in the Wall Street Journal: “One of the harshest things that a government can do is to take away a citizen’s land and home.  The fact that for 50 years the Land and Water Conservation Fund has been misused to jeopardize private property rights, a… Read more »