LINCOLN, Neb.—Tucked away on page nine of one of President Joe Biden’s executive orders on climate change are two small paragraphs that have raised alarm among governors of more than a dozen states. The paragraphs task the administration to figure out a way “to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.”
While all sides seem to support taking care of nature, subjecting nearly a third of America to federal conservation rules is hardly what many state and local officials have in mind.
Pete Ricketts, governor of the heavily agricultural state of Nebraska, was among the first to raise questions about the plan.
The administration considers about 12 percent of American land and water to be currently in conservation. If that’s to become 30 percent, a chunk of land roughly the size of Nebraska would have to be added every year for nine years, Ricketts pointed out.
“What we’ve asked from the administration is for more information, because their math doesn’t work,” he said on June 24, announcing an executive order opposing the “30 x 30” plan.
“Either they’re going to fail to get to 30 percent, or they’re not telling us something else about how they’re going to get to 30 percent.”
His order bans the state government from supporting federal conservation programs without the governor’s express authorization, among other measures.
Ricketts and 14 other governors sent a letter to the administration in April with a request for more details on the plan. They pointed out that the federal government has no authority to unilaterally take land for conservation.
“We are deeply concerned about any effort to enlarge the federal estate or further restrict the use of public lands in our states,” they said.
Realization of the plan would be “infringing on the private property rights of our citizens and significantly harming our economies,” the letter says.
Ricketts said they haven’t heard back from the administration.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Federal departments of interior, agriculture, and commerce as well as Biden’s Council on Environmental Quality put out a preliminary report in May that was supposed to outline how the “30 x 30” goal was to be achieved (PDF below and here).
BY PETR SVAB
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