I listened to Rep. Scott Tipton’s March 8 telephone town hall meeting, and one question in particular bothered me.

Bob from Pueblo asked Rep. Tipton why he thinks public lands should be transferred to the states. Rep. Tipton responded with, “What lands have I ever said I wanted to transfer? There are no lands that I’ve ever suggested that we transfer.”

During the House of Representative’s first day in session, Rep. Tipton voted for a measure brought forth by Utah Congressman Rob Bishop that changes the way Congress assesses the value of federally controlled public lands during the process of transferring land to states.

Under current rules, federal transfers must take into account the value of public lands and their revenue potential, such as for logging, grazing and energy extraction. The receiving entity, such as state or local governments or Native American tribes, then must account for the loss in cash flow. The new rules eliminate that process, and will make it easy for states to buy federal lands for next to nothing and then sell them to developers.

While Rep. Tipton has not specifically named a particular piece of land that he would transfer, his vote in favor of this measure indicates that he supports transferring any and all public land without accounting for its value.

The GOP platform calls on Congress to pass legislation requiring the federal government to turn over federal lands to the states.

Can Rep. Tipton cite any instance when he publicly stated that he is opposed to this?

Ellen Foster

Dolores