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Sharron Angle (R-NV), a conservative former state legislator running to replace Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), said Friday that Reid was more concerned about the existence of chickens and lizards and less about the existence of new jobs for Nevadans.
Referring to a document by the Department of Interior that was marked “Internal Draft–Not For Release,” Angle said that millions of acres in the west are at risk of immediate take over by the federal government with only a single stroke of the president’s pen, including land in Nevada.
Citing what could only be described as a wish list for environmental extremists, Angle said the memo was a shopping guide for western land grabs including land in southeastern New Mexico that was populated with chickens and lizards. The DOI memo admitted that the chickens and lizards are “in good to excellent condition” but that “protection of this area offers the best opportunity to avoid the necessity of listing either of these species as threatened or endangered.”
“This is just one of their unfounded excuses for wanting to take,” Angle said. Angle said one of the reasons being provided in the memo for seizing more land in Nevada was because the area of interest, known as the Heart of the Great Basin, was “a center of climate change scientific research.”
Angle faulted Reid’s failure to protect Nevada’s interests when he voted against an offered amendment that would have thwarted Obama’s ability to seize the lands listed in the memo.
“Harry Reid cares more about lizards and less about Nevada’s high unemployment rate,” said Angle. “By voting down the amendment, Reid is basically saying to us that he would rather ride shotgun while Obama decides which lands to plunder. It’s unfortunate for Nevada when the federal government already owns nearly 85 percent of our land here at home, and instead of locking up more of our state Harry Reid should be fighting to free up more of our land to allow for additional prospecting as an effort to create jobs in a state strapped with nearly 13% unemployment. Nevada could become a prosperous source of natural energy that is capable of lowering energy costs and supplying good paying jobs, but Obama doesn’t understand that and Reid does not care.”
Angle said the land grabs are happening due to the Antiquities Act of 1906, an act that was essentially created to try to stop looters from raiding archeological sites. Angle said, however, that the Antiquities Act of 1906 had become a tool of abuse that allows the federal government to do all the looting they want without any say-so from residents or local officials. Angle pointed to previous executive orders signed by Presidents Carter and Clinton which locked up millions of acres, actions that had killed jobs in mining, energy production and ranching and had put a freeze on hunting and other recreational activities.
“With the stroke of his pen, President Obama can take away more of Nevada’s freedom to use the land as we see fit, and Mr. Reid will sit back and do nothing about it. It’s an abuse of power that needs to end now.” Angle said if she is elected to replace Reid she would work with other members of the western delegation to pass legislation that would revoke the Antiquities Act altogether or to pass a similar law approved by Congress in 1950 that removed the sole ability of the president to seize land in Wyoming.
