Editorial #3

Link: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/02/white-house-land-grab/?page=2

This article is about Senator DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, protesting a "secret" memo in the interior department, which is studying whether fourteen tracks of land should be set aside as national monuments. DeMint tried but failed to pass an amendment that sought to prohibit the Obama administration from declaring these lands as national monuments.

From the editorial, it sounds like Sen. DeMint is protesting normal procedures by the Interior department to review how federal land under its jurisdiction is utilized and trying to make it sound bad by saying it is secret. He also appears to be distorting facts by saying the Obama administration is grabbing land away from the states. Really, this is federal land owned by all Americans. It is funny that Sen. DeMint (from South Carolina) thinks he knows what the people in these western states (where the land is located) want. People in these communities enjoy the other uses of the land, including tourism and recreation, which have more lasting values than the temporary jobs that come from tearing out resources to profit distant corporations. Mining and logging are important, but they have to be balanced against other long-term uses for the land.