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Rep. Pombo calls for private property rights, opening ANWR House Resources chairman went to Washington to make a stand for local control of lands Steve Sutherlin Petroleum News Associate Editor
U.S. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo says he is a cattle rancher from California that was fed up with what was going on in Washington and got angry with the direction that the federal government was going.
“What compelled me to run was private property rights and the Endangered Species Act,” he said in remarks to a Resource Development Council luncheon crowd at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage Aug. 16.
Like Alaska, the largest property owner in Pombo’s home state of California is the federal government, but unlike Alaska most of the rest of the state — almost half — is privately owned, he said, adding that federal law controls too much of what locals can do with the land.
“I think we need to turn over more control and power on what happens on public land to the state and the people who actually live there,” he said. ANWR struggle: excess federal control Alaska’s struggle to open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development is an example of the problem of excessive federal control, Pombo said.
He said the House version of the recently passed energy bill recognized the need for domestic oil and gas production and it included a provision to open ANWR to oil and gas development, but the provision was dropped because of opposition in the Senate.
”Getting through the Senate side was the most difficult thing we had to do,” he said.
“The energy bill was a first step but not the end.”
Pombo said attempts to balance the nation’s energy policy are hindered by an orchestrated movement in Congress to stop any kind of resource development, including timber, mining, oil and gas, and even renewable energy.
“ANWR is part of the largest known reserves in the country, and it has to be part of any energy policy that we look at for the future,” he said. “We need an energy policy in this country that recognizes that our economy is driven by energy.” Effects of development can be mitigated Pombo said too much of the thinking in Washington is driven by what he considers to be a false notion that the nation must choose between either protecting the environment or having resource development.
“You can protect the environment and have resource development,” he said.
“Anything people do has an impact on the environment, our goal has to be to mitigate that and minimize it as much as we can, and continue to have a thriving economy”
Congress needs the help of people who actually live and work in the affected areas to be the most vocal about local resource issues, to be able to move federal policy, Pombo said, adding that public land policy needs to reflect what local demands are and bring local people into the decision.
Decisions about Alaska are being made by people who have never visited Alaska, and never will, he said.
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