Despite new public opinion research unveiled this week showing that Americans overwhelmingly fault House Republicans for the recent government shutdown and subsequent closure of national parks, the House Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday discussed a bill that would enable state governments to manage national parks and other public lands (despite the fact that the concept of turning public lands over to states and private companies has been shown to be highly unpopular among voters in the West).
The “State-Run Federal Lands Act” (H.R. 3294), sponsored by Representative Don Young (R-AK), would allow states to petition to take over management of any federal lands within their jurisdictions, including national parks.
