The Wall Street Journal
The Obama Administration has spent years invading broad parts of the economy from finance to health care, but less noticed is the takeover of, well, actual land. Witness the standoff over a 50-year-old public land program that has devolved into a watering hole for seizing private property.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund, whose Congressional authorization expired on Sept. 30, has since 1965 shelled out more than $16 billion for preserving natural resources and providing “recreation opportunities to all Americans.” Taxing oil and gas leases feeds the fund’s land acquisition program and a state initiative that offers grants for community projects—baseball diamonds, playgrounds and the like.
