Hello everyone, welcome to The
County Seat, I'm Chad Booth and
today we are privileged to have
Congressman Rob Bishop with us
today for a half hour the
Congressman has not been on
the show for a while but it's our
fault not his so thank you for
taking the time to speak with us
today.
My pleasure and thank you for
inviting me.
A lot has changed last time we
talked sage grouse was a big
issue when we were having
discussion and that seems to be
quiet right now.
It has not been solved and has
not gone away yet but I'd say it
is on the back burner but that
probably creates the wrong
image.
There are a lot of public land
issues going on and it seems like
the big focus this year has been
the forest fires out west and we
have had several bad years but
this seems to catch the focus this
year the back log of
maintenance I remember a
conversation with you 9 years
ago when you predicted this day
would come and when we have
this catastrophic fires as we have
so much dead wood in the
forests I would like to talk about
this for a few minutes and see
what you see on the horizon
from your position and what we
need to do about that.
The forest fire issue is frustrating
to me because it is solvable and
we are not doing it.
Unfortunately y to me I do not
want to be critical of people who
live east of Denver the forests
that we have in the eastern part
of the US primarily are run by
state and private individuals they
are extremely healthy as they
thin them at regular intervals
and they keep them in great
health they very seldom burn
and when they do they are not
as intense as the ones that we
have. In the west they are
almost all federal lands and
ironically especially up in Idaho
and the Pacific Northwest where
you do have a lot of native tribes
as well as states forests lands
theirs are much healthier than
the federal ones but that is
where all the destruction is
happening simply because the
federal forests service cannot
manage the land their goal is to
treat about 20 % of all the
critical habitat areas to thin
them out to help the restoration
about 20% a year they get to 2%
a year because they are inhibited
and prohibited from doing their
actual work so we went to them
during the Obama
administration we asked the
forest service what do you need
to actually need to get your work
done and they gave us a whole
list of what would be helpful
then when the administration
switched the Trump
administration they gave us the
same list so that was in the
Westerman Forest Resiliency
Act. Bruce Westerman is from
Arkansas is the only professional
forester in Congress he got his
degree from Yale they have a
Yale forestry school who would
believe it. So we went with that
and unfortunately though most
of those things that were in that
bill are being objected to by
special interests groups back
east because it would affect limit
the amount of litigation that can
be done. There are a whole
bunch of special interests groups
that make their money by suing
the federal government. There
is one that boasts they sue the
Trump administration once
every ten days. So they are the
ones that did not want many of
the things that the forest service
was telling us they need in both
administrations to move from
that 2% to 20% level and that is
the problem we have and we are
still arguing in the farm bill that
is yet to pass that is still on topic
it is part of the house version it is
still working on the senate
version we are trying to get as
much of that in there primarily
to allow categorical exclusions so
they can do their process faster
their reforestation faster and
they would not be subject to law
suits that is basically what we
are attempting to do. If we
cannot do that we will have the
same amount of catastrophic
fires that we have right now we
cannot eliminate fires all
together but we can limit how
bad they are.
When Gifford Pinchot started up
the forest service the idea in the
early years seem to be that the
proper management of the
forest could actually contribute
to the treasury of the US by
logging but I do not see logging
done anymore.
That was the sole role he
basically said I want a federal
forest not because it is beautiful
not for critters he called them he
wanted to provide wood for
homes it was to provide logging
so you could actually construct
stuff and to control it so it would
not be a total initiation of the
forest but do it in a logical
pattern. Unfortunately as time
has gone on, there have been
people that think an old growth
forest is pretty and a cut tree is
ugly therefore they have
inhibited the ability of actually
managing the land by thinning
them and other kinds of trees
and the kinds of reforestation
you have they basically stopped
the forest service from the job
that it was originally intended to
do.
So the detractors would tell you
logging is not going to help much
as you cannot log that much of
the forest system in the US and
you would still have the same
problem you got because you
cannot get to that is that a true
statement?
No the only problem we have a
right now is the marketability of
it. We have too few mills left
like in Utah I know there is only
one left in Utah in Panguitch.
Idaho has about 8 large ones and
and 16 smaller ones the problem
is to get the material to those
mills is very difficult simply
because we have shut so many
of them down with this idea that
we do not want to log anything
in our forests.
So there is a thought out there
that you would have a
stewardship program that works
like a grazing allotment but its
forests and the communities
have an end goal of what the
forests is supposed to look like
and they they take care of
everything and they put mills in
and the concept is to make them
20 to 30 years in length and
renewable would that help solve
that problem?
Yes big time. There is in the
Omnibus bill we have some good
neighbor authority language in
there so allowing the states to
take over management of these
areas so they can do the process
in coordination with the forest
service to try and do it and
basically the states are not
sewed as often as the federal
forest service I'm sure the
special interests groups that
make their money from lawsuits
will eventually find out what is
going on and start sewing states
but for now it is extremely
effective in Idaho they are trying
to move it over to Montana and
some counties in California
moving forward with that
specific process it is positive it is
making a difference up in those
areas and because it is a
collaborative effort at the local
level many of the conversation
groups are on board with it. Is it
the Quigley Library in California
they did that they were moving
forward the community the
environmental community was
involved everyone was happy
and then some special interest
group in San Francisco sewed
and shut it down? That was a
decade ago it still is not up and
operating yet.
We are going to take a quick
break and be right back with The
County Seat.
Welcome back to County Seat
we are talking to Congressman
Rob Bishop before we shift gears
actually something came up on
break and I want to talk about it
the Governor is trying to get a
waver on the Roadless rule do
not know the mechanics of that
but what is the value in that?
I totally support what he is
attempting to do I read the big
burn in 1910 was this huge fire
that went through Washington
and Idaho up into Canada and
Montana 80 people died in that
and the reason they died is
because they were trapped
behind the fire. They did not
have a way out because there
were no roads or trails to get
out. So if you have roads and
trails it helps people get into the
forest but for catastrophes and
emergencies it also helps them
get out. If you close them all
down you are putting a lot of
people in danger in the future so
having a strong trail system in
our forests helps people enjoy it
and maintain it but also escape it
in case of an emergency.
It would also benefit allowing
people to fight the fire and then
they can get to a more localized
area.
Exactly. So those people that
died in 1910 they died because
they could not get in and they
could not get out.
Okay let's switch to energy this
has taken forever to get done
and we have done shows on how
quickly things happen on state
land and on federal land how
long it takes with the Presidents
ambition with having us be more
energy dependent how we
overcome that obstacle.
First off people have to realize
what we are talking about here.
There are a whole bunch of
people that do not want any
energy development as they
think it takes up too much land.
Utah clearly shows that we have
enough land here for
conversation and recreation and
economic second concept we
are talking about all forms of
energy when we talk about
energy. Includes renewable,
solar, wind everything as well as
traditional fossil fuels and when
we talk about all of the above
we are not going to change ratio
of how we are producing energy
at least in my lifetime but
regardless of what it is we have
to have some area in which to
do it and the permitting process
takes forever with the federal
government. So one of the
things we are trying to do is
partner with the states to allow
states not to set the standards of
where you can actually develop
let the federal government still
do that but allow them to do the
paper work the permitting
process which would speed it up
exponentially for anyone who
wants to come and actually
develop provide the jobs for our
nation but not only the
resources but a jobs in the local
community what is important for
them is to be up and working so
they are actually producing and
making a profit and if you draw
that out for years and years and
years the company will not come
to Utah in the first place. We
have one in the Basin already
that has bailed out because they
have been waiting ten years for
the permitting process so they
finally said forget it we are going
somewhere else. And you see
companies bailing on Utah to go
to other areas resources are
found on state lines because
states can do the permitting
gross so much quicker. So what
we can do if we allow the state
of Utah become a partner with
the federal government so they
do the paper work and we solve
that back log and that drag that
make it unprofitable so they
don't simply avoid federal lands
like Utah.
Would you still have the same
NEPA lawsuit exposure protests
type mechanisms if the states
were doing the work?
Once again yes and no. The
standards would be the same
the process is and you would
not change NEPA either the
process as you do the permitting
quicker you limit the amount
time that people can actually
sue. So yes few lawsuits simply
because you are making a
decision and getting on with it
the longer you drag that out the
more opportunity people have
new lawsuits after lawsuits. It
would not change the standards
it would not change the level of
protection or anything like that.
Just the paper work and how we
can get it done faster.
That area of energy has long
been a area conflict with local
governments and counties they
have been very concerned about
how much they are jeopardized
in both forecasted counties and
the energy counties and yet they
should still be at ate table
because when you go through all
these land use plans in the long
rang enplane and you are
supposed to be involved for 20
years regardless of they are
trying to be cooperating or
coordinating agency they still
don't have any real say at the
table. Is there a way to solve
that?
I ca understand why local
government gets so frustrated
because often times they are
ignored or dismissed by the
federal agencies not necessarily
federally elected officials like us
we still need votes but the
agencies do not so they can be
pretty frivolous about how they
deal with local government. The
federal law requires any federal
agency going in there and
working in there to consult
before going in there to state
and local governments but the
law does not say what that
entails so often times agencies
can simply say we are opening
up a comment period to check
the box we did the consultation
that is not good enough for me.
What we are trying to do this
year is get some legislation put
through that would define what
it would take to consult with
local government so they really
do have a seat at the table really
will be consulted and they will
have their say heard in a
legitimate way.
Would you be plowing new
legislative ground or is there a
precedent for that somewhere.
Ironically what we are looking
for in language is an executive
order that was made by Bill
Clinton in telling how federal
agencies should treat local
government I think that would
be the standard we are looking
at.
That would be ironic. We are
going to take a quick break and
continue our conversation with
Rob Bishop when we come back
on The County Seat.
Welcome back to The County
Seat we are talking to
Congressman Bishop a long
overdue conversation its
interesting it's an interesting
time that you are here in Salt
Lake just in the last few days a
lot of the county officials from
around the west and some of
them and some of them from
Utah have made their way back
with their hand out to try and
make sure that PILT gets
funding, Payment in Lieu of
Taxes for those strong federal
counties that have so much land
do you have some thoughts on
that? Are we ever going to find
a solution to this instead of
begging every year?
I don't know the commissioners
have come back on their annual
PILT Pilgrimage and they get
money unfortunately there are
people out there that still think
is a welfare system for the west
it would be much better if the
people could control their own
land and their own destiny that
is not going to happen in the
near future. PILT is merely the
federal government admitting
that they own all the land and
causes a great deal of cost to the
government that they have no
way of compensating for it they
are not taxed those lands are not
taxed but the good thing about
PILT is funding has stayed pretty
constant when I first got back
there the President would put
about 200 million knowing that
we would bump it up to 3 or 4 so
he could look really conservative
and we would still be nice to the
counties we have forgotten that
game we are ;putting about 500
million into it now year after
year that to me is not full
funding a lot of people think that
is full PILT funding if you charged
a property tax on the federal
land cheapest rate you can find
sage brush rate I still think it
would generate closer to one
and half to 1.8 billion dollars that
should be what the federal
government is paying for the
counties just to maintain the
cost of doing business with
people who come and use
federal lands.
What do you think would
happen if a county or a state
pass an ordinance or a law that
requires start taxing federal
land?
Unfortunately you cannot do
that constitutionally but the idea
is really good or if maybe they
would send the bill back of what
it ought to be that they are
getting I know there is a lawsuit
right now based on when we
change to make it a permanent
fund an element was left out of
the bill I think Kanab started the
lawsuit or Kane County started
the lawsuit I fully support them
for doing that it's not going to be
a big revenue generator but at
least it will force the federal
government to live up to the
commitments they have made it
that particular area so I am really
so I am really proud of the
counties for that.
Could they possibly billing them
for services rendered?
Why not try it I do not know how
far we would get. I think that
you can legally force them to pay
that but having a visual of what
it actually cost I mean for one of
the rural counties just to do a
search and rescue on one
individual can blow their search
and rescue budget for an entire
year, if that is happening on
federal lands and the federal
government is not doing a good
job in maintaining those lands or
identifying those lands pointing
out where the dangerous areas
are which often happens that
would probably be a good thing.
I guess the only down side I
would see though is my fear is
when areas of public lands are
closed to public access if you are
going to have public access it
usually the federal government
that does it and if our counties
are sending them bills of what it
is actually costing them, that
might give them the impetus to
close more land or less access.
That makes a good point we will
take one more break and come
right back here and pick up on
that thought be back in just a
minute.
Welcome back to The County
Seat we have caught up with
Congressman Rob Bishop at the
Alumni House at Utah State
University just before a speaking
engagement. I want to go into
the Public Land Bill for just a
minute our last topic. Emery
County has worked very hard at
getting the land bill together and
there are concerns now from
some of the players that perhaps
their transportation or access for
recreation they are worried that
they are not going to have a no
net loss because there is no
language for it in the bill. How
concerned are you about that?
It's a major concern obviously
we will need to sit down with
Representative Curtis it is now
his bill instead of my bill one of
the goals we have always had is
to make sure that when you
have recreation opportunities
we guarantee those recreation
opportunities so if we can put
some language in there to help
with that more than happy to do
that we will probably try to get
that bill out of committee this
week or by the end of
September I believe but we have
time and we can work with some
of those groups and hopefully
make sure everyone is satisfied
with that I agree with the
principle if you are going to have
public access for recreation
purposes you got to keep it open
for recreational purposes.
Okay very good what other
things are ready to pop out of
your committee?
Biggest one coming up this week
is dealing with the back log the
national park service has 11. 6
billion dollars in maintenance
needs that are made and if you
add fish and wildlife land and
BLM land it's up to about 16
billion dollars we are coming up
with a new concept that the new
administration supports with the
idea the money that you
generate from public lands
should be used to maintain
those public lands so take excess
revenues that comes from
energy producing all kinds of
energy production and
guarantee that excess revenue is
put into the maintenance
backlog so it should generate at
least billion dollars a year for the
next five to six years.
At least make a dent in it.
It will make a dent in it.
Excellent Congressman thank
you so much for taking the time
to join us we appreciate it very
much it's always good to see you
and hear your wit and wisdom
first hand.
I don't know if that's good but
thank you for allowing me to be
here.
Thank you for allowing us into
your home each week
remember we are available on
social media and you can take
this entire interview and share it
with your friends on FB and
YouTube remember local
government is where your life
happens make sure you are
involved and The County Seat is
the best way to do it We will
look for you next week on The
County Seat.
For more infomation >> ตามรอย 7 ซีรีส์ดัง ในงาน "อันยองฮาเซโย Korea" 14-23 ก.ย. 61 한국 드라마의 위대함 - Duration: 10:22. 
For more infomation >> Boy Scout Camp Explosion - Duration: 2:06. 
For more infomation >> Phoenix 2-year-old dies after drowning in pool - Duration: 0:27. 
For more infomation >> Hilo Building Fire - Duration: 2:08. 
For more infomation >> Francisco Casillas Arrest - Duration: 0:23. 
For more infomation >> During Florence, massive floods causing issues for first responders - Duration: 1:23. 
For more infomation >> Glendale Police Believe Music Teacher Accused Of Inappropriately Touching Students Has More Victims - Duration: 1:31. 
For more infomation >> כאן מקשיבים | אני נראה ערבי - Duration: 3:32. 
For more infomation >> Sheriff: Man surrenders in Sunset standoff - Duration: 3:38. 
For more infomation >> Sheriff: Man surrenders in Sunset standoff - Duration: 1:44. 
For more infomation >> 巨人４季連続Ｖ逸＆自力ＣＳ消滅「それは現実」監督! - Duration: 2:38. 
For more infomation >> 새끼고양이 화장실 교체 / 배변 훈련 Toilet Replacement and Training my kitten to use toilet - Duration: 4:50. 
For more infomation >> ソフトＢ柳田、ウオーミングアップ中に打球頭部直撃で救急搬送 - Duration: 1:52. 
For more infomation >> Phoenix boxing coach has an impact on many lives - Duration: 2:42. 
For more infomation >> 真的准！大拇指關節長短，看出你這輩子註定要走的感情路！ - Duration: 6:02. 
For more infomation >> 9/15/18 4:59 PM (542 N Wilton Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90004, USA) - Duration: 5:09. 
For more infomation >> 9/15/18 4:55 PM (1510 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA) - Duration: 4:04. 
For more infomation >> Comment S'Accepter ? - Duration: 9:09. 
For more infomation >> Create Org Chart
For more infomation >> 10月福星高照，運勢爆棚，橫財不斷，財庫豐盈，富貴多金的生肖 - Duration: 3:53. 
For more infomation >> A FRESH NEW START HONEY! - Duration: 6:46. 
For more infomation >> 【歌姬引退】安室Jolin終極合體 歌迷淚別摯愛永無止盡 - Duration: 4:01. 
For more infomation >> 【MMD PV】 私とジュリエット 【初音ミク】 Raina Illune and Lin Meringue's Cover (中文字幕) - Duration: 3:36. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét