CEI’s Yeatman Offers Support for MINER Act

William Yeatman, senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, commented on H.R. 3905, the Minnesota’s Economic Rights in the Superior National Forest Act (MINER Act).

“The bipartisan H.R. 3905 is a welcome reassertion of congressional authority over public lands. Article IV of the Constitution vests Congress—not the President—with plenary power over public lands. Members on both sides of the aisle should take umbrage at President Obama’s lame duck machinations to withdraw from the multiple use framework more than 230,000 acres of public lands in Minnesota—with the mere stroke of a pen.

“By treating public lands regulation as a means to build a presidential legacy through midnight regulation, the previous administration flouted the spirit of participatory and inclusive lands-use statutes as designed by Congress. Lawmakers should correct the course by passing the excellent H.R. 3905.”