Commissioners ink support for three Rep. Boebert bills
PRESS RELEASE
May 12, 2021
The Garfield County Board of County Commissioners is supporting three pieces of legislation introduced by Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert that aim at repealing executive orders and proposals issued by President Joe Biden. The 30 X 30 Termination Act, America’s Infrastructure Modernization (AIM) Act and the Protecting American Energy Jobs Act (H.R. 859) have all been introduced by the congresswoman, who represents Colorado’s Third District, including Garfield County.
The 30 X 30 Termination Act seeks to block a Biden Administration’s executive order (30 X 30) that would permanently preserve 30 percent of public land and water by 2030, effectively removing 680 million acres from multiple use management practices.
In February, the Board of County Commissioners signed a resolution questioning the president’s authority, whether constitutional or statutory, to mandate that 30 percent of these public lands be preserved under an executive order.
“We have visited with many ranchers, landowners, farmers and interested parties who are very concerned about the Biden Administration’s plan to make 30 percent of all U.S. land and water into wilderness by the year 2030,” said Commissioner Mike Samson. “As you study deeper, you realize that their ultimate goal is 50 by 2050, or maybe even 2040. In other words, half the land and water in the United States to be put into wilderness, which would wreak terrible havoc upon the western U.S.”
“In my mind, 62 percent of public lands in Garfield County are already in a state of conservation,” added Commissioner Tom Jankovsky. “We want to make sure that 30 percent of those lands don’t become wilderness, where we’d lose the multiple use purpose. We have a very active representative in the Third District, who is always pushing amendments and legislation, and I’m happy to support these three bills.”
Boebert’s AIM ACT seeks to support infrastructure without raising taxes or increasing federal spending through repurposing unspent COVID relief funds. If passed, AIM would provide infrastructure grants to states for surface transportation, airport improvement, port development and national highway performance programs.
“The AIM Act would reallocate $650 billion of the remaining $2.2 trillion of unspent COVID funds to fund roads, bridges, airports, ports, and other real infrastructure projects,” the congresswoman noted in a press release. “There is no reason to increase taxes and waste trillions of dollars on a leftist slush fund when we have the ability to deliver real infrastructure results for the American people without raising their taxes.”
“The Biden Administration has proposed a $2.2 trillion infrastructure bill that it’s trying to get through Congress right now, and the crazy thing is that only $115 billion of that actually goes to infrastructure,” Jankovsky said. “The AIM Act would create $650 billion for our country’s infrastructure, which does need upgrades. I think this is a much cleaner bill, which gets right to the purpose of infrastructure improvements.”
The Protecting American Energy Jobs Act is designed to repeal some of President Biden’s executive orders, which have halted oil and gas industry projects, such as the Keystone XL pipeline and other fossil fuel extraction efforts.
“While Joe Biden continues to pander to campaign donors and extremist environmentalists, I’ll continue to fight for jobs and the people of Colorado’s Third District,” Boebert said in a press release.
Samson said that he feels the Biden Administration has “overreached” in preventing American energy production and access to natural resources. All three letters of support were approved unanimously, 3-0.
“These three measures are legislative efforts by Rep. Lauren Boebert, and I believe we should express our support for all three,” Samson added.