U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, filed an amendment to defund the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge Land Protection Plan. This amendment, which would join the F.Y. 2025 Interior Appropriations bill, passed in a vote on the House floor on Tuesday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently finalized a plan to purchase private lands or acquire conservation easements in Texas and New Mexico.
“The federal government currently struggles to maintain and steward the land it already owns, but now the Biden administration is seeking to expand the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge from 6,440 to 700,000 acres – an unprecedented 1000% expansion!” Arrington wrote on X.
“When the federal government enacts policies that could interfere with the day-to-day lives of the hard-working farmers, ranchers, and energy producers who depend on this land for their livelihoods and on whom we depend for our nation’s food security and energy independence, my first instinct will always be to defend their rights, their way of life, and the future of rural America,” Arrington wrote in a letter to Martha Williams, Director of USFWS, in early July.
Property rights advocates at American Stewards of Liberty referred to the USFWS plan as “Massive Federal expansion into this rich agriculture and oil and gas region” that would “harm the economy and private property rights” permanently.
According to American Stewards of Liberty, the affected areas in the state would include Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Parmer, Terry, and Yoakum counties.
Texas Scorecard previously reported on the Biden administration’s plan, known as the 30×30 initiative, to place at least 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters under federal control for “land protection” by 2030.
Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller is scheduled to speak at an American Stewards of Liberty event with locally elected officials in Littlefield, Texas, on July 25 to raise awareness about the Biden administration’s 30×30 initiative and funding measures that can reign in the federal government.
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