Obama is going to try to make a big land grab.

[Teresa]

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/05/demint-demands-a-block-to-obama-land-grab-attempt/

The White House is attempting to seize over 10 million acres of land in nine Western states. Using an obscure clause in the Antiquities Act of 1906, the Department of the Interior under Ken Salazar would designate the land as "monuments" in order to block the use of the resources in those states.

DeMint is trying to bring this to light:

It was particularly disappointing that the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, voted against the amendment. The government owns more than 80 percent of the land in Nevada and the unemployment rate there is 12.8 percent. Surely it would help job prospects if more land were open for business.
This is a nationwide problem. The government currently owns 650 million acres, or 29 percent of the nation's total land.
Federal bureaucrats shouldn't be wasting time thinking up ways to acquire more, especially in the middle of a recession. Taking the nation's resources offline will stifle job creation and dry up tax revenues.
If anything, the government should be selling land off, not locking more up. By voting against my amendment, the Democrats tacitly endorsed Mr. Obama's secret plan to close off millions more acres to commerce.

It's not the first time an administration has used this act to seize land from states. Jimmy Carter grabbed 50 million acres from Alaska over their loud objections, and Bill Clinton almost 6 million in 22 separate actions. These executive actions bypassed Congress altogether and made a mockery of state sovereignty. After all, if a state can't keep the federal government from unilaterally declaring that their land no longer belongs to them, then states have no real power at all — and neither do the people, represented by Congress.


***Meanwhile in Utah:

http://www.saysuncle.com/2010/03/03/interesting-use-of-eminent-domain/
Reporting from Salt Lake City – Long frustrated by Washington's control over much of their state, Utah legislators are proposing a novel way to deal with federal land — seize it and develop it.

The Utah House of Representatives last week passed a bill allowing the state to use eminent domain to take land the federal government owns and has long protected from development.