📋 Tender Overview
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a hearing of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), ranking member of the Senate National Parks Subcommittee, pressed Leslie Beyer, the nominee to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior overseeing lands and minerals management, about transferring public land away from federal management for possible resource development without the approval of Congress. During the exchange, Senator King expressed concerns about these transfers, making clear that the more than 640 million acres of public land -- which includes parks, forests and monuments -- belongs to the American people.
The hearing comes as the Trump Administration, in its first 100 days, to privatize federally managed lands and reshape environmental policy. Earlier this month, the Administration announced an to inventory federally managed land and land to states, cities or other private entities. These actions, alongside the drastic cuts to federal land agencies such as the and by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), could seriously undermine essential public land protections.
As a lifelong advocate for conservation and Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Senator King is among the Senates most prominent voices advocating for conservation. Senator King helped lead the ; the legislation that included the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF). Because of his work, in 2020, Senator King was awarded the inaugural . Since the creation of the LRF, Senator King has to discuss funding maintenance efforts, maintaining a sufficient NPS workforce, and managing growing park visitation.
Senator Kings work on this legislation is the culmination of more than four decades of work on land conservation efforts in Maine, including helping to establish the Land for Maines Future program in 1987 and supporting extensive conservation projects during his time as Governor. Under Kings leadership in his eight years as Maine governor, than in the states 175 year history.
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