On May 18, U.S. Rep.Tracey Mann and U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, all Kansas Republicans, introduced legislation voicing concern to President Joe Biden’s 30×30 executive order.
On Jan. 27, Biden issued Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” The three lawmakers took note of Section 216 of the order that directs the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and other heads of agencies to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030 or 30×30. While a subsequent report was recently released, the lack of details left many questions and concerns remaining from landowners across the country.
"I am deeply concerned with President Biden’s land grab attempt," Mann said in a press release. Mann is a First District congressman and a member of the House Agriculture Committee. "It is egregious that the Biden administration would consider a proposal like 30×30 that has the potential to strip away Kansans’ private property rights to meet an arbitrary climate goal. Additionally, no consideration was given to current voluntary conservation initiatives that are already underway in Kansas and rural America. Our legislation works to protect Kansas agriculture and prevent progressive overreach."
“Protecting private property rights from federal government overreach is a top priority of Kansans,” said Moran, a former member of the House Agriculture Committee who now sits on Senate Appropriations Committee. “While I have long supported voluntary, locally driven conservation efforts, this legislation would put a stop to the Biden administration’s misguided 30×30 plan that threatens to expand federal land ownership and control.”
More than 98% of land in Kansas is privately owned, the lawmakers said, adding that mandating the permanent conservation of 30% of America’s land would require expanding federal control over land and undermining of private property rights. Additionally, President Biden’s proposal would add to the large number of acres already under federal control.
“Farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists, and no one knows what’s best for the land better than those who work on it day in and day out,” said Marshall, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The best thing the federal government can do is trust the environmental judgment of farmers and ranchers and let them do what they do best: steward the land.”
