Letter From Robert Weidner - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Robert K Weidner 9720 lronmaster Drive Burke, Virginia 22OL5 October 24,2022 Dear Commissioners/Council Members: Next January will mark the beginning of my thirty first year working as your advocate in Washington, D.C,, not including my fifteen years working while mentored by a truly great man, former Utah Senator Jake Garn. Jake served along side Scoop Jackson, Warren Magnusson, Slade Gorton and Dan Evans. Together, they all overcame the partisan divide that afflicts us today by advocating access to and wise multiple use management of National Forest and other federal lands. These men understood the true meaning of conservation through wise stewardship. They each supported logging as a necessary tool for active forest management and worked across party lines to see that men and women had opportunities to work in the forest products industry on federal, state and private forests. They would find today's political environment anathema to that for which America stands. I stand second to no one arguing that the federal government must honor its obligations to rural public lands counties by making full Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) payments. Most recently, I have worked directly with Finance Committee Chairman, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, whose idea it was to compensate revenue sharing counties who have been harmed by reckless federal land and environmental policies to the tune of SZSO million per year for two years from the Treasury Department. You should each be receiving the first of those payments now. I currently represent the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition advocating active National Forest and BLM management as well as the uranium mining industry whose work is desperately needed on federal lands to meet the demands of American electricity users through clean nuclear power generation. Recognizing the value of broader coalitions, I am pleased to represent several other western public lands counties in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah advocating positions compatible with those Senator Garn taught me. Over the years it has been my focus to: 1) Keep an eye on NACo to make sure it did in fact, represent our western public lands interests and to similarly keep an eye on the Congress and Administration no matter which party was in charge to protect our same values. To that end I have been pleased to work with NACo whenever possible and by working with the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition to protect Congress's commitment to share revenues from management of National Forests and public lands generally.