Simpson kills buyout for grazing permits
By Katherine Wutz, Idaho Mountain Express, August 4, 2010 [here]
A potential federal grazing permit buyout program was killed by amendment last Thursday as Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, defended national public lands grazing during a subcommittee markup.
The stricken language, which was attached to the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2011, would have created a national pilot program to allow buyers to purchase and retire grazing permits from willing sellers.
“In the West, we know that if you don’t graze on public lands, you don’t graze at all,” Simpson said. … [more]