“One of the amazing things about the CORE Act is how bipartisan the support has been,” Bennet said. Lauren Boebert, who represents the majority of the state’s Western Slope and is a staunch oil and gas advocate, has called the bill a “land grab.”īennet, who’s been working on the bill as long as Polis, points to polling showing bipartisan support for the CORE Act. In the House, where bills can pass on a simple majority, Republican U.S. “This conversation needs to take place in a sense yesterday, so I’m going go back, make sure that the president and the White House is fully briefed on this, and I’m going make sure that our team is moving as expeditiously as they possibly can, to do whatever we can, and encourage the president to give us the authority to proceed.”ĭespite a committee vote on the bill, Republicans in the Senate continue to block the CORE Act’s passage, with at least 10 GOP senators needed, along with every Democrat, in order to avoid a filibuster. “I take away a sense of urgency,” Vilsack said of when he will broach the topic with Biden. With the possibility of losing control of the House, and possibly the Senate, on Nov. “Taking additional executive actions can help provide momentum for future legislative protections.”īut a future Republican president can strip away higher levels of protections for public lands if they’re not passed by Congress, as former President Donald Trump did by shrinking Bears Ears and Escalante in Utah – a move since reversed by Biden.Īnd there was a clear sense of urgency among the numerous local politicians, conservation groups, sportsmen and recreation-economy advocates who toured Camp Hale with Vilsack on Tuesday. Jared Polis, who championed an early version of the CORE Act more than a decade ago when he was serving in the House. “The two paths are not mutually exclusive,” said Gov. They are also hoping Biden will use administrative withdrawal to keep intact the CORE Act’s ban on new oil and gas drilling in the Thompson Divide near Carbondale.

Forest Service land at Camp Hale – will designate the area a National Monument. The bill includes a first-ever designation for Camp Hale as a National Historic Landscape to honor the 10 th Mountain Division ski troopers who trained here and fought in Italy and Alaska during World War II and then returned home to launch the state’s iconic ski industry.Ĭolorado Democrats are hoping President Joe Biden, with some urging from Vilsack - whose USDA oversees the U.S. The CORE Act combined four bills to protect 73,000 acres of Colorado’s federally owned public lands as new wilderness and 80,000 acres as new recreation and conservation management areas that preserve existing outdoor recreation uses. “The places that are appropriate for other designations, like a National Monument designation or a mineral withdrawal, we’ll look at that, but we’re just going to have to decide what’s going to be appropriate, and we haven’t made those decisions yet.” “We’re going to continue to fight for that,” Bennet added. Joe Neguse has shepherded through the House, in one form or another, five times.

Michael Bennet said of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, which U.S. “Our preference, obviously, is to pass the CORE Act,” Sen. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to this historic, high-country military training ground to plead for presidential action. Senate – at least for now – Colorado’s Democratic leadership on Tuesday invited U.S. – Seemingly waving the white flag on getting a wilderness bill that’s passed the House five times through the logjammed U.S. John Hickenlooper at Camp Hale on Tuesday (David O. Jared Polis, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Sen.

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