Open Letter to Rep. Bruce Westerman on Origins of CBWR in H.R. 2647

9/3/2015

From: Rob Taylor
To:      Office of Rep. Westerman, Bruce [R-AR-4]
            https://westerman.house.gov/
Re:      Origins of Sections 702, 808, & 809 of H.R. 2647,
             Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015

September 2, 2015

To Jordan Garcia Assistant to Representative Westerman,

The following message concerns H.R. 2647 and the Coos Bay Wagon Road Land. The CBWR   land is legally separate from the O&C land, but the two are often lumped together. The people of Coos County have been campaigning for the right to manage the Coos Bay Wagon Road lands ourselves with the authority do decide how best to use these lands. It is a request for the same and equal rights as the Indian tribes. The tribes have a “sovereign nation shield” protecting them from lawsuits by environmentalist groups, which is an advantage to their nation over the private landowners, businesses, states, and local governments in the US.

The County’s general fund would lose about 50% of the proceeds from any timber sales if the county has to pay some other entity to manage property we are perfectly capable of managing ourselves. There was a vote in 1996 asking the voters of Coos County if the Coquille Indian Tribe should manage public lands and it failed by 85% with a large voter turnout. That vote would be about the same today, if the question of land management were on the ballot, because this issue is, and has been, a major contention in the county and in local government for over 100 years.

If the county cannot manage The CBWR property then the U.S. legislature should allow the county to sell it to the highest bidder on the open market, putting it back in the tax base as a benefit to all humankind.

The Federal government owns 53% plus of the state of Oregon, whereas the state of Arkansas has only a mere 9.4% owned by the feds. The Feds do not have the constitutional authority to own any of this land, much less over 50% of a state. The Bill appears to be an attempt by the Republicans in the House of Representatives to use a “politically correct,” federally protected group to hedge against environmental extremism by using their tribal status to circumvent the courts.

To make one group more privileged than another, because of their heritage, is illegal, immoral and repugnant in a Nation that prides itself as equalitarian towards all people, including its own citizens. The agreement with the Indian Nations to acquiesce the management of our own lands instead of defending the Right of Commerce in this county is equally egregious, but this measure is more about obfuscation of the facts.

Fact, the American Indians do not have a real “sovereign nation,” because the US Department of Interior holds all of the lands owned by the Indian Nations in a trust. Fact, the Indian governments will not have any real authority, because the Bureau of Indian Affairs, not the Indians, holds that power,   Fact, most of the tribes are sustained by the hard earned money of the US taxpayer, weakening their own identity and abilities. Fact, these measures are deleterious to the Indian people and go to deteriorate the real sovereignty that is the right of the American Indian to decide their own destiny by owning their own property, and not being subservient to the overreaching and abusive authority of the Department of Interior.

As a Tea Party Republican, you should have known better, Mr. Westerman.

There is still time to work together to remedy this situation.

Official Inquiry:

Where did the wording originate for the portions of H.R.2647 that concern the Coos Bay Wagon Road Land?

Why was the CBWR land added to this bill?

Who did Representative Bruce Westerman, or his staff meet with to discuss adding the language concerning the CBWR land?

Who has Representative Bruce Westerman, or his staff met with from Oregon concerning H.R. 2647, or the sections in H.R. 2647 concerning the O&C Land & CBWR Lands?

Who has Representative Bruce Westerman, or his staff, met with from Oregon, in particularly from Coos County, concerning any public lands?

Where is the authority documented in the US Constitution giving your office, the US Congress, and the federal government to not only own this land, but allow another “sovereign nation” manage those lands?

Link to the Bill in question, H.R. 2647
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2647/text

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