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Show Chris Cannon Tells NY Congressman To Mind NTs Business, Not Utah's Representative Chris Cannon explained his opposition to New York Congressman Mark Hinchey's proposed bill, a measure that would designate 5.7 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah as wilderness, to the Congressman's own constituents when he spoke on Apr. 11 in Binghamton and Kingston, New York. Cannon has asked Hinchey not to introduce the bill, HR 1500, but Hinchey has expressed his determination to proceed. Cannon told residents of New York's 26th Congressional District that it was important to put Hinchey's bill in perspective. He said the proposed 5.7 million acres is larger than the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Rhode Island individually. The acreage is approximately the same size as New Hampshire, Maryland or Vermont. He contrasted New York's almost exclusively privately-controlled privately-controlled lands with those of Utah where more than 70 percent of the land is owned by the federal government which directly affects the lives and lifestyles of Utahns. He said their lives are directly tied to federal land managers. He pointed out that President Bill Clinton's act of creating the grand Staircase-Escalante Nation--al Monument was done "without talking to a single Utahn who will admit it." In doing so, Cannon said, "Mr. Clinton wiped out the economic future of two counties in my Congressional District and placed sharp restrictions restric-tions on the more than 10,000 residents res-idents of the surrounding communities." com-munities." Cannon asked Hinchey to stand by his own statement made in 1996 when he said, "It's not (See Cannon Says "Mind New York's Business On Page 3-A) Mind New York' Cannon Says From Front Page the loss to trees that is critical to this country right now. It's the loss of jobs dammit." "If Mr. Hinchey believes this," Cannon told Hinchey's constituents, consti-tuents, "he will not introduce H.R. 1500. "I have come to New York to ask the people of the 26th District to urge Mr. Hinchey not to introduce H.R. 1500. Utah is 2,200 miles away. Surely, Mr. Hinchey has needs in his own district here in New York state that deserve his undivided attention. atten-tion. The bottom line is that Mr. Hinchey should spend his time on New York's needs and let me tackle Utah's needs," Cannon said. |
