Wyoming to Sell Off Grand Teton National Park?

Well not quite, but the Governor is threatening to sell off the parts of the park that the state does own unless the Department of the Interior gets their act together:

For Sale: Two square miles of Grand Teton National Park.

Majestic views of the Teton Range. Prime location for luxury resort, home development. Pristine habitat for moose, elk, wolves, grizzlies.

Price: $125 million. Call: Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

Wyoming is trying to force the Interior Department to trade land, minerals or mineral royalties for 1,366 acres it owns within the majestic park. If the foot-dragging feds don’t agree to a deal — soon — Freudenthal threatens to put a For Sale sign on the property.

Wyoming has owned the land since statehood in 1890, when the federal government set aside land in new Western states to be mined, logged or leased to raise money for public education. Wyoming kept its so-called “school sections” after Grand Teton National Park was established in 1950.

The state has tried for a decade to negotiate some kind of trade. Saying that his patience is running out, Freudenthal, a Democrat, sent an ultimatum recently to park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott.

“I think he wants to pound the (for sale) sign in himself,” said Ed Grant, director of the Office of State Lands and Investments.

Wyoming gets just $3,000 a year from the land by leasing it for cattle grazing. Sold with the proceeds invested at 3 percent, the land easily could bring in $3.75 million a year.

The state constitution requires state officials to manage state lands for maximum profit. Their oaths of office require them to act.

“If it’s to recreate on, or if it’s a new ski lodge, highest and best use,” said Susan Child, deputy director of the state lands office. “It’s obviously not grazing.”  [Associated Press]

Read the rest at the link, but the incompetent Department of the Interior, you know the same people that allowed BP to drill the deepest well in history in the Gulf Of Mexico without any review, well they have been dragging their feet for years with working out a deal with the state of Wyoming and it appears the governor is about to call their bluff.  Wouldn’t it just be the icing on the cake for the incompetency of the Department of the Interior if some Chinese company bought part of Grand Teton National Park because of this?