Wyoming gov. says state doesn't have the law, money to handle public land transfer

Gov. Matt Mead said the transfer of federal public land to the state is legally and financially impractical, as lawmakers continue to eye amending the Wyoming Constitution to accommodate receiving more terrain.

Mead said in an interview Wednesday with the Star-Tribune that two state attorneys general have advised him that Wyoming is not legally structured, through an enabling act that began the process of statehood in the late 1800s, to obtain federal land. States such as Utah have enabling acts that provide a stronger case for transfer, but even they are battling to obtain the land, he said.

“Then you get into the policy,” the Republican said. “And I reflect back to 2012. We spent as a state $45 million fighting fires… If the federal lands that had fires on them would have been state lands, we would have spent another $45 million – in one summer. That’s a significant amount.”

On one side of the fight to control national public lands are conservation and sportsmen groups, which oppose state control because they believe it will result in decreased access and a potential selloff if a wildfire or other catastrophe becomes too expensive for the state. A majority of Wyomingites oppose giving state governments control of the land, according to a Colorado College poll released in January.

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