◼ So, what is a “cultural” site? No one knows for sure. - Mike Flynn/Breitbart
Many observers believe that this precedent-setting amendment is a dry run to kill the Keystone Pipeline project specifically and set up a new paradigm for development in America. Can anyone say with a straight face that somewhere along the thousands of miles of pipes, there will not be a parcel of land where Native Americans once slept, gathered or ate? If the same logic being used on the land swap bill is applied, the Secretary of Interior--an avowed radical--would have the power to unilaterally pull the plug on the project. We have already seen what happened when one agency —the EPA — has the power to issue regulations that kill jobs. Could Republicans be so naive as to give another government agency the same power?
The Lujan amendment, as written, only applied to the copper mine in Arizona. But if there are enough votes to pass through a Republican House, it will be a precedent setter that will weaponize opposition to economic development for years to come on nearly every square inch of American soil and threaten the property rights for land owners all across the nation.
