By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Editor
Congressman Mac Thornberry has hope for the landowners along the Red River who fear losing their land to the federal Bureau of Land Management.
Tuesday afternoon, Thornberry told a group of Texas Farm Bureau members on the National Affairs Awards Trip the landowner lawsuits against the federal government, combined with his proposed legislation and a new presidential administration, will hopefully help all Texas landowners in the long run.
“We have a new administration at the Bureau of Land Management, and I’m hopeful they will take a new look at this issue, too,” Thornberry said.
Earlier this year, Thornberry filed the “Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act,” HR 428, to establish a process to conduct an accurate survey of the Red River land in question. Senator John Cornyn filed a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.
The bill, if passed, would establish a process requiring the Bureau of Land Management to conduct an accurate survey of the Red River land in question.
Several years ago, landowners along the Red River learned the property they’d built homes and barns on, farmed and paid taxes on, was considered federal land by the BLM.
The BLM claims the land in question is federal due to the movement of the river over time, which they claim made the stretch of land in their purview larger.
In response, landowners filed a lawsuit, which Texas and the General Land Office later joined. Thornberry and Cornyn filed similar bills last year to help landowners, but the legislation never made it off the Senate floor.
Thornberry said he has hope this year. The bill passed the House in a 250-171 vote and is awaiting consideration by the U.S. Senate.
“It’s the right thing to do for the property owners along the Red River. They should not have the federal government come and take land that they have the deed to and have paid taxes on for generations,” Thornberry said.
Since concerns first arose in 2013, Thornberry has held meetings, talked to landowners and government officials about the issue, trying to bring some clarity to the otherwise muddy situation.
“We all have an interest in protecting private property rights, especially those of us involved in agriculture. We all need to stand together to protect those rights or else some day we could lose our own property,” Thornberry said.
If passed by the Senate and made into law, the bill would provide legal certainty to Red River landowners by providing a clear, and accurate, survey of the land along the river and who owns what.
Additional details about the bill and what it does can be found here.
During the trip Tuesday, TFB members also met with Congressman Kevin Brady, who was honored with the Golden Plow Award, Blake Farenthold, the Senate Ag Committee, the House Committee on Rules and Congressmen Joe Barton, Roger Williams, Louie Gohmert, Lamar Smith, Pete Sessions, John Ratcliffe, Michael McCaul, Sam Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, Vicente Gonzalez, Kenny Marchant, Bill Flores, Thornberry and Marc Veasey.
TFB members continue their meetings with the Texas delegation to Congress today.
They will discuss items like the farm bill, trade, tax reform, Waters of the U.S. and other issues facing agriculture.