The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today released the third installment in its video series highlighting the priorities of its Republican members. In today’s video, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, outlines his plans to increase local control and management of Utah’s natural resources.

As chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee, Sen. Lee has called for updating and improving the Endangered Species Act to ensure that the law doesn’t stifle economic activity and obstruct local conservation efforts in Utah and across the West. Sen. Lee also noted that one of his top priorities is to ensure that local communities are being fully compensated for the federal property within their jurisdictions through the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILT) program.

“My home state of Utah is blessed with an extraordinary array of natural resources, but the people of Utah are burdened by unfair federal policies that prevent them from enjoying, protecting, managing, and using these resources,” Sen. Lee said. “The most important step we can take to empower local control of natural resources is to address the fact that the federal government owns nearly two-thirds of the land within Utah’s borders – just as it owns almost half of the land in the West.”

Sen. Lee’s full video statement is available on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee website.