Editors at the Washington Examiner criticize one of the many bad Biden administration policies.
The most unequal county in the United States isn’t in New York or California. It’s actually in the heart of flyover country, Teton County in Wyoming, to be exact. Drawn by Grand Teton National Park and the Jackson Hole ski area, wealthy people have flocked there, buying land and building huge luxury houses.
But they have not been content simply to enjoy their own property. The allure of Teton County is its pristine natural environment, and the new residents have done everything in their power to limit residential development near them, driving up housing costs and forcing middle-class residents to move away. The only people left are the wealthy in their big homes and a poor class of renters, many of them servants and foreign. Hence the highest levels of income inequality in the nation.
What the ultra-rich have done to Teton County, President Joe Biden and the Democrats want to do to the rest of the country. Last week, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland placed a 20-year moratorium on all oil, gas, and mining leasing within a 10-mile radius of New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park, rejecting calls from the Navajo Nation to approve a smaller buffer of 5 miles.
“Recent congressional testimony by Sec. Haaland displayed her lack of understanding of the massive cost to a disadvantaged Native American community,” Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said in a statement. “She was unable to answer questions about the costs of foregone oil and natural gas royalties to tribal members. Despite her claims that the energy rights of Navajos would be protected, she was unable to guarantee access to those minerals. What good are rights if Interior isolates your lands and you can’t access your resources?”
