Who Owns the Public Land

[Keith Broaders]

Who really owns the 640 million acres of public land in the United States, is owned by the government or is it owned collectively by the people? In Article I Section 9 Clause 17 the Federal Government is prohibited from owning land outside of the District of Columbia except for specific purposes. The Federal government can acquire land for post offices, post roads, military installations and needful buildings.

In addition to all this land, the federal government owns 411,415 buildings with a total of almost 3 billion sq. ft. of building area all acquired at a cost of about $327 billion. The federal government also has 59,036 leases on 45,261 buildings with an annual rental cost to the taxpayers of just over $6 billion.

Even the world is not safe from the tentacles of the federal leviathan. The U.S. government owns approximately 1.5 million acres of land outside the United States. There are 4,437 buildings sitting on this land that occupy over 35 million sq. ft. of building area. The U.S. government also has 12,738 leases on 12,446 buildings on foreign soil with an annual rental cost to U.S. taxpayers of over $523 million. The United States leases property in 167 foreign countries.

Why does the U.S. government lease 733,627 sq. ft. of building area in Bolivia and 790,704 sq. ft. of building area in Colombia? Is this necessary? Do any members of Congress know about this? Do any members of Congress care about this?