U.S. Senate Committee OKs Effort To Expand Gettysburg National Military Park, Public Opinion OnlineThe U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved a resolution that would revise the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park. New boundaries would include the Gettysburg Train Station and land along Plum Run in Cumberland Township.
The Department of Interior is to acquire publicly owned property within the area by buying from willing sellers only, if efforts to acquire that property without cost have been exhausted. The government cannot exercise eminent domain. The bill goes to the full Senate along with several others that would expand the Petersburg National Battlefield, establish another national park in New Mexico and protect a watershed around Glacier National Park.
"With April 2011 marking the 150th anniversary of the beginning of our American Civil War, enactment of these bills is of urgent importance," said Joy Oakes, senior mid-Atlantic regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. Reps. Todd Platts and Todd Russell sponsor the House version (HR 4395). Sponsors of the Senate version (S 3159) are Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Philadelphia, and Robert Casey Jr., D-Scranton.
Text Source: Public Opinion Online
Image Source: Gettysburg National Military Park
