Congressman Mike Kelly has voiced his opposition to the proposed French Creek Wildlife Refuge.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a new wildlife refuge throughout northwest Pennsylvania and Chautauqua County, New York.
They’re looking at the ability to preserve and protect more habitat within the French Creek Watershed.
Mike Kelly (R) said the proposed refuge would create new federal ownership and oversight in those lands. He said local residents and landowners should have the biggest say in what happens on the land.
“I am always going to be in favor of private landowners, I’m not going to be in favor of the government coming in and doing a land grab and paying you an absolute ridiculous amount of money for land that you have owned your whole life and paid taxes on,” said Congressman Mike Kelly.
Kelly, along with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glen “GT” Thompson and New York Republican Nick Langworthy, sent a letter to the organization in an effort to make them reconsider the proposition.
