Congress has already rammed the Fix Our Forests Act through the House. Now it moves to the Senate as Bill 1462 -- and if there were ever a bill that deserved to be doused in cold water, it’s this one.

The premise sounds noble: early wildfire detection, faster response, safer forests. The reality? A nationwide surveillance grid dressed up in green camouflage. Cameras on towers, drones overhead, mesh networks buried in the soil, all feeding into proprietary artificial intelligence run by private companies and subsidized by federal tax dollars. We are being told to trade liberty for “safety” -- again.

Colorado has already become a test case. Xcel Energy partnered with Pano AI to install 21 surveillance towers across the state, claiming to cover more than 1.5 million acres. Think about that: more than Delaware in size, scanned minute by minute, 24 hours a day. Colorado is an outdoors state. People move here -- and visit here -- because they want freedom. They want to hike trails, ride mountain bikes, fish streams, and pitch tents under the stars. What they don’t want is to wonder whether a spinning camera on a ridgeline is tracking them, whether their kids’ campfire songs are being recorded, or........

© American Thinker