I seem to remember a concerted effort to open up the airspace to GA PVT ops, and now there is a concerted campaign to change it back again.
If the radar coverage exists I agree it should be used, but it has to be reliable coverage. Does it make sense to commission and maintain new SSR radar heads when ADS-B is starting to be rolled out? The answer to that is obvious if you want to talk most bang for your buck - aviation safety bucks at that.
But whether it is radar or it is ADS, if it is E airspace, and all the responsibilities under ICAO airspace as well as legal duty of care liabilty that entails - the cost of providing those ATS will rise significantly. The main reason is the service provision requires much smaller sectorisation than we have now to enable adequate display scales for radar / ADS services. Also considerable extra training for all the controllers working those services in the multitude of instrument approaches within that newly deisgnated airspace. I suspect MSAW systems will have to be surveyed and implemented if the E is down to te ground.
Air Traffic Controllers as professionals would have no objection to any of this. despite what you may hear some out there saying. But any reasonable person can see that this is going to cost millions of dollars to implement and continue providing every year. So the big question - who pays for it? And - is it the best use of your aviation safety dollar?