September 6, 2006
Dear CalUWild members, supporters, and friends—
School has started for many around the West, meaning that it’s a perfect time to get away and enjoy some of the West’s wild areas, now that the vacation season is over. And with Fall weather tending to be a bit cooler, the deserts of the Southwest are a good choice. Many acres await your exploration!
There was no Update sent out in August, but that’s not because CalUWild was on vacation. We decided to wait until the first week of September so that the first Action Item would be fresh in your minds and not get lost in the Labor Day holiday.
Most of the other items are news updates (most of them good!), although there is a quick need for letters to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle regarding an editorial the paper ran yesterday. See Item 5.
With a new academic year beginning, CalUWild will also start off another season of slideshows around the state. See Item 6 for more information. We also hope to have our first college level intern join us this Fall. So there are interesting things in store for the year ahead.
Thanks for working so hard to help protect our Western Wilderness!
Best wishes,
Mike
IN UTAH
1. Washington County Bill Heads for
Hearings in Both Senate and House
Calls and Faxes Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
2. Court Upholds Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
3. Court Turns Down BLM Oil & Gas Leases
IN CALIFORNIA
4. North Coast Wilderness Bill Passes House
5. Court Turns Down Logging in Giant Sequoia National Monument
Letters to Chronicle Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
SLIDESHOWS
6. Schedule a CalUWild Slideshow for Your Group!
(ACTION ITEM)
IN UTAH
1. Washington County Bill Heads for
Hearings in Both Senate and House
Calls and Faxes Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
Committees in both houses of Congress will probably be holding hearings in the next weeks on the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2006, the bill introduced by Utah’s Sen. Bob Bennett (R) and Rep. Jim Matheson (D). Details of the bill were in the July Update but the worst bear repeating briefly here:
1. Up to 24,000 acres of public land to be given away or auctioned off.
2. The resulting revenue would be used to fund local county services instead of conservation purposes.
3. Inadequate amount of wilderness protected. And much of that wilderness designated is already protected in Zion National Park.
4. Creates a fragmented system of rights of way for roads and power and water lines.
The House Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing on the bill next week on September 14. California members of the Committee are:
Ken Calvert (R-44)
Dennis Cardoza (D-18)
Jim Costa (D-20)
Elton Gallegly (R-24)
George Miller (D-7)
Grace Napolitano (D-38)
George Radanovich (R-19)
Please contact them, asking that they oppose the bill, too. If you don’t live in any of their districts, contact Rep. George Miller’s office, saying that you’re from California. Contact information is on CalUWild’s website.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee postponed its planned hearing on the bill but may still hold one before the Senate adjourns at the end of September. There is also a chance that the Washington County bill will be joined with other wilderness bills into an “omnibus” package. Those other bills also contain troublesome provisions, so any omnibus bill should also be opposed.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) is a member of the ENR committee. Now is the perfect time to contact her, asking her to oppose the bill or an omnibus package. You can fax her in Washington, DC:
202-228-3954
Or, you can phone her at:
202-224-3841 (DC)
415-393-0707 (SF)
or
310-914-7300 (LA)
2. Court Upholds Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
At the end of July, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, CO, issued a ruling upholding Pres. Bill Clinton’s designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah Schools and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) were the original plaintiffs in the suit, arguing that Pres. Clinton overstepped his authority in designating a monument of that size (1.7 million acres). The Association of Counties and SITLA dropped out as their claims were settled. MSLF represented an alabaster mining company that had lost its mining rights, but the court ruled that the company’s problems stemmed from its having failed to complete paperwork a whole year after the monument was designated, thus no government action was to blame.
It’s good news for CalUWild, too, since this organization got its start being an advocate for the monument here in California.
3. Court Turns Down BLM Oil & Gas Leases
Last month, the federal district court in Utah ruled that the BLM had illegally leased land in Utah that was wilderness quality. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and The Wilderness Society brought a lawsuit challenging the first oil & gas leases after the notorious agreement between then-Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and then-Governor Mike Leavitt, which was supposed to invalidate the BLM’s more recent wilderness inventories in Utah.
The court ruled that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by basing its pre-lease analysis on out-of-date land use plans that never considered the option of not leasing, in addition to ignoring the agency’s own internal information showing that the leased areas had wilderness character.
It’s good news that these are just the first leases challenged, and that many more subsequent ones could also be declared illegal under this rationale. We’ll keep you posted.
IN CALIFORNIA
4. North Coast Wilderness Bill Passes House
In July’s Update we mentioned that Rep. Mike Thompson’s Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act (H.R. 233) was due to be voted on by the House of Representatives. It passed on a unanimous consent vote at the end of July, in a form slightly different than that the Senate passed in 2005. Now the two versions must be reconciled before going to the President’s desk for his signature.
5. Court Turns Down Logging in Giant Sequoia National Monument
Letters to SF Chronicle Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
At the end of August, a federal court in San Francisco ruled that the Forest Service plan allowing increased logging in Giant Sequoia National Monument was illegal. The Forest Service was ordered to re-draft its monument management plan and was also ordered to stop logging in four areas in the monument. Click here to read a full article on the decision from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Yesterday, the Chronicle ran an editorial praising the court’s ruling. Please take a few minutes to write a letter to the editor thanking them for the paper’s coverage of the issue and expressing your support for the sequoia’s protection. Letters can be sent by email and need not be long.
Thanks!
SLIDESHOWS
6. Schedule a CalUWild Slideshow for Your Group!
(ACTION ITEM)
A big part of CalUWild’s mission is to educate the public about wilderness and the many issues facing public lands in the 21st century. One of the most important tools we have is the Monthly Update, which gets the news out to our members and friends about what they can do that month to advocate for the protection of the lands they love. But how do we reach those citizens who haven’t been exposed to the issues?
One effective way is through our slide show. It takes a close look at the wild lands of Utah that have little or no protection, showing the remarkable scenery and discussing the resource exploitation and abuse that can and does occur. These topics are discussed in the broader context of current issues and events across the West.
We are always happy to come and present the slide show for anyone willing to host us: environmental organizations, brown bag lunches at businesses, student groups, church groups, you name it! We’ve also been invited to house parties where someone invites friends and other interested folks for dessert and discussion.
So if you belong to a group that has regular meetings or if you would be willing to organize a gathering, please let us know. Trips to Southern California can be arranged if we can schedule a few slideshows together. Costs are minimal. The slideshow generally runs about 50 minutes, and there is time for a few questions.
If you are interested, or for more information, please send an e-mail to info@caluwild.org, or give me a call at 415-752-3911.
We just purchased a digital projector, so our slides need to be transferred, but the slideshow is completely operational the old fashioned way. We are hoping to increase the number of our presentations, so we look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!