I don't know how many of you have kept up with the many good things the Bush Administration is doing for us but the Sierra Club has and, being the anti-riding bunch of bitches they are, are pretty pissed. Their website documents something great (for us) the Pres is doing almost every week. They, of course are always pissed. Here is a something I saw on their website today.
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 13:40:49 -0400
Reply-To: Sierra Club Press Releases
<CE-SCNEWS-RELEASES@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG>
Sender: Sierra Club Press Releases
<CE-SCNEWS-RELEASES@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG>
From: Annie Strickler <Annie.Strickler@sierraclub.org>
Subject: Bush Administration to Take Attack on America's Wilderness to the
Supreme Court
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
For Immediate Release: June 4, 2003
Bush Administration to Take Attack on American Wilderness to the Supreme
Court
Administration seeks to bar judicial review of its failure to protect
wilderness lands, remove public from public lands decision-making
Washington, D.C. -- The Bush Administration has signaled it is preparing to
ask the US Supreme Court to throw out a lower court ruling which found the
public has a right to enforce wilderness protections on public lands. In
May, the Bush administration filed a 10-page brief with the Supreme Court
outlining why the lower court decision should be thrown out and requested
an extension for filing its request for review until June 18, 2003 - but
stopped short of asking the Court to take the case. Now, the administration
has two weeks to file.
The case, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) v. Gale Norton, centers
on whether the federal government should be held accountable for impairment
that has occurred in Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) due to uncontrolled
off-road vehicle (ORV) use. Designated Wilderness areas and WSAs prohibit
ORVs, mining, logging, road-building, and other development. Both must be
managed in a way so that their wilderness values are not impaired.
"In the past month, not only has the Bush administration signaled its
unwillingness to protect the last of our wilderness heritage, it has also
inked a secret settlement with Utah that will undercut protection for
another 6 million acres of redrock canyons, and another closed-door
agreement that would allow Utah to disqualify lands for wilderness
protection by claiming that stream beds and jeep tracks are roads," said
Heidi McIntosh, conservation director of SUWA, which first filed suit
against the Interior Department.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, and ultimately decides in favor of the
Bush administration, it would have a profound impact on public land
management across the West. The courts have been the last refuge for
citizens seeking to enforce environmental laws, and now the Bush
administration is attempting to take that away from the public, too.
"If the Court sides with the Bush administration, it gives them the green
light to hand over our last wild places to big business for their
destructive activities," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign
for America's Wilderness. "And failing to protect this wilderness as
currently required under the law ruins the land while robbing our children
of a natural heritage legacy. If the public gets shut out, there truly will
be no one guarding the hen house. If the Bush administration gets its way,
there will be no proverbial hen house to protect."
In August 2002, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of
conservation groups which sought to protect scenic WSAs from ORVs after
federal officials allowed the abuse. As this case demonstrates -- and
which the federal government admits -- uncontrolled ORV use in the Utah
WSAs has "seriously impaired the WSAs at issue." Despite this, the BLM and
the federal government maintain that the public had no legal standing to
bring such a suit, and -- after admitting impairment had occurred -- argued
the public cannot hold BLM accountable for such a violation or promises to
prevent such harm in Resource Management Plans.
"With this argument in tow, the Bush administration is allowing off-road
vehicles to carve new roads all over wilderness study areas," said The
Wilderness Society's Pam Eaton. "And the public will be able to do nothing
about it in the courts. With this legal principle in hand, there is no
reason the Department of the Interior and the BLM could not allow
wilderness areas themselves to be degraded since they would not have to
fear the courts looking over their shoulder at the request of citizens."
The state of Utah and several counties also intervened in the suit, asking
the judge not to close any area to ORV use -- no matter how damaged --
claiming the trails in question rightfully belong to the state or counties
under an outdated statute known as Revised Statute (R.S.) 2477. Ultimately,
the 10th Circuit ruling found the federal government had violated the
Federal Land Management Policy Act (FLPMA) and the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) when it failed to protect WSAs from damage.
"Thousands of Americans have logged countless hours inventorying these
special places so that one day their children and grandchildren can enjoy a
wilderness legacy," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director. "The
Bush administration is willing to go all the way to the Supreme Court to
deny that legacy."
This latest move by the administration comes in a series of recent actions
taken to wipe out public land protections in favor of development
interests, in spite of overwhelming public support for more wilderness
protection. In April, the administration gutted protection for all WSAs
identified since 1993 and banned the consideration of any new ones by this
administration and all future administrations. In January, the
administration issued a rule to allow states and governments to exploit
R.S. 2477 -- a 137-year-old loophole -- and stake claim to millions of
miles of public lands in order to construct highways. Earthjustice is
representing a number of conservation organizations in a legal challenge to
these actions.
"Public involvement in decisions over public lands use is the one problem
standing in the way of developers, loggers, miners and off road vehicle
users. Now the Bush administration is doing a full court press on behalf of
the far right wing to get the public out of the way," said Earthjustice
attorney Jim Angell.
Contact: Heidi McIntosh, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801-486-3161,
ext. 15
Jim Angell, Earthjustice, 303-623-9466
Kathryn Seck, Campaign for America's Wilderness, 202-266-0436
David Slater, The Wilderness Society, 202-429-8441
Annie Strickler, Sierra Club, 202-675-2384
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 13:40:49 -0400
Reply-To: Sierra Club Press Releases
<CE-SCNEWS-RELEASES@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG>
Sender: Sierra Club Press Releases
<CE-SCNEWS-RELEASES@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG>
From: Annie Strickler <Annie.Strickler@sierraclub.org>
Subject: Bush Administration to Take Attack on America's Wilderness to the
Supreme Court
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
For Immediate Release: June 4, 2003
Bush Administration to Take Attack on American Wilderness to the Supreme
Court
Administration seeks to bar judicial review of its failure to protect
wilderness lands, remove public from public lands decision-making
Washington, D.C. -- The Bush Administration has signaled it is preparing to
ask the US Supreme Court to throw out a lower court ruling which found the
public has a right to enforce wilderness protections on public lands. In
May, the Bush administration filed a 10-page brief with the Supreme Court
outlining why the lower court decision should be thrown out and requested
an extension for filing its request for review until June 18, 2003 - but
stopped short of asking the Court to take the case. Now, the administration
has two weeks to file.
The case, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) v. Gale Norton, centers
on whether the federal government should be held accountable for impairment
that has occurred in Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) due to uncontrolled
off-road vehicle (ORV) use. Designated Wilderness areas and WSAs prohibit
ORVs, mining, logging, road-building, and other development. Both must be
managed in a way so that their wilderness values are not impaired.
"In the past month, not only has the Bush administration signaled its
unwillingness to protect the last of our wilderness heritage, it has also
inked a secret settlement with Utah that will undercut protection for
another 6 million acres of redrock canyons, and another closed-door
agreement that would allow Utah to disqualify lands for wilderness
protection by claiming that stream beds and jeep tracks are roads," said
Heidi McIntosh, conservation director of SUWA, which first filed suit
against the Interior Department.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, and ultimately decides in favor of the
Bush administration, it would have a profound impact on public land
management across the West. The courts have been the last refuge for
citizens seeking to enforce environmental laws, and now the Bush
administration is attempting to take that away from the public, too.
"If the Court sides with the Bush administration, it gives them the green
light to hand over our last wild places to big business for their
destructive activities," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign
for America's Wilderness. "And failing to protect this wilderness as
currently required under the law ruins the land while robbing our children
of a natural heritage legacy. If the public gets shut out, there truly will
be no one guarding the hen house. If the Bush administration gets its way,
there will be no proverbial hen house to protect."
In August 2002, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of
conservation groups which sought to protect scenic WSAs from ORVs after
federal officials allowed the abuse. As this case demonstrates -- and
which the federal government admits -- uncontrolled ORV use in the Utah
WSAs has "seriously impaired the WSAs at issue." Despite this, the BLM and
the federal government maintain that the public had no legal standing to
bring such a suit, and -- after admitting impairment had occurred -- argued
the public cannot hold BLM accountable for such a violation or promises to
prevent such harm in Resource Management Plans.
"With this argument in tow, the Bush administration is allowing off-road
vehicles to carve new roads all over wilderness study areas," said The
Wilderness Society's Pam Eaton. "And the public will be able to do nothing
about it in the courts. With this legal principle in hand, there is no
reason the Department of the Interior and the BLM could not allow
wilderness areas themselves to be degraded since they would not have to
fear the courts looking over their shoulder at the request of citizens."
The state of Utah and several counties also intervened in the suit, asking
the judge not to close any area to ORV use -- no matter how damaged --
claiming the trails in question rightfully belong to the state or counties
under an outdated statute known as Revised Statute (R.S.) 2477. Ultimately,
the 10th Circuit ruling found the federal government had violated the
Federal Land Management Policy Act (FLPMA) and the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) when it failed to protect WSAs from damage.
"Thousands of Americans have logged countless hours inventorying these
special places so that one day their children and grandchildren can enjoy a
wilderness legacy," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director. "The
Bush administration is willing to go all the way to the Supreme Court to
deny that legacy."
This latest move by the administration comes in a series of recent actions
taken to wipe out public land protections in favor of development
interests, in spite of overwhelming public support for more wilderness
protection. In April, the administration gutted protection for all WSAs
identified since 1993 and banned the consideration of any new ones by this
administration and all future administrations. In January, the
administration issued a rule to allow states and governments to exploit
R.S. 2477 -- a 137-year-old loophole -- and stake claim to millions of
miles of public lands in order to construct highways. Earthjustice is
representing a number of conservation organizations in a legal challenge to
these actions.
"Public involvement in decisions over public lands use is the one problem
standing in the way of developers, loggers, miners and off road vehicle
users. Now the Bush administration is doing a full court press on behalf of
the far right wing to get the public out of the way," said Earthjustice
attorney Jim Angell.
Contact: Heidi McIntosh, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 801-486-3161,
ext. 15
Jim Angell, Earthjustice, 303-623-9466
Kathryn Seck, Campaign for America's Wilderness, 202-266-0436
David Slater, The Wilderness Society, 202-429-8441
Annie Strickler, Sierra Club, 202-675-2384
