|
BlueRibbon Magazine
The Official publication of the BlueRibbon Coalition.
View Now!
|
BRC Action AlertsHouse Subcommittee to Hear SUWA's Wilderness Bill
September 21st, 2009
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) last week announced that on October 1, 2009, their massive Utah Wilderness bill, known as the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, will be heard in the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee. According to SUWA, the bill would designate 9.4 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah as Wilderness. In their announcement, they write: "This visionary wilderness proposal was first introduced as legislation in Congress in 1989 by former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens." Visionary my eye. After Clinton traveled to Arizona to announce a massive 2 million acre National Monument in Utah, Utah's voters showed Owens the door. When he left, SUWA's bill stood at 5.7 million acres, an increase from a previous proposal of 4.1 million acres. According to a Congressional Research Service report, 5.7 million BLM acres is nearly 3 times the BLM wilderness recommendations and 75% more than the BLM's Wilderness study acreage. The 5.7 million acres amounted to 26% of all BLM lands in Utah, and 11% of the entire state. In 1995, not even the radicals at SUWA "visioned" that 14 years later their 5.7 million acre bill would balloon to 9.4 million acres. That's over 45% of all BLM lands in Utah off limits to all mountain bike and motorized recreation. Utah's political representatives need to know that the majority of Utahans oppose this. And they need to hear it from you. Today please. Rep. Rob Bishop: 202-225-0453 Be polite. None of Utah's Representatives or Senators support SUWA's madness. If you call now, you can make SUWA's bill like toxic waste, so that none of Utah's representatives will ever come near it. Ever. As always, please call or email if you have questions or need help. Brian Hawthorne |