Stand Up Against Bush's Giveaway of America's Redrock Wilderness
You can't put a price on silence or solitude. You can't quantify the beauty of wilderness. And yet that's not going to stop the Bush administration from trying to sell off what should be the birthright of future generations.
In three days, this Friday, 110,000 acres of majestic Utah wild lands go on the auction block, to be sold to the highest bidders in the oil and gas industry. It's a last-ditch effort by a corrupt administration to further enrich its friends in the dirty fuels business. If they succeed, they'll leave a wasteland behind them.
Never mind that we the People of the United States just rejected the failed energy policy of "drill, baby, drill!" Never mind that once industrialized, these precious lands will be marred for centuries. Ravaging these places will put cash in the pockets of greedy speculators, even if it won't solve our energy problems.
The miraculous thing about America though, is that we the People have options. And one of those options is to take a corrupt and foolish administration to court.
This morning I stood with my friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) to announce an emergency lawsuit aimed at stopping this wanton destruction of Utah wilderness. Sharon Buccino, the head of NRDC's lands program, has been fighting the Bush administration for eight years, holding the line against an industrial juggernaut. She says it's illegal under federal law for the Bureau of Land Management to just snap its fingers and sell off national treasures. In its rush, BLM just ignored the rules.
Sharon's case will be among the last lawsuits NRDC ever files against the Bush administration. Most of those lawsuits have been successful. I don't know the odds on this one, but my fingers are crossed. It could be our last chance to protect these irreplaceable lands.
Bush may be a lame duck president, but he can still quack.
Help stop Bush's giveaway of America's Redrock Wilderness.
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Mr. Redford,
You are truly an inspiration to us all. As a fellow artist and musician I am inspired by the Beaty
Of our Awsome planet. I would volunteer to play a concert Playing my native flutes and drums
To help bring an awarness to our concerns to protecting our natural world. I would very much
Like to gain support in this motion to collectivly bring millions of people from around the world
Together to fight corrupt politicians and any body who believes the planet need not be protected.
Bob, you're great and thanks for fighting for this very important cause. I signed the petition and emailed all of my friends. Now I need to know, when will you make the film of the novel Time and Again by Jack Finney? I heard you have the rights! I know it's off topic, but I'm waiting and getting old already and I'm afraid this story will never see the theatres. Thanks Zella!
Southern Utah has some of the most unique landscapes in the US. Truly a natural wonder. I've been there so many times (I'm an avid trekker) : Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon/Lake Powell, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Escalante, Canyonlands, Arches... It's a treasure belonging to the entire humanity, not just the US, let alone the state of Utah or the BLM. These people should be utterly ashamed of themselves, but then again we all know they are shameless.
Thank you Mr.Redford for reminding this blog's readers of this important issue, largely ignored by the mainstream media. You truly are an examplary citizen and a great artist respected all over the world.
Just reading some of the comments from this post cause that old feeling of anger and hopelessness to return. Feelings that have been so familiar to me for the past eight years. There needs to be a revolution. A revolution of thought process. A revolution of concern and preservation and thought in all of our affairs! How we deal with other countries. How we deal with business and finance. How we deal with education. How deal with the environment. How we deal with each other.
I have visited the lands that are in question. I have walked the lands that are for sale. It is a crime against humanity to put these lands that border our National Parks up for sale to be raped and pillaged and ruined forever. For what? Natural gas? Oil? Coal? Please consider what you are doing. Please don't let this administration wreck anything else before they are gone. Please, listen to Mr. Redford! Please, listen to Edward Abbey! Please, for the sake of my four sons and all of those who have never had the experience of treading these lands....y
rovezaleeker, well said. I was thinking about this thread at the doctors today, and how this was a big step for me entering the oppositions camp. Too long have i refused to even think of trying to make a connection with democrats and the left. Some here will not get this, but im trying to be open minded and release years of animosity.
Your post, and others along the same vein help me to see we are not that much different , want the same things for our children; and i hope to show that we are questioning our stance on core beliefs in the middle right. I've talked with others in my communality about important issues such as this one, the protection of our legacy for the children of tomorrow, the support of our new president and national defense ( and so on).
While there's many who will not budge or even take into consideration there might be another way to handle this world we live in (they live in both camps). i have to say more of what could be called unrepentant rank and file, are now actually listening to positions and views diametrically opposite, life long sacred beliefs. (i do have many acquaintances in the party, i was at one time a Republican regional team leader.)
anyways, im being long winded, sorry. im just happy to interact here and hope to gather a better understanding of both myself, the people here and your views.
Brava! Bravissima Wildandcrazy 159! I salute your courage. It takes great courage and humility to even consider changing long-held beliefs. I just want to say in your support that, especially regarding the environment, so many people have been bamboozled by the right because of the lust for oil, gas, an dollars. My father, who is a very intelligent man and (used to be) very well informed, has been more and more listening to Fox News, O'Reilly et al and he believes hook line and sinker what the right has had to say over the years about the environment. The constant pounding with mis-information has created a diconnect in him I would never have thought possible. But to give him credit, he too is summoning the courage to see things differently and has expressed high hopes for Obama. Thank you so much for your post. You give me great hope!
Elena from Bologna
Thank you. We need to look more to our shared humanity and what makes us alike rather than what sets us apart. The "either your with us or agin us" mentality has to stop now before it is too late.
I know your "of anger and hopelessne
Mr. Redford, I thank you for your continued vigilance on this.
Land is a resource like any resource. The problem is that there is so much land that the government owns; and doesn't belong to private individuals or entities.
We need a system to give away that land; such as in the western expansion.
I thought everyone was happy with the green movement though. You know, now that the corporations are on board like GE and Shell: http://med
the "government" doesn't "own" anything. what a sad reflection on how low our "democracy" has stooped that you would think the "government" is an entity separate from the "people." WE own that land. the government's job is to manage it in OUR best interest. period.
people like Mr. Redford who are worried about our land also need to take a FIRM stand against the rape and pillage of our public wilderness for Big Solar and Big Wind and insist on point of use solutions (like rooftop solar, microwind, efficiency, storage, etc.) that don't kill our wilderness and don't HIJACK ratepayers.
we need BIG voices out there insisting on feed in tariffs, bulk installation contracts, public financing and R & D that will SAVE our carbon sinks (like the Mojave) and will RESTORE a modicum of democracy and free trade to our energy grid. Big Solar, Big Wind and all other Big Energy are hell-bent on re-monopolizing the grid, even in an era of sun and wind. it would be laughable if so many so-called "environmentalists" weren't jumping on this insane bandwagon.
STOP killing our wilderness for ANY Big Energy enterprises and START implementing policy that will reduce GHGs, increase prosperity, save our water and open spaces and empower the people.
I am so damn tired of hearing about the environment. Only nut cases or spoiled rich guys give a damn anymore. Both R's and D's have wrecked the economy. It would be convenient to blame Bush but news flash - there are an awful lot of democratic wall street types. They have both screwed up so badly it is amazing. D's will be completely in charge soon and will soon start getting blamed for everything.
"Only nut cases or spoiled rich guys give a damn anymore".
You know, getalife, you are so wrong and so delusional about who "gives a damn", that to try to change the way you think would be an exercise in futility. But, since you think it would be 'inconvenient' to blame Bush for the mess of the economy, well, I say, just wait. George Bush and his coup, WILL be blamed for the economic meltdown, the destruction of the our environment, the stealing of taxpayer's money from the Treasury, the unnecessary war in Iraq, the 'war profiteering' of the neocons and their allies, the illegal spying on totally innocent American citizens, the torture and rendition of fellow humans, and the spread of hate and prejudice against fellow Americans for political purposes. This is the 'legacy' of your hero, George Bush and his cabal. And..., I hope you have many, many more years on this earth to enjoy it.
Getting to the point where it is becoming hard to love my country. The war between the greedy and the short sited vs the aesthetic and sustainable thinking is tearing the place apart. I can't go anywhere or think anything without environmental ramifications being shoved in my face or watching beautiful and natural settings being exploited by corporations and dollar chasing developers.
Can't watch a nature show on TV without a forty minute lecture on how human activities are killing things off...
Between the environmental issues and my country's refusal to participate in taking steps against global warming, its position on torture and goonsquad kidnappings, its refusal to even keep track of the civilian it kills during its military actions, its saturation with right wing Christian nutcakes who don't give a crap about anyone but themselves, its media that is bought and paid for by the corruption that runs our country and permeates it at every level....
Very hard to feel good about America. Not what I wore a uniform for. Not what my brother got a bronze star leading missions in Iraq for (a NG and a pharmicist with three daughters who shouldn't be anywhere near a war zone....).
Now the economy is tanked. Our leaders can't be thought of as patriots..
My thanks to the 60million of you that voted for these travesties
For decades the oil industry has been searching for oil and gas using state of the art geophysical exploration, am I to assume that they have discovered reservoirs of either on these lands and does the estimated quantities cover their cost of development and procurement or what. Or is it just development to create more luxury homes and condos and golf courses that no one but the wealthy can enjoy. Why is it they want the land and not to lease but own? Something stinks here and it seems like more raping of our system of checks and balances than anything else. If oil and gas get the land under the ruse of probable quantities of oil and gas being available for development and there is no such thing than the land hits the free market for the developers and the golf courses. The industry still profits by selling the property to developers and speculators. Under the current administration and political atmosphere there are no rules or ethics or morals even when it comes to selling 110,000 acres of wilderness. I do believe I still live in the land of the free. I just don't know who the land belongs to anymore.
I just read another bit of news on this matter and it seems that it is a sale of leases to this land and that is a misunderstanding on my part. So drilling will begin after the leases are sold? Sale, Lease? I am still confused. One question will the government receive any portion of the profits if there are any? Don't they have the mineral rights now or is that the giveaway? Don't you buy the land or lease the land? Who owns the lease to sell it or is the lease created and then sold? Can you actually sale a lease and can I buy the lease if I am the lease holder. Does the lease for sale include a non-transferable clause. In any case do I get the mineral rights along with the lease? I didn't get the mineral rights when I purchased land in Arizona. They were retained by some corporation. Anyway I am feeling like a knucklehead right now so don't rub it in.
The oil and gas industry already owns millions of leases on and off shore in this country alone. Most of these leases are sitting idle, and have for many years. They will probably not drill on most, but want to have this little ace in the hole when oil begins to run out or goes to $200 a barrel. The right wing idealogues hate the idea of 'public owned land' and consider it a 'right of passage' to eleminate it and put it into private (rich friends) hands. This is just George Bush's last parting Christmas gift to his contributors, lackeys, and puppet masters.
PS: The mineral rights ARE the lease. But, to get to the minerals, you have to build a road, run giant trucks to the site, and tear up the land. Most people do not get the 'mineral rights' that are under the land they purchase for their private use. This is a 'special lease' for mineral developers and extraction industry types. Basically, a 'mining claim' lease.
Why call it a giveaway when you state plainly that it is a sale?
Try to 'buy' a piece of property for your own use at the 'fire sale' prices that these leases go for. This land does NOT belong to George Bush and Dick Cheney. It belongs to all of US!
The sounds you hear from that lame duck are coming from his tail end!
Robert Redford is a respected environmentalist. Yet people post on here and start arguing amongst themselves about being Repuglican or Democrat. Do you really think that Mr. Redford's concern is about what party you're in. I hate it when the comments break down into name calling.
I, for one, posted under such duress yesterday that I forgot to thank Mr. Redford for writing this and also for participating in the emergency lawsuit to save our lands.
If you haven't been there, please do some research on the internet and at least look at photographs of the area. The stillness, the solitude and the magnificence of these areas have to be saved. Otherwise, our national areas won't be ours much longer.
Wake up and do something instead of the childish arguing.
CALL your US Congress! Demand action and tell them that you will campaign against them if they don't shape up. Call the head of the park services. DO SOMETHING~
Hey vegas9999, if anything, this president has endangered you and me and everybody else. He only kept his rich friends safe from the justice, alienated tremendous foreign support (after 9/11) and embarrassed the USA, destroyed the economy and pushed the world into a recession.
An interesting thing in your comment: W is "OUR PRESIDENT", but Obama is "your guy"? What else does he have to do so you would stop supporting him? Personally poke you in the eye?
Anyway, Nostradamus wrote:
In the time following the stolen election
Push should beware of pretzels and flying shoes!
Nobody understood this until recently.
Hey VeneVidi, I bet you were one of those Clinton lovers that thought it was the right thing to do nothing about attacks on us all over the world. OBL planned 9/11 during your guys watch because as he wrote "We now know Americans have no stomach for war" As far as the flying shoes, I am sure that your NY Times told you that Bush got a five minute standing ovation. Maybe you should look a little a your party and Dodd and Frank for some of the economy problems. They are on tape telling everyone that Fannie and Freddie were just fine
Dear Bush Lover, I am not sure when Osama Bin Laden 'planned' the 9/11 attacks, but I am sure who was the President when they occurred! The same President that ignored many, MANY warnings and red lights from his own CIA analysts about terrorist attacks that involved flying planes into buildings. The same President whose vice-president was the author of a 1996 white-paper that stated he, and other traitorous neocons (including Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and Bill Kristol) wanted to take out Sadaam Hussein, but there would have to be "another Pearl Harbor incident' to make the American people go along with the plan. Hmmmm? .
And, by the way, where is Osama Bin Laden?
I can 'stand up' all I want to. The sad fact is that congress is paid by the oil and energy companies and do not represent the voters. Say bye-bye to your red rocks, Bob.
I recently found out that the butte near my great-grandmother's old house is being mined for stone for Interstate 40 (federal project.) The Woodruff Butte, in northern Arizona, is one of the last pilgrimage shrines for the Hopi and Zuni. As a kid, we would walk over the butte collecting arrowheads among the many teepee rings where you could see the 50' rings left behind by the teepees which dotted this butte. It is a magestic place and is eligible to be included in the National Register of Historic Places and I find it astonishing that they could use materials from this place on a federal project. Sad. People, we cannot save the earth in a day, but if we all picked a cause and fought for it, we'd definately have a better world to hand to our children! The time to act is now!
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