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.

Comments

[Phlogistician]

Salazar supported Gale Norton as Interior head. He threatened to sue the USFW if they dared list a prairie dog as an endangered species. Salazar voted against raising fuel standards, voted to drill offshore, etc. This guy is the WRONG choice at Interior!

[Alaskan1970]

Thank you Mr. Redford for your efforts.
I pray that the judge will provide the injunction until Barack Obama can handle this.
How many more days of pain with GW/Cheney and their hoodlums?
Gee..we have Jeb lurking around now.

[ptarantino]

Thanks for bringing attention to this subject. Lower Utah is one of my favorite places in the World & should be preserved for future generations.

[Jeffin90019]

God bless you, Bob. Fight the good fight for the good of the people!

[PatA]

I lived on the Rio Grande in New Mexico for 10 years and the BLM is the Bureau of Land and Mining.

This makes me sick. Giving our land away. I've spent many weeks in the Utah wilderness and
for Bush to let a big corporation have that wilderness is incomprehensible to me.

I am so sick and tired of this administration. We're screwed.

[MAragon]

I hope you win.

[Nevervotesrepublican]

It is a shame that beautiful lands like these should be wasted for more oil.

That said, If I recall correctly, Utah voted overwhelmingly to Put Mr. Bush in office in 2000 & 2004.
Sometimes when we do stupid things, there is a real price to be paid. Looks like the good people of Utah are going to pay a little more.

Too Bad Utah, so sorry.

[Rmtns]

Ah, but if was only that simple! Utahns voted for the fool, but those lands belong to US! The destruction and waste will be our legacy to our children. If you would, please call or write your congress people, or Senator, and protest in the strongest terms these outrages(include the mountaintop removal too).
Thank you!

[Luigi53102]

Please! These are public lands. We all own them. And suffer equally when they are screwed up. You cannot get revenge on Utah by despoiling something that's not theirs.

[No Man]

Nevervotesrepublican, you miss the point. This isn't about Utah. It is about the American wilderness being raped and plumaged. The wilderness doesn't belong to any one state. It belongs to and should be preserved for all of us.

I'm glad you never vote republican, but you need to open your eyes about what is going on.

Thank you Robert Redford!

[easarsfield]

It is shameful the damage we've allowed the Bushies have level against this country. Ruining our nation's natural wonders will punish generations. I hope that some judge has enough sense not to let it go through.

I would say let them drill in Cheney's backyard, but Jackson Hole is my favorite place on earth and I can't even imagine anyone going in there looking for energy reserves.

[ByersL]

Although Utah does vote Republican, they love their natural resources and they need to be reminded of what they, and the rest of us, will lose. These public lands belong to all of us, and their beauty is unmatched in the world. We need to help the conservationists in Utah to start a grass roots movement that will stop the likes of Bush and his oilmen.

[Panther]

Good for you, Mr. Redford, Congressman Baird, and NRDC! I'm sickened by what they've done to the Rocky Mountain West. And to those who wrote the comments that are calling you a liar and out of touch, I suggest these people take a drive along some of the highways of western Colorado to have a look at the ravages upon the land that the Bush administration and the extractive industry have wrought.

[stuffedgus]

When will the destruction to our planet cease? It is a question we have been asking for years (especially the last 8). Thankfully there are selfless people like Robert Redford around to bring these issues to the surface. We all need to help sign this petition and individually state our opinions about this travesty.

[rosiebond007]

Robert - you have the voice and the persona - you need to throw yourself at them to make the pint.
We are just the humble public and clearly they don't listen to us.

The double tragedy is that, not only is the selling foolish beyond words but despite the drilling etc nothing good is coming out of that land for YEARS if ever.

Bush has been the worst ever caretaker of America the Beautiful.

[katielady]

I sincerely hope Obama fires this guy's butt. I have been having dialogue with him re the sale of wild horses and burros the govt has rounded up. The plan, which is against the '71 and '76 laws protecting these animals, is to sell them to Mexico. The Mexicans in turn plan to sell the meat to China and also in Europe. These animals as well as all public land in the US belongs to us, the citizens and taxpayers. I view this as an illegal act.

[Rmtns]

Katielady,
though I'm sure that your heart is in the right place, I live here in the west near two herds of wild horses, and they are slowly killing themselves by reproducing themselves out of habitat. Because the open range is limited by rainfall, (we get less than 10 inches per year and most of that precip happens as snow) The range is severely overgrazed now.
The idea of stopping the horse slaughter has backfired, by making the market far ANY horse not valuable as a purebred swirl down into the toilet. I recently was at an auction where there were no bids for most of the horses, and talked to one owner who was sobbing, and she said that she had no way to feed the horse this winter with the price of hay being $5- $7 per bale. It used to be that horses brought at least $200 no matter what it was, but now the value is zero.
I hate the killer market too, but search the archives of the Denver Post or the Grand Junction Sentinel for stories of abandoned horse in the desert. The wild ones will not take them in, and the die an awful slow death.
Please don't think I don't love horses, I do, and also know that there has to be some value to an animal, or it becomes a problem.

[No Man]

Exactly, katielady, the public land belongs to all of us and should be preserved for future generations.

[NYCrex]

When 65% of Utah voted Republican, should we let the state destroy itself? My knee-jerk reaction is yes. But I know the flora and fauna cannot speak for themselves, so let's speak up for them over the conservative dodos with their heads in the ground. Save Utah, Alaska and all our lands from unneccessary development.

[bthechangeyouseek]

Thank you Mr. Redford. I have wrote to our representatives, Mattheson, Bennett and Hatch, and have heard nothing about them standing up for Utah's wilderness. I appreciate your efforts and hope that this action will stop the decision until the new administration can define the country's energy policy. The Utah BLM act as if they are a private company with all the rights and no accountability. Well they should be accountable to the people of this state.