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

[enquiringmind]

You can't put a price on beauty and quiet, they feed the soul and our souls definitely need to be fed after the last eight years of non stop disaster.

This battle between those who put economic development and ski resorts before the last great places and the creatures who live in them is almost over.

Beautiful British Columbia is under enormous threat by its own government who has sold out public power to economic development and with it the places of our hearts.

[Rumplestiltskin]

Ski Resorts?
You mean like Mr. Redford's Sundance Resort?
heh

[vancouvercommunityforum]

While walking with my dog in the forest near Golden Ears Park, in BC a few years ago, I found myself close to a state of shock, crouching beside a moss-covered log next to a red cedar, half-hidden in sword ferns. We were in the centre of a triangle of almost unbearable noise. On three sides the land was being assaulted by machinery: to our north, trees in the UBC Research Forest were being sawn down; the land-owner on the east side was stripping the creek bank bare; and to the southwest developers were bulldozing for a new subdivision.

This was a defining moment for me. Sometimes I feel there is more involved than the desire for money or status, that there is an actual appetite for sheer destruction for its own sake. Perhaps it makes us feel powerful. Sometimes it almost seems that there is a hidden theology of war, since the present culture uses the metaphor of war in almost every conceivable occasion. Even the news is often guided by the phrase, "If it bleeds it leads."

Although there are encouraging victories by people of good will, such as the BC government's backing down from the proposed Upper Pitt run-of-river proposal, I believe that we need to search our souls to discover how we have lost our way, and to seek to find our true relationship with ourselves, each other, and the natural world.

[bluecash]

Obviously, the republican voters of Utah don't care much about the worth or their natural resources since the majority of the state voted for the same ol' with McCain. I would love to protect all of the US wilderness areas since I've been backpacking and fishing most of my life. I was just in the Uintah Mountains and it was incredible! It's sad to say but that state is completely brainwashed and mostly by the religious types that run their government. Why do certain religions tend to ignore our environment and treat the people who care about it like criminals?

[No Man]

This isn't about the republican voters of Utah or "certain religions," bluecash. It is about the American wilderness being raped and plumaged by the corrupt Bush administration. The wilderness doesn't belong to any one state. It belongs to and should be preserved for all of us.

I'm glad you enjoy backpacking through the wilderness. Bush is trying to exploit everything in his wake as he leaves office.

Thank you Robert Redford for challenging this move in court!

[bluecash]

I fully understand and agree with you're point No_Man. It just seems hard to do battle in a state where the inhabitants and local governments want you to leave and mind-your-own-business. Look at the horrible practice of mountain-top removal in West Virginia coal lands. The locals would probably fight your efforts to stop it by equating it with job losses and loss of future incomes in the near-by towns. It's true the criminal Booosh is giving payback to his cronies in the energy and mining businesses but we need to also have alternative uses in place (or on paper) that may placate the locals who see no other uses for the wonderful wilderness that surrounds them. I applaud you Robert Redford for bringing this to the forefront.

[SShaw490]

More than anything, the problem is there is no energy strategy for the US. It does absolutely no good to increase domestic production - as we've seen over the last week, more US production just leads to more production cuts by Opec. Producing more oil in the US has absolutely zero impact on prices - especially considering how pitifully small US domestic land-based production traditionally is.

I'm surprised any of the large energy companies even want it. They know they have almost no chance to actually spud a rig out there, why bother bidding on it? January 20 can't come fast enough for me.

[bayside]

I just donated Robert..This has been the longest 8 years of my life...The damage this man enjoys doing knows no equal..

[TJC]

I hope an injunction is successful until Obama gets into office and clear facts are presented. I believe Redford but I will always listen to all sides of the story before I take a stand. On the face it looks a bit underhanded by Bush.

[AlaninElkGrove]

The incoming Congress may elect to levy a tax on the mining companies of, say, 125% of the value of the proceeds removed from the new land lease. This would likely keep these firms away from our wilderness areas until these harmful leases can be made illegal once again. It will, at least, buy some precious time...

[fiorastar]

We were just there. It's one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It cannot be replaced once it is gone, so we all need to work to stop this!

[Babzter]

The thought of Utah's pristine beauty being scarred by these opportunists breaks my heart. I hope this is stopped.

[TheMediaRanger]

Now it's in the court's hands. There is no sane judge who would let this proceed in light of President Bystander's completely inability to govern. It's an issue that can easily be revisited in a month or two. If the judge doesn't rule for a stay, he or she should be ousted. Nice Legacy Project, George. G'way.