Senate Votes To Help States Sell Off Public Lands

The new chair of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee secured a vote Thursday afternoon in the U.S. Senate on a controversial proposal to sell off America’s national forests and other public lands.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) amendment, which passed by a vote of 51 to 49, is now part of the Senate’s nonbinding budget resolution. The proposal would support and fund state efforts — which many argue are unconstitutional — to seize and sell America’s public lands. These include all national forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, historic sites, and national monuments.

Murkowski’s amendment, which would need further legislation to become law, follows a similar proposal from House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rob Bishop (R-UT) to spend $50 million of taxpayer dollars to fund the sale or transfer of U.S. public lands to states.

LINK (via: Think Progress)

The solution is to vote the poiticians who support selling off our public lands out of office. The hunting and fishing organizations who advocate on behalf of public lands should start urging their constituencies to vote for candidates who support our public lands.

For reference, all 51 votes in favor of Murkowski's non-binding amendment were cast by Republicans.

More Breaking News From Planet Bullshit

A proposal to seize and sell off America’s national forests and other public lands could make its way into the House GOP’s budget resolution when it is announced this week.

In a recent memo to the House Budget Committee, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, proposed that America’s public lands be transferred to state control. He then requested $50 million of taxpayer money to be spent to enable transfers to “start immediately.” The memo states that public lands “create a burden for the surrounding states and communities,” and “the solution is to convey land without strings to state, local, and tribal governments.”

Politicians in nine other states are also developing and advancing similar legislative proposals, supported by expensive taxpayer-funded studies.

LINK (via:Think Progress)

Your new Congress hard at work

Photo: NPS

The new new Congress has launched it's anti-environment agenda with a 'no more National Parks’ bill.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-AK), would amend the 1906 Antiquities Act to effectively block the President from designating any new national monuments without congressional approval and an extensive environmental review. Additionally, the bill would require the President to seek approval from nearby state governments for marine monument proposals.

LINK (via: Think Progress)

Wilderness compromises don't please everyone

“When you’re willing to compromise your principles you’ve given up. You abandon them. When you compromise nature, nature gets compromised.”  -Conservation Pioneer Martin Litton who died on Nov. 30, 2014

While the Secretary of the Interior and groups like TU and TRCP held their noses and applauded compromises on wilderness bills and other public lands initiatives attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, some groups say the deals went too far.

Greenpeace, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Watersheds Project and a handful of Montana-based groups sent a letter to senators Monday urging them to remove the natural resources related provisions from the defense act.

Calling the public lands package a "stealth" provision driven by provincial political considerations, the groups say the bills will result in logging, mining and grazing in exchange for modest wilderness protections.

LINK (via:The Spokesman Review)

The top 5 offensive provisions of the public lands rider according to the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Across Oregon, nearly 32,000 people have salmon plates on their cars and trucks

Spend a little more of your hard earned money to put an Oregon salmon license plate on your vehicle and the state will....

A. Spend that extra revenue exclusively to undo roadblocks impairing salmon streams across Oregon.

or

B. Pay the salary and office expenses of a state bureaucrat.

LINK (via: Oregon Live)

Get out and VOTE!

Annie Leonard, founder of  The Story of Stuff Project, writes about the importance of voting, especially in the midterm elections where participation is disturbingly low.

LINK (via: The Cleanest Line)