BRC National Legislative
Action Alert - Massive Omnibus Lands
Bill
Price, UT (11/14/2008) -
Omnibus legislation would designate millions of
acres of Wilderness in eight states, designate
at least three wild and scenic rivers, designate
four national trails, and allow well connected
lobbyists to funnel millions into pet projects.
UPDATE:
The Interior Department's Inspector General investigating
links between BLM and environmental lobbyists
regarding the omnibus lands bill!
ACTION ITEM INCLUDED BELOW - PLEASE FORWARD
TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY
Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,
Senator Reid is planning to push through a massive
omnibus lands bill during the Lame Duck Session
of Congress. For those of you who are new to BRC's
Action Alert list, the omnibus land bill is "catch
all" legislation consisting of more then
150 separate pieces of legislation!
According to an article in Public Lands News
(www.publiclandsnews.com), the Senate
Energy Committee recently added bills to the package
that would designate millions of acres of Wilderness
in eight states, designate at least three wild
and scenic rivers, designate four national trails,
and authorize dozens of land exchanges and land
conveyances.
And the news just keeps getting worse. Although
unconfirmed, Washington D.C. insiders say Idaho
Congressman Mike Simpson is trying to attach the
Central Idaho Development and Recreation Act (CEIDRA)
to the omnibus package.
I suppose that could have been predicted. See,
the omnibus package is a not-so-clever way our
Congressional representatives can pass bills,
like Simpson's CEIDRA, that can not pass on their
own merits. CEIDRA would close hundreds of thousands
of acres of premium high country snowmobiling
and over 80 miles of mountain bike trails. Idaho's
recreational community has successfully fought
to oppose the bill in its current form.
But the news is not all bad, and there
is good reason to believe action taken now could
be effective. Some legislators, such
as Idaho's Larry Craig and Utah's Rob Bishop are
trying to shed some light on some of these bills,
just to see exactly why they can't stand on their
own merits.
Bishop initiated an investigation of the bill
that would formally establish the National Landscape
Conservation System (NLCS) and guess what he found?
Information suggesting that Bureau of
Land Management employees may have violated the
1939 Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from
lobbying Congress.
As a result of Bishop's inquiry, the Interior
Department's Inspector General is investigating
links between BLM and environmental lobbyists.
Environmental lobbyists and BLM officials appeared
to have inappropriate discussed the passage of
the NLCS legislation and may have worked together
on draft policy memoranda.
In addition, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn continues
his opposition to the pork-barrel spending included
in the omnibus package. The $4 billion omnibus
package funds such things as birthday celebrations
for cities, tropical botanical gardens, and a
study determining whether Alexander Hamilton's
boyhood estate is suitable to become a new National
Park.
BRC is asking all our members and supporters
to contact their Senators by phone and ask them
block passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management
Act of 2008. Senator Reid plans a vote for NEXT
WEEK, so please make your call today.
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
PS: A friend of mine asked me
if BRC was working the omnibus issue. I said yes,
and I told him about an action alert we blasted
last July. He said he remembered the alert, so I asked him if he'd called his Senator.
He said he hadn't. He said he just "figured"
BRC was on the case. I told him that the way BRC
gets on the case is when our members call their
Senators! PLEASE CALL TODAY!!
BRC National Legislative Action Alert:
Please call your Senator and tell them to vote
NO on Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008
(S. 3213)
SITUATION:
Senator Reid recently stated that the passage
of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008
will be a high priority for the Lame Duck Session
of Congress beginning November 17, 2008.
The omnibus package includes bills that could
not pass on their own, like the "Owyhee Initiative."
It also includes dangerous legislation such as
the National Landscape Conservation System Act,
which would formally establish a Clinton/Gore
administrative fiat established by Bruce Babbitt.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Please call your Senator and ask them to vote
NO on the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of
2008.
1. Go to BRC's Rapid Response Center at http://www.sharetrails.org /rapid_response/,
type in your zip code and click GO.
2. Under the column "President & Congress,"
click on the name of the "Senator or
Representative" you wish to call.
3. Click on the "Contact"
tab, this will show all the contact information
for that person, including phone numbers for
their state and federal offices.
4. Call one of their offices.
Comments you can make:
Please vote NO on the Omnibus Public Lands Act
of 2008 (S. 3213).
I strongly oppose combining many of these so-called
"land bills" into one "Omnibus" package. Doing
so eliminates careful review and allows special
interest groups with large powerful lobbies in
Washington DC to outweigh the voice of individual
citizens, such as myself, who regularly visit
and enjoy our public lands.
I am also very concerned about how specific bills
contained within the Omnibus package will eventually
eliminate public access to public lands. Specifically,
the National Landscape Conservation System (S.
1139 & H.R. 2016), the Prehistoric Trackways National
Monument (S. 275) and the Owyhee Public Land Management
Act of 2008 (S. 2833)
Brian Hawthorne
BlueRibbon Coalition
brbrian@sharetrails.org
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