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Posted January 05, 2009 06:00PM
Al Franken can finally declare victory tonight after a painstaking recount in Minnesota that lasted 62 days and involved the hand inspection of nearly 3 million votes.
Franken, a comedian, author, radio host and host of "The Al Franken Show," which ran for two seasons on Sundance Channel can now add Senator to his long list of accomplishments. Congratulations Al and good luck. We are counting on you not to be a lying liar, and we'll be watching! Make America proud. For more on this story CLICK HERE [www.nytimes.com]
Franken, a comedian, author, radio host and host of "The Al Franken Show," which ran for two seasons on Sundance Channel can now add Senator to his long list of accomplishments. Congratulations Al and good luck. We are counting on you not to be a lying liar, and we'll be watching! Make America proud. For more on this story CLICK HERE [www.nytimes.com]
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Posted December 22, 2008 11:00AM
Democracy is working. At least that’s the news for now from my friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has filed a lawsuit against last-minute Bush Administration plans to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in Utah for oil and gas extraction.
Late last night, NRDC and a coalition of environmental and preservation groups filed an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management that could save 100,000 acres of pristine land that are endangered. The deal temporarily prevents the Bureau from issuing leases on 80 contested parcels of Utah wilderness, including land adjacent to national parks, for 30 days (until January 19).
Although the Bureau will go forward with the auction today, based on the agreement it will not issue the contested leases. The delay will give a federal court time to hear the case.
As I’ve written previously, words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.
Utah's Red Rock country is one of America's few remaining wilderness treasures . It's our land, it’s our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren?
The Bureau’s agreement has delayed the potential destruction. We will now get our day in court and I know that NRDC, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and their partners will continue to do all they can to protect Utah’s unspoiled landscapes
If you'd like to take action, check out this site and maybe you can help save the Redrocks [bit.ly]
- Robert Redford
Late last night, NRDC and a coalition of environmental and preservation groups filed an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management that could save 100,000 acres of pristine land that are endangered. The deal temporarily prevents the Bureau from issuing leases on 80 contested parcels of Utah wilderness, including land adjacent to national parks, for 30 days (until January 19).
Although the Bureau will go forward with the auction today, based on the agreement it will not issue the contested leases. The delay will give a federal court time to hear the case.
As I’ve written previously, words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.
Utah's Red Rock country is one of America's few remaining wilderness treasures . It's our land, it’s our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren?
The Bureau’s agreement has delayed the potential destruction. We will now get our day in court and I know that NRDC, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and their partners will continue to do all they can to protect Utah’s unspoiled landscapes
If you'd like to take action, check out this site and maybe you can help save the Redrocks [bit.ly]
- Robert Redford
This sounds so much like not in my backyard. I say this because I live and work in Texas where untill the last couple of months we have had over 900 drilling rigs working. These are land based operations in some of the most wonderfull places. Its ok for Houston my home town to have 80% of the nation's petro chemical plants and most or lets say 98% of the working drilling rigs working here but not Utah. I am sure this all sounds like sour grapes but we here pay a high price for the rest of the nation. You are right RedRock area is a treasure, and the strip mine developement along the Green River wasn't done right. We can force all of the drilling, strip mines, deep mines ect.. to stop but at what price. Is that cost one I can afford, we have seen $4.00 a gallon gas & the price of corn go thru the roof, what about the very poor in Mexico and other countrys where the price of corn products went up out of control. We have all seen meat prices go up also.
If not now when schould the US drill for the known oil and gas that is there is in your backyard, we started drilling in my backyard many years ago.
I know the wells could drilled and produced in ways that would leave the land and air clean, the problem is that we the people are not forcing the Goverment to make the Petro-Companies do it right. The problem goes much deeper than whoever is the sitting president, the current one is gone in 30 days or less. The Federal and the state lands have standards for development lets change those.
This administration has been "highly predictable" when it comes to the environment. One would think that this secret deal to sell off the wilderness to the highest oily bidder could be a last attempt to deplete the funds of certain conservation groups, or maybe it is just a big desperate raspberry as they slam the door on their way out of the White House. Ansel Adams once said that "It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment". I couldn't agree more.
I'm a great admirer of RR, I just tagged in from ICONaCLASS. This is a class thing , rich people who rightly so want their world as prissy as it can get 4GET resources R a cost 2 theworld that is FULL of people mostLY poor. Rich people make democracy work because of LAWyers which cost money. Rich people who mostly make more money with players. All men R created equal was made BY rich rich people. We R created equal under the law BUT the law COST. moderation. RR is a kind ARTIST I applaud U guys. Be moderate BOYS & girls. Rich people have better access, let's prosper ALL in ALL.
magazinism.com
Posted December 18, 2008 01:00PM
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 Cong. 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.
- Robert Redford
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 Cong. 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.
- Robert Redford
It is hard to fathom after the past 8 years that our current President is trying hard to leave us in even a worse situation than we already are...since our last election I believe once again that we can start to get back on track and stop some of these last minute crazy things Bush is trying to push through...Last week I had a vision of keeping this new spirit of hope alive and came up with the idea of a "purple" country..forget the red and blue..one that works together to preserve our future for generations to come...I teach and know these kids look to us to do this...check it out on www.2017old.etsy.com...I am looking to donate some of the proceeds to a peace organization or one that will make our country a better place to live..any ideas anyone?
There are those among us who would destroy the last great wilderness this plant has to offer all in the name of profit, power and greed, and never look back.
There are those among us who would lay down their lives to protect this plant and all she has to offer from those who wish to rape her of her essence.
There are those among us who would sit back and watch, maybe taking sides over the office water cooler, but basically soaking up this struggle to save the planet one rock at a time, as if it were their latest reality show on their television. They really don’t take the subject matter seriously.
Sadly, the watchers out way the doers.
We always seem to wait until we’re on the brink of a meltdown before we unite as a people in a common goal to solve any given horrid situation on our planet. We always let money dictate the direction we take towards our solution instead of “what would be the right thing to do”, no matter what the cost.
Sometimes we fail miserably like in the fight to stop the unfettered eradication of millions of species from this planet. Take the horny toad as an example. This little frog is nowhere to be found these days but was abundant in my youth. Yet no one seems to care or miss this little toad very much. Only when we bring the subject up over the water cooler do we seem to care at all.
Today, this little critter is displayed proudly on a Texas license plate stating “Keep Texas Wild”. Sadly, it may be too late for this childhood friend of mine to comeback in the numbers once occupying the Texas frontier I call home.
Government always regulates after it is too late. Why can’t wait for a mistake in judgment in Utah before we act. If we do what will we put on their state plate, “Keep Utah Wild”.
We cannot trust corporate America’s oil companies to look back either because by the time we find out all their good intentions are just a smoke screen for profits and not preservation, it will be too late and the damage will be done.
We must stop repeating our failures and begin developing new technologies that will remove our dependence on oil and begin a clean energy future as soon as possible.
This needs to start now. This needs to start in Utah.
We must start taking our roll on this planet as one of more responsibility dedicated to protecting the environment in everything we do. This is the only planet we have and for whatever reason, we have been made its custodian.
For those who never look back, the profiteers, I say the real reward is in saving Mother Earth, not selling her sole for a dollar.
Posted November 18, 2008 05:00PM
Americans Rejected ‘Drill, Baby, Drill.’ Bush Should Respect Our Choice.
By Robert Redford
Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of “drill, baby, drill” to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama, based on clean, renewable energy and efficiency. Yet on the very day that we raised our voices for change, the Bush administration dragged us in the opposite direction.
The Bureau of Land Management cynically chose November 4 to announce a last-minute plan to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in eastern Utah for oil and gas extraction one month before President-elect Obama takes office.
As its clock runs out, the Bush administration also is trying to open-up drilling all over the Rockies and Alaska, to green-light oil shale leasing, and to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Though sad, it’s no surprise, coming as it does from the same crowd that designed a misguided national energy policy in secret meetings with the oil, gas and coal industries.
The BLM didn’t just try to slip the audacious Utah lease maneuver past the American people on an historic election day, it actually hid the ball from its sister agency, the National Park Service, and then rejected the Service’s request for more time to review the scheme.
Among the 360,000 acres to be auctioned for industrial development is pristine land near Canyonlands National Park, adjacent to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. This Christmas gift to the dirty fuel industry includes parts of Desolation Canyon, named in 1869 by the explorer John Wesley Powell, which has been proposed for national park status. In fact, the BLM itself described Desolation Canyon nine years ago as “a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.”
Words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.
The Obama transition team already has signaled its opposition to the leases, and said that once in office the Obama administration will try to reverse them. Let’s hope that’s possible. Utah’s eastern expanse is one of America’s few remaining wilderness treasures. It’s our land, it’s our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren? We made our wishes about that known loudly and clearly on election day.
We voted to take control of our own destiny by breaking our addiction to dirty fuels. We voted to re-power America with clean energy from wind, solar and geothermal power. We voted to use of our greatest resource, American ingenuity, to build economic, energy and climate security, and to preserve our natural heritage. Yes we did. And yes we can.
* * *
Robert Redford, an actor, director and environmental activist, is a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and is the founder of Sundance, in Utah.
By Robert Redford
Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of “drill, baby, drill” to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama, based on clean, renewable energy and efficiency. Yet on the very day that we raised our voices for change, the Bush administration dragged us in the opposite direction.
The Bureau of Land Management cynically chose November 4 to announce a last-minute plan to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in eastern Utah for oil and gas extraction one month before President-elect Obama takes office.
As its clock runs out, the Bush administration also is trying to open-up drilling all over the Rockies and Alaska, to green-light oil shale leasing, and to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Though sad, it’s no surprise, coming as it does from the same crowd that designed a misguided national energy policy in secret meetings with the oil, gas and coal industries.
The BLM didn’t just try to slip the audacious Utah lease maneuver past the American people on an historic election day, it actually hid the ball from its sister agency, the National Park Service, and then rejected the Service’s request for more time to review the scheme.
Among the 360,000 acres to be auctioned for industrial development is pristine land near Canyonlands National Park, adjacent to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. This Christmas gift to the dirty fuel industry includes parts of Desolation Canyon, named in 1869 by the explorer John Wesley Powell, which has been proposed for national park status. In fact, the BLM itself described Desolation Canyon nine years ago as “a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.”
Words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.
The Obama transition team already has signaled its opposition to the leases, and said that once in office the Obama administration will try to reverse them. Let’s hope that’s possible. Utah’s eastern expanse is one of America’s few remaining wilderness treasures. It’s our land, it’s our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren? We made our wishes about that known loudly and clearly on election day.
We voted to take control of our own destiny by breaking our addiction to dirty fuels. We voted to re-power America with clean energy from wind, solar and geothermal power. We voted to use of our greatest resource, American ingenuity, to build economic, energy and climate security, and to preserve our natural heritage. Yes we did. And yes we can.
* * *
Robert Redford, an actor, director and environmental activist, is a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and is the founder of Sundance, in Utah.
Yes we did. Yes we can and yes we will. Arrogance is out. New energy, with a new determination is in. No more assaults on our lands, please.
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