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
September 2nd, 2009 - 3:00 pm
Is anyone aware if the 110,000 Utah acreage has actually been sold & what parties purchased them?
Everyone needs to ask ‘what can I do right now, right here to be free from fossil fuels? If we keep buying gas-fueled cars, gas-powered products then we have no one to blame, but ourselves.
The power of renewable energies, good government & a healthier economic outlook starts with the pocket-book of every citizen. If most people are in debt, look the other way, take the easy road, then why should gov’t be any different? We have the power to purchase ‘green’, to not put up with bad gov’t & corporate irresponsibility and to hold politicians & businesses accountable…besides it’s fun to do & did the Black Panthers once say ‘Power to the People’. C’mon folks, we’re Americans, we don’t have to roll in debt, recession & fossil fuels !
September 2nd, 2009 - 3:03 pm
Note: I wasn’t talking about RR or contributors to this blog who are doing more than their fair share already!!!
I was hoping to stir up the folks who cruise blogs, read them & grab something to drink in between reads while not doing a damn thing to change the current scenarios.