Speaking up for wilderness in Washington II

Written Tuesday, May 20, 2008, by Monica Wiitanen.

First thing Monday (yesterday!) morning, we went to the Wayburn Wilderness House for our orientation. Tips on lobbying, packets of information to hand out, maps, and a schedule of our meetings during the three days on Capitol Hill were provided to us. With guidance from Steve Smith (The Wilderness Society) and Marcia Argust (Campaign for America’s Wilderness), plans were made to ensure that all the important points would be covered at each meeting.

By Tuesday afternoon, we’d med with staff of 7 Senators and 3 Representatives, Congresswoman DeGette, as well as with staff of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  After introductions, at each of these meetings we talked about the proposed Dominguez Canyon Wilderness within the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. We talked about why Dominguez is such a special place and deserves protection, showed the photographs we’d brought along, and asked if there were any quesitons.

Responses included interest, enthusiasm (certainly for the photos!), and some reservation–no apparent opposition.

We’ve heard that the bill is likely to be introduced by Senator Salazar on Thursday, and that there’s hope of it being added to a bundle of other public lands bills and moving right along in the process, and also that it’s late in the session and probably won’t get very far until the next session.

Optimists, pessimists, realists? Just getting the bill introduced will seem like a big step toward ensuring the enduring protection we have been working toward.

The hotel we’ve been staying in is close to Capitol Hill, so we’ve been able to walk to the Senate and House offices. Some streets radiate out from the Capitol and Union Station and others are laid out in a grid, so there are all manner of angles at intersections which can lead to confusion. Once inside security at a Senate or House office building, there are tunnels to get from one building to another and stairs and elevators, some modern and serviceable, others ornate and/or beautiful, for vertical movement.

Elevators service three categories: freight only, Senators only, and everybody else.  You can guess who uses the ornate elevators. In the basements are to be found, among other things, cafeterias and dining rooms, which serve huge numbers of people at every meal, every day. All the food looks good, that which I ate tasted good—it was impressive. I imagined truck after truck pulling up to the loading docks to deliver vast quantities of produce and meats for the cooks and kitchen help to transform into the food that fuels our government.

One of the cafeterias touts that it sources food from within 150 miles (when possible, I’m sure—I doubt the pineapple and melons were grown within that distance).

Tomorrow we have a few more meetings scheduled and then we head to the airport and home.

 

Speaking up for wilderness in Washington

See also Salazars introduce Dominguez-Escalante NCA!

   Getting up Monday morning at 4:15 A.M. to catch an early train from
Philadelphia to D.C., I wasn’t so sure this whole lobbying trip was such a
great idea.  But upon arriving at the Campaign for America’s Wilderness
office on Capitol Hill, I was quickly impressed by the organization and
professionalism that had been invested in planning our trip. 

    We spent two and one-half days walking the halls and tunnels (and in
blessed moments, the outside pathways) that form the labyrinth where our
Senators and Representatives have their dominion.  By the second day, I had
determined that yellow was the most inviting color for a Congressperson’s
reception area; I had also fallen in love with the very large cut-out cow
that resides in the office of one of the senators from Vermont.  And I had
been almost universally impressed with the openness, knowledgeability, and
even patience of the many Hill Staffers with whom we met.

    It was surprisingly easy to develop (and when appropriate, to modify)
our spiel.  It was an honor and pleasure to work with Monica and Tony, and
later with Bill, all of them are WCC Board members.  It was enlightening to
listen to, and take guidance from, Steve Smith from The Wilderness Society
and Marcia Argust from the Campaign for America’s Wilderness.  They taught
us how the pros engage with our representatives; and they educated us on
specifics of the Dominguez-Escalante legislation.  And it was truly a marvel
to see Andy in a pin-striped suit exercising phenomenal self-control while
we “citizen lobbyists” led the charge.

    Outside of our “work” day, Steve and Marcia treated us to a couple of
wonderful meals.  On a personal note, I had an opportunity on our last
evening to meet up with 9 co-workers from my Ralph Nader days. With one
exception, I hadn’t seen any of them in 37 years.  It was exciting to learn
that they are all still engaged in doing important, non-profit work.  In
fact, it was somewhat disconcerting to be the only retiree, sandwiching in
my labors of love on behalf of WCC and other organizations between hikes and
travels and pottery-making!

    So it is with much appreciation that I thank WCC and the sponsors of
this trip for giving me an opportunity to champion a cause in which I
believe so passionately. In the process, they afforded me the chance to go
back to D.C. and to learn more about the legislative experience and the
people who care enough to do good things in this world.  I hope our efforts
continue to bear fruit.

 

Salazars introduce Dominugez Escalante

In the past hour, Senator and Congressman Salazar have introduced the Dominguez Escalate National Conservation Area legislation.  This bill will protect over 210,000 acres within a National Conservation Area with over 75,000 acres of Wilderness protection for the Dominguez Canyons.

Earlier this week, WCC sent four members to Washington DC to urge lawmakers to introduce strong protections for this area.  We’d like to think that we made a difference by representing our members in the halls of congress.  Look for updates from Joan, Tony and Monica in the next few days – we can all be proud of them for representing us in our nation’s capitol.

We’ll have more information and a detailed map of the proposal up on this site in the next few days.  Congratulations to everyone at WCC for all your hard work to make this legislation a reality!

 

Bull Mountain pipeline gets early ok

On April 30, a US District Judge ruled against a request for a preliminary injunction against the US Forest Service’s and Bureau of Land Management’s approval of construction of the Bull Mountain Pipeline.

The pipeline would connect gasfields in the North Fork Valley (north of Paonia) with a main pipeline in the Interstate 70 corridor. It includes an eight-mile stretch through three separate national forest roadless areas.

Because bulldozers could start rolling within days to clear the pipeline route, WCC and a coalition of conservation groups have filed an appeal to the judge’s decision with the Tenth Circuit Court, again requesting a preliminary injunction.  Without the injunction, the pipeline route could be cleared while WCC and its allies wait for the judge to decide on our lawsuit, doing irreparable harm to the roadless areas.

Earthjustice filed our lawsuit in federal district court on March 5 challenging the Forest Service and BLM on their approval of this 25-mile natural gas pipeline.  The lawsuit argues that the agencies’ approval violates the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule by allowing a de facto road to be built through three national forest roadless areas. It also asserts that the agencies failed to consider the impacts of hundreds of additional gas wells that would be made possible by the new pipeline capacity.

On April 17th our Earthjustice lawyer, Robin Cooley, argued our request for a preliminary injunction before U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn in Denver.  In denying our request, Blackburn said that in order to win an injunction, we must show that we are likely to win our overall lawsuit.  He concluded that our case was not strong enough to merit the injunction.

Western Slope Environmental Resource Council (a WCC affiliate serving Delta County and western Gunnison County) and High Country Citizens Alliance (based in Crested Butte and covering Gunnison County) are the local citizens’ groups joining with WCC in the lawsuit.

Pitkin County also joined the lawsuit as officials there fear construction of the pipeline could lead to the drilling of gas wells in the western part of the county near Carbondale. No new wells have been drilled in the county over the last few years, but thousands of acres of public land have been leased to gas companies.

 

WCC members headed to Washington

We’re GOING TO WASHINGTON!  WCC staff (me!) is gearing up to take 4-5 WCC members to our nation’s capitol to rub elbows with our elected leaders.  A dream assignment that I’ve been waiting three years to organize.  We’ll partner with our Washington-based coalition partners – Campaign for America’s Wilderness (CAW) – a top-notch, non-profit that supports local efforts to protect America’s public lands.  In fact, WCC sponsored a visit from Doug Scott, a wilderness expert from CAW, in February.  Doug visited four western Colorado communities to get us pumped-up about Wilderness!  Doug is a walking Wilderness encyclopedia -  He can spit out historical Wilderness information faster than Google.

CAW lobbyist will give WCC members a  ‘lobbying 101′ session on Monday morning then cut us loose on Capitol Hill to make our case for the red rock beauty of western Colorado – Dominguez Canyons!

This Dominguez legislation is one of the biggest victories for WCC in my four-and-a-half year tenure.  I’m proud to be part of it and I’d like to give a special shout out to all those west slopers that have sat through all the meetings, scoping sessions, congressional staffer visits, press conferences and conference calls.  Even I wasn’t sure that this campaign was going to find it’s way to Washington – In the end, persistence and love of our public lands has prevailed.

Congratulations!

 

Dominguez North

US Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) is poised to introduce a bill to establish the Dominguez Escalante National Conservation Area, protecting over 210,000 acres of public lands. Salazar has included over 12,500 acres known as Dominguez North Special Managment Area.  WCC and other conservation groups as well as 90 local businesses support the inclusion of this area in the bill. However, an off-highway vehicle group wants the area to remain open and is pressuring Salazar to remove it from the bill.

Salazar needs to hear from you! Send him an email or call his Grand Junction office at (970) 241-6631. Please mention some of the points below but,  if you’ve been there, also mention what you consider are the most valuable qualities of this area and your own personal experiences. Please use your own words.

• Dominguez North Special Management Area has the support of the broad local community along with support from the Colorado Mule Deer Association, the conservation community and 90 local businesses.
• Dominguez North deserves protection – approximately 70% of the land in Mesa County is federal land with very little (under 5%) protected from off-highway vehicle use.
• Dominguez North is important for wildlife habitat, cultural resources and quiet recreation.
• Mesa County has only one other Wilderness area on the west end of the County. Now is the time to protect these lands for future generations.
• Specifically mention Dominguez North Special Management Area — Keep this in the proposed legislation!