In this issue:

• Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Decision by Year's End
• Wenatchee Proposal Would Add 125,800 Acres to WA Wilderness
• Wilderness Release Act Threatens Thousands of Acres and US History of Conservation
• White River Travel Plan Ready for Implementation

PROPOSED KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE TO CARRY TAR SAND OIL THROUGH AMERICA'S BREADBASKET

Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton and the U.S. State Department have promised that by year's end, they will have made a decision on a TransCanada permit to construct a tar sand oil pipleline. TransCanada has proposed to develop the Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline connecting the oil sands region of Alberta, Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline would increase current capacity by 700,000 barrels per day. Because the pipeline would cross an international border, it requires a Presidential Permit.

Not only are tar sands purportedly one of the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuels on Earth, but the product that is sent to refineries is more corrosive and requires higher pressure to move than other products, making pipeline breaks difficult to avoid.

Additionally, according to the Michigan Messenger, Enbridge Inc., the company responsible for the largest oil spill in Midwest history in Calhoun County last year, says it may look to expand one of its pipelines that carries tar sands oil from Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast to compete with TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.

Further reading: Huffington Post - The Keystone XL Pipeline: A Tar Sands Folly?; Oil Sands Truth; Indigenous Peoples Blog; U.S. Department of State - Keystone XL Pipeline Project page

Planned action: Stop the Pipeline Sit In - U.S. White House - Aug 20-Sept 3

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PROPOSAL WOULD ADD 125,800 ACRES TO WASHINGTON WILDERNESS

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest's 2011 forest plan recommends adding 125,800 acres to seven of the forest's eight wilderness areas. Wilderness areas currently make up more than a third of the forest, or 1.47 million acres.

Forest Supervisor Becki Heath said a major reason they’re proposing to add wilderness is to help the Forest Service manage existing wilderness boundaries and trails. She said the forest is required under forest planning rules to consider whether portions of its 1.5 million acres of roadless areas are suitable and capable of becoming wilderness. More than 927,000 acres of potential wilderness are not recommended as new wilderness.

The comment period on this plan has been extended to September 28, 2011.

Read more: The Wenatchee World.

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'WILDERNESS RELEASE ACT' WOULD OPEN AREA THE SIZE OF WYOMING TO INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

H.R. 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, would undo decades of public lands protections, opening up some of the country’s most spectacular landscapes to new industrial activity and exploitation. The bill was introduced by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has introduced a companion measure, S.1087.

This bill proposes to open to resource extraction, road building, and motorized vehicle traffic more than 60 million acres of public lands. “This legislation would undo decades of public land protections by opening up an area the size of Wyoming to new industrial activity,” Pew Environment Group Deputy Director Tom Wathen said in a prepared statement. “It would allow some of the country’s most pristine and spectacular landscapes to be exploited, including the vast majority of undisturbed national forests.”

This bill “is the most radical, overreaching attempt to dismantle the architecture of our public land laws that has been proposed in my lifetime,” said Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior at a House hearing on the bill in late July. “Simply put, it trades protection of wildlife habitat, clean water, and clean air for corporate profits. It is nothing more than a giveaway of our great outdoors.”

Read more: A summary of S.1087; Pew; The American Independent;The Wilderness Society

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WHITE RIVER (CO) TRAVEL PLAN PROPOSES CLOSING AND DECOMMISSIONING 519 MILES OF ROADS AND TRAILS

Regional Forester Jerome Thomas recently affirmed the White River National Forest Travel Management Decision. This decision comes after a review of a number of appeals to the Travel Management Plan and will now allow the White River National Forest (WRNF) to begin implementing the new Travel Management Plan on Thursday, August 25th.

In the heart of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the 2.3 million acre White River National Forest touts itself as the birthplace of Wilderness (with a capital 'W').

A coalition of envirnonmental and recreation groups credited the Forest Service for aiming to create quality experiences for visitors to the White River National Forest, in large part by realizing the need to separate users in some areas. "The plan avoids a common pitfall of ignoring user conflict issues, instead acknowledging them and tackling the problems head on,” the coalition said in a letter to the Forest Service. “We appreciate that the Forest Service recognizes the necessity of separation of uses in some areas, in order to reduce conflict and create a higher-quality experience for all forest users. We also appreciate that the Forest Service sets the expectation that not all uses can be accommodated in every place on the forest.”

More on the decision from the White River National Forest.

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Map of Keystone XL pipeline proposal courtesy of the U.S. State Department
Photo of Okanogan-Wenatchee NF courtesy of Okanogan-Wenatchee NF
Pie chart of HR 1581 ramifications courtesy Pew Environment Group
Photo of Maroon Bells courtesy of White River National Forest
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