In this issue:

• Politics Trumps Science Again: Grazing Impacts Stricken From Study of Western Land Changes
• Interior Secretary Withdraws Land Near Grand Canyon From New Uranium Mining Claims
• Protect Greater Canyonlands
• Keystone XL Pipeline Update

Stream degradation caused by livestock grazing. Click on image for larger view.

SCIENTISTS TOLD TO IGNORE LIVESTOCK GRAZING IMPACTS WHILE MAPPING ECOLOGICAL CHANGES ON WESTERN LAND.

In late November, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a Scientific Integrity Complaint against the Bureau of Land Management for ordering ecological assessment studies in six western regions that ignore and withhold information regarding the impacts of livestock grazing in those regions.

From the PEER press release: “This is one of the screwiest things I have ever heard of.  BLM is taking the peculiar position that it can no longer distinguish the landscape imprint of antelope from that of herds of cattle,” remarked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting BLM has far more data on grazing than it does on other change agents, such as climate change or urban sprawl, that it chose to follow. “Grazing is one of the few ‘change agents’ within the agency’s mandate to manage, suggesting that BLM only wants analysis on what it cannot control.”

Back to table of contents

From the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Click on image for larger view.

INTERIOR SECRETARY SALAZAR ENACTS 20-YEAR BAN ON NEW URANIUM MINES NEAR GRAND CANYON

We're celebrating a bit since Interior Secretary Salazar's January 9 decision (link to press release) to withdraw public lands near the Grand Canyon from NEW mining claims for the next 20 years. We just hope this order doesn't go the way of his Wild Lands order of December 2010.

Keep in mind that there are more than 3,200 existing mining claims in the withdrawal area that will not be affected by this ban. They project that the 20-year ban may affect 20 future proposals.

Read what The Wilderness Society has to say.

Read the LA Times Commentary about Salazar's 20-year ban.

Back to table of contents

Proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument. Click on image for larger view.

THE PROTECT GREATER CANYONLANDS CAMPAIGN WOULD PRESERVE ONE OF THE LARGEST ROADLESS AREAS IN THE LOWER 48.

A coalition of organizations, including Great Old Broads for Wilderness, is hoping to garner "greater" protections for the Greater Canyonlands area, which encompasses 1.4 million acres of land surrounding Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah.

As rugged as the area appears, changes to air quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat could have devastating effects on this arid environment as well as on the hundreds of thousands of people living downstream who are dependent on the Colorado River Watershed. Along with hardrock mining, of the type put on hold by Secretary Salazar further downstream near the Grand Canyon, threats to the Greater Canyonlands eco-system come in the form of oil and gas exploration, tar sands and potash development, and recreational off-roading. The archaeological record, which dates back 12,000 years, is particularly susceptible to damage from air quality and off-road vehicle use.

The coalition hopes to gain greater protections for this territory - possibly through National Monument designation.

Visit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance for details.

Back to table of contents

HOUSE GIVES OBAMA 60 DAYS TO DECIDE ON KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

Two days before Christmas, the House passed the payroll tax cut bill, which also included a directive to the President - forcing him to decide whether or not to issue a permit to allow the Canadian Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline to be built across the U.S. Breadbasket. Before the vote, Obama indicated that he would reject the pipeline if he was forced to curtail his review of the project.

Political threats on Obama's chances for reelection came from the oil and gas industry in early January. Claiming the pipeline decision is about jobs, Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, said "Anything less than approval or acquiescence in allowing the pipeline to go forward would be inconsistent with the vast majority of Americans," and that Obama's decision "would definitely play a role in this year's national elections."

Read the story in the January 5 edition of The Guardian.

You can send the President a letter, before February 21, beseeching him to reject the permit at The Center for Biological Diversity's action site.

Back to table of contents

Photo of degraded stream courtesy of Western Watersheds Project
Photo of Grand Canyon by Anne Benson
Map of Greater Canyonlands Proposal courtesy of Protect Greater Canyonlands Project

_____________

©Copyright 2012 Great Old Broads for Wilderness. All rights reserved.