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Winter Wildlands Alliance
received a ton of positive
feedback after sending out our
legislative update last week so
we're back with another update
today. We're here to help the
backcountry community stand up to
protect our public lands and
environment, so without further
ado, let's drop in!
Public
Lands Heist Across
the country Americans are speaking
out against the public lands
heist. In Utah people packed into
a town hall meeting hosted by
Representative Chaffetz,
challenging him on his support for
overturning Bears Ears National
Monument and other efforts to
undermine our public lands. WWA
Ambassador Caroline Gleich was in
the crowd and shared her trip report
on the Outdoor Alliance blog. And,
we just found out last night that
the Outdoor Retailer
trade show is leaving Utah in
response to Utah Governor Gary
Herbert's resolution urging the
Trump administration to rescind
the Bears Ears National Monument
and Utah's overall assault on
public lands. Meanwhile, in Idaho,
skiers, hikers, hunters, and many
others are gearing up for a public lands rally
to tell their elected officials to
Keep It Public! What's happening
in your state?
Here are the bills we're
tracking related to the public
lands heist:
- S.J.Res.15:
Last week, the House
voted to pass H.J. Res. 44 and
throw out BLM Planning 2.0. The
bill is now in the Senate, filed
as S.J.Res. 15. If passed
BLM land management planning
would revert to the days of
limited public participation
and recreation voices
struggling to be heard. For
more information, check out
this Outdoor Alliance blog post.
We need you to call
your Senators today and tell
them to vote "no" on S.J. Res.
15. If you don't know your
Senate office numbers directly,
call (202)-224-3121 to be
connected to your Senate offices
(just tell them what state
you're calling from).
- HR 622
proposes to eliminate the Forest
Service and BLM's law
enforcement ability. This bill
has been referred to the House
Subcommittee on Conservation and
Forestry and the House
Subcommittee on Federal Lands
and these committees will
determine whether or not to
advance the bill.
- H.J.Res.46,
a resolution to roll back the
National Park
Service's authority to
regulate private oil and gas
drilling within National Parks,
has been referred to the House
Committee on Natural Resources.
Please tell your reps that
you don't support HR 622 or
H.J.Res.46 and they shouldn't
either. These bills jeopardize
our public lands and should be
shot down with a resounding NO. It's
not all bad news though. This week
Congressmen Lowenthal and Reichert
introduced a resolution
affirming that our Federal
public lands are national
treasures that belong to all
Americans. When you contact your
representative ask them t o support
H.Con.Res.27 rather
than voting to undermine our
public lands system.
The
Environment Meanwhile,
if undermining our public lands
system weren't enough, some
members of Congress have their
sights set on gutting our bedrock
environmental laws and the
agencies that enforce them. The
Environmental Protection Agency is
at the center of this fight and
we're watching a number of bills
on this front:
- H.R.637 -
Stopping EPA Overreach Act of
2017. This bill would
repeal federal climate change
regulations and prohibit
agencies from regulating
greenhouse gasses in any way.
Regulating greenhouse gasses is
the key to slowing or reversing
climate change and that's a
pretty big deal. As skiers, we'd
like the next generation to be
able to experience the joys of
winter. We don't need Congress
undermining efforts to address
climate change.
- H.R.861 - To
Terminate the Environmental
Protection Agency. The title
spells it out pretty clearly -
this bill would terminate the EPA
on December 31, 2018. The EPA is
the agency that's tasked with
protecting human health and the
environment. It's kind of a big
deal and anybody who enjoys
breathing clean air, drinking
clean water, or living and
recreating in a healthy
environment should be a fan of the
EPA. Seriously, they do a LOT of
important things!
- H.R.958 - To
eliminate certain programs of the
Environmental Protection Agency,
and for other purposes. The text
of this bill isn't posted online
yet, but the title has us pretty
concerned.
Action: Tell your reps
to vote NO on these bills. The
EPA and our environmental laws
were enacted in response to
burning rivers and silent springs
and we don't need to go back to
those days.
Meanwhile, the Senate's
Environment and Public Works
Committee, led by Sen. John
Barrasso (R-Wyo), opened hearings
Wednesday to "modernize the
Endangered Species Act." We and
our partners will be keeping a
close eye on that one as well!
The most effective way to
speak out in defense of public
lands is to call
your representatives in Congress
and urge them to vote against
bills that threaten our public
lands or undermine our bedrock
environmental laws. You can call
the Capitol Switchboard at
202-224-3121 to get
connected to your political reps.
For those who prefer email,
however, we've created a web portal that
allows you to easily email your
senators and representatives.
Whether you call or email, it's
important to let them know what
you value as a constituent and
what your thoughts are on the
bills they are considering.
Thanks,
Hilary Eisen
Recreation Planning and Policy
Manager
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