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Show THE ZEPHYR AUGUST 1995 PAGE 14 within larger Energy and Natural House in Forests and Public Lands subcomittoc conference where former BLM Resources committee). Hearing preceded by press Keith Comgal, and former director Jim Baca, former BLM wilderness coordinator Four Corners School in wilderness inventory worker Janet Ross (now director that resulted in 3.2 million acres of Monticello) say the BLM wilderness inventory Wilderness Study Areas was a joke. the Zodiac. I suspect it s a The hearing room's ceiling is festooned with signs of secret pagan meeting spot. lead-of- f. Senator Bill Bradley Utah politicians testify, with Senator Hatch hitting all Americans, and notes then makes a strong statement that these lands belong to 100 letters a serious flaws in bill. Bradley notes his New Jersey office is receiving week supporting HR 1500, the citizens' wilderness proposal Senator Bennett takes a turn, and lauds the Utah Wilderness Association's would open about half of the remaining BLM willingness to accept a deal which wilderness to dams and drill rigs. The Utah politicians intend to use UWA to undercut all other onvironmcntalists-i- n fact, the Republicans invited UWA to speak at hearing (Utah Wilderness Coalition with 65 member groups and over one million members support 5.7 million acres: Utah Earth First! which prefers 16 million aercs-Go- d bless'em). UWA's position has wavered from an initial 3.8 million acres up to 5.7 million acres and then back down to the current 18 proposal Bennett says there arc only one million acres of BLM wilderness left in Utah. Then to manage lands under the goes on that BLM has assured him that they can continue current laws in order to protect these areas without wilderness protection. No one The Canyon Country WATCHDOG By Scott Groene & Ken Rait Scott Groene is in Washington , D.C. this month lobbying against the Utah Congressional delegation's 1.8 million acre wilderness bill. This is what it's been like... MY SUMMER VACATION IN THE CAPITOL CITY The Utah Delegation's effort to trash Utah wilderness is now in Congress and resulted in my summer exile to Washington, D.C.. The goals of the fight are clear: to kill the delegation's bill. Their legislation would impose "hand release", (AKA "death penalty") language on about 20 million acres of Utah BLM land. Under hard release, the BLM would be prohibited from protecting wilderness values on these lands. No wilderness bill has ever before included "hard release." The remaining 1.8 million acres would be called wilderness, but not given wilderness protection. Instead, dams, pipelines, and radio towers could be constructed in the June 14, 1995. designated wilderness. June 17, 1995. 1 take a hard look at dowdy wardrobe and decide it could use an upgrade. Spent an afternoon pricing clothes and evaluating priorities. Put a new kayak paddle on my VISA card instead. June 22, 1995. The Utah delegation refuses to allow the general public to speak at upcoming congressional hearings, so citizens schedule own hearings. Four hundred folks show up to paste Utah senators and representatives in SLC. I leave at midnight for the airport to meet Representative Maurice Hinchcy, the legislator who reintroduced HR 1500, the real wilderness bill for 5.7 million acres, first introduced by Utah rep. Wayne Owens. Thirty of us break into applause when Hinchcy departs from plane; he peers over his shoulder to see who is being cheered. On Hinchey's walk out of airport he notices signs recently appended to beautiful photos of Southern Utah in airport concourse reading 'This area condemned by Congressman Jim Hansen." Return to hearing as last citizens speak at about 1 a.m. Head out for Cedar City, 5:30 a.m. arrival, with Newsweek reporter. Catch two hours sleep before the congressional hearing. At hearing, crowd favors wilderness and Hinchey gets big Not many claps for Utah Representative Hansen, who now chairs applause. subcommittee on public lands. Wonder if Hansen's staff gets chewed out for allowing the New York wilderness lover to outshine Hansen on his home turf. June 30, 1995. Left Cedar City, packed for a month. 1. Fourth of July weekend spent preparing for trial against the Dixie National Forest's effort to cut down the forest to "save" it from beetles. July 5. First Congressional hearing held in D.C. Headline in next day's Salt Lake Tribune : "Clinton Threatens to Veto Utah Bill." Maybe there is hope for the big July flip-flopp- cr yet. July 6. Highlight of two day trial comes when Dixie forester declares a 92 success rate for regeneration. When confronted with a photo of the mess left by past logging, the witness clings to claim it was a success. Judge looks at the photo and declares the scene awful. July 9. Flight to D.C. Try to look like important yuppie and pull out newly donated laptop. Batteries are dead. Land in D.C. late. Cab driver confused by my version of English, but manage to find SUWA flophouse. The neighborhood, with townhouses, large shade trees, soft street lamps, and brick is beautiful (if crime-riddein soft early morning rain. side-wal- ks n) July 10. Drop copies of beautiful donated Till Williams Utah photo book at all Senate offices. Guards will not allow boxes of books to be dropped anywhere near federal buildings: Oklahoma City aftermath. Finally just double park car, unload boxes and see if guards shoot. They back down. Pause in Hart Senate office building to watch incredible Calder three story sculpture of black metal mountains with floating storm cloud mobile. Incredibly serene in midst of D.C. political craziness. Visit Senate staffer who shows us a copy of latest Newsweek which declares that Utahns showed big support for wilderness at hearings to a "stunned" bunch of Utah big media. politicians. Late night meeting at bar with Mike Medberry, enviro-activifrom Idaho. Mike just put in three weeks working on timber salvage mess, and it appears that Clinton will sell out: exemptions for environmental laws to appease timber beasts. Mike leaves for West tomorrow and can't wait to get home. Still, two dollar pints of Pete's Wicked ale (an option not available in Cedar City). We take great advantage of the bargain. At-a-bo- y, st It s not ... Virginia shore, in search of to shame: no roving bands of dogs and rest room requires a key. Evening meeting with a Representative who cruises in late and leaves early. Has not read briefing papers written by sympathetic staffer. It seems this wilderness fight will not be won or lost on merits, but what Congress ate for breakfast. July 1J1- 13. First subcommittee hearing on Utah delegation's rotten bill (bill starts in '""P"." IIW1L. III.J.I1L.IM.JUM1 "Enviro-babes- ." questions Senator as to why 21 million of the 22 million acres of the BLM land in Utah are not wilderness if the agency and the existing laws adequately protect wilderness. mnett then testifies that, while others complain, he cannot tell the difference between elk scat and cow pies, demonstrating again his firm grasp of the relevant issues, Bill Representative Orton on on8ressjonaI testifies next (Orton is not Utah delegation s bill). States he would vote for Utah bill if necessary. Orton makes clear that he still thinks the delegation's bill will get stopped, and then he will come to the rescue with his own bill (several of us raise eyebrows- - Orton really thinks the republican senators arc going to let him be a leader here?). Orton testifies that he has over cv cry unit proposed for wilderness (omitting that it was in an airplane) and there arc only 1 million acres of wilderness left. Truth is a stranger to these Claims " wilJerncss designation is not !hCn Tv.n8n v. good for archaeological n rebuthOrt C5SI0IU, .Archaelogical Council wrote the Governor on May 15 to that archaeologists Next up ??? ! prcv?0US oppose wilderness. who' V:a'dhltz' a8an, claims her pregnancy as a disability. Her polls musl 00 . a,rcf.t ssuc or hef She intends to introduce an amendment tc wdderness, clearly an effort to stem the acj?s anger among her Sail Lake City constituency for her nato radley then asks Bennett if the position. . language about allowing dams and dcrncss will protect existing development, or to allow futun BennCtt My il is t0 nal I air P" misinformation. I look up at the Senate subcommittee staff, who sil lhcir whisPering it is apparent they know the truth. the Utah Natural Resources Division is ewart, head . up next. He says tha (l guage w ich allows dams and ORV use in wilderness areas was written tc .nid anti-wilderne- ss July 11. Meeting with national enviros to scope out Senators. Office puts SUWA's m work and no play for Groene and Rait while in Washington, D.C. Here the boys are seen cruising the 11 stunnv |