Showing posts with label Bears Ears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bears Ears. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Digging Deeper for Solutions/ Bear Essentials 8/1/2019


Impacts on the West and San Juan County


San Juan River at Sunset by Jeri Maryboy


~~ San Juan County Fair Starts this Friday, Aug. 3

~~ Commissioners Vote to End Gerrymandering Appeal

~~ No Futher Action on Redistricting Appeal  KUER

~~ Supreme Court Decisions and Local Implications        

~~ Utah to Take More Prominent Role in Managing State    Forests

~~ Moab Bans New Lodging

~~Fowlks to lead Western Fish, Wildlife group

~~Bears Ears Summer Gathering



~~ Transfer of Fed BLM Office to the West: An Idea Whose Time Has Come 

"The BLM has never belonged in Washington DC. It manages 247 million acres, almost half of all public lands, and 700 million acres of mineral rights, with a unique mission. The National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service, for instance, all have very specific uses, but the BLM is tasked with managing its lands for multiple uses, in numerous categories and under a wide variety of laws.

That includes 18,000 grazing permits, 220 wilderness areas, 27 national monuments, 600 National Conservation Areas, 200,000 miles of streams, 2,000 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, 6,000 miles of National Scenic Trails, 63,000 oil and gas wells, 25,000 mines, and 50 million acres of forests. Not a square inch of that is in Washington, D.C. It is in 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. It has never made sense for the leadership to work 2,000 miles away, insulated by the inevitably different perspectives of life inside the Beltway."

~~  No Black and White Easy Solutions in San Juan County   Canyon Zephyr

~~ Native Woman Warns of Dangers of Socialism  Video

~~ Conservative Lawyer Named BLM Deputy Director of Policy 

"Pendley is a prolific author. Among his books is “Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier.” It chronicles the efforts of Western state leaders and residents to fight environmental laws, according to a profile of Pendley from the Property Rights Foundation of America.  Pendley is also wrote “War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Great Frontier” and “It Takes A Hero: The Grassroots Battle Against Environmental Oppression.”

~~ Moab/San Juan Needs a Truck Stop

~~ USDA To Help Fund Water System Upgrades in San Juan County

~~New Farm Bureau Agent in San Juan County
















~~ San Juan and Commissioners at at Monumental Divide  by Bill Keshlear

~~ Why We Can't Support Patagonia

~~ A "Hole" Lot of Problems with San Juan County Roads

~~ Getting to the Heart of the Recapture Canyon Debacle 

 . . ."I was interested in obtaining public documents related to the controversial “Recapture Canyon Protest Ride” on May 10, 2014. In fact, the story goes back even further, to 2006, when two San Juan County residents were accused and convicted of building an illegal ATV trail across public lands and damaging archaeological sites. The trail was closed by the BLM, subject to review.: Jim Stiles

~~ Grizzlies, Wolves, and Cattle Are a Poor Ecological Mix

~~ Environmental Groups Call for End of Uranium Waste in the West

~~ Federal Government Bungels Chaco Canyon Facility

~~ Environmentalists Blast SJC Bears Ears Management Plan

San Juan Record 7/31/2019






Thursday, July 18, 2019

Celebrations, Census, Western Caucus, County Commission July 23--Bear Essentials 7/18/2019

Life in the Rural West




Photo by Karly Halls -- Monticello

~~SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING July 23, Monticello


11:00 A.M. Commission Meeting
1. Executive Session to Discuss Pending or Imminent Litigation
2. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County Briefing & Possible Action

*San Juan County Commission can call a closed meeting at any time during the Regular Session*
 

~~ Farmers in Monticello Represented by Big Four in Pioneer Day Parade

~~ Canyon Country Discovery Center in Monticello Featured

~~ Four Reasons Why the Left is so Invested in the Census Debate

"A citizenship question was on the decennial census forms from 1820 to 1950. After that, it was only included on the long-form census form. In 2010, the question was removed entirely by the Obama administration. The question remains on the American Community Survey, an annual population canvass that the Census Bureau conducts."

~~Talks Underway with Utah Leaders to Strike Bears Ears Monument Deal 




~~ The Grand Staircase Story: Morality of Mining, No-compromise Environmentalists, Unreliable Sources"  by Bill Keshlear / Canyon Zephyr


~~  Grand Junction, Colorado Named as new BLM HeadQuarters; 

"Utah will gain 44 BLM staffers in a realignment that will move the agency's headquarters from Washington to Grand Junction, Colorado, the Department of Interior announced Tuesday."

~~ Victory For Property Rights in Louisiana Related to Gopher Frogs!

~~ Living the American Dream Home Depot Co-Founder Defends Position

~~ Science Supports Removing Grizzlies from Endangered Species List

~~  Push to End Dependence on Foreign Uranium Industry  Western Caucus




~~ Too Little, Too Late in "Clean Water Case" Against EPA Target

~~ Federal Appeals Court Upholds Prior Gerrymandering Decision

"Commissioner Bruce Adams, who supported the appeal, said he was disappointed with the ruling. “San Juan County appealed the initial decision of Judge Shelby because it split apart our most populated city, Blanding, and left them without representation. We went to the 10th Circuit looking for a more fair solution. The decision that came down today is very disappointing and disenfranchises a significant portion of our community,” he said in a statement.

~~ Dine' Bikeyah Activist, Garon Coriz, Dies in Climbing Accident


Friday, April 26, 2019

April Showers Concern over Committees and Commission ~~ Bear Essentials 4/26/2019


Reflections on the West

Book on Bears Ears Available  $40 -- Back and Beyond in Moab


 Reflections on Bears Ears

"The idea, however, that the federal government would simply take over land in the possession of others through a designation of a national monument is not unprecedented. Just south of Bears Ears, Canyon de Chelly National Monument is still disputed ground. The Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs maintain ambiguous control of the area rather than the Navajo Nation, despite the fact that none of the land is technically owned by federal agencies."

~~

KUER Assigns Reporter to Cover SE Utah

"Kate Groetzinger (Southeast Utah Bureau) is from Austin, Texas, where she is completing a master's degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin's Moody School of Journalism. She has worked for Austin’s NPR station, KUT, and her work has been published in the Texas Observer, The Austin Chronicle, Quartz, Rhode Island Magazine and Artsy. She has also worked for the Voces Oral History Archive at the University of Texas, collecting and preserving the stories of Latino/a civil rights leaders in Texas. She holds a degree in English from Brown University."  However, SJC remains gun-shy! 

~~

Amy Irvine Takes On Edward Abby: Interview by Andrea Ross

"Amy Irvine: We all objectify landscape—because we have this idea that it’s our church, our refuge, our aesthetic. We feel entitled to use it as a surface for recreation, or entertainment.       Our impacts on public lands is something that I don’t think the environmental community has not been very honest about. I want to take this moment to ask: What do we do now? We have to admit that we are loving the land to death. For example, the numbers of people flocking to the Bears Ears: it has no management plan in place. And the government’s been furloughed, so even if they could staff it, that’s not happening; nothing is in place to protect it. On such vast and vulnerable landscapes, we must better police ourselves."

~~

Senator Mike Lee Pod Cast: Rediscoverng the Declaration of Independence

"Abuses of federal power, including federal overreach and over-regulation, balance of power between the legislative and executive branches, along with issues within the judicial system are rampant. All the issues appear rooted in the neglect of the Declaration of Independence. Could rediscovering the declaration renew the nation and restore power to the people? Utah's senior senator, Sen. Mike Lee, explores the issue on this edition of "Therefore, What?"
~~

Three of the most Telling Failures of Socialism

1. Socialism has never succeeded anywhere --including the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union, the National Socialism of Nazi Germany, the Maoism of Communist China, the Chavez-Maduro socialism of Venezuela. It has never come close to anywhere near Marx’s ideal of a classless society.
2. Marx has been wrong about nearly everything he predicted. The nation-state has not withered away. Capitalism didn’t break down as a result of the Industrial Revolution.
3. Socialism denies the existence of an essential human trait—human nature. Marx borrowed from the Enlightenment to declare that human nature was malleable, not constant. Christian theology with its idea of a fixed God-given nature infuriated Marx.


~~ Dry Wash Reservoir Pipeline Increases Amount and Distribution of Water

by Scoot Flannery: The expanded storage in Dry Wash Reservoir highlighted the need for a more efficient conveyance system from Dry Wash Canyon. That's when the Blanding Irrigation Company went to work. Funding was procured, permitting was completed, and the project was constructed during one of the driest years in memory... just in time for one of the best water years!
Although they didn't have to build a tunnel from Indian Creek to Johnson Creek, the work, effort, and volunteer time that went into this project is proof that the spirit of those who came before us is still alive today!

  (See article in Good News Blanding) 


Summary of April Meeting with State AG's Office 

By Cheryl Bowers, Blanding City Councilwoman: 

" - A quick update on the training with the Attorney General's office today in Monticello (April 23). I wanted to get this out in case anyone (like me) was waiting to see the results of this training before writing additional letters.
The Assistant Attorney General, Scott Cheney, and the Director of the Utah Records office conducted the training. They were both gracious and very helpful at answering questions.
1. Bruce Adams was the only commissioner there. I'm not sure why Commissioners Greyeyes and Maryboy weren't there, but they missed out on some good information. Kendall Laws and the new Assistant County Attorney were there, along with John David and a Spanish Valley resident (I believe her name is Ms. Fields).
2. They only emphasized two areas of concern: the Open Meetings Act (OMPA) and GRAMA requests.
Items most people may not be aware of:
(1. The Assistant AG's determination was that having 4-6 meetings a year in other parts of the county wasn't a violation of the law (to have "Occasional meetings" outside of the county seat). In fact, he recommended it.
(2. Texts received during the course of a commission or public meeting are subject to GRAMA requests and have to be produced if they were about county business. They recommended public officials don't text during a commission meeting as then it becomes public information.
(3. The Assistant AG recommended that during public comment, the Chair of the board allow back and forth discussion, including answering questions, so there is no misperception of secrecy. They recommended that if we have a concern about why, how or who initiated an issue, resolution, etc. that we ask that question during public comment and the public body should respond. (The Chair does still have the ability not to answer or to stop discussion that he believes is beyond time, etc.).
(4. I spent a lot of time on- two members of a public body meeting together as there will be change to this starting in July. The assistant AG, said that if the meeting (without proper public notice) meets the definition of OPMA then it can be a violation- Definition - "The convening of a public body with a quorum present, whether in person or electronic communications, for the purpose of discussing, receiving comments from the public about or acting upon a matter over which the public body or specific body has jurisdiction or advisory power."  (More information about Utah Open Meeting Act)

~~Advisory Committee for Bears Ears SL Tribune Version 

~~SJ Record Version of New Advisory Committee

Adams, Maryboy, and Greyeyes: SJC commissioners - KUER photo

~~Utah, Colo, and Ute Tribe Hope to Benefit from "Liquid" Assets

~~ Conflicts Voiced at April 23 County Commission Meeting

~~ Senator Mike Lee's Congressional Concerns  Live stream video

~~The Problem with Affluence (and Influence) in the New West by Stacy Young

"The New West is also where virtually every successful company that comprises what we might call the Recreation Industrial Complex (RIC) now primarily sells sanctimony and only secondarily sells the good or service that keeps its owners and executives well-fed. In a way, it’s an ingenious twist on Robinson Crusoe: we should speak only of our arduous journey toward self-actualization but, yeah, by the way, we also happen to be fabulously wealthy thanks to the Brazilian plantation we own.

In canyon country, specifically, we can observe how the RIC manufactured both the demand for “Bears Ears” and the satisfaction of that demand. In statistical terms, approximately no one seemed to need to visit “Bears Ears” before December 2016, but now every outdoor athlete with a shoe contract and a Personal Brand to burnish — an “influencer” in the postmodern vernacular — seems determined to make an Insta-pilgrimage to “Bears Ears” or to at least engage in a bit of slacktivism from afar. The hoi polloi cannot be far behind."  April Canyon Zephyr

~~ Opposing view on Spanish Valley Development by Kerry Behunin 






~~ Kelly Pehrson, County Administrator Gives Two Week Notice:

Pehrson will be the new Deputy Director over Utah Department of Agriculture and Food in Salt Lake City. The Petroglyph


~~ Moab is Drowning in Tourists --Why are they Advertising?

~~Big Money Funding the Environmental Left

~~Fossil Fuels and Sage Grouse: Interior Dept Targeted in Law Suit

~~ How Instagram Ruined the Great Outdoors

~~Development in Spanish Valley May be Halted

~~ James Adakai Letter to SL Tribune

Friday, March 29, 2019

Concerns, Collusion, and County Commissioner Agenda 3/29/2019

             What's Happening in San Juan and The Nation 

San Juan Record March 26  Weather Stats

San Juan Record 3/27 Issue Summary


Concerns Voiced About Spanish Valley Growth and Planning

A meeting on codes and ordinances for the Spanish Valley area will take place 
on Wednesday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in the Grand Water and Sewer office building 
located at 3025 East Spanish Trail Road in Spanish Valley.

Thoughts on Water Allocation in the West Canyon Echo

Supreme Court Wary of Redistricting Issues in States/ Counties

Tribes Urge Government to Ban Drilling Near Chaco Site 

County Licensing: More Power to Government? or a Needed Safeguard?

Audio News: San Juan Record March 20 issue

March 19 San Juan Commission Meeting  -- Video recording

Summary of Most Recent SJ Commission Meeting, Wendy Black













~~Senator Lee Addresses "Green New Deal":  Satire and posters!

~~Please sign and comment on this BE Petition if you haven't already

~~ Alaskan Natives Angry with Dems who want to close ANWA to oil and gas

~~BLM Leases on Public Lands in Utah for Energy Development

~~SITLA Representative Answers Questions about Proposed Bluff Solar Farm

~~Clarifying Aneth Chapter Position on Bears Ears

~~ Bluff Leaders Pass Building Moratorium: Write Zoning Building Codes"  Canyon Echo


Monday, March 11, 2019

Don't Bury Your Head in the Snow! March 11, 2019

What's New in the West

Photo by Marci Bothwell -- San Juan Record

Bluff Town Hall Meeting with John Curtis March 21


Congress Passes Massive Lands Bill, Utah will be Affected

"The program uses private offshore oil and gas revenues to pay for conservation of federal lands for outdoor recreation and provide grants for state and local governments to create green space and provide access to natural resources."   ...and where in Utah???  "an area in Utah where a high density of Jurassic-era bones are located."


Finanances, History, and Questions Related to San Juan County Commission

"Will the policies of the new pro-Bears Ears county commission begin to align — to varying degrees — with the goals of a grand alliance whose members include the foundation established by multibillionaire Hansjorg Wyss ($2.2 billion), Utah Diné Bikéyah, Round River Conservation Studies, Friends of Cedar Mesa, the Conservation Lands Foundation, the Grand Canyon Trust, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Earth Justice, The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, Packard Foundation ($7 billion), William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($9.8 billion), Wilburforce Foundation ($115 million), Pew Charitable Trusts, Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation and some of the nation’s most prominent and politically aggressive outdoor recreation companies?"


Who's to win the Battle for Water: California Fish or Farmers?

Update on Bill to be able to Divide Counties, Sponsor Kim Coleman


How to File A GRAMA Request  

"The Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) provides every person the right to request records from any governmental entity in Utah (Utah Code Section 63G-2-201(1)."
__________


 63G-1-201. Official State Language:

(1) English is declared to be the official language of Utah.
(2) As the official language of this State, the English language is the sole language of the government, except as otherwise provided in this section.
(3) Except as provided in Subsection (4), all official documents, transactions, proceedings, meetings, or publications issued, conducted, or regulated by, on behalf of, or representing the state and its political subdivisions shall be in English."

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Needs to be Carefully Studied  

-- by Stacy Young, Canyon Zephyr


Canyon Echo: Updates from Bluff and Beyond



Bill Keshlear: Observations on Future of San Juan Commission


Part Three: -- "TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, the relationship between the Navajo Nation and San Juan County will determine the success of the new Navajo-majority commission.Many Navajos in San Juan County probably feel like they’ve been abandoned by their tribal leaders in Window Rock, Ariz. It was a concern Maryboy testified to during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2009.

Maryboy was a delegate to the Navajo Nation Council — the tribe’s legislative body — a San Juan County commissioner and officer of Utah Diné Corporation at the time. He wanted the Utah Navajo Trust Fund, which was set up by Congress in 1933 so Utah Navajos would benefit from Aneth oil and gas royalties, to be administered by Utah Diné Corporation instead of the Navajo Nation and the state of Utah. He believed that given the Navajo Nation’s history of “neglect, unaccountability and malfeasance,” it lacked the capacity to administer the fund.

“San Juan County believes that the Navajo Nation government, which is located in Window Rock, Arizona, and provides few if any government services to Utah Navajos, does not have the best interest of Utah Navajos at heart when it asserts a vague argument of tribal sovereignty to wrestle away control of the Utah Navajo Trust Fund from Utah Navajos."

"The Navajo Nationʼs heretofore disinterest in its own members who reside within the Utah strip of the Navajo Nation is the very reason why San Juan County has stepped up to the plate to deliver essential government services to Utah Navajos. San Juan County has provided law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services, senior services, road maintenance, telecommunication and water services to the seven Utah Navajo chapters because the tribe in Window Rock does not.”

Part Four: Discusses Kenneth Maryboy's Involvement in questionable Tribal Government Activities








~~ House Bill 179 Passes; Would Protect County Roads from Illegal Closure

"This bill calls for a Class C Misdemeanor for illegally obstructing a road on public land."

~~ Follow Representative Phil Lyman on Facebook


~~Oil and Gas Leases help Fund County CIB Projects 


~~ Navajo Tribe Lauds Utah for Keeping Navajo Families in tact


~~ San Juan Moves Out of Severe Drought!



~~ The Utah Strip before Paved Roads: interview by Phil Hall with Ray Hunt

   "Mineral extraction has been a way of life since the first white men arrived on the Utah Strip, and it was mineral extraction which brought roads into previously roadless areas, electricity to dark places, jobs to people who wanted them. Gold, silver, copper, oil, gas, uranium, and gravel have all been mined here. These various boom and bust cycles have brought men to San Juan County who wanted to make their living while they could, for making a living in this poor country has always been, for most, a difficult thing to do. Some of those men stayed and raised families, and continue to live here today."


~~ Bluff Wants to Shut Down Oil and Gas Leases, yet Benefits from CIB Funds

"A midden of environmental activism, Bluff is undergoing a fundamental transformation with new hotels and restaurants springing up, hoping to get fat off the tourist industry. Friends of Cedar Mesa has been at the forefront of lobbying for increased tourist opportunities in southeastern Utah, most notably, the recent push to reestablish and expand the now-defunct Bears Ears National Monument. Tourism has become yet another rationale for locking up federally-controlled lands with new wilderness area, national monuments, and other restrictive designations.
Corporate environmentalism and industrial tourism go hand in hand, and in Bluff, the same enviros who embrace the anti-fossil fuel policies of the extreme left, are enjoying a financial boon from the very industry they are trying to destroy."

Expansion of Bears Ears Predicts Negative Effects for Native People

Commission Votes to Expand Bears Ears Monument

"In addition to increasing the size of the monument, the Bears Ears Expansion and Respect for Sovereignty Act would, according to Haaland’s office, “restore tribal consultation by requiring federal land managers to use tribal expertise to manage the monument’s lands and protect over 100,000 archaeological and cultural sites in the area.”

New SJ Commissioners Steamroll County With Ghost Writer Resolutions

Sierra Club/ Canyon Echo, Winter Issue