News in the West; Bad, Better, and Best ~~Bear Essentials 2/27/2019

News in the West: 

Bluff Town Hall Meeting with John Curtis March 21

Recording of 2/19 SJC Commission Meeting  (start at 57:53) 

George Washington's Farewell Speech: Prophetic Advice

$22 Trillion Debt and both Parties say "Spend More" 

Utah Ranked #1 in "Social Capital" 

"Variables for ranking: family unity, family interaction, social support, community health, institutional health, collective efficacy, and philanthropic health"

Environmentalists Call on Herbert to Veto Bill Related to Spent Uranium

Current Government Policies would Rather Burn Forests than Log Trees

"Federal wildfire statistics show the average number of acres burned 

every year since 2000 is double what it was the preceding four decades."

Zinke Accepts Post with Lobbying Firm

Moab Council Votes for Moratorium on More Building

~~ A Good Site to Follow: Balanced Resources

~~ Winter Storms Help Against Four Corners Drought

~~ Senator Mike Lee Opposes Natural Resources Management Act

1. It fails to reform federal land acquisition programs and adding new restrictions to how Americans are allowed to use land already under federal control. 
2. 25 percent of all Land and Water Conservation Funds have been given to states while 61 percent of the funds have been spent on federal land acquisition
3. LWCF keeps on buying new federal lands without securing any method for maintaining the land they already own. According to a 2017 Congressional Research Service report, the maintenance backlog on federal land is up to $18.6 billion
4. The bill creates another 1.3 million acres of wilderness in the West — half of it in Utah

~~  2019 AUM Grazing Fees Lowered

~~Commissioner Adams Asks State for Litigation Help

~~Signs that Republican Tax Cuts are Working

~~Aztec Commission Passes Resolution Against UnConstitutional Gun Control

 ~~ Rural Lands Bill "Reflects Utah Priorities, Op ed Mitt Romney, 

 ~~ Land Grabbing Avalanche of Bills Will Harm Rural Economies

~~ SL Trib: San Juan Should Build a Wall Around Itself

~~ N. Arizona Faces 1.7 M. Acre Environmental Land Grab 

In defense of mining: "Uranium and depleted uranium are critical to the U.S. military and our national security. The U.S. military uses depleted uranium in armor plating for tanks, Phalanx gun systems, armor-piercing munitions and cruise missiles, naval propulsion reactors, as well as A-10s, Harriers and other military and civilian aircraft. The U.S. Navy cannot maintain its global presence nor maintain its nuclear deterrent against countries like Russia without uranium. 

In 1986, the United states produced 100% of the uranium ore used in U.S. domestic nuclear reactors.  Today in 2018, 3% is produced domestically with virtually all of the remaining fuel for domestic reactors produced in Kazakhstan, under heavy Russian influence.  The U.S. desperately needs domestic uranium given this high 97% import penetration into domestic market. The U.S. Navy is fit-to-be-tied over the prospect of being dependent on Putin for uranium. The situation is untenable.

Americas’ 98 nuclear power plants provide clean energy while generating electricity for one of every five U. S. homes and businesses. Nuclear energy has unmatched reliability in the U. S. electrical system.  In 2014, as has been the case every year for the past decade, the nuclear industry’s average capacity fact (a measure of efficiency) was an electric sector leading 91.7 percent."

~~ State House of Rep. Gridlocks over County Government Bill

~~National Debt Spiraling Out of Control $22 Trillion!

~~Massive Land Bill Has Hits and Misses for Ranchers

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Submitting Letters to Salt Lake Tribune

~~BEAR ESSENTIALS: Oct. 20, 2018~~

Matt Redd Monticello rancher, photo by Aaron Huey
November 2018 issue of National Geographic

~~Bears Ears: Lead story in November National Geographic: Battle for the American West

Though dozens of local people were interviewed over the course of several weeks by author Hannah Nordhaus, very little was used in the actual article from those interviews.  The editing staff at Nat’l Geo was part of that dilemma, and the real story was bigger than a single article could cover. Maps and photographs were great.  Sandy Johnson was one of several ranchers who were interviewed. (Photos were by Aaron Huey who made at least 4 or more trips to San Juan)

 

~~Sage Grouse Controversy Raised Again in  Newest Nat’l Geo

~~Cedar Mesa 360 degree video by Aaron Huey

~~What Bears Ears Means to Native Americans: Nat’l Geographic

Energy Fuels White Mesa Uranium Mill--Aaron Huey photo

Kyle Kimmele, one of many SE Utah citizens who own mining leases.  Photo by Aaron Huey

~~774 comments submitted regarding Energy Fuels/ US Uranium Market

“One of many comments made by businesses impacted by foreign suppliers of uranium: “The US uranium industry has suffered great harm and our national security is threatened as a result of excessive imports of foreign uranium. The United States over reliance on price insensitive uranium from countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with their state-owned and funded companies, has displaced US production and led to a severe decline in the industry. As a service provider to the US uranium industry, this has also hurt our business.”

~~Write-In Candidates for County Commissioner—Districts 2 and 3                                                          

                                                      

1)     Republican Al Clark running as Write-in against Kenneth Maryboy District 3

2) Democrat Maryleen Tahy running as write-in District 2 

n
Phil Lyman running against Marsha Holland District 73 

 Audio of  Debate with Marsha Holland.

 “Public lands management is an area that we certainly do not agree on. I prefer local management of local resources and I rely on constitutional provisions that guarantee that even a state like Utah has an equal footing with other states. Federal agencies are creating massive problems to which they claim to be the solution. It is time for Utah to end the madness. We are not a federal administrative unit, but a sovereign and independent State; sometimes we have to act like it. 
I have never been accused of being neutral on matters of public land, fiscal responsibility, or political accountability. The State Legislature has the duty to safeguard these qualities and to safeguard the liberty of the people against federal encroachment, not the reverse for which Ms. Holland seems to advocate.”

“Any legislation that I am involved in is going to emphasize less government interference with people’s lives and more accountability from government agencies. If I could figure out legislation to rein in the federal agencies and put them in their proper jurisdictional role instead of this god-like role that they think they have, I would do that.”    Recapture Incident: “A mistake that I made was believing that the federal agencies had integrity and that the department of justice believed that a person was innocent until proven guilty. And that the U.S. attorneys followed that same ideology.”

~~Kelly Laws Running for County Commissioner in District 3

Why Voters Should Not Support Tax Increases 

By Phil Lyman

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Be sure to vote: Mail in or at polling booths

Navajo Man Shot by Ranger at Canyon de Chelly

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Read Past Editions of Bear Essentials at: http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

Documenting Bears Ears Controversy and Public Land Issues since July 2016

                                                                                                  

~~BEAR ESSENTIALS: Sept 22, 2018 ~~

Life in the West

Ø Make Sure You’re Registered to Vote!  If you’re new in town, or have changed houses, you need to fill out a registration form and get it to the court house PDQ.

   Call 678-2851 or 678-2474 if you need a form

 

Ø Meditations on Industrial Tourism

“Draw a boundary around a landscape, give it a national monument or park designation, and slap a name on it, and you’ve reduced something indescribable and wondrous to a brand, a slogan, a commodity to be marketed to the masses. Impose upon it a bunch of rules, entry fees, campgrounds, and designated trails, and you take away a freedom that is inherent to the place.”

Ø The Bureau of Land Management will hold 3 public meetings as part of the land use planning related to the new Bears Ears Monument.  See article on the right.

Ø One Source of Public Lands Funding Expires in Sept.

n  Deadline for Comments On Uranium Mill/ Energy Fuels Extended

  Addresses for writing Due Sept. 25

n  Get Phil Lyman Elected: You Can Help

n  Governor Herbert Believes Utah Can Better Manage Forests

n  Sec. Zinke to visit Zions Park 9/24/18  Looking at “Deferred Maintainance”

n  Should Las Vegas Pump Water It Doesn’t Own?

n  Political/ Geographic Divide Hurts Public Lands

“Casey Snider, Bishop's former legislative director and a volunteer firefighter, said status quo management of the forests will only lead to more catastrophic wildfires.

"When it comes to fire, you are either going to graze it, log it or burn it out on public lands," Snider said. "The idea that everything is fine if we just do nothing is completely, factually inaccurate."

n  Environmentalists Protest Sale of Public Lands for Oil/Gas Development

n  High Country News Questions SJC Promotion

n  Trump’s Attack on Public Lands Could Help Demo Mid Term Elections

n  Alliance for Better Utah Promoting Tourism

n  Alliance For a Better Utah Intent on Smearing San Juan County

Recent Letter Sent to a Constituent by Alliance for a Better Utah: 

Things are running amuck in San Juan County.

San Juan County Clerk, John David Nielson, doctored election documents to keep Navajo community leader and County Council candidate, Willie Grayeyes, off November’s ballot. This is another incident in a long line of either rampant incompetence or active voter suppression on the part of elections officials in San Juan County to keep the “good ol’ boys” of San Juan in power.

But Alliance for a Better Utah is fighting back.

We’re on the offensive, letting San Juan County voters know Willie’s story and the illegal activities of John David Nielson with targeted ads, but we need your help. We’re looking to raise $1,000 today to get ads placed and the word out. Will you help us reach our goal with a donation of $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford today?

For too long, underrepresented voices have been shut out of the conversation. It’s time to push back. With your support, we will continue to monitor the situation in San Juan County, call out officials for incompetent, immoral, and illegal behavior, and, if necessary, take legal action to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Your donations today will count toward our Political Accountability Fund goal of raising $10,000 by the end of the month and show the “good ol’ boys” of San Juan County and elsewhere that we’re fed up with politics as usual. Please give today.

Sincerely,

Chase Thomas
Executive Director

DONATE – Become a Sustaining Member and Help Better UTAH All Year Long »

Alliance for a Better Utah          (We all should write and protest)
P.O. Box 521847
Salt Lake City, UT 84152
801-893-ABU1 (2281)
info@betterutah.org

The World Needs More Cowboys! Video

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n Read Past Editions of Bear Essentials at: http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

Documenting Bears Ears Controversy and Public Land Issues since July 2016