Saturday, June 8, 2019

Tariffs, Tourism, Texas Tour, SLC Tribune in the News; 6/8/2019 Bear Essentials


Warm Weather Finally Arrives in San Juan




~~Utah Attorney General Reviewing SJ County Open Meeting Complaints

~~ Trump Returned Nat'l Monument Public Lands to Former Status 

~~ How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt

~~ Peter Stirba an Advocate for Rural Conservatives in Utah

       ~~So Should we Care?? Remembering the Past:

                    ~~Outdoor Gear Companies Tried to Sabotage Utah 2017

                    ~~ Patagonia Leads Boycott in Utah Feb. 2017

    ~~ Deja' vu How Many Feel about Outdoor Gear Companies













~~Industrialized Tourism and its Impact on Moab  -- Canyon Zephyr June 2019

~~ Transfer of Power in San Juan Commission Makes for Rough Ride  Bill Keshlear

~~ Solar Panels also Produce Toxic Waste

~~Socialism: A Substitute for Community Self Governance?

Graphic by Devin Bayles Hancock@2017

The Deceitful Land "Protection" Network (2017 Revisited)


--Wyss Foundation and other Big Funders Seeking to Control Public Lands  by Bill Keshlear 2019

"William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, whose endowment is in the neighborhood of $10 billion, is apparently not a direct contributor to UDB. However, since 2006 the nonprofit has directed $5.225 million to Grand Canyon Trust, which has greatly assisted the Bears Ears project with organizational sophistication and communication expertise."

Other Businesses Working against Multiple Land Use :

ArtPlace America, Colorado Plateau Foundation, Conservation Lands Foundation

Patagonia, Inc. , Conservation Alliance, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

                       First Nations Development Institute, Community Foundation of Utah


Lush Cosmetics, Chaco Sandals, Wigwam, Marc Toso Photography

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Advisory Council, Electoral College, Tell Your Story ~~ June 1, 2019


Reservoirs Fill After Winter Snows


Remember all the years the City Council in Blanding was dogged in their resolve to drill deep wells, build reservoirs, put in pipes for better water distribution, fund additional engineering projects to protect this this valuable resource!?  
Well, it was a priority, and after the drought of last year, we understand even more why local governments are key in making decisions that benefit all its citizens.
~~~~

# Bears Ears Nat'l Monument Advisory Meeting June 5-6

Plan to attend

#Utah's Public Radio Story Telling Project.  Here's how to be involved:


           Follow the link and fill out survey.  UPR will be in San Juan County June 19-21
They hope to involve many local people in short interview sessions

#This Week's SJ Record: News in a Nutshell Bill Boyle

#Last Week's News: Editor Bill Boyle, SJ Record



#Videos Show LaVoy Finicum Death was Planned Assassination 

"Evidence proves that LaVoy was murdered in cold blood. Had authorities responded to Greg Bretzing and Dan Love in 2009, this chain of events may have been much different. Instead we stand and watch as our friends and neighbors are raided, falsely accused and prosecuted, and subjected to the lies and derision of hateful colluding special interest groups. Can LaVoy’s death be anything but wrongful? Instead of covering the truth, the media has done nothing but denigrate the honest people, while protecting the snakes who are orchestrating these actions."  Rep. Phil Lyman

#Montezuma County: A Sanctuary County For the Right to Bear Arms?

#Bears Ears Referendum: Should Decision be made by Voters?

 #SJ County Wrestles with Litigation, Referendum Requests Four Corners Free Press:


~~ Blanding City Reaps the Benefits of Dry Wash Reservoir Pipeline

~~ 101 Things to Do in San Juan County

" The one economic sector that meets the American appetite for raw materials, gadgets, high-tech equipment, cars, jetliners and "renewable" energy technologies that we take for granted -- all of which are made from minerals and metals -- mining!.

~~Senator Romney Introduces Legislation to Settle Water Rights for Navajos


~~Mill Protesters Chose Not to Research Facts

"If anyone wants to see the data for sampling that happens at and around the mill [Energy Fuels] go to the link below. Everything that is sampled is public information and can be found on this site including the mill license and requirements to operate. The samples that are analyzed in these reports are all done offsite at independent labs. The sample results show the tailings ponds are not leaking. Also, white mesa gets their drinking water from the Navajo aquifer and there is an impermeable layer of clay between the Dakota aquifer and the Navajo aquifer. 
So even if there were a leak it cannot get into the Navajo aquifer that is used for drinking. 
There are over 100 wells that get sampled, air monitoring stations, soil sampling, vegetation sampling, seeps and springs sampling, stack sampling, radon sampling, and surface water sampling done all around the mill. These samples all show the mill is not contaminating anything in the area. The results are all provided in the link. There is a lot more information I could post on here but it would take all day. Hope that helps.    G. Palmer  

https://deq.utah.gov/.../ener.../white-mesa-uranium-mill.htm


~~ Gov. Docs reveal who donated To SJC Democratic Campaign

 . . ."interesting financial information can be found by reviewing the financial disclosures statements of the San Juan County Democratic Party and both the Maryboy and Grayeyes' Campaigns. All 3 show sharp increases in money beginning in July 2018 and running through the election. We learn two things from this. First, very few San Juan County residents contributed to their campaigns. Two, San Juan County can be bought for about $60,000 - the cost of the two Commissioner races." 

"When you look into the disclosure statements of the non-profit groups that donated to the San Juan County Democratic Party and the Maryboy Campaign you'll also find very interesting results. The chair of one of those non-profits is the former Political Director for the Utah Democratic Party and the current CEO/Chair of the Rural Utah Project. The Rural Utah Project is the one that registered all those new voters last year in San Juan County." 

~~ Will Trump Administration Revive Domestic Uranium Market?


#Up to Date News from the BLM



~~Nat'l Parks More Affected by Climate Change than other Areas

                     (Hmmm, Did they factor in Industrial Strength Tourism?)

~~Toxic Flowers Suspected in Cattle Deaths

~~ SJ County Commission Declines Referendum Application May 21 

~~ Mix of Anglos and White Mesa residents March to Uranium Mill in Protest

~~ Vandalism on Shinob Kibe in Washington, Utah

~~ and the irony ....Tourism Boosts the Economy. . .but is the price worth it?


Saturday, May 18, 2019

Unrest in the West, Bear Essentials May 18, 2019

News in San Juan County, Utah and the Rest of the West

~~~~~~~

~~State Rep. Coleman Seeks to Bring Back Bill for Splitting Counties 

~~Spanish Valley: Potential Development  with Problems  Moab Sun Times

~~Comm. Maryboy Promotes Moratorium on Spanish Valley Development

~~ Gate Way Community Planned for East Side of Zions Park

~~Deaths in Zions Park and Other Sites in the West










~~ Bears Advisory Board Meeting June 5-6, First public meeting

~~Utah State Code Regarding County Government

~~SITLA's Involvement with Spanish Valley Development

~~Truck Stop Will Comply With Dark Skies Request in Spanish Valley 


4th grader in Syracuse Learns about San Juan County









~~Protest March May 18: Uranium Mill  Moab Sun Times

~~ Thieves Steal Artifacts from Danger Cave

~~ What's Behind the Anti-Animal Agriculture Movement

"The anti-animal agriculture narrative and plant-based diet agenda combines political ideology and commercial interests. This “movement” is insidious, unsavoury, and cannot be ignored by those who value liberty and consumer choice."  Free Range Report

~~Crowding in Nat'l Parks Brings Plan for Timed Entry for Visits to Arches

~~Another Version of Pehrson/ Everitt County Admin. story  Moab Sun Times

~~ Babylon Allotment: Co-management or Co-Negligence?

"Our purpose in publishing Part I of this revealing history of the Babylon Allotment is to bring scrutiny to what appears to be a pattern of mismanagement by a coalition of the Grand Canyon Trust (GCT), a well-moneyed left-wing environmentalist group funded primarily by Swiss billionaire, Hansjorg Wyss, and the Ute Mountain Tribal Council (UMTC). It appears that the nearby Gooseberry Allotment, along with grazing allotments within the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM), are also held by GTC.
Our research into the Babylon Allotment management file has been intensive, and we believe these records will serve to either prove or disprove the veracity of the “co-management” narrative that has repeatedly been used to justify Utah’s million-acre federal land grabs. What we have uncovered in the Babylon Allotment file paints an unflattering picture of a dysfunctional relationship between two entities who give lip service to the idea of co-managing these important lands and resources, but are doing more to harm the environment than good. Furthermore, these entities went to the trouble of formulating a contract with the federal government to co-management Forest Service grazing allotments, but there is strong evidence that they have failed repeatedly to fulfill the terms of the contract."  Free Range Report

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Spring Runoff: Water! Words! and Warnings: Bear Essentials May 12, 2019

News in the Nation and the West


Recapture overflows: April 29, 2019 8:14:22 AM by Kelly Jeppesen -- San Juan Record

=================================================================

Bears Ears Advisory Council Hosting Public Meeting June 5-6

"Written comments to address the BENM-MAC may be sent to the BLM Canyon Country District, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532, or via email with the subject line “BENM-MAC” to blm_ut_mt_mail@blm.gov. Written comments must be received by Friday, May 31, 2019 to be considered by BENM-MAC members in their first meeting."  Canyon Echo

               Five Years AgoRecapture Canyon in Retrospect  by Rep. Phil Lyman

 --Free Range Report--  

"Recapture had gone from being a symbol of conflict in the west to being a symbol of corruption in the BLM and the so-called Department of Justice."

"Now, five years after the May 10, 2014 protest in Recapture. The BLM admits, behind closed doors of course, that they do not have a Title V Road in Recapture Canyon. They admit that they had conflated their pipeline right of way for the county road, inappropriately asserting jurisdiction over the county road. They, and the U.S. Attorney’s office admit that those they convicted for trespass and conspiracy did not trespass or conspire. They were forced to drop their claim of damages to archeological sites, when respected archaeologists called their claims of damages not only ludicrous, but spurious and dishonest."



BYU Commencement Speaker Arthur Brooks: 

"We don't need to disagree less. We need to disagree better."


Controversy over Non-Native Mt. Goats in La Sal Mts

~~ Bears Ears Advisory Council; a brief summary of board members 

~~ Signatures for Studying Forms of County Government needed before June. 

  Those circulating petitions, please get them to to Mayor Lyman's office by June 1.  If you haven't signed, go to his office in Cedar Mesa Pottery to sign, or to the Wilcox home, 112 S. 300 W. 

~~ Applicants needed for County Administrator, closes May 17

"Serves as County Administrator to the San Juan County Board of Commissioners. Incumbent will perform a broad range of duties including advising the Commission, attending meetings on their behalf, and recommending management strategies. Incumbent will also perform duties as the Risk Manager for the County. Incumbent will also attend Commission meetings and receive work assignments from the Board of Commissioners. Requires an MBA, MPA, or Business / Accounting degree, or similar degree, with five (5) years progressive experience in managing organizations, or a combination of education and experience.
Position Location: San Juan County Administration Building, Monticello. Position closes: May 17. https://sanjuancounty.org/?s=jobs

~~Link for Filing Complaints to the Attorney General's Office

~~ Recording of May 7, 2019 SJC Commission Meeting (First part of meeting is missing because camera wasn't turned on.)

~~ Recording of May 7, 2019 County Commission Work Meeting 

~~ County Web site

~~ Public Notices of Meetings  (Thus avoiding secret combinations)

~~ Radical Gratitude for Recapture Reservoir By Merry Palmer


          Watch: Twisted Arch Video: Recapture Reservoir Spring 2019 👍 Brett Saunders


Recapture Reservoir May 5 by David Homedew

~~ Congressional Western Caucus: 

 "Update on what Interior is doing with regards to wild horse population management, permitting reform, critical minerals, oil and gas drilling, and mining.

~~ San Juan and Ethics in County Government

Utah codes: Title 17 Chapter 16a County Officers and Employees Disclosure Act, Section 2 - Purposes
17-16a-2. Purposes. 
The purposes of this chapter are to establish standards of conduct for county officers and employees and to require these persons to disclose conflicts of interest between their public duties and their personal interests.
and also Section 11
17-16a-11. County ethics commission -- Complaints charging violations -- Procedure.
(1) A county may establish by ordinance an ethics commission to review a complaint, except as provided in Subsection (3), against an officer or employee subject to this part for a violation of a provision of this part.
(2)
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (3), a person filing a complaint for a violation of this part shall file the complaint:
(i) with the county ethics commission, if the county has established a county ethics commission in accordance with Subsection (1); or
(ii) with the Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission established in accordance with Title 63A, Chapter 15, Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission if the county has not established a county ethics commission.
(b) A county that receives a complaint described in Subsection (2)(a) may:
(i) accept the complaint if the county has established a county ethics commission in accordance with Subsection (1); or
(ii) forward the complaint to the Political Subdivisions Ethics Review Commission established in Section 63A-15-201:
(A) regardless of whether the county has established a county ethics commission; or
(B) if the county has not established a county ethics commission.
(3) Any complaint against a person who is under the merit system, charging that person with a violation of this part, shall be filed and processed in accordance with the provisions of the merit system.





~~ Tribal Sovereignty Does not Generate Successful Businesses

“We’ve been in a socialist system for the past 100 years,” Begay charged. “We don’t even understand what it means to have a private sector. It does not mean establishing 
enterprises owned by the tribe and run by the tribe to compete with small businesses 
owned by individual Navajos.”

~~ Interim County Administrator Hired in Defiance of Ut. Open Meeting Laws  San Juan Record

~~ Utah's Open Meeting Law Violated by New Commissioners  Deseret News

"During the work meeting, Adams said the job opening should have been filled in-house, or if there were no suitable candidates, advertised outside."
"I wonder what the negotiation process was, and why I wasn't included," Adams said, referencing a meeting Everitt had with Grayeyes and Maryboy to discuss working for San Juan County.: Des. News


~~ A Reminder of what Tourist Towns do to Housing Market

~~ Extreme Environmentalists Continue Attack on Oregon Multiple Use Lands

"In the most recent lawsuit, the U.S. Forest Service is accused of unlawfully approving a 10-year grazing permit for the allotment despite “irreparable harm” to the threatened Oregon spotted frog and wetland plants and mollusks."

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