wendigo’s Recent Comments

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  Randy...

  ...Salazar has been on the pro-conservation side of forest issues in Colorado.  But he won't have input to U.S. Forest Service decisions, since USFS is part of USDA, not DOI.On Green groups divided over choice of Salazar to head Interior posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 15 Responses

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  Good Pick

  I think Salazar is a good selection for head of DOI.  From a conservation point of view, I don't think we could have realistically expected better.

  We're never going to get a head of DOI that is completely green...it's just not going to happen, since part of the mandate of DOI includes mining and energy development.

  I'm a former constituent of Salazar.  Even got to meet and talk with him once when he was AG.  My impression of him was that he's smart and thinks before he speaks or acts.  He also opposed drilling on the Roan Plateau, was against "logging for water", helped protect in-stream flows for the Gunnison through the Black Canyon, recovered enough money from a bankrupt (and morally bankrupt) mining company to clean up the Summitville mining disaster, and created an environmental crimes unit under the office of the AG.

  My take is that, as head of DOI, he'll be similar to Bruce Babbitt regarding conservation issues.  So he may not be perfect, but he'll be a hell of a lot better than what we've had over the last 8 years.On Green groups divided over choice of Salazar to head Interior posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 15 Responses

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  Go Grijalva

  I was at a conference a few years ago where the new Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data was unveiled.  The keynote speaker noted that the most easily visible difference in the new data, compared to older data, was the missing mountain tops in Appalachia.  In other words, the most visible change to the earth's surface over the last few decades has been caused by MTR.  The
  scale of the damage is astounding.

  The smog around Shiprock, New Mexico is incredible.  There's no big city there; it all comes from the Four Corners Power Plant, which burns Black Mesa coal. So the Hopis and Navajos have been doubly screwed by coal...it's mined there and burned there.

  I think Grijalva would be an excellent choice to lead DOI.  He understands (and actually cares about) the problems caused by unchecked resource extraction.  His votes as a congressman have been consistently pro-conservation.  He has been an
  advocate for increased protections of and funding for public land (what a concept...public lands managed for the public, rather than corporations!).  He would be a vast improvement over the Watt-Norton-Kempthorne lineage, whose philosophy of plundering mountains, forests, deserts, and people has caused so much ruin.On The Black Mesa nightmare returns posted 11 months ago 7 Responses

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  Bureau of Lame Management

  BLM doesn't even pretend to manage its land any more.  They are all about oil and gas leasing, and have been since the current administration took office.  The situation will not change until we get a new head of Interior.  Norton and Kempthorne have been disasters.

  Jabailo, your grand agrarian experiment has already been tried.  It's called Kansas, and it's not all that.On BLM proposes opening wilderness-y areas in Utah to oil and gas drilling posted 1 year ago 5 Responses

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  Roadless Rule should stay

  Backcut, you appear to be attacking strawmen with sweeping generalizations.  Most mainstream environmental organizations either have scientists on staff, or consult with academia, in
  order to guide policy.  Nobody wants catastrophic fires any more than than they want clearcuts.

  Now, back to the topic...

  The Roadless Rule was the most-commented proposed action that USFS ever put forth.  It generated over a million public comments, 95 percent of them in favor of the rule.  The reasons for the
  rule were and still are scientifically sound.  Completely aside from logging, roads bring invasive species, increased fire danger, and habitat fragmentation to a forest.  It would be wise policy, for either presidential candidate, to leave the Roadless Rule intact.On Where the presidential candidates stand on public-lands issues posted 1 year ago 27 Responses