BLUERIBBON COALITION, INC.

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
DATE: February 4, 2009

BLUERIBBON COALITION EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT HOUSE VOTE ON OMNIBUS LAND BILL

POCATELLO, ID (February 4) - The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national trail-based recreation group, today voiced concern that the U.S. House of Representatives will "grease through" over 160 public lands bills, thereby avoiding the public review these bills deserve. In addition, BRC cautioned that recreational access tenets in some of the bills may have been intentionally removed in closed-door proceedings.

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 was fast-tracked through the U.S. Senate and could see a vote in the House as early as next week. The bill (S 22) is over 1,200 pages long with over 160 different bills, designates 2.2 million acres of Wilderness, identifies three new national parks, 10 national heritage areas, and designates over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers.

BRC expressed concern that access protection provisions were apparently stripped from several of the bills involved. For example, new sections were added in the Washington County (Utah) Growth and Conservation Act regarding closure of roads and trails and limiting how Bureau of Land Management funds generated by the Act can be used.

"It is important that local collaborative efforts be sustained as legislation moves in Congress. Pushing these bills into law via the omnibus package allows powerful special interest groups in Washington D.C. to eliminate hard-won local consensus and ram through provisions that are contrary to the desires of those, on all sides of the issues, who actually visit these remarkable lands." said Brian Hawthorne, BRC's Public Lands Policy Director.

"This bill collectively reduces recreational opportunity, feeds millions of earmarked dollars into pet projects, will cost billions to implement, and provides very little of the protection it is touted to deliver," added Greg Mumm, the Coalition's Executive Director. "If this behemoth bill is any indication of the aggressive agenda in store for this congress, the American recreating public faces difficult challenges ahead," Mumm concluded.

Mumm said BRC will be encouraging its 600,000 members and supporters to contact their political representatives and encourage them to work to restore the locally-generated compromise provisions in these bills and oppose changes demanded by the large preservationist lobby in Washington D.C.

# # #

The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible recreation, and encourages individual environmental stewardship.. It represents over 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members, for a combined total of over 600,000 recreationists nationwide. 1-800-258-3742. www.sharetrails.org

This goes far and beyond land access issues, It locks up valuble resorces for ever.
Plan on sending more $$$ out of the USA

Wayne

Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003


Updated, S22 Omnibus House Vote Delayed Till After Feb 23rd


-----All S22 opponents must deluge their Congressman with calls opposing
this giant omnibus land grab bill. Remember, the House is using the Senate
number S 22.

-----Even if you have called before, call again and again. Keep up the
pressure.

-----You must make your Congressman responsible for his or her vote on S22.
He or she must know you and your allies will not forget and that he or she
will be held accountable. That is the only way you can compete in this new
Congress. Organize teams to call your Congressman and keep calling.



See Below How Your Senators Voted On S22 Omnibus Lands Bill


You want to make sure you give your Senators the credit they deserve.


-----If you do nothing else, please forward this message to as many people
as possible on your list.


-----House Vote On S22 Likely After February 23rd – Call Now!

-----You must deluge your Congressman with opposition to S22.

Call, fax, e-mail and visit your Congressman.

-----Every Congressman must know in advance there will be a cost to them
associated with their vote on S22.

-----If you fail to make them believe that, you will have no chance to
compete in Congress in the next two years.


-----Call your friends, neighbors, and as many others as you can.

-----S22 Includes Babbitt 26,000,000 Acre National Landscape Conservation
System.

-----150 Wilderness And Lock Up Bills Included In Omnibus Land Grab.

American Land Rights Will Send The Results Showing How Your Congressman
Voted.

You Have Little Time To Call And Make A Difference.


-----Background

Dear Land Rights Ally:

You can help stop the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill (S22) that passed the
Senate a few days ago. You now must focus on your Congressman.

It’s critical that you call, write, fax and e-mail too. You don’t have time
to use US Mail. Send your letters by fax or e-mail. Time is urgent.

The Omnibus Federal Lands bill is one of the largest land grabs in history.
Just one bill in the 150 bill package, the National Landscape Conservation
System (NLCS), covers 26 million acres and will lock you out of BLM
multiple-use, energy lands, national monuments and Wild and Scenic Rivers.
Grazing, mining, forestry and many other uses will be greatly affected.

S22 will add dozens of new National Heritage Areas and Wilderness Areas that
will eventually be a land use control network strangling hundreds of
thousands of local people and rural America.

-----You can see a map of the National Landscape Conservation System at
www.landrights.org. Go to the home page to get more information about the
National Landscape Conservation System and how much damage it will do to
you.


In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) bought votes by putting
every bill he could find in the package to buy off opposing Senators. In
other words, he looked for a bill that each Senator wanted and put it in the
bill. That way few Senators would oppose him even though this bill is
likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and do great damage in their
individual state.

An example is Senator Lisa Murkowski in Alaska. S22 puts a road through a
Wildnerness area that she wants. So she is ignoring the National Landscape
Conservation System, also in the bill, that will do great harm to the people
of Alaska. Senator Murkowski voted yes on S22.

The House is using the Senate number S22. The vote will be soon. The
danger from an omnibus bill is that they package all the lands, Wilderness,
Wild and Scenic Rivers and any other bills of that type they can find into
one bill. It’s likely your Congressman has something in the bill.

The strategy is that by giving every Congressman something in the bill they
want, they won’t oppose the bill when it comes up for passage. They won’t
look at all the other bad stuff. And the leaders are usually right.

-----You need to insist that your Congressman ask for a vote on each
individual bill. Let your Congressman know you will hold him or her
accountable for the vote on S22.

-----
American Land Rights will send you the vote results so you can give your
Congressman proper credit.
-----

A major problem is that S22 is over 1,000 pages long including over 150
separate bills. It’s likely that not a single Congressman has read the
entire bill. So there are bills included that your Congressman would likely
oppose if they came up as a single bill.

This practice of using omnibus bills puts you in grave danger.

When you call your Congressman (every Congressman can be called at
202-225-3121) you must not only oppose the various land grab portions of the
bill, but you need to make a big deal about your
Congressman voting for an omnibus bill where he has never read the entire
bill.

You need to make an issue of the fact that he is not protecting you or doing
his job. If they have not read the bill, they should not vote for it.

Each bill should be considered on its own merits and not as a fruit salad.
Everything we have told you in the past about S22 in the Senate is the same
for S22 in the House.

Here are just a few reasons why you should oppose S22.

-----1. S22 puts into law the 26,000,000 acre Babbitt National Landscape
Conservation System locking up energy and access to Federal lands. It locks
you out. S22 puts National Park type land use controls over every BLM
National Monuments, Wild and Scenic River and lots of other areas.

-----2. Creates many new Wilderness Areas and Heritage Areas. Millions of
acres locked up.

-----3. S22 takes about 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300
million barrels of oil out of production in Wyoming, according to the Bureau
of Land Management. The energy resources walled off by this bill would
equal our domestic natural gas production for 15 years.

-----4. S22 would spend $1 billion on a water project designed to save 500
salmon in Calif. At $2 million a head, each salmon would be worth far more
than its weight in gold.

-----5. S22 would spend $3.5 million to celebrate the 450th birthday of St.
Augustine Florida in 2015.

-----6. S22 spends $250,000 to help bureaucrats decide how to designate
Alexander Hamilton’s boyhood home.

-----7. S22 spends $5 million on botanical gardens in Hawaii and Florida.

----- These are only the tip of the iceberg. It goes on and on and on.
There are over 150 different bills in S22. So the total cost will be in the
billions of dollars. The regulatory and land use limitation implications of
this bill are enormous.



-- Action Items – You must call your Congressman before Feb. 23rd.

-----1. Please join other landowners, users of Federal lands, and rural
Americans to defeat the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill – S22. Remember that
this bill includes the dreaded 26,000,000 acre Babbitt National Landscape
Conservation System.

-----2. Please send a letter by fax or e-mail to your Congressman opposing
the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill – S22. You do not have time to use regular
mail.

-----3. You may call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Ask for the staff
person who handles Federal lands issues and in particular the Omnibus
Federal Lands Bill. Ask for their fax number and e-mail address.


There is no way to overstate how damaging S22, the Omnibus Federal Lands
Bill, is to you. It affects everyone and is the largest land grab in the
last 30 years. ALRA is sending letters, faxes and e-mails to hundreds of
thousands of people.

It must be an all out effort. This is an incredible land grab. Please do
your part. Please help build a broad based coalition nationally to stop
this incredible land grab.


Chuck Cushman
American Land Rights Association
(360) 687-3087
ccushman@pacifier.com


-----How Your Senator Voted on S 22 – Omnibus Federal Land Grab

-----Here is the vote broken down by State. Grouped by Home State

Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Begich (D-AK), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Salazar (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Not Voting Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Yea Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Not Voting McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Yea Tester (D-MT), Yea
Nebraska: Johanns (R-NE), Nay Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Yea Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Not Voting Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay Graham (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia: Warner (D-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Enzi (R-WY), Yea

Make sure your let your Senators know in person and by letter that you know
how they voted and you will remember. They must get the credit they
deserve.


If you wish to unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the
subject line. If you know of others who would like to receive these alerts,
reply with their e-mail addresses.


-----Please forward this message as widely as possible.

-----It is incredibly important for you to forward this message. By
forwarding the message, you can help get many thousands of copies of this
e-mail as well as faxes and letters distributed. Please consider sending
American Land Rights an emergency donation to help us get this message out
to others.

-----You can donate to American Land Rights to help pay for all the
thousands of letters, faxes and e-mail we’ll be sending out about the Y to Y
Land Grab over the next few weeks at www.landrights.org or mail your check
to American Land Rights, PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604. Thank you in
advance for your support.

-----Other organizations that wish to forward this message are free to
modify this e-mail to suit their needs.

Close, but no cigar..........
Let's thank the goodies and spank the baddies.............

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-22

There were also 6 that did not vote.
Those 6 could have either helped pass or fail this bill.

So, we need to write to those 6 and ask for their no vote the next time this comes up.

those that did not vote.
alabama - bobby bright
Ca - George Radanovich
Ca - Gary Miller
Fl - suzanne Kosmas
La - Rodney Alexander
NY - John Hall

Todd

Plan on sending more $$$ out of the USA

We can help you with that too:) Those US$ go twice as far in New Zealand at present.

Certainly a close shave for 4x4 recreation and a whole heap of other land uses with the defeat of that bill.

Peter

http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/34805/2223630450050172860S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2223630450050172860FJYdNx)

BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!

Update on Omnibus Public Lands Legislation

Greg Mumm called early this morning with an update on the Omnibus Public Lands bill. I thought I'd pass it along to our Action Alert subscribers. Greg said there is a lot of uncertainty about where this massive bill goes next. Greg wanted me to caution BRC's members: the omnibus package is far from dead and the Wilderness lobby is working hard to jam it through without the normal congressional review process.

An article by Noelle Straub and Eric Bontrager from E&E news (http://www.eenews.net) quoted West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall as saying he knew the vote was close, but that "a lot of groups came out of the woodwork" in the final days leading up to the vote. The article also quoted Utah Congressman Rob Bishop as saying it was a mistake for the Senate to pass such a large package. "If they have to lump these bills together, they could easily pass it by removing any bills members object to, which would truly make it a noncontroversial bill," Bishop was reported as saying.

In order to be passed, normal House rules would have to be suspended, which require a two-thirds majority vote. The final vote was 282 to 144, one vote short of the 2/3 margin.

Straub and Bontrager reported that an amendment to ensure no public lands were closed to hunting and fishing, offered by Pennsylvania Congressman Jason Altmire, was a key factor in the vote. The story also speculated on possible scenarios where the bill may still pass under "closed rules."

It is clear that the legislation contained in the omnibus package is not dead. Worse, possible scenarios are being considered that will prohibit full review as well as opportunity to offer amendments.

BRC will keep our members posted and let you know the next development in this bizarre chapter in public land politics.

Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102

PUBLIC LANDS: Omnibus clears Senate, heads for House vote next week (03/19/2009)

Eric Bontrager and Noelle Straub, E&E reporters

The House will take up the public lands, water and natural resources omnibus bill next week, potentially sending the measure to President Obama for his signature.

Today, the Senate passed the bill for the second time this year, 77-20, as part of a complicated maneuver to prevent House Republicans from offering contentious amendments.

House National Parks Subcommittee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said he expects the House will move quickly to approve the omnibus. "It will happen next week," he said. "I'm hearing Thursday from the leadership, so it'll probably be Tuesday."

The bill will come up under a rule, a House Democratic aide said.

Assuming the House passes the omnibus, Grijalva said he would like to begin work on a new another lands package, including new wilderness designations, for consideration later this year or early next year.

Before today's vote, senators accepted one amendment but rejected two others that Democrats allowed Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to offer as part of a deal in exchange for allowing the bill to proceed. Yesterday they rejected three others.

Coburn, who placed "holds" on many of the bills in the omnibus for months last year, said the bill contains earmarks, limits energy development on public lands, and is an example of "hyper-parochialism" under which senators put items they wanted for their home states over the long-term good of the country.

The Coburn amendment that was accepted by voice vote would clarify the bill to allow the "casual collection" of rocks in parks that may contain a fossil, preventing criminal prosecution of visitors who unintentionally take a fossil. It would keep penalties for those who knowingly take or sell fossils from parks.

One of the amendments defeated today would have struck certain sections that Coburn deems frivolous, such as the $3.5 million to celebrate the 450th anniversary of St. Augustine, Fla., in 2015, and a salmon restoration project in California. Coburn said the California provision would amount to the government spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect 500 fish. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said his amendment would have destroyed a widely supported, court-approved settlement of an 18-year legal battle. The Senate voted 70-27 to table, or kill, the amendment.

The other amendment would have required federal agencies to issue an annual report detailing the total amount of land they own and the cost to taxpayers of the ownership of the land. It was tabled, 58-39.

Last week, the House fell two votes shy of passing the bill under suspension of the rules, a maneuver that shields legislation from amendment or a motion to recommit but requires a two-thirds majority for passage. Senate leaders then devised a strategy to use a bill that had already passed the House -- H.R. 146, a proposal to protect Revolutionary War battlefields -- and strip its contents, replacing it with the omnibus lands bill. Because the House already passed H.R. 146, the chamber will only need to vote to concur with the Senate amendment.

The omnibus would designate more than 2 million acres of wilderness in nine states and would establish three new national park units, a new national monument, three new national conservation areas, more than 1,000 miles of national wild and scenic rivers and four new national trails. It would enlarge the boundaries of more than a dozen existing national park units and establish 10 new national heritage areas.

It would also authorize numerous land exchanges and conveyances to help local Western communities address water resource and supply issues, and includes provisions to improve land management.

The revised omnibus bill will also include language from Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) meant to ensure that the omnibus would not close off lands that are already open to hunting and fishing.

Conservation groups praised the Senate passage.

The Wilderness Society's Paul Spitler said the Senate move "clears the most significant hurdle to protecting some of the country's most cherished landscapes."

"These wonderful landscapes are under tremendous pressure, and their value to local communities and to all Americans who treasure our natural heritage will remain long after the country has recovered from the economic crisis," Spitler said in a statement, although he expressed concern over a provision allowing construction of a road through Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

"Today, Congress has helped ensure that we will have a wild legacy to pass on to our children and grandchildren," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "This bill helps guarantee that future generations will be able to hike in pristine forests from California to West Virginia. They'll be able to fish America's untouched rivers, watch antelope migrate through Wyoming, and take their families camping in the stunning Rocky Mountains."