Tag: Bears Ears

Fri – 2/1: MORE positive actions! Bears Ears, Social Security, and voting reforms!

If you missed yesterday’s positive actions: legislatively protecting Title IX, getting government contractors back pay and stopping these destructive and expensive #TrumpShutdowns…go here. Or do them again!

Action #1 – Take back Bears Ears!

(From Jim Hines, Team Member, Sierra Club Protect Wild Utah Team) 

Greetings Public Lands Activists:
 Now is our chance…our legislation to restore the beautiful landscape and natural ecosystems of Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah has just been introduced into the U.S. Hose of Representatives by our great legislative friends Congressman Gallego (D-AZ) and Congresswoman Haaland (D-NM). 
HR 871 would expand the current national monument from 200,000 acres to the original designation of 1.9 million acres. After several years of hard work we were able to have President Obama designate and protect the lands of Bears Ears NM in 2019, then in 2017 President Trump reduced the size of the national monument to its present size.

Continue reading “Fri – 2/1: MORE positive actions! Bears Ears, Social Security, and voting reforms!” →

Tues. 4/3 – Part 2 – Comment now on the BLM’s proposed “land use” plans, due 4/11 and 4/13.

The Valley of the Gods was included in Bears Ears but not in Shash Jáa. | Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management

You’re saying, “Hey, didn’t we just comment on this? Why are we having to comment AGAIN?” Let’s take a quick moment to review.

Native Americans spent years campaigning to protect Bears Ears, a distinctive site where Navajo believe their people rose from the earth. A coalition first tried congressional initiatives, which were blocked or ignored. They then appealed directly to Obama and then- Interior Secretary Sally Jewel, using the “Antiquities Act“. On December 28, 2016, President Obama designated 1.4 million acres containing ancient cliff dwellings and an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites as “Bears Ears National Monument”.

Grand Staircase/Escalante, designated as a national monument in 1996, is a 1.9 million acres area rich in unique rock formation scientific, ecological, and paleontological resources.

Unfortunately, all these treasures are sitting on top of the country’s largest coal deposits. And uranium. And oil.

Continue reading “Tues. 4/3 – Part 2 – Comment now on the BLM’s proposed “land use” plans, due 4/11 and 4/13.” →

Tues. 4/3 – Part 1 – Say “NO” three times.

“Together, we will usher in a bright new future of wonder and wealth.” 

– Donald Trump, Dec. 4th, 2017

When Trump destroyed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase/Escalante in favor of the ranching and extractive industries with his heart-monitor signature, he became part of a repeating cycle of American history. A history of genocide of native peoples, of the casual taking and destruction of natural resources, and the disrespect for non-european cultural heritage and science.

What he did on Dec. 4th, however, wasn’t legal. If it were, the three bills proposed by Utah’s GOP congresspeople wouldn’t be necessary. HR 4532 and HR 4558 intends to codify and retroactively legalize Trump’s executive order to reduce Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half. HR 3990 modifies the Antiquities Act to effectively prevent any president from establishing significant national monuments while allowing them to abolish existing monuments with little restriction.

If we all work together, we can stop the three bills that would legitimize this corporate land grab.

Take time this Spring Break week to organize your relatives and friends in red states to inundate their legislators with one simple call to say “NO” three times. Continue reading “Tues. 4/3 – Part 1 – Say “NO” three times.” →

Bears Ears – 3/19 – LAST day to comment!

Stop destruction of Bears Ears  and Grand Staircase/Escalante.

Comments due TODAY – March 19th!

On Feb. 2nd, companies began staking mining claims on land tracts removed from Uth’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. They will get the opportunity to permanently despoil some of the most beautiful land in the country for literally a few dollars an acre.

In addition, a rider in the new appropriations bill, Sec. 433 of HR 3354, blocks the EPA from implementing, enforcing or finalizing requirements that hard rock mining sites carry insurance to cover environmental damage. This provision will likely leave cleanup costs to the taxpayers under Superfund instead of making the responsible party pay for the damage they caused. Destruction, pollution, AND corruption! Hallmarks of this administration.

Didn’t read the series? Start here and work your way backwards.

The Denver Post … A large waste-rock pile that is part of the Commodore Mine in Creede is one of two sites the EPA would be targeting as a Superfund site. The other is the Nelson Tunnel which is nearby. (Photo By RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Continue reading “Bears Ears – 3/19 – LAST day to comment!” →

Friday 3/16 – A walk down 3 dark alleys…

Action #1 – “This is the use of religion to hurt people because you disapprove of who they are.”

–  Harper Jean Tobin of the National Center for Transgender Equality. 

Part 1 – Written comments – Comments Due March 27th
Public comments are due on March 27th regarding these new HHS rules that would allow physicians and health care workers to opt out of procedures that conflict with their religious teachings. This will have a significant impact on women’s and LGBTQ rights, which are already not fully protected by the current system. In fact, according to the Center for American Progress, 29% of transgender people reported that “a doctor or other health care provider refused to see them because of their actual or perceived gender identity.” We can submit our public comments here (DUE MARCH 27).

Part 2 – Contact your legislators

Stop this hard-right religious bullying now. Make sure your legislators are co-sponsoring   The Equality Act, H.R.2282/S. 1006, which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect against discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. to support {Rep.- H.R. 2282/Sen. – S. 1006} the Equality Act. (Click on the links to see how your legislator voted.
Thank Rep. Brownley and Sens. Feinstein and Harris for their support.)

Legislator Contact Info. Continue reading “Friday 3/16 – A walk down 3 dark alleys…” →

Trump The Destroyer.

BREAKING NEWS:
 The White House has just told us that on Monday December 4th, The President of the United States will fly to Salt Lake City Utah to sign documents to officially reduce the size by 90% of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southeastern Utah.
The President will only make a quick stop in Salt Lake City to do this but we will have massive crowds on hand at the SLC airport to protect the President’s action. The American people do not want their national monuments tampered with.
On Tuesday December 5th we will be in court.
@POTUS
@SecretaryZinke
Jim Hines
Sierra Club Protect Wild Utah Campaign
For a review of what’s at stake here:

https://indivisibleventura.org/2017/10/20/enviro-pocalypse-now/

https://indivisibleventura.org/2017/08/29/update-on-our-national-monuments-from-sierra-clubs-jim-hines-action-call-829/#more-22374

https://indivisibleventura.org/2017/08/05/this-week-in-resistance-welcome-to-your-heritage-bring-a-mask/

Continue reading “Trump The Destroyer.” →