Bush plans to sell off our national forests!!!

Date: Aug 10, 2006 2:47 PM

Hi Cynthia,

The Bush administration recently announced plans to sell off at least 800,000 acres of our national forest to raise cash for the federal budget.

The outcry over the sale is growing quickly. Several ex-Forest Service chiefs wrote to Congress urging that the plan be thrown out. Several senators have voiced outrage and pledged to stop the sell off. We're getting stronger - but we haven't built up enough strength yet to kill the plan outright.

Please ask your senators to stop the sale on our heritage lands. Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

Take action! Click on the link below or paste it into your browser:

http://www.earth-tones.com/earthtones.asp?id=4&id4=ES


Background

The White House plan could affect national forest land in 35 states. And another federal agency, the Bureau of Land Management, has orders to find buyers for another $350 million worth of additional public land.

In a letter to Congress last week, the former Forest Service chiefs warned that approving the sale, bad enough on its own merits, was a slippery slope. If the Bush plan succeeds, they cautioned, Congress will feel free to turn to our wild heritage any time the government runs short on cash.

Ask your senators to stop the White House proposal and to approach Sen. Pete Domenici, the powerful chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will vote on the sell-off scheme. Despite mounting public pressure, Sen. Domenici has so far failed to publicly oppose the plan.

Take action! Click on the link below or paste it into your browser:

http://www.earth-tones.com/earthtones.asp?id=4&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Doug Vincent
Earth Tones Operations Director
DougV@earth-tones.com
http://www.EarthTones.com

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.

i just found out about this and find it to be very disturbing....

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attacked the plan as "crazy," saying: "Here the administration wants to pass more tax cuts for the rich, and to pay the bill, they want to sell off public land - our nation's natural heritage."

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13833486.htm

and then, depending on the location, either drill, build corporate offices, build McMansions and stripmalls, or turn it into a for-profit theme park.

I smell a conspiracy.

Roadless areas go on the auction block

Thursday's sale affects 2,500 acres in White River National Forest

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060809/NEWS/108090046/0/FRONTPAGE

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http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=AT&Date=20060809&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=108090046&Ref=AR&MaxW=550&title=1

The view of Clear Fork roadless area below Huntsman Ridge, as seen from an EcoFlight plane, could changes as leases for gas wells are being sold. (Mark Fox/The Aspen Times)

To the observer rising in a tiny plane from the Garfield County Airport in Rifle, natural gas drilling platforms and drill rigs are immediately apparent. In many cases, the spacing between drill platforms is five acres, with webs of roads connecting them.

With the price of natural gas going through the roof, the crunch to drill is expanding out from areas with huge numbers of active oil and gas wells and into undeveloped roadless areas in Colorado's national forests.

On Thursday, about 2,500 acres of designated roadless land in the White River National Forest - and 20,000 acres or roadless areas in Colorado - go on the auction block for leasing to oil and gas companies. The sale takes place even while a gubernatorial task force is finishing its recommendations on preservation and development of roadless areas around the state.

Gov. Bill Owens appointed the task force after President Bush invalidated roadless protections at the end of the Clinton administration. Clinton declared tens of millions of acres throughout the West as official roadless areas following one of the lengthiest and most far-reaching public review processes in the history of the U.S. Forest Service. When Bush removed the roadless protection, which made mining, drilling and logging off limits in areas that had yet to be developed, he directed governors of affected states to recommend how the roadless lands should be used.

The statewide task force is now finalizing its recommendations. The Forest Service is proceeding with the gas leases in a White River roadless area despite the fact that Colorado as a state has yet to say what it wants done with its roadless areas.

snip

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The number of gas wells on the Roan Plateau is predicted to jump from 1,100 to 13,000 in three years. (Mark Fox/The Aspen Times)

more...

show cave structures? This kind of information would make seemingly wild land, far more valuable. I think the government should be thorough to make sure a few ex-government workers, or Bush cronies aren't in the know on something like this, though I really think the sale of these lands shows an absolute failure from Bush to protect our common lands. No surprise, though. Republicans think it's okay to use their public positions to steal land from the public for their own personal gains. It's a passtime where I live. I hope all those fuckers rot in hell. They only understand real estate, and they'll fuck up the community to make sure they make the most of their investment.

I am sure they are taking bids on the twin also. Bush is hardly the peoples President or works for us. Small things have been sold off already. Or they are trying. Graveyards, city parks, city water works. The GOP think that every thing should be done by private business. Look what they have done to the military. Water front land it just in with it all also. The rich get together and buy up any way to get to the water on ocean and lakes.