Posts Tagged ‘Ken Salazar’

7 Questions About Wild Horses for Interior Secretary Nominee Sally Jewell

Posted: March 7, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Source: – as published in The Atlantic with featured video from the Cloud Foundation

Her predecessor presided over roundups and the sale of horses for slaughter. Without equine or ranching experience, what will this former executive do to right the wrongs?
Baby Wild Burros Captured and Imprisoned by the BLM ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Baby Wild Burros Captured and Imprisoned by the BLM ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

In Thursday on Capitol Hill, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a confirmation hearing to consider the nomination of Sally Jewell for the position of Secretary of the Interior. She comes to the room offering some measure of comfort to two of the primary constituencies that care most about the post. Big oil? Check — she worked for years for Mobil Oil, out in the oil and gas fields of Oklahoma. Environmentalists? Check — she comes to Washington, D.C., from R.E.I., the “outdoor recreation” company, where she was a longtime advocate for conservation.

But Jewell is mostly a blank slate when it comes to two key areas of the Interior Department’s portfolio which are in famous and direct conflict with one another. The first relates to the federal government’s complicated relationship with the ranching and livestock industries. Jewell does not appear to have much of a public record when it comes to her views on the concept of welfare ranching – the age-old, under-reported pork-barrel policy by which the federal government practically gives away the use of our public land to private ranching and farming interests by means of well-below-market lease rates.

The second unknown area of Jewell’s resume involves the fate of nation’s wild horses, which roam public lands and which have suffered greatly over the past few years as a result of the ruinous policies of Jewell’s would-be predecessor, Ken Salazar. For wild horse advocates, the good news is that Jewell doesn’t come from a longtime ranching family, as Salazar did, or have a long record of hostility to the nation’s herds, as he does.

The bad news is that Jewell may today know so little about the legal status of the horses, and so little about the political and economic background of their current predicament. that she may not be able to quickly focus on their situation. And that, these advocates fear, could be catastrophic to the herds.

Despite Jewell’s background with Mobil, she will likely be tagged on Thursday by Republicans for being too much of an conservationist. And despite her history of work on conservation causes, she may be tagged by Democrats for her career in oil — and also for her benefactor’s disappointing record of conservation during his first term in the White House. In either instance, the topic of wild horses isn’t likely to be raised at all. The ranching and livestock lobby certainly doesn’t want to bring attention to their recent success in ridding the range lands of the horses. And the horse lobby isn’t now strong enough to force a senator, a committee — or Congress as a whole — to yet raise a ruckus.

With all this in mind, here are the seven horse-related issues Jewell should have to address before she is confirmed for the post.

1. The slaughter of wild horses. Under the direction of Secretary Salazar, and at the behest of the powerful ranching, livestock, oil and gas lobbies, the Bureau of Land Management in the past few years has rounded up approximately 37,000 of the nation’s wild horses from public lands. These roundups are cruel, often deadly, and always hazardous to the health and safety of the animals. Madame Secretary-designate, please take a few minutes to watch this video:

e federal government now holds these horses in cramped pens at significant expense to taxpayers. In the meantime, the BLM has allowed known advocates of horse slaughter to buy thousands of these horses. As secretary, are you prepared to stop these harsh roundups, to unequivocally protect wild horses from slaughter, and to impose a zero-tolerance enforcement policy against those individuals who seek to buy them for slaughter as well as against those BLM employees who knowingly sell them to these individuals? If so, how exactly?

2. The care of captured wild horses. In addition to the economic burden to taxpayers of the roundup and corralling of all these horses, horse advocates are growing increasingly concerned about the conditions many of the captured horses live in. The situation has gotten consistently worse over the years as federal and state budgets have been tightened. For example, in 2011, abused horses were removed from such conditions in Utah. Please watch this video, Madame Secretary-designate, and tell us specifically what you plan to do to better ensure that these federally protected horses are more humanely treated:

3. The long-term solution…(CONTINUED)

Click (HERE) to read the story in it’s entirety at the Atlantic and to Comment
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Interior Nominee Sally Jewell Stumps for Multi-National Corporations

Posted: February 15, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Story by Debbie Coffey ~ Director of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation
as published in the PPJ Gazette ~ Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

“…maybe she’ll be able to help the American public get an accurate count of the wild horses on their federally protected Herd Management Areas”

Obama and JewellYou’ve gotta love a gal who’d enter into a conference call with Directors of the National Parks Conservation Association by saying "What we need to be concerned about is that we don't become the icing on a turd”  and this observation alone would make Sally Jewell seem uniquely qualified to revamp the Bureau of Land Management’s disastrous Wild Horse & Burro Program.  Sally Jewell is President Obama’s new choice to replace Ken Salazar as the Secretary of the Department of Interior.

While it was amusing when Secretary Salazar recently threatened to punch out a journalist and then had to apologize after a lot of bad publicity, it was the only thing to smile about during his tenure at the top of the heap of BLM’s mismanaged and unethical Wild Horse & Burro Program. Not to mention the whole BP disaster that happened under Salazar’s watch.

Since Sally Jewell worked in banking for many years, maybe she’ll be able to help the American public get an accurate count of the wild horses on their federally protected Herd Management Areas.

While wild horse advocates hope that the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior will do something to stop the BLM’s eradication of wild horses, just because we see photos of Jewell paddling a kayak or read that she likes to hike, we shouldn’t automatically assume that she’ll want to help save the wild horses.

The extractive industries that are leasing public lands for as little as $2 an acre have their hopes up, too (and they have a lot of money and lobbyists). “Tim Wigley, president of the Western Energy Alliance, said he hoped that time in the fields would translate into expanded oil and gas drilling on federal lands. ‘We hope to see a better balance of productive development on non-park, non-wilderness public lands that enhances the wealth of America and creates jobs while protecting the environment.”

What do we know about Sally Jewell?

Media sources report things like: “Now 56, Jewell, was born in the UK. Her family moved to the US when she was four, and she grew up camping and sailing in Puget Sound, Washington state. She studied mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, and married a fellow engineer a week after graduation. The couple have two grown children. Jewell started her career with Mobil Oil, working for three years as an oil engineer in Oklahoma and Colorado. But she spent the next 19 years in banking. She joined REI as chief operating officer in 2000, and rose to chief executive five years later.”

It has been mentioned that Sally Jewell is on the Board of Directors of the Initiative for Global Development (IGD), but nobody seems to have looked into or written about this organization. The Initiative for Global Development website states it “drives global poverty reduction by advancing catalytic business growth and investment in the developing world” and makes “strategic investments in high-need, high-potential regions, with a current focus on Africa... and facilitate business-driven development…” Notice the words “advancing catalytic business growth and investment,” “strategic investments” and “facilitate business-driven development.” Although this PR spin makes it seem like their goal is to reduce poverty, these multi-national corporations seem to be focusing on developing their business interests in “frontier markets.”

The IGD website states “IGD member companies collectively generate more than $880 billion in annual revenue with an operating presence that spans the African continent.”

It kind of sounds like these multi-national corporations are helping themselves, doesn’t it?

Also, on the IGD website, is an article about the World Economic Forum’s “New Vision for Agriculture,” and it states: “IGD’s approach to increasing poverty-reducing agricultural investment in Africa complements many of the New Vision and Grow Africa objectives, and indeed shares a number of value chains and country targets. Building on Grow Africa’s priorities, we are identifying and stewarding discrete deals that will address gaps in priority value chains of our member companies.” Are the poor people IGD’s “priority value chains?”

Does it seem like these corporations might be going after the resources in resource rich Africa, and taking advantage of cheap labor? The Chairman of IGD’s Board of Directors, Robert A. Mosbacher, Jr., is a former President & CEO of OPIC, former Chairman of Mosbacher Energy Co., and is now on the Board of Directors of Devon Energy. Devon Energy Corporation, based in Oklahoma City, OK, is among the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producers. Another IGD Director is William D. Ruckelshaus, who among other things, served on the Board of Directors of Monsanto.

  • Members of IGD include current and former executives of multi-national corporations, and seem to include (or have included):
  • Robert B. Shapiro, former Chairman & CEO of Monsanto
  • William Ayer, President & CEO of Alaska Air Group, which owns Coeur D’ Alene Mines Corp. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co., an oil and gas exploration company. (As an aside, another Director of Alaska Air Group, J. Kenneth Thompson, is a Director of Tetra Tech, a company that prepares Resource Management Plans and Environmental Assessments for the Bureau of Land Management.)
  • J. Kenneth Thompson, is a Director of Tetra Tech, a company that prepares Resource Management Plans and Environmental Assessments for the Bureau of Land Management.)
  • Tom Clausen, former CEO of World Bank, former Chairman & CEO of Bank of America
  • Thomas R. Pickering, Sr. VP Boeing & former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
  • Ken Thompson, former Exec. VP of ARCO Mack Hogans, former Sr. VP Weyerhaeuser Co.
  • William E. Mayer, Partner, Park Avenue Equity Partners H. Stewart Parker, President & CEO, Targeted Genetics Corp.

Corporations that support IGD include

  • DuPont,
  • Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.,
  • Aon,
  • Citigroup, Inc.,
  • ContourGlobal,
  • Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd,
  • Quality Chemical Industries Ltd.,
  • Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI),
  • Sithe Global Power and
  • SouthWest Energy Ltd. (Hong Kong).

The fact that Sally Jewell is a Director of IGD, which is associated with Monsanto and DuPont (DuPont Pioneer, formerly Pioneer Hi-Bred), is troubling, because the Department of the Interior deals with land use plans that effect rural issues, and many U.S. farmers are being driven out of business by these companies. Monsanto & DuPont In 2005, The Center for Food Safety published MONSANTO vs. U.S. FARMERS. 

The Center for Food Safety just came out with a new report titled SEED GIANTS vs. U.S. Farmers. 

This new report states “Three agrochemical firms – Monsanto, DuPont and Sygenta – now control 53 percent of the global commercial seed market.” In attempts to prosecute farmers for alleged seed patent infringement, “…companies such as DuPont have hired private investigation firms such as Agro-Protection International to pursue farmers. In 2012, DuPont, the world’s second largest seed company, hired dozens of investigators to examine planting and purchasing records of Canadian farmers, as well as take samples from their fields for genetic analysis. DuPont is expanding this operation to the U.S. in 2013, hiring approximately 35 investigators, many former police officers.”

The Center for Food Safety report details how farmers are facing increased seed prices, loss of plant diversity, super weeds, bans on seed saving, technology agreements for non-GE seeds and the restriction of independent, scientific research.

At Fortune Magazine’s 2010 “Brainstorm Green Conference,” Sally Jewell spoke about a healthy environment, and was followed by Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto, who talked “about growing enough food to feed a growing global population.” However, many scientists believe that “genetically modified (GM) crops have lower yields, perform poorly in the field, use more pesticides and result in reduced profits for farmers.” Worldwide, many people have concerns about genetically engineered crops and food.

Zambia tried to turn down genetically engineered food that was donated. It is estimated that over 182,000 desperate farmers in India have committed suicide. Glyphosate, used in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready herbicide, has been said to “poison crops and soil.”

While it may be necessary for Sally Jewell to rub elbows in the business world, she works on the Board of Directors of IGD, and it is important to note that some of IGD’s members and supporters are linked to environmental harm.

We need to ask what influence these multi-national corporations, global associations and business associates might have in Jewell’s role as Secretary of the Department of the Interior. Integration of international law is already bypassing Congress and the Constitution and being implemented in Department of Interior (and other government agencies’) policies and regulations.

Hopefully, Sally Jewell will meet with and listen to the concerns of wild horse advocates and will begin an immediate overhaul the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program. We need to make sure that Congressional representatives ask Sally Jewell direct questions about the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program in her confirmation hearings.

We need to hear Jewell’s specific plans for this program, so we can get it straight from the horses’ mouth. We hope Sally Jewell will bring a positive change, but the next Secretary of the Department of the Interior, along with Congress and the American public, need to continue to hear all of our voices, loud and strong, telling them to stop the wild horse roundups, investigate the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program and save our American icons, the wild horses, from extinction.

______________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/12/25/story1.html?page=all

http://ppjg.me/2011/11/01/monsanto-mining-oil/

http://igdleaders.org/sections/whoweare/whoweare_board.asp

http://www.igdleaders.org/documents/IGD_MCC_letter_3-12-07.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/history/admin/agency/ruckelshaus.html

http://igdleaders.org/

http://igdleaders.org/sections/whoweare/whoweare_board.asp

http://igdleaders.org/sections/whoweare/whoweare_supporters.asp

http://www.weforum.org/reports/achieving-new-vision-agriculture-new-models-action

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-11-24/news/0211240015_1_genetically-modified-aid-workers http://www.i-sis.org.uk/glyphosatePoisonsCrops.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mosbacher,_Jr.

http://www.igdleaders.org/documents/IGD_MCC_letter_3-12-07.pdf

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto_in_India

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BtCottonKillsSoilandFarmers.php

http://www.greenwaycommunique.com/2010/04/brainstorm-green-first-night-speakers.html http://www.cleanupblackwell.com/faq.htm#5

http://www.laleva.org/eng/2006/04/lawsuit_alleges_dupont_contamination_of_nj_drinking_water.html

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Seed-Giants_final.pdf

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Monsanto-v-US-Farmer-2012-Update-final.pdf

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf http://www.i-sis.org.uk/RRSDSA.php

http://blog.igdleaders.org/index.php/achieving-the-world-economic-forums-new-vision-for-agriculture/

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=ALK&officerId=100133

http://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-farming/mexican-maize-transgenic-contamination-zwfz1211zhun.aspx#axzz2Km4u2y5Z

http://chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/annistonindepth/pollution.asp

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/09/tests-find-roundup-weed-killer-widespread-in-water-air.html

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto%27s_Global_Pollution_Legacy

http://www.freep.com/article/20110812/NEWS06/108120432/EPA-DuPont-failed-warn-popular-herbicide-s-danger-trees

http://www.ewg.org/release/epa-fines-teflon-maker-dupont-chemical-cover

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Wild Horse Advocates Split Over Interior Nominee

Posted: February 11, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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By MARTIN GRIFFITH as it appears in the Idaho Statesman

“Her focus appears to be on making profits off public land“
Twin Peaks Horses ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Twin Peaks Horses ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

RENO, Nev. — Wild-horse advocates may be unified in their sharp criticism of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, but they’re split over President Barack Obama’s choice to replace him.

Horse groups are hoping Recreational Equipment Inc. chief Sally Jewell will represent a shift in direction for the government’s management of wild mustangs. They note nearly 40,000 horses have been removed from the range across the West during Salazar’s four-year tenure, which ends in March.

Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, said her group “responded optimistically” to Jewell’s nomination and looks forward to opening a dialogue with her about reforming the U.S. Bureau of Land Management‘s wild horse program.

“Sally Jewell is a surprising choice, but we’re hopeful that as a conservationist and outdoor enthusiast, she’ll appreciate the important role wild horses play in our national heritage and work with us to find ways to preserve them for future generations,” Roy said. “Jewell will face many challenges as interior secretary, but time is running out for America’s wild horses and burros, so she’ll have to act quickly.”

In announcing the nomination Wednesday, Obama said Jewell has earned national recognition for her environmental stewardship at REI, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts. He also noted her experience as an engineer in oil fields and her fondness for mountain climbing, biking and skiing.

But Anne Novak, executive director of California-based Protect Mustangs, said she has doubts about Jewell because of her earlier background as a commercial banker and Mobil Oil engineer.

“I’m very concerned that an appointment coming from big oil and banking will not protect native wild horses,” Novak said. “They don’t know how to make money out of mustangs but see environmental restrictions slowing down quick profits … Her focus appears to be on making profits off public land.”

Click (HERE) to read the story in it’s entirety and to comment at the Statesman
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Sally Jewell Nominated to Replace Salazar at Interior Department

Posted: February 7, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Sally Jewell but were Afraid to Ask (unedited)

Sally_JewellWASHINGTON  — President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated outdoor business executive Sally Jewell to lead the Interior Department.

Obama said Jewell, president and chief executive at REI, has earned national recognition for her support of outdoor recreation and habitat conservation. He also noted her experience as an engineer in oil fields and her record of achievement and environmental stewardship at REI, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor use.

“She knows the link between conservation and good jobs. She knows that there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress — that, in fact, those two things need to go hand and hand,” Obama said at a White House ceremony.

Jewell is the first woman nominated for Obama’s second-term cabinet

At REI, Jewell “has shown that a company with more than $1 billion in sales can do the right thing for our planet,” Obama said. Last year, REI donated nearly $4 million to protect trails and parks, and 20 percent of the electricity used in the company’s stores comes from renewable sources.

Jewell, the first woman Obama has nominated for his Cabinet in his second term, would replace current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar if confirmed by the Senate. Salazar has held the post throughout Obama’s first term. He announced last month that he would step down in March.

Jewell, 56, emerged as a frontrunner for the Interior post in recent days, edging out better-known Democrats such as former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. The Interior job traditionally has gone to politicians from Western states. Salazar was a Colorado senator before taking over at Interior in 2009.

Jewell donated $5,000 to Obama’s re-election effort and has supported other Democrats, campaign finance records show.

Lack of diversity draws criticism

The White House faced criticism that the new Cabinet lacked diversity after Obama tapped a string of white men for top posts, but Obama promised more diverse nominees were in the queue for other jobs.

Jewell’s confirmation also would put a prominent representative from the business community in the president’s Cabinet. REI is a $2 billion-a-year company and has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for.

Jewell was born in England, but moved to the Seattle area before age 4 and is a U.S. citizen.

In 2011, Jewell introduced Obama at a White House conference on the “America’s Great Outdoors” initiative, noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry supports 6.5 million jobs. She also appeared at a 2009 White House event on health care.

Buds

Buds

Under Salazar, the Interior Department pushed renewable power such as solar and wind and oversaw a moratorium on offshore drilling after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium was lifted in October 2010, although offshore drilling operations did not begin for several more months.

The Interior Department: A massive operation

The Interior Department manages more than 500 million acres in national parks and other public lands, and more than 1 billion acres offshore, overseeing energy, mining operations and recreation. The department also provides services to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes.

Jewell’s nomination was hailed by conservation and business groups alike.

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune called Jewell a champion in the effort to connect children with nature and said she has “a demonstrated commitment to preserving the higher purposes public lands hold for all Americans — recreation, adventure, and enjoyment.

The Western Energy Alliance, which represents the oil and natural gas industry in the West, also welcomed Jewell’s nomination.

“Her experience as a petroleum engineer and business leader will bring a unique perspective to an office that is key to our nation’s energy portfolio,” said Tim Wigley, the group’s president.

Wigley said his group hopes Jewell will work to develop oil and gas on non-park, non-wilderness public lands.

Jewell’s appointment comes as Democrats and environmental groups are urging Obama to step up efforts to conserve public lands in his second term.

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Tuesday that Obama should adopt a principle in which every acre of public land that is leased to the oil and gas industry is matched by an acre permanently protected for conservation or recreation.

Over the past four years, more than 6 million acres of public lands have been leased for oil and gas, compared with 2.6 million acres permanently protected, according to U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Jewell, who is married with two grown children, was paid more than $2 million as REI’s CEO in 2011. She contributed $5,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee set up by Obama and the Democratic Party, according to federal election records. She has contributed to Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and a political action committee that supports Democrats.

Jewell also was on the board of directors of Avista Corp., a Spokane-based power utility, from 1997 through 2003. U.S. Securities and Exchange documents show that in her last full year as an Avista board member, Jewell held more than 15,600 shares in the utility and received $50,000 in director’s fees.

In 2004, federal prosecutors charged that Avista played a role in a 2000 deal that allowed then-energy giant Enron to sell a $3 million turbine to the northwest utility firm. Prosecutors did not criminally charge Avista, but said the utility agreed to buy the turbine before a larger deal was completed — a move that aided Enron in hiding the turbine deal from its auditors.

Jewell was on Avista’s audit and finance committee when the utility bought the turbine in 2000. Avista was not criminally charged in the Enron indictment and none of the utility’s officials, including Jewell, were cited in the charges. Avista officials at the time denied any knowledge of Enron’s internal moves.

Houston-based Enron collapsed in 2001 amid fraud and corruption charges.

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Obama to Nominate CEO of Outdoor Equipment Giant REI to Become Interior Secretary

Posted: February 6, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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By , of the Washington Post

Where does this leave the Wild Horses & Burros?
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images - Sally Jewell, president and CEO of REI, introduces President Barack Obama during a February 2011 event in the East Room of the White House to promote the America's Great Outdoors Initiative which encourages Americans to connect with the outdoors and conserve the environment.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images – Sally Jewell, president and CEO of REI, introduces President Barack Obama during a February 2011 event in the East Room of the White House to promote the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative which encourages Americans to connect with the outdoors and conserve the environment.

President Obama on Wednesday will nominate Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department, according to a White House official who asked not to be identified because the public announcement has not yet been made.

The choice of Jewell — who began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp. and worked as a commercial banker before heading a nearly $2 billion outdoors equipment company — represents an unconventional choice for a post usually reserved for career politicians from the West.

But while she boasts less public policy experience than other candidates who had been under consideration, Jewell — who will have to be confirmed by the Senate — has earned national recognition for her management skills and support for outdoor recreation and habitat conservation.

In 2011 Jewell introduced Obama at the White House conference on “America’s Great Outdoor Initiative,” noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry supports 6.5 million jobs.

Jewell, who is being nominated to succeed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, would take over at a time when many conservationists are pressing Obama to take bolder action on land conservation. Salazar devoted much of his tenure to both promoting renewable energy on public land and managing the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

On Tuesday former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt gave a speech at the National Press Club calling on the president to set aside one acre permanently for conservation for every acre he leases for oil and gas development.

“It’s that simple: one to one,” Babbitt said. “So far, under President Obama, industry has been winning the race as it obtains more and more land for oil and gas. Over the past four years, the industry has leased more than 6 million acres, compared with only 2.6 million acres permanently protected. In the Obama era, land conservation is again falling behind.”

Facing congressional opposition and budget constraints during Obama’s first term, Salazar emphasized the importance of enlisting private sector, state and local support to protect major landscapes through America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. Jewell emerged as a strong advocate of the policy, and is likely to continue such efforts.

While public lands protection has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, this issue has become increasingly polarized, and the 112th Congress was the first one since 1966 to fail to designate a single piece of wilderness. Environmentalists such as Babbitt have urged Obama to use the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the executive authority to set aside land as national monuments to protect ecologically valuable areas in the West.

Jewell has pushed for land conservation both in Washington state, where she lives, as well as nationally. She is a founding board member of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, which focuses on a stretch of land spanning from Puget Sound across the Cascades, and helped lay out a plan for the National Park Service as a commissioner on the “National Parks Second Century Commission.”

While Jewell is more closely identified with the Democratic Party than the GOP, she made a high-profile appearance with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) back in 2008 when he was running for president. McCain spoke with Jewell and others at an environmental policy roundtable outside of Seattle, during which the senator argued he had stronger environmental credentials than either Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, who were both vying for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time.

Other contenders for the cabinet position in recent weeks included former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D), Interior deputy secretary David Hayes and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

Click (HERE) to visit the Post and to Comment
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Is Ken Salazar and the U.S. Government Complicit in Slaughtering over a Thousand Wild Horses?

Posted: January 30, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News
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“…they are troubled by the department’s lack of response to “legitimate concerns”

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to disclose whether as many as 1,700 federally protected wild horses now unaccounted for were sold to a middleman who illegally transported them to Mexico for slaughter.

Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., in a letter to Salazar being circulated this week to other lawmakers to cosign, write they are troubled by the department’s lack of response to “legitimate concerns” that the government may have sold these captured mustangs to a “kill buyer,” who then shipped them to a slaughterhouse.

“It is our understanding that this investigation is ongoing,” the letter states, referring to an inquiry by Interior’s Office of Inspector General. But it also says that a number of animal-welfare organizations and worried citizens have been raising concerns, and that “as of today, these citizens haven’t heard from you.”

Adam Sarvana, a spokesman for Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulations, said the two lawmakers want Salazar to provide answers before he leaves the Obama administration. Salazar has said he will leave his Cabinet position at the end of March.

Tom Gorey, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman, said Monday that the inspector general has not yet released its findings and that “we don’t know when [the investigation] is going to be done.” But he said it would be wrong to suggest that the bureau sold any of these horses realizing they might be sent to slaughterhouses.

In their letter to Salazar, Grijalva and Whitfield point to a report last September by ProPublica that the bureau sold the more than 1,700 captured mustangs at about $10 a head to Tom Davis, described as a Colorado livestock hauler and a proponent of the horse-meat industry. Salazar is from Colorado and reportedly knows Davis.

“As you are aware, the ProPublica revelations have provoked a substantial public outcry,” the two lawmakers wrote. The letter notes, for example, that in November, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign delivered 25,130 signatures to the Interior Department “from concerned citizens around the country.”

The Bureau of Land Management is the federal agency in charge of overseeing the approximately 31,500 wild horses and 5,800 wild burros roaming federally managed range land in 10 Western states. According to the bureau’s website, these horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, “the agency must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control herd sizes,” the bureau says.

Since 2004, the bureau has had the legal right under an amendment passed by Congress to sell some of these wild horses.

But Gorey said that, despite the technically unrestricted sales authority of that legislation, known as the Burns Amendment, the bureau has not knowingly sold any of these horses or burros for slaughter and would not do so. He said the rules were tightened in April 2005 to require that the bills of sale contain an explanation by the buyer of what they intend to do with the animals, including a promise that animals bought will not be slaughtered.

Still, no public explanation has surfaced as to what, exactly, happened to the more than 1,700 horses purchased by Davis since 2009–nearly 70 percent of all the horses sold under the program. And animal welfare activists are worried that they wound up on the killing floor.

“We respectfully ask you to give a written response within the next ten days,” Grijalva and Whitfield wrote.

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OPM Chief John Berry: The Next Interior Secretary?

Posted: January 17, 2013 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
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by Lisa Rein of the Washington Post

“The president is under intense pressure from gay activists to appoint an openly gay secretary to his cabinet…”
(Astrid Riecken/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

(Astrid Riecken/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

Federal employees may know John Berry  as the face of the workforce in his role as director of the Office of Personnel Management.

Berry, 53, is now expected to be considered by the Obama administration to replace Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who confirmed early Wednesday that he will leave his post in March and return to Colorado.

 Read our profile of Berry in last September’s Style section.

Interior secretaries generally hail from the West, and Berry, a Rockville native, does not. But the president is under intense pressure from gay activists to appoint an openly gay secretary to his cabinet, a historic move. And Berry fits the bill.

He also has experience, serving at Interior during the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget then moving to direct the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Zoo during the second Bush administration. Obama tapped Berry to run OPM in 2009.

Berry told the Post in an e-mail Wednesday morning, “I stand ready to serve this President in whatever capacity that he feels helpful.”

His likely competition includes former Washington state governor Chris Gregoire (D), former congressman Norm Dicks (D-Wash), former North Dakota senator Byron Dorgan (D), former Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) and Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes. A less likely contender is Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

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