U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, released the following statement regarding Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s order to combine the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) into the Bureau of Land Management WITHOUT Congressional Approval
Pres. Obama and Salazar
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, released the following statement regarding Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s order to combine the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM):
“I’m deeply concerned about this proposed unilateral action. If it were simply a consolidation of administrative functions, that is something I could support. According to Interior’s release, however, it appears that the proposed merger would be much more extensive and, I believe, would require amending the separate organic acts that established BLM and OSM.
“OSM was specifically established as a separate entity, reporting directly to the Interior Secretary, to protect its independence as a regulatory body. I want to make sure that’s protected. The proposed merger of BLM – the entity responsible for leasing – and OSM – the regulatory body – seems to fly in the face of the arguments DOI used to support establishing the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement as an independent entity to regulate offshore oil development, separate from BOEMRE, which handles offshore leasing.”
Murkowski is the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
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Categories: Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
It even scares politicians, who I consider scary, so that must mean it is ULTRA scary…just one swipe of the Obama/Salazar pen with no checks or balances and it is a done deal.
Do we still live in the land of the free?
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If you look at what is happening in many BLM districts, the EAs of the extractive industries are getting decisions of “Finding of No Significant Impact” (the BLM ignores or minimizes those considerable impacts), while maximizing the supposed degradation to the environment that some horse hooves cause.
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Laura first I must say you are a very special person and I thank you for all your hard work. I know in the night while all is quiet you must have tears, anger and frustration in the dark. Please always remember you are the angel of our equine world. Every night when I go to bed I pray for you. Thank you!
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Debbie the land will soon become over run with energy resourses. I am terrified of what will happen to OUR horses in holding pens. There must be a way to reach more people. TN US Senators are not concerned about the horses. Most people in the south east are not aware of the plight of the horses.
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I know, Laura…..I know. What is going on is tragic on so many levels.
I read this stuff and weep because I know the extractors will win and our land will be trashed. I weep. It seems that we can’t win the big battle. I will not give up. Keystone is another attack on our lands, private and public. Sad.
Reid is corrupt and toxic for our way of life.
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Fracking is exempt from our clean air and water acts. A gas well can emit toxic fumes 24/7 with no repercussions. They can pollute streams and ground water with no repercussions. This is thanks to Dick Cheney. It is called the Cheney clause. This is what he was doing in those closed door, top secret energy meetings–selling off his state and our country to his cronies. No regulations might be good for business and their shareholders, but they are hell on people, wildlife and our planet. We are now extracting energy in the most expensive, environmentally detrimental ways–fracking and tarsands. All because no one has the political will to invest in new energy and the people are not demanding it. Look what example they are making of one solar company that went bankrupt. That is the work of big oil backed by the GOP. And oh, BP just got permission to drill an even deeper well in the Gulf. Why are they not banned from the Gulf? I think we are beginning to connect the dots to why are horses are being removed at such a breakneck pace–no sad pun intended.
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Well said. Hope you don’t mind but I’ll use some of this in a letter to the editor of my electric company’s magazine since they have a big article promoting natural gas and fracking. Nothing said about all the harm.
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Is it pure coincidence that the town in (I think) ND that has all those high paying jobs is in every news report you see. Jobs due to fracking, which they adamantly insist does not harm the environment or water? Just as DOI tries this? When I started reading that story the red flags went up. Can anyone say massive publicity campaign by the extractors? Hmmmmmm
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Does anyone else wonder how the move to combine the BLM and OSM squares with this Salazar decision regarding uranium mining near the Grand Canyon?
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2011/victoria-adovcate-10-26-2011.html
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NO THE LAND OF THE FREE IS GONE. I FEEL IT. NO MORELS NO PRIDE
NOTHING
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Between Obama letting Salazar destroy the West, the Gulf of Mexico ,etc.and the Republicans wanting to destroy all the environmental regulations it looks like there won’t be anything left for the next generations. Why a few thousand wild horses are still being persecuted at a cost of millions just makes no sense except Salazar , Rhodes , Reid and their ranching and hunting buddies must hate them that much and now are trying to annihilate them completely.
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YIKES!!!!!
This is some scary sh*t….even the senator from Alaska is concerned?
OMG.
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I agree.
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I concur with Laura’s comments…..
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I think that advocates, while concerned about grazing v wild equines should realize that this is really about extraction trolls.
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I for one am not surprised. I felt it deep in my gut all along. Why else would the BLM round up OUR horses and burros relentlessly and hide behind all the lies. They were not above the law this little tid bit of info has been held close to their slimy little bodies because they sure don’t have a heart we all know that. We all know the cattlemen think they have won, getting rid of the horses and burros. Let me just say their day is coming. The BLM is the cattlemen but energy resources are where most of OUR icon’s land will end up. Destroyed! When I made one of many calls to the BLM the woman who answered chuckled and said there was no one to take calls because we have gotten so big they are all moving into new offices. Right then I knew there was more than horses, burros and roundups down the pike. Lies are all we are going to get!
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This would be a wedding of monsters with dollar signs in their eyes
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Terri, that sure sums it up.
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http://onda.org/visitors-and-recreationists/Sheldon_FinalFinal.pdf/view)
Please read info above . ONDA is for removing all wild horses and burros from Sheldon.
We need to send our comments in at http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org under Action /news to oppose this.
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This is really bad and cannot be a coincidence. This really doesn’t bode well for the Pryor Mountains, especially coming off the announcement the BLM is doing a roundup after only 2 years vs the recommended 4. During the public statements portion of that meeting they had a week or two ago, one of the advocates brought up about the correlation between HMAs and Uranium mine claims. This got me to digging. Turns out, in 2009 Fortress Financial Group, Inc. bought a bunch of Uranium mining and exploration projects under the name Skyline Uranium Corporation in ID, AZ, UT, and MT (in the Pryor Mts.). The CEO and Chairman of Fortress Financial is a man named Wesley Edens. Edens was a huge campaign donator for both Obama and Senator Max Baucus in 2008. So 2 years ago Edens buys the mining rights in the Pryors and there is a HUGE roundup. Now, they want to do another one?! Coincidence? One has to wonder what promises were made between Edens, Obama, and Baucus. Very disturbing, since this will probably result in no horses left in the Pryors. And now with Obama and Salazar merging the BLM and OSM together? Well, do the math. It equals something very bad for our wild horses and burros. 😦
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You have gone to the source and found the rot—corporate personhood and the collusion between our “democratic” government and financial behemoths are eating away at the public’s rights and fabric of life the world over. Extractive industry is really the big player—look at the Canadians hauling landowners into court on eminent domain issues for their Keystone XL Pipeline, when it has not been approved by the White House as required! Hilary Clinton’s State Dept. has shepherded this lil project all the way through, from her former campaign manager now working for the pipeline people to the lobbyists for TransCanada getting “coaching” and access to bigwigs via her pulling strings. The corruption of this government and the mollifying platitudes we hear from them are sickening. Anyone who does a little research comes away with the awful feeling nothing has changed from the days of the Robber Barons and the Gilded Age—or any other age where money equals power.
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And the media still can’t figure out why the 99% is protesting. Or they are pretending they can’t figure it out.
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Virtually all US mainstream media outlets today are owned by a handful of powerful corporations and mega-wealthy individuals who count high level members of the governments among their close friends and confidants. This can easily be verified by anyone with a computer and a little time to do some research. The actual freedom of the ‘free press’ can also be ascertained by looking at the way in which the media blindly accepts and report the news, No truth to the news, any wonder why we have “Occupy Wall Street”, people are waking to highly complex issues that must be recognized by all. We the people are not free and the powers that be will continue to destroy what we love the most for their own benefit and total control.
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My jaw, just dropped. Stunned is the only word I have to describe what I feel. That and the fighting spirit to stop this. Our planet is going to hell in a hand basket, and fast.
Thank you, RT for bringing this to light. No one should let grass grow under their feet on this. It is as Laura said, life changing as we know it. This is utter insanity.
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Crap–my understanding of HMA’s is that mining cuts into the HMA’s. This appears another swipe at the horses.
Other than the fact that Obama appears to be in bed with Salazoo–it’s another attack on the horses.
I have no idea who to vote for next year–Rick Perry comes off as a animal hater and Obama hasn’t exactly stood the test for truth. What’s left? I’m afraid the democratic party is just too into Obama…
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Well, the one thing, I as a Texan can say, is don’t vote for Perry. He not only will allow the Wild Horses to go to slaughter. He will auction off hunting/shooting rights so big game hunters can go shoot one, cut their head off to mount and leave the body for the buzzards. please refer to Marjorie’s: http://www.facebook.com/farabee1 Follow the money from the Big Horn Sheep Hunters to Perry’s campaign to the shooting of every burro in Big Bend State Park.
And remember..Ken Salazar was in place during Bush presidency, put in place by Cheney, as some one previously has suggested. I believe that the best effort is to petition Obama to replace him before the election.
And as far as the Alaska Senator being upset, I think she knows that the emphasis on surface mining will hurt Alaska’s chances of drilling in the protected tundra in Alaska. Not all environmental damage can be done in the same year. The corporations/industrialists/politicians don’t want ALL of us to be in a rage at the same time. divide and conquer.
Hunting tags: Stallion: 60K (solid black, dun or paint 10K premium); Mare: 50K (same premiums apply); Mare and foal: 100K (premiums doubled) The Horror in my dreams.
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I wonder if we can let NAS know about this? They may not be able to stop this in the next 5 mins but if they are TRULY looking at what BLM is doing and why they might be able to help.
Dean Bolstad said in that meeting that everything the BLM does is open to NAS. They have free rein.
You can goggle NAS, then go to current projects, and look for wild horses. The 11 points that Dean was talking about on Thurs were up there on Thurs.
The Academy needs to hear from us. It may not do anything we can only try. But if we don’t tell themwhat’s going on and who they should talk to–we’ve given up without even challenging them.
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It’s going to take a Shut-Down on every level to stop it. IT CAN be done
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Agree. I think.
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All of the protests and opposition are making “them” reveal their agenda….”forcing their hand”. This has been in the hopper for a long time.
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Our capitalist system is is totally dependant on energy, growth and development. The economy always trumps the environment especially now. And so as we see our mountains severed, oceans polluted, air fouled some puny wild mustangs can’t stand in the way. This election cycle we will all hear the words jobs, regulation reform all code words for consumption. BUT remember 100 years ago we had no oil and horses 100 years from now we will have no oil or horses. We’ve been corporatised into something other then the land of the free and the home of the brave. No wonder people around the world are protesting. Yet our 99% can’t stop it.
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OMG!!!! The truth is finally revealing itself. They are all reapers of the land and all of its animals. Louie, I like your answer so where do we start? Can’t say
much more…Your right there is NO one to vote for…Totatally, Totally sad… But
they must be stopped! Thanks RT for the info. because unless I was on this blog, I would have no knowledge of this. Time to email and get on the phone
again..Just disgusting…Now all the cronies have their hands in the pie..Just like the swipe of the pen which lost our beautiful horses their protection.
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Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Doc Hastings, opposes the merger. His major concern is it will impact coal mining and jobs, especially in the East. I hadn’t thought about that. Currently, the OSM operates primarily in the East, and the BLM in the West. One of the comments I read (by someone other than Hastings) stated the BLM could barely manage lands the West, so why would anyone want them overseeing the East.
The BLM makes calculatedly confused mess everything it “oversees”. This is from a June, 2011, GAO report:
“GAO has reported that Interior has experienced several challenges with meeting its responsibilities for providing for the development of oil and gas resources while managing public lands for other uses, including wildlife habitat. For example, in September 2009, GAO reported that BLM’s use of categorical exclusions under Section 390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was frequently out of compliance with the law and BLM’s internal guidance. As a result, GAO recommended that BLM take steps to improve the implementation of Section 390. BLM has taken steps to address these recommendations, but it has not yet implemented all of them.”
The Agency has been historically lax and corrupt, and Obama is giving them carte blanche over mining? What’s next?
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Laura, I call it an “Upside-Down Layer Cake”. The ranchers see themselves as the priority – the frosting on the cake. But when you look at the strata that make up the layers, what’s on the bottom is the real priority. Flip the cake, and the ranchers will be nothing but squished frosting!
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Gail, I think you start by passing the word, let your friends and neighbors know and dig in your heels. Just show them the facts, where to find them and they can make their own decisions. The People need to be, at the very least, armed with accurate information.
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This merger is not set to go into effect before December 1. Congress can stop this as they did with KenSalazar’s plan to designate certain areas od public land as “wilderness”. Only Congress has the right to designate wilderness areas.
I do not think the 2012 budget for Interior has been passed. It may be that appropriations could be frozen. The House Committee for Appropriations for Interior, Energy, and Related Agencies is chaired Mike Simpson (R) Idaho. I think this was a stealth move by Salazar, Obama, and Reid.
We knew that Salazar was a 5th generation rancher, and so it was too easy to focus on cattle while forgetting that environmental groups objected to his appointment to Interior because he was known to favor estractibles. We have thought Harry Reid was controlled by the Nevada Cattleman’s Association. But forgot that he himself owns some 11 abandoned mining sites. And the Obamma, obummer, our country needed change, but the West represents what is finest about America and to tear it up and make it look like an industrial chemical complex is simply not acceptable.
,
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I heard a good question a while back. “Why would a Congressman spend a Million $ to get into a job that pays approx $100,000 a year?”
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Please do not not blame this on a political party. The triumphvirate of reptiles are all Democrats. They know this will not fly in Congress, so they are trying to circumvent the legislative process. I hope Congress freezes the funds of Interior and brings these Demi-gods to a grinding halt.
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Good question.
I feel like the government has just made an official declaration of war against the people.
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Christie, it doesn’t seem to matter which party is in power…the reptiles have gotten into both, it seems….at least from my perspective. I’ve been watching for a very long time and I’ve seen how the agenda has been advanced, step by step, from one administration to the next…regardless of party. VERY few do I have confidence in…VERY FEW.
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Something else that I have seen that makes me very wary is the pitting of People against one another. Red against Blue, Left against Right, Liberal against Conservative. We are all probably somewhere in the middle and have EVERY reason to stick together. We are all Americans. We all love our country and we all want something to leave to our Children and Grandchildren.
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Exactly, just as it says on my banner on the right sidebar “It’s not Right vs Left but Right vs WRONG!!!”…and for the horses, there is rarely anything that is right!
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These plans were not made in the last 3 years or 5 years. If we follow the political specter, it has been in the works since the 70’s. I’ve been fighting it that long. and as far as the ranchers being the icing..true they may not have as much land to graze, but you can bet their private land is set to bring them bundles. Find and Read Robert Redford’s book from the late 70’s-early 80’s; I think it was called. Riding the Outlaw Trail..or something similar.. It started way back then.
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That is exactly what the Occupy movement is all about. The forgotten 99%. I include all non-human life in that 99%. Just got back from a march in my town with a sign saying exactly that. We forget that all the incredible, irreplaceable, diverse life on earth also suffers from the exploitation by the 1%. They just don’t have a voice or a vote.
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And what REALLY worries me is that on Monday it is said that the 7 Billionth person will be born on this planet. Non-human life does not have a chance at this rate of population explosion nor does the planet or ourselves for that matter. We have become an all consuming virus that is devouring this world, just as cancer does to a cell…we have to slow down, halt and ultimately attempt to turn back the tide while we still have a chance.
The plight of the wild horses personifies this global emergency.
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Yes, it is an emergency and we are a cancer on the earth at this point. How I wish that instead of making the Native Americans adopt our white, anglo saxon religion and sending their children off to boarding schools to remake them in our image, we had instead listened to them on how to live upon the earth and in harmony with the animals. Any being that removes entire mountain tops and burns down the Amazon rainforest- the lungs of the earth, and makes species go extinct before they are even discovered, is seriously deluded into thinking it will survive. But, as a wild horse warrior once said to me, maybe if we can save the wild horses, we might just have a chance. Just maybe.
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I am going to have to write about a conversation I once had with a horse, I have alluded to several, but he very clearly defined the role the horse nation is currently playing in an attempt to save us, and the planet. Now, I have not been sipping on tea, but I do have a message to share…and you are all key in that dialog.
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Yes, RT…watched the 7 billion story this morning on MSNBC.
The reporter said that everyone could fit into the state of TX, but the density would be horrific….and water, water, water and pooh, pooh, pooh.
Creeps me out.
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In one generation, the human population can be stabilized. The Western world has already done that. I think they call it zero population growth. It’s that 1% that own and control the wealth and power that need to be culled.
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Well at least I have never contributed to the next generation in terms of having kids! Thank Goodness! That’s one less person adding to the overpopulation of humans.
Maybe it’s man that needs PZP and not the horses!
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Reproducing is not necessarily the problem; problem is with sloppy, ineffectual governments and lazy folks the kick the can down the road.
I adopted four kids(internationally…no, not Asia)…I am proud that I did that. But I understand what you are saying.
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Reproduction is a huge part of the problem. Enough food water and energy for 7 billion people. Expected to hit 9 billion in just 20 years. It is THE problem, imo. And billions of Chinese who will be entering the middle class in the future and consuming just like us Americans and Europeans.
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This video has such a profound message.
I doubt if the 1% would even understand it.
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Excellent! Where did you find this? It says it all, doesn’t it?
Alarming fact in it: of the top 100 economic units (economic systems controlling the planet) 49 are countries and 51 are corporations. That is frightening. Corporations are only beholden to profit and ever increasing growth.
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I can’t remember where I got it (old age)–have had it for some time. I love it and, yes, it says it all.
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What a beautiful message on that video. Thanks for sharing it, Barbara. I’ll try to think of some employees of the 1%ers to forward it to (I used to write for a magazine about and for Wall Streeters; am more glad with every passing day that I left the business 11 years ago).
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Beautiful video speaking truth. Thanks for sharing!
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Well, I just put Senator Murkowski’s press release, plus some additional information, on the POGO (Project on Government Oversight) Facebook page. I think you might like who “Likes” them. Check it out!
https://www.facebook.com/pogo.org
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Imagine how much damage just one group of incompetent individuals can do? The Gulf, the economy, the horses, the devastation of our Western lands. If our government is going to be investing more in extractables, we need our horses on the Ramge more than ever to reforest the plains.
The really creepy thing is that these politicos and energy tycoons are probably planning their hunting trips together.
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Linda, that is a wonderful video. All I can say is AMEN!
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From DOI
http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=264724
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Now I’m wondering why the ROAM ACT was placed in this committee. This was in 2009
Call the Senate Committee of Natural Resources – 202-224-4971 (fax 202-224-6163) Email here. ask that they push the ROAM Act through immediately– it must go up for a vote soon in the Senate
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I can SAFELY SAY: Any self-determined resolution of Ken Salazar will result in self-serving money makers for Ken Salazar and his rancher buddies on the range. Their nine acres of scrub brush just jumped in value from $900.00 to $90,000 or $900,000. We are getting screwed, and the horses are getting exterminated.
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I know that the OWS movement already has a promise as one of its tenets to protect animals from the prey of corporate greed. This movement and a 3rd party candidate could be the answer. I’ve been in protest mode since 1965. I’m tired but hate to die with the earth in more peril than it was then.
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James Kleinert movie, Wild Horses and Renegades (Dissapointment Valley) told about the industry that has taken over the west. Too bad it is taking too long to get this movie out there. Besides he had to shorten it for production and took out a lot about this western take over. It was a very scary thing when I first saw it but now it all falls into place. Just wish he could get it out.
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http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=264724
This is a link to an article in the Charleston Gazette Mail, the paper in the capital city of WV. Interesting comments from Reprensentative Nick Rahall who co-sponsored ROAM in the House when it passed. It was in whatever committee Senator Byrd was on in the Senate. In order to reintroduce ROAM in this Congress we need to find a new sponsor. The sponsor has to be a member of one of the committees that can have some logical connection to the bill.
ROAM continues to make BLM the protectors (choke) of the wild horses. Is this what we want? Do we want to look for another agency such as National Parks? USFWS should not be considered (in my opinion). National Parks mission is to preserve the history and culture of the US for the public which beats the heck out of the graze, dig, drain, the land. Plus, they have at least worked cooperatively with those trying to test PZP without doing all the gelding, sex ratio skewing and other stuff the BLM is doing to make sure the science of wild equid birth control is as messed up as their numbers, their reproductive models, and their Stepford wife public statements.
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Senator Mary Landrieu mentioned the National Park Service, as I remember. She IS NOT happy with the BLM. They are going to need iron clad protection to protect them no matter what Department or agency oversees them.
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Mergers ususally mean down-sizing and lay-offs. Do you suppose that would happen with a meger of the BLM and OSM?
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I think the corruption will only grow. Remember Salazar/DOL was over MMS when the Gulf disaster happened because inspections weren’t being done. 2 more miners were just killed here in KY because safety warnings were ignored.
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Frequently I wonder WHO is Commander-in Chief! Kenny just keeps on doing what HE wants. Taking, taking, taking. Discarding. Killing. Beeeecause, he is above the LAW of the Land, you know. And never, ever, ACCOUNTABLE for anything. The worst case scenario for Obama to choose as Secretary of the Interior. It is known that Salazar was close to Obama, like “pals,” when they were junior Senators. But just maybe, musta been some “dues owed” by Obama to Kenny and/or padding pockets>>> $$$$$$. More than a disgrace. Very, very frightening. I’m moving…to the Land of Oz. Oooops, already live there, here. Along in the surreal Twilight Zone. I need to meditate, for I rarely hate.
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I couldn’t nod my head in agreement any more vigorously if I were a bobblehead doll, Ronnie. I need to bless, so I won’t feel like a mess. 🙂
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