My Page: Sanjay Talwani
Fixing the Herd
Congress Looks at Solutions to Yellowstone Bison Debate
Montana’s lone Congressman, Denny Rehberg raised his voice Tuesday at a Congressional oversight hearing about the bison in Yellowstone National Park, the feared transmission of calf-aborting brucellosis from bison to Montana’s cattle, and the resulting years of killing and hazing thousands of bison that wandered out of the park in search of food.
“I have an answer,” Rehberg thundered in his leadoff statement to the House Natural Resources Committee panel that oversees national parks. “Why don’t you fix your herd?”
Fixing the herd—by stamping out brucellosis entirely—was central in the discussions toward solving the Yellowstone bison standoff. The hearing of the National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Subcommittee, now chaired by Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, was the first ever to address the issue.
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On the Hill
Schweitzer Pitches West to Congressional Committee
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, joined by former Montana Congressman Pat Williams, brought his relentlessly upbeat message of energy and economic development to the U.S. House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee Wednesday, testifying at a hearing on the “Evolving West.” Some of the panel Republicans expressed skepticism; some asked questions designed to expose hypocrisy. But in the end, even the Republicans showed love.
When Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah, asked Schweitzer about coal-to-liquid technology, it gave the governor a chance to point out that Montana has 32 percent of the nation’s coal reserves, and 8 percent of the world’s -- and that we need to find new ways to use coal. And that the nation needs to invest more money in coal technologies and carbon sequestration. And he might have kept going if Bishop didn’t interrupt.
“To be honest, I agree with everything you said,” Bishop said.
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On the Hill
Washington Looks at Meth in Indian CountryKathleen Wesley-Kitcheyan, Chairwoman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona, came to Washington last week and told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee -- or at least, the four senators who attended -- about what's happening on her reservation.
Wesley-Kitcheyan had mixed feelings about airing the dirty laundry, she said, but police and other local services are overwhelmed, and the tribe is at risk of losing the spirit of its ancestors to the drug. She has 55 grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews, she said, stopping once to compose herself. "I lost one about two years ago on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. A champion, a rodeo champion. He won over 26 buckles. He won over six saddles. The wrong choices cost him his life. He was doing drugs, drinking and was engaged in human smuggling because of the lack of employment."
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The Meth Battle
A Discussion on Meth in Indian CountryIf you live in the West, the methamphetamine horror stories I heard last week in Tulsa were nothing new. Although when someone at a rap session at the mentioned that meth-freaks sometimes drink each other’s urine for the residuals, and that detainees in county jails will battle one another for the fresh urine of a newly arrested crank-head, I had to admit I hadn’t heard that one.
At this particular discussion, a series of experts seemed to agree: The West’s big meth problem is extra-bad -- or at least bad in a specially insidious and unfortunate way -- in Indian Country.
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