BorderWest
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Catches Blame
By Rebecca Powell, 7-01-08
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Part of an ongoing series about the Doña Ana County Wilderness Debate. For more on the debate and the proposals, see A Biased Observer of the Doña Ana County Wilderness Debate, For Some, Wilderness is Simple, Pearce Submits People’s Proposal to the House, and More Than a Yes or No to Wilderness.
Heath Haussamen at NM Politics reports Senator Pete Domenici’s chief of staff, Steve Bell, blames the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) for causing gridlock surrounding wilderness designations in Doña Ana County. Bell states
“You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that we have absolutely entered gridlock and nothing can happen because there’s too much at stake politically,” Bell said. “… The upshot is, once again, in my judgment, a group has proved a truth of an old saying that I used everyday for the last 36 years in this job: ‘Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Because the Domenici plan was not perfect in their [NMWA] view, they rejected it,” Bell said of the wilderness group. “Then they came up with a proposal they think is perfect, and now they are faced with the prospect of getting nothing.”
I asked Frank Dubois, a proponent of the Pearce bill and the principle author of the People’s Proposal, if the People’s Proposal was a monkey wrench. He replied, “It is a viable alternative to the Citizen’s Proposal that may be accepted in whole or in part by Congress.”
Both sides of this debate have worked tirelessly. If Bell’s words prove true, neither will see the fruits of their labor.
[End of article]Interesting perspective from Mr. Bell. Sounds a bit like sour grapes. Also interesting that Pearce's proposal, which contains the same provisions for the BLM to dispose of 60,000 acres of land according to their existing land plan, draws such vicious fire from NMWA.
Comment By Geezer, 7-02-08If Frank Dubois is behind it, it's an anti-wilderness bill. He was a political appointee at the US Department of the Interior in the 1970s when I was a career employee there. He was the architect of the "Watt drops," a decision that deleted 1 million acres from BLM wilderness study areas. And he was always looking for ways to wreck the wilderness program.
Comment By ychoate, 7-02-08I get so tired of adults who haven't learned to play well with others. Sounds like a trip back to nursery school is in order.
Comment By Arrirmpraby, 11-10-08Class, Order,Family
Felines are a ‘Family’ of mammals in the animal kingdom.
But what does this really mean and how does it relate them to other animals?
Science understands the organization of nature to be hierarchical with each step on the ladder or branch of the tree describing a degree of physical similarity,
and from more recent findings, genetic closeness.
This branch of knowledge is called taxonomy.
<a >Kingdom Phylum, ,Genus, Species</a>
<a >RS 422</a>