Colorado Politics
GAME OVER, FINALLY, GUN GUYS WIN
Political Irony Reigns as President Obama Signs “MasterBlaster Bill”
I suppose I should let it go, but nobody else does, so why should I?
This is my third column about the now-infamous administrative rule to allow loaded, concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges (links at end of column). The rule evolved into a symbolic and high priority political battle, and both pro-gun and anti-gun groups seized on it as a way to find out who had the power.
And now we know. The gun lobby wins, easily, which is no surprise to me.
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WHAT TO CALL IT?
Branding Wilderness Lite
Editor's note: Second in a two-part series on resolving the conflict between mountain bikers and hikers over protecting roadless lands. Click here for the first part, plus a very interesting comment thread.
Last week, I wrote about options hikers and wilderness groups had to make peace with mountain bikers so the two key constituencies could work together to protect roadless land. One option was urging Congress to pass another organic act creating a true alternative land designation. But what to call it?
In past commentaries, I'm used the words "Wilderness Lite" to refer to various land designations that provide almost as much protection as the "Big W" Wilderness Congress designates under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Basically, cutting to the chase, I can more precisely define "Wilderness Lite" as "Wilderness that allows mountain biking."
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Q&A
Mark Udall: ‘Boulder Liberal’ or ‘Conservadem’?
When Mark Udall was running for Colorado’s open Senate seat last November, his opponent blasted him as a “Boulder liberal.” So he caught a lot of attention recently when the Senator joined a group of centrist Democrats, the Moderate Dems Working Group, that critics saw as anti-Obama. Popular MSNBC host Rachel Maddow labeled them “conservadems.”
We caught up with Udall on a tour through western Colorado and asked him about his decision to join the group, and the political and economic changes that have taken place since Udall moved from the House to the Senate.
New West: It’s sort of a different world now.
Mark Udall: It is, although the changes that emerged in the last weeks of the campaign are front and center. Who would have thought 18 months ago that we wouldn’t be talking at all about the Iraq war, that we wouldn’t be talking at all about the Bush administration’s policies at Guantanamo Bay? Instead we’d be talking about the world’s greatest economy on its back and how do we help it stand upright again? But the president said you don’t get to pick your challenges.
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IDAHO'S FIRST WILDERNESS SINCE 1980
Crapo, Conservationists Laud Passage of Public Lands Bill
UPDATED 6 pm, March 30. President Barack Obama signed the public lands bill today. George Cooper, President and CEO of the Theordore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, attended the White House signing ceremony and invoked the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt in assessing the president’s actions. “Theodore Roosevelt once said, ‘We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.' With today’s events, Roosevelt’s words take on a new and deeper meaning. Ratification of this historic measure represents an important victory for sportsmen, as well as for our natural resources and activities that rely on our nation’s public lands."
After years of compromise, delay, failed votes, parliamentary games, all frequently sprinkled with vitriol from detractors, but countered with the hard work by many thousands of supporters, Congress has, finally, passed the Omnibus Public Lands Bill. The 1,300-page behemoth is actually a compilation of around 170 pieces of legislation, including Idaho's first wilderness in 29 years, protection for the Wyoming Range, and wilderness and wild river designations in nine states, not including Montana.
The Senate passed the massive bill, again (click here to read about it), last week. Yesterday, the House voted 285-140 to pass the same bill. Since the House passed an exact copy of the Senate-passed bill, it won't be stalled in a conference committee and subject to re-votes. Instead, it goes directly to the White House where everybody involved expects President Obama to sign it, probably next week.
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IT'S BECOME A REAL BATTLEFIELD BILL
House Votes on Public Lands Bill Today
THIRD UPDATE: March 25, 12:15 PM. The House voted 283-140 to pass public lands bill with 136 Republicans and 4 Democrats voting "nay." This would have been enough to pass for a super-majority, two-thirds vote.
SECOND UPDATE, March 25, 9:15 am.
UPDATED March 19, 11 a.m. at end of article.
Anybody interested in protecting public land knows about S.22, a massive piece of legislation, a compilation of 190 bills that Congress has been working on for years. Six days ago, it unexpectedly failed (click here), unable to get a super majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by a mere two votes, 282-144, even though the Senate had passed it 73-21.
That bad beat made political insiders scratch their heads. Why would the House leadership bring S. 22 up for a vote under suspension of rules, which requires a two-thirds majority, without the votes to pass it?
I've been calling around on to get the answer to that question and to find out what might happen next. Here's the skinny on the House vote and alas, how President Obama will have the opportunity to sign this bill into law as early as next week. You could call it "revolutionary" politics.
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Political Commentary: Joan McCarter
Oil or Water?
A little closer to home, the Western Resource Advocates have already made their contribution to the general water discussion by cataloging "all the water rights that have been acquired by oil shale interests, or could be used by them, to develop oil shale on a commercial scale." A perusal of their resulting report (available at this link), justifies their general conclusion: "The volume of both water and rights is staggering," and that the six energy companies involved have "cornered the market" on northwestern Colorado's water. [more]
NOTHING THERE BUT POLITICAL DOWNSIDE
Obama, Get Real on “Assault Weapons,” Put a Cork in Holder
I went to my first gun show a couple of weeks ago, but when I wrote about it, I left out the buzz concerning the proposed reauthorization of the so-called "Assault Weapon Ban (AWB)." I have a lot to say about it, so I saved it for this column.
For starters, with all the massive messes the Obama administration has to unravel, why is our new president allowing his attorney general to embark on a meaningless mission to nowhere? And in conflict with his campaign commitments and his party's plans to stay in power?
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Priming the Pumps, & Arrays
How Will the Stimulus Affect Energy?
The U.S. House has released the draft outline of the $825 billion economic stimulus package, which includes $76 billion for energy projects over the next few years. Of that, $18.5 billion is proposed for renewable energy, a sector hard hit by falling oil prices and the drying up of state revenues targeted at funding green-energy projects.
In Colorado, the budget for the Governor’s Energy Office, which receives funding from state gaming revenues, was slashed from a predicted $8 million to just under $4 million for last year. Initially projected at around $5 million for 2009, funding for the agency is forecast at zero. Zilch. Nada.
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Federal Agencies: Interior
President Obama Halts Wolf Delisting
President Barack Obama has issued a freeze on publication of federal regulations planned under the previous administration but not yet published in the Federal Register. This action, which will give the new administration a chance to review Bush-era policy decisions, will delay and possibly prevent the removal of gray wolves from the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, and portions of Washington, Oregon, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
According to Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, the pause will afford President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar the opportunity to rethink the previous administration’s efforts to remove wolves from the endangered species list. “Rather than remove protections from wolves in a piecemeal fashion, in the isolated locations where they have finally begun to recover from past persecution,” Robinson said, “ the Obama administration should develop and implement a national gray-wolf recovery plan that will ensure the survival of these magnificent animals.”
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Politics: Congress
Can a Mixed Congressional Delegation Truly Collaborate?
Idaho's two Senators and two congressmen today sent a joint letter to the editor statement to the Idaho media:
"Dear Editor,
On January 6th, three of us took our public oath to serve the people of Idaho in the United States Congress--two for the first time and one for the 6th time--and the fourth moved into a new role as senior Senator. Together, we look forward to working to uphold the values of all Idahoans and promoting what is good for our families, communities and state."
Justified as it is for citizens to expect their representatives to finally rise above the acrid opposition which has led to a stunning lack of progress in reforming American policies, many are cynical. And history shows we shouldn’t count on it.
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