The Usual Suspects

Ahem... first, an apology. I kind of dropped off the face of the earth there for a bit. The "day job" has been particularly demanding lately, and I just haven't had the energy to respond to every brain-dead moron who wants to trash America's public lands and ruin the hunting and angling legacy these great places provide.

Until now...

It seems The Usual Suspects are back at it. Since they haven't had any luck kicking Medicare to the curb, and since they've spent the first six months of the new Congress tackling symbolic legislation in order to make the other party look like a bunch of pansies (which, let's face it, ain't too tough), the Republicans bolstered by the Tea Baggers are now out to repay their cronies in the industry. The idea, they say, is to open all this wasted public land here in the West to "multiple use."

And, of course, we know what that means, right? Oil and gas. And off-road vehicles, of course. Because there's nothing easier than pleasing a bunch of high-school graduates who like to rip and snort through perfectly good country just for the hell of it.

The Blue-Ribbon Coalition is just giddy at this latest effort, called the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, to hamstring the protective status of the West's best fish and game habitat. This bill would remove the protections from 43 million acres of Bureau of Land Management wilderness study areas and U.S. Forest Service roadless areas and open them up to "access" for the little guy.

Well... that's a little deceptive. All of us elitists who want to lock up the land from "Joe Six Pack" can get into the backcountry with a good pair of $60 hiking boots. The "regular guy" this bill would benefit owns a $7,500 Polaris four-wheeler with knobby tires and some impressive horsepower. Who's the elitist, I wonder?

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso

And, yes, it's the usual suspects who are pushing for this bill, and, as usual, it's a bill that's really aimed at making it easier to turn the West into a industrial pincushion, with a bonus for the thrill-seeking ORV rider who drinks the Kool-Aide, no questions asked. I mean, these guys are Republicans, right? They can't do anything wrong, can they?

Usual suspect No. 1: Wyoming's own John Barrasso, a bought-and-paid-for oil and gas advocate who's in debt to the tune of $179,000 to the oil and gas industry (his No. 3 campaign financeer, behind the health professionals industry and the GOP leadership PAC). It's no surprise that this dude wants to release 12 million acres of BLM wilderness study areas and remove millions of acres in U.S. Forest Service system from the roadless inventory–he's got to make good on his promise to perform legislative felatio on his energy industry benefactors.

Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico

Barrasso's bill is the mirror image of a bill put forth in April in the House. This "twin brother" bill was introduced by Usual Suspect No. 2, U.S. Rob Bishop of Utah, who owes the energy industry almost $20,000 worth of favors (No. 2 on his donation list behind ... sigh ... lobbyists). Also involved in this piece of legislation, which would gut the protective status on some of the best hunting and fishing ground in the country, are Usual Suspects Nos. 3 and 4, Reps. Steve Pearce of New Mexico ($319,000!) and Kevin McCarthy of California ($68,000).

It seems the notion of public lands that belong to every single American rubs these guys the wrong way. God forbid we protect a small portion of the untracked backcountry to ensure the next generation of hunters and anglers the opportunity to stalk game and cast for wild trout in landscape that looks just like it's supposed to look.

But, hey, we know our problem. We can't muster the resources to cough up thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to get these guys to bat an eye. We don't have the cash, baby. We barely matter.

And, until that changes ... until we can muster the support from within our educated ranks and throw these bought-and-paid-for "lawmakers" out on their ear, we're going to have to beat back every single effort they undertake to take away our birthright. It's really our fault. It's our own apathy (and the propensity of many of us to mistakenly vote for the wrong set of douchebags) that keeps us from having the appropriate amount of influence on The Usual Suspects.

Thankfully, these bills are a lot like the others the GOP has pushed out like cheesy turds this session--symbolic. They don't have the votes in both houses, but they're doing their best to prove to their financial and ideologic benefactors that they're willing to get dirty to accomplish a little bit of evil.

Meanwhile, we're in "react" mode. The solution? Sadly, we have a couple of Novembers to go before we can do much about it. But, if you're interested in letting these stooges know we're onto them, get in touch with them and say something.

Couldn't hurt, right?

'Won't Take Yes for an Answer'

In an increasingly common display of partisan douchebaggery, U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah is actually opposing the diversification of our domestic energy production on public lands. Apparently, the rotund, bought-and-paid congressman is a live-in-the-now kind of cat–to hell with the future of hunting and fishing (and why not throw in breathing clean air and drinking clean water while we're at it). He's not going to live long enough to deal with his own self-centered mistakes.

He's an oil and gas stooge. A one-trick pony. No matter how much sense it makes to invest in research and development of clean, renewable energy resources, this guy simply won't bend, instead insisting that, before we consider new long-term sources of energy in this country that might allow us to keep our public lands healthy and intact for future generations, we bleed every acre of public land dry of fossil fuels. Oh, and did I mention that he's the chairman of a public lands subcommittee in Congress? Friggin' awesome.

You try and figure it out. I'm stumped.

This is a dude who simply works for industry, and he's doing it on our nickel. Here's proof, as mentioned in a recent Salt Lake Tribune editorial:

• Presently, the United States has more producing oil wells than at any time since 2002. We are producing about a fourth of our own oil consumption (about 5 million barrels of day of our 18 million barrels-a-day habit). Keep in mind this is after the Deepwater Horizon disaster last summer that is, if you believe Bishop and his GOP cronies, hampering domestic production.
• We've reduced dependence on foreign oil by 25 percent by ramping up domestic production, but, no matter how many holes we'll drill, we'll never be able to match our present oil consumption. The reason? Uh, we just don't have the oil.
• We've leased almost 40 million acres of public lands for oil and gas development. We've drilled less that half of it. 
• President Obama, in the midst of a budget crisis, devoted significant attention to this issue last week when he talked of the need to diversify our domestic energy production while still using oil, gas and "clean" coal to bridge the gap to the next generation of fuels.

He won't support drilling for oil because ... he supports
more drilling for oil. 

All this, and Bishop still isn't satisfied. We must sell more oil and gas leases, he says (or, if you're like me, you see the truth: "We must build inventory, so my asshole buddies in the industry will have something do when we finally dump this Muslim, foreign-born, Kenyan spy the silly Democrats elected in 2008"). We must drill our way out of this problem (Sarah Palin must be whispering in his ear–amazing how much influence the MILF factor has, isn't it?). We must continue to enable the industry to record billions in annual profits, by God.

What a tool. I would wager that, had George W. Bush delivered the message that expanding domestic energy production to include solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear energy, Bishop would have noted the wisdom of using fossil fuels as a bridge to the future (and the continued stream of industry money into his campaigns) and wholeheartedly supported it.

But, since the plan comes from the other side of the aisle, he's busy getting all red-faced and indignant. As the Trib said, Bishop won't take 'yes' for an answer.

And here's the irony. He's opposing a bill that would create jobs at no cost to the taxpayer and without borrowing money from foreign governments simply because it requires some environmental accountability from the industry as it seeks to drill–yes, Rob, drill!–for oil and gas, both onshore and off. We've seen what can happen without proper oversight, and not just last summer. We've seen it right here in the West, where hydraulic fracturing chemicals are turning up in domestic water wells; where drilling mud spills and then spends the winter frozen in a waterfall; where surface water is tainted; where air quality in western Wyoming is worse than it is in downtown Los Angeles; where mule deer herds simply vanish for lack of winter range. Nah. We don't need oversight. We don't need accountability. Benzene is like sea salt–it's great on steak.

Oh, and here's some more irony. By opposing the bill, as the Trib points out, Bishop is trying to micromanage the Department of Interior. He's inserting more government into the equation, not less. He's demanding that Congress have some management authority on land managed by a executive branch secretary. If that doesn't raise the hackles of every sportsman who understands that quality fishing and hunting depends on having places to fish and hunt left intact, what will?

Wake up, Utah. This creep is mortgaging our future to subsidize his cushy job on The Hill. Need proof? His top campaign contributors? Lobbyists. No. 2? Oil and gas. 

Sportsmen for Lies and Propaganda

You know when your right-wing, politically motivated propaganda is disavowed by the uber-conservative National Rifle Association, you're treading new ground in the conservation arena.

Pardon me. That should read, "conservation" arena.

I give you Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, which turned heads a couple weeks back when someone on the staff sent out a news release claiming the NRA, Safari Club International and the Congressional Sportsmen Caucus, among other right-leaning groups with a dog in the hunting rights right, all opposed the effort to delist wolves from under the Endangered Species Act and return their management to the states where the top-tier predators live. Wisely, the NRA, SCI and CSC all support the delisting efforts and the plan for state management. It's likely the only way in the near future that hunters will have a (legal) shot at wolves in the West.

And, when the SFW release hit the media world, all three organizations above immediately cried foul. And rightly so. They cautioned the media and members of Congress to "thoroughly investigate and independently confirm" any claims made by Utah-based SFW. Good advice.

Apparently, simply delisting the wolves and having them managed in a common-sense manner by states that would treat the critters as game animals, just isn't enough for the foam-at-the-mouthers at SFW. The idea, evidently, is that delisting them and having them managed as anything other than vermin is unacceptable. Welcome to the All or Nothing Club, SFW. I'd like you to meet your fellow members, starting with the douchebags at Eart First! and ending with the booger-eaters at Lobo Watch. Don't worry... you'll fit right in.

But I'm deluding myself, and you, if you're paying attention. SFW has always been in this club. This is a group that claims on its website to represent sportsmen by protecting habitat and seeking ways to increase wildlife populations across the West, but wouldn't get involved in the effort to protect over a million acres of prime wildlife habitat in the Wyoming Range from future oil and gas extraction. They also rarely, if ever, get involved in efforts to restore native fish populations in the West, assuming instead that, so long as there are hatcheries, we'll have fish. So much for that "habitat" argument.

But the real kicker is that this group, again, according to its website, has 15,000 members. That's just plain scary. Here we have an organization that's willing to play fast and loose with the reputations of other sportsmen-oriented organizations, all while it claims to represent sportsmen on its own. Imagine the damage this group is doing by "representing" sportsmen before Congress on issues like wolf management, habitat protection and natural resources discussions that will impact our sporting success well into the future.

More importantly, the black eye SFW just received when the NRA, SCI and CSC called them out for their unethical and underhanded activities is shared among all hunters and anglers.

Be careful which group you join, folks. SFW isn't worth your charity dollars, not if you want to keep your integrity when you claim the donation on your tax return. You especially shouldn't join a group that's now officially an Adversary of the Sporting State.

Toothless Motorheads Find a New Hero!

So, we all know these days that Congress is out to cut our federal deficit and trim away wasteful government spending. Nobody, not even the most liberal, left-wing, bordering-on-Marxist zealot, can dispute the need to bring some fiscal common sense to Washington.

But, as is typical of the smarmy cretins that seem penetrate our government with agendas that are more political than they are representative, even this process, which should involve sacrifice from all corners, is now laced with vitriol and the seedy agendas of those who would scuttle progress in favor of pleasing a few special interests.

And sportsmen are going to take another shot to the pooper if we're not careful.

Congressman Wally Herger standing up for... himself.

The culprit? U.S. Rep. Wally Herger, a Republican from California. He's introduced an amendment to a House resolution that's actually rife with amendments that are, at best, harmful to our natural resources and to the sporting public. But Herger's amendment, which would nix the U.S. Forest Service's six-year effort to manage travel on land it manages, might be the most egregious, and it would certainly have an impact on hunters and fishermen who value hunting and fishing on public lands without some obese, toothless goober motoring up the trail behind him and asking, "Seen any elk?" before he charges through an adjacent trout stream on his way uphill.

Adversary of the Sporting State: Montana Rep. Jeff Welborn

It's simple, really. Follow the money.

Now, in this case, it's not a hell of a lot of money, but after reading a post in Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing about a Montana state representative who's trying to undo much of the good that was done a couple years back, when the state Legislature finally cleared up exactly what "public access" was in Montana, even a little bit of money can make some folks undertake foolish errands.

So, here's what's happening (the short version). Rep. Jeff Welborn, a Republican rancher from Dillon, Montana, is trying to hamstring the state's incredibly foresighted public access law that allows anglers to follow navigable waterways on foot, so long as they stay within the high-water mark of those streams and access them from public rights of way (like a highway bridge, for instance). The big argument a couple years back was really over what constituted waterways, and what were deemed private "ditches" and off limits to the wandering fishers.

After years of legal wrangling that involved folks like pop-rocker Huey Lewis and his claim that Mitchell Slough on the Bitterroot River that runs through his property is actually a private impoundment (it ain't, Huey... you may believe in the Power of Love, but you apparently couldn't give a rat's ass about public access), the Legislature and then-state Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, a Democrat from Billings, made it clear what constituted public access and what didn't.

Lobo Watch: This Week's Adversary of the Sporting State

You know how I feel about extremists, and how extremism–in any fashion, from any political perspective–quells sensible debate and brings emotion, vitriol and unproductive rhetoric to any discussion. This week's Adversary of the Sporting State would have you believe he's a sportsman, himself. Truth be told, he's just another foam-at-the-mouther with an axe to grind.

Toby Bridges runs the website Lobo Watch, I'm assuming out of his mom's basement in Missoula, Montana. He's an affirmed hater of the gray wolf (honestly, this isn't just another post about wolves), but his hatred, of late, is being shotgunned around the conservation world, and he's challenging some organizations that have built their reputations on protecting wildlife habitat and hunter and angler opportunity in this country.

One of Toby's latest manifestos is aimed at the National Wildlife Federation and its state affiliates, specifically the Montana Wildlife Federation. If you believe the rhetoric coming from Lobo Watch, you likely think the NWF and the MWF are front organizations for Earth First! and are a hindrance, not a help, to the sporting public. Truth be told, there might not be a more effective, more moderate conservation organization in the country, but don't tell that to Toby. He's convinced this national conservation organization and its Montana state affiliate are out to shut hunters down.

Far Left and Far Right ... More in Common that You Might Think

When it comes to natural resource policy in the West, the moderate, middle-of-the-road citizen lacks a voice. That's because the extremists on the far left and the far right get so worked up that they monopolize public meetings, spit vitriol into microphones and spend a good portion of their time holed up in their rickety cabins hammering away at their manifestos.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that the extremists have more numerous and more effective avenues from which to preach their message, and, quite frankly, they're sensational behavior is more sexy to the press. But what those of us who gather closer to the center of the political spectrum are beginning to realize is that the far left and the far right have more in common than they do with the people who listen quietly, ponder important issues and then work to actually get things done. Our voices might not be loud, but we tend to get the heavy lifting done, even if it takes a while.