Part 4

The War on Wolves, American Public Wilderness Lands, Climate Change, Global Environment, Special Interest Groups, and The U.S.A. Congress 

What is the Deep Root that Connects All of Them? 

Bill S.1731& Bill H.R.3533~ Endangered Species Management Self Determination Act, Bundy’s Buddys, Wyoming Gubernatorial Candidate Haynes Proposes Drilling in Wyoming~Including Yellowstone National Park, and his Contender’s Reaction Opposing the Drilling of our American Yellowstone National Park

@Vote4Wilderness

The E.S.A. or Endangered Species Act has recently been the focus of a group of politicians who would prefer that the right to classify and or protect species of flora and fauna be solely controlled by the states, not the Federal Government. More in depth information about Bill S.1731& Bill H.R.3533~ Endangered Species Management Self Determination Act can be found here:

Full Text of H.R. 3533:
Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr3533/text


THE TEA PARTY HITS A NEW LOW WITH ATTACK ON ENDANGERED SPECIES
by Alicia Graef
December 3, 2013 4:00 am
Reposted from
http://www.care2.com/causes/the-tea-party-hits-a-new-low-with-attack-on-endangered-species.html

While conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) last week, Tea Party members were busy working on a bill to gut the act, which will put the most vulnerable plants and animals at even more risk.

The ESA http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/ESA_basics.pdf was enacted in 1973 in an effort to protect the plants and animals on the verge of disappearing. It is administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), whose ultimate goal is to recover imperiled species to the point they no longer need to be listed by protecting critical habitat and preventing “take” and trade of protected species through partnerships with federal and state agencies, private landowners and conservation organizations, among others.

How successful it’s been might depend on who you ask, but according to the FWS the ESA has prevented the extinction of 99 percent of the species it has protected since its inception and has helped hundreds of others on the road to recovery, from California’s Southern sea otter and bald eagles to grizzly bears, black-footed ferrets and gray wolves. It’s now protecting more than 1,400 species in the U.S. and 600 foreign species, while many others still wait for determinations http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=80BE0AF2-CC01-7A16-5E46C09881919457 to be made about their future.

Even if preventing extinction isn’t enough for some to define a success, 40 years is a small window of time in the grand scheme of things. By some estimates http://www.esasuccess.org/ it could take 25 years or longer for a species to fully recover.

Unfortunately for special interest groups, protecting species puts up roadblocks to development, which has led to politics sneaking into decisions that are supposed to be based purely on science.

Last week, Tea Party Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Dean Heller introduced a bill https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1731/text that would gut the ESA and end protections for most of the species currently listed, make it harder to list new species and require that every five years threatened and endangered species are kicked off the list, regardless of how they’re doing, until Congress passes a joint resolution renewing their protection for another five years, at which point they’ll be kicked off again.

“Here we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act this year, and the Tea Party wants to tear it limb from limb,” said Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s really a sad testament to how out of touch the Tea Party has become with the American people, and how beholden they are to industry special interests that are more interested in profits than saving wildlife, wild places and a livable future for the next generation.”

According to the Center, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/endangered-species-act-11-22-2013.html the bill would also eliminate all protections for critical habitat and allow state governments to veto conservation measures that are designed to protect imperiled species. Federal agencies would also be weighed down with requirements to complete reports estimating the costs of protecting species, instead of spending time on working on tangible conservation actions.

“This bill would devastate species protections and open the door to log, mine and pave some of the last places on Earth where these animals survive,” Hartl said. “It’s a boon for profiteers like the Koch Brothers but will rob every American who values wildlife and wild places.”

The IUCN just updated its Red List of Threatened Species after assessing more than 71,000 species from around the world and concluded that more than 21,000 are threatened with extinction. It’s still only a small sample of the total number of species on earth, but the number of threatened ones has been growing and offers us a glimpse of how healthy the ecosystems they live in are. We should be looking for ways to improve protections and working harder than ever to protect imperiled plants and animals for their own sake, but also because without a healthy ecosystem we won’t thrive either.

Hopefully this bill and the Tea Party’s efforts to gut the ESA will be the next to go extinct. Meanwhile, please contact your representative and ask them to oppose the Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-tea-party-hits-a-new-low-with-attack-on-endangered-species.html#ixzz38Op9WKYg

BUNDY’S BUDDIES
There are a group of politicians who seem to agree that turning the ability to control the E.S.A. to Governors of individual states. Some of them are here, known as “Bundy’s Buddies” . Yes, the same Cliven Bundy, the rancher who believes that the U.S. Federal Government simply does not “exist”.
You can meet them here: http://www.bundysbuddies.com/ and read about them here:
Reposted from The Wilderness News http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/05/31/new-web-site-uses-bundy-to-expose-landgrab-politicians/


If the ESA Self~ Determination Act were to pass Congress, this disconcerting scenario would be enabled to become a reality:

If elected, Haynes would open entire state to drilling -- including Yellowstone
CANDIDATE: ACQUISITION OF BLM AND OTHER LANDS COULD ALSO LEAD TO THE ARREST OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/if-elected-haynes-would-open-entire-state-to-drilling-/article_6361bee5-9196-52d1-88d2-2afa9728c073.html

Taylor Haynes, Cindy Hill and Matt Mead

July 13, 2014 12:00 pm • By LAURA HANCOCK Star-Tribune staff writer 8 

If elected Wyoming governor, Republican Taylor Haynes intends to take back federal lands and could open Yellowstone National Park to drilling, grazing and mining, he said.

Haynes, who describes himself as a conservative and a scholar of the Constitution, said the U.S. government can own only 10 square miles of land, Washington, D.C., for the seat of government, as described in the U.S. Constitution under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17.
In addition to constitutional reasons, the state should own federal lands to better manage the resources — Haynes specifically criticized the federal government’s management of U.S. forests — and generate more revenue for the state, he said.
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“There are thousands of drilling permits in the federal system” awaiting approval, he said.
Among federal lands, Haynes includes the portion of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park and Devils Tower National Monument. He also wants the state to own U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.


If elected, Haynes would open entire state to drilling -- including Yellowstone
“We will manage every square inch of Wyoming,” he said. Lost tradition
Phil Roberts, a history professor at the University of Wyoming and author of “Cody’s Cave: National Monuments and Public Lands in the 20th Century West,” said Haynes’ plans could be unsuccessful.
Roberts’ book describes a 210-acre national monument turned over to the state government.
“The results were disastrous,” he said in an email. “To make a long story short, who has ever heard of Shoshone Cavern National Monument? Anyone advocating that federal land be ‘returned’ to the state wants to ignore (or make us forget) the case and make believe that such a failure never happened.
"Even though the site was quietly handed back to the federal government in fairly recent times (1977), the lesson apparently hadn't been learned that turning federal land over to states and local entities has potentially disastrous results.”
The Wyoming Constitution, in Article 21, Section 26, states that Wyomingites gave up federal lands in exchange for statehood, Roberts said.
The state was established after the Civil War, lost by people who advocated states’ rights, and it wasn’t created in the states’ rights tradition, Roberts said.
“In short, such attention-seeking assertions clearly aren't well-thought-out or grounded in any successful historical precedent,” he said. “Besides, I'm sure Mr. Haynes, like the other gubernatorial candidates, has more important real-life issues to address.”

OTHER CANDIDATES
Haynes’ plan is likely implausible, said Jerimiah Rieman, Gov. Matt Mead’s natural resources policy director. Mead is seeking re-election as a Republican. The primary is Aug. 19.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill, who is also running for the GOP nomination, did not respond to messages from the Star-Tribune.
“The governor has led an achievable and rational approach in dealing with these federal land issues, and he has led state agencies in asserting in state primacy,” or regulatory control over specific aspects of land management, Rieman said.
Rieman noted that Mead had crafted an energy policy, which he described as balancing development with the environment.
The general election is Nov. 4. The Republican winner will face Pete Gosar, a Democrat, who called Haynes' plan a distraction.
"I think that talking about things that can’t happen or aren’t going to happen doesn’t help us solve what needs to happen in our state," he said. "That doesn’t help us with Medicaid expansion. That approach doesn’t help us with gender-based wage inequality or worker safety or the cuts to the hunting and fishing that have gone on in Wyoming over the last few years.”

'PERSONALITY OF WYOMING'
If elected, Haynes would send federal government agencies a certified letter and invite them to attend a meeting in which he will explain his plan. He said they must be gone by January 2015, when he would take office.
“Then in whichever county they attempt to have any official activity, they will be arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer in Wyoming,” he said.
Haynes doesn’t expect Wyoming jails to be crowded with federal employees. Most will accept job offers that he intends to extend to federal employees, he said.

“They live here. They have families here. They have lives,” he said. “They’ll have the opportunity to use their expertise for the state.”
All the lands would be up for lease for mining, drilling and grazing, but the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality would set priorities to protect what Haynes described as the “personality of Wyoming,” such as beautiful forests.
The state would first consider permits that had been awaiting federal approval on lands with current energy development, he said.
Down the road, the state may put the national parks and monuments up for lease, Haynes said.
“It depends on the need and the national defense situation,” he said. “Those would be last on the list.”
Haynes wants to change how mineral royalties are distributed. Companies pay royalties for production on federal land.
Currently, mining companies send payments to the federal government, and the feds distribute the state portion. Haynes wants companies to send payments to Wyoming directly, and the state would not share with the federal government, he said.
“And if (companies) refuse, we will shut them down, so they won’t refuse,” he said.
Haynes said he successfully decreased federal intervention in Wyoming in a fight in the late 1990s that kept Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from federal protections by arguing that the federal government lacked trespass rights on ranch property.
Haynes, a physician and rancher, also argued with the government research. In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed Endangered Species Act protection for Preble’s populations in Wyoming but reinstated those protections in 2011.
Haynes believes that his work caused the federal government to back off from Wyoming for years, he said.



HAYNES’ CONTENDER RICHARD GRAYSON RESPONDS TO THE PROPOSAL TO DRILL IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
Richard Grayson~ The Democratic candidate for Congress from Wyoming responds to this proposal 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzZKjUeLuFs