Breaking News: Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

BLM places outrageous conditions on public comment

For immediate release:

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a Bay Area-based preservation group, asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise their conditions for receiving written comment that requires personal identifying information that BLM says they can not safeguard. What started as an issue jeopardizing public process for people who want helicopters roundups to stop has mushroomed into a free speech issue for all Americans.

“This in an invasion of privacy—a restriction of our rights of free speech,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It will stifle public participation.”

Due to the BLM’s lack of public notice for a public hearing, the preservation group released an alert titled: Government transparency and public process jeopardized. They gathered comments requesting the Nevada public hearing  be rescheduled with 30 days notice and comments against using helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management. Early Tuesday morning the group sent the comments to the Director of BLM in Washington requesting he intervene and reschedule the public hearing. Wild horse photographer, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered the comments to BLM officials at the hearing.

As a result of Protect Mustangs’ grassroots efforts and the public rallying for their right to comment,  the BLM released the press release announcing they will extend only the written comment period for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management in Nevada.

BLM also states:

Comments submitted to BLM must include your address, phone number, email, or other personal identifying information in your comment. Please be aware your entire comment–including your personal identifying information–may be made publicly available at any time. While you may request we withhold your personal information from public view, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

The preservation group opposes BLM’s terms for public comment for 2 reasons:

1.) The controversial Nevada public hearing regarding using helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management, must be held with 30 days notice so the American public may attend and give oral comment as well as written comment.

2.) The BLM must accept written comments and protect personal identifying information if the commenter has requested their information be withheld from public view. Requested personal identifying information should not be excessive.

“Any person who requests that their personal information be safeguarded should have that right to privacy—especially by a government agency,” states Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs.

Refusing to keep personal identifying information confidential, stifles the public process because anyone can get a copy of the comments according to BLM protocol. The public wants to know their rights to privacy are ensured.

“Are the BLM’s new written comment conditions intended to suppress public comment?” asks Novak. “It’s a no-brainer that this is going to discourage people. What’s happening to America’s public process and our rights to free speech?”

 

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Video of helicopter roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=player_embedded

Freedom of speech in the U.S.A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

 

Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

 

 


Wild Horse Wednesday™: Call Congress to stand up for the Free Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act

 

Captured wild horse weanlings lost their families and are calling for help (Photo © Anne Novak)

Dear Friends,

The Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act was signed into law 40 years ago on December 15th, yet today half of their roaming land has been taken away, herds are being wiped out and mustangs suffer at the hands of man.

They are wildlife. The horse is indigenous to America.

Despite the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) expensive PR spin—paid for with your tax dollars—America isn’t hearing the real story. Wild horses and burros are not destroying the range and they are not starving. How many tax dollars are spent to fool the American tax payer and global public?

Today’s industrialization of the West is the mustang’s biggest threat. Roundups are paid for with your tax dollars. The win-win is not being considered by corporate America . . . it’s all about the public land grab now.

Corporations are avoiding spending money on environmental impact reports and mitigation by encouraging the wild horses and burros to be rounded up before their projects break ground. You are paying for these cruel roundups with your tax dollars. The corporations are reaping the benefits.

Help us spread the word and voice your concerns about your tax dollars being spent on cruel roundups and removals. Ask Congress to demand an independent exact head count of how many mustangs are left. Ask your government representatives and senators to focus on the win-win for our wild horses and burros to remain free-roaming on the land in healthy genetically viable herds—not sterile groups.

The Salazar plan has gone ahead—despite public outcry with nationwide protests. It is a wipe-out plan leaving only a few wild horses in zoo-like settings on the range. Ask Congress to stand up for wild horses and burros—protect them to be living in freedom on the western range.

Be a hero for the wild horses and burros of America. Call your senators and representatives and ask them to stop the cruel roundups and removals. Call them every day through December 15th. Remind them that they work for us—even with corporate lobbyists making contributions—they are in government to be our voices.

Thank you for your help.

In gratitude,

Anne Novak

Executive Director of Protect Mustangs