Do they want to roundup, remove and kill wild horses & burros to make room for energy corridors?

PM Energy Corridors on public land

Study of ‘West-Wide’ Energy Corridors

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) released in May a study that provides a foundation for upcoming regional reviews of energy corridors on western public lands to assess the need for revisions and provide greater public input regarding areas that may be well suited for transmission siting. The regional reviews will begin with priority corridors in southern California, southern Nevada and western Arizona, and provide more opportunities for collaboration with the public and Federal, Tribal, state and local governmental stakeholders.

The study examines whether the energy corridors established under Section 368(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 are achieving their purpose to promote environmentally responsible corridor-siting decisions and to reduce the proliferation of dispersed rights-of-way crossing Federal lands. With the aim of encouraging more efficient and effective use of the corridors, the study establishes baseline data and presents opportunities and challenges for further consideration during the periodic regional reviews that BLM and USFS will conduct.

The corridors address a national concern by fostering long-term, systematic planning for energy transport development in the West; providing industry with a coordinated and consistent interagency permitting process; and establishing practicable measures to avoid or minimize environmental harm from future development within the corridors. Section 368(a) directed several federal agencies to designate corridors on federal lands in the 11 contiguous western states to provide linear pathways for siting oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and high voltage transmission and distribution facilities. The contiguous states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The BLM, USFS, and DOE, among others, undertook an unprecedented landscape scale effort, including a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, starting in 2006 and completed in 2009–when the onslaught of mega roundups and removals started–that designated nearly 6,000 miles of corridors, issuing two Records of Decisions and associated land use plan amendments

As required by a 2012 Settlement Agreement that resolved litigation about the corridors identified, the BLM, USFS and DOE established an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explain how the agencies will review the Section 368 (a) corridors on a regional basis. The MOU, signed in June 2013, describes the interagency process for conducting the reviews, the types of information and data to be considered, and the process for incorporating resulting recommendations in BLM and USFS land use plans.

The full-text of the corridor study is available online at: http://corridoreis.anl.gov.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of AmericaÂ’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. In Fiscal Year 2015, the BLM generated $4.1 billion in receipts from activities occurring on public lands.
–BLM–

Comments needed against BLM Colorado’s plans to stampede and remove native wild horses

Take Back the Power (© Protect Mustangs with Photo © Cynthia Smalley)

Take Back the Power (© Protect Mustangs with Photo © Cynthia Smalley)

MEEKER, Colo. — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) White River Field Office is seeking public comments on a proposal to gather alleged excess native wild horses in northwest Colorado. The BLM claims they want to sustain healthy public lands and wild horse populations yet their management levels are too low. Wild horses should have principal but not exclusive use of the land. The BLM’s multiple use manifesto is unfairly pushing wild horses off their native land.

The BLM is proposing to use a helicopter to locate and stampede wild horses toward a set of corrals as well as using water and bait trapping. The roundups could begin as early as September 2015. Up to 167 wild horses could be removed.

The White River Field Office manages the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area to maintain a healthy wild horse herd in balance with other resources and uses such as mining, drilling and livestock grazing. This area currently has an estimated 377 wild horses, but the appropriate management level for that area is too low at only 135 and 235 wild horses. The adjacent West Douglas Herd Area is not managed for wild horses but currently has an estimated population of 365 wild horses. Cruel roundups could occur in either area as well as areas within the White River Field Office outside these boundaries.

The BLM planning documents, evaluating the proposed roundup and removal operations, are available at the White River Field Office at 220 E Market Street and online at www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html.

It’s important to send in public comments regarding the BLM’s proposed roundup and removal plans favoring other users by May 5. Written comments can be mailed to the White River Field Office, 220 E. Market Street, Meeker, CO 81641 or submitted via email to mkindall@blm.gov. General questions can be directed to Melissa Kindall at 970/878-3842.

Before including your address, phone number, email address or any other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including personal identifying information, could be made publicly available at any time. While individuals can request the BLM to withhold personal identifying information from public view, the BLM cannot guarantee it will be able to do so.

Links of interest™

West Douglas Herd Area Preliminary EA http://on.doi.gov/1Fy6cDy

West Douglas unsigned FONSI http://on.doi.gov/1IGsMdm

BLM claims no significant impact on Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area (FONSI) http://on.doi.gov/1Cb1DLT

Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area (Determination of NEPA Adequacy) http://on.doi.gov/1DgcbgH

BLM Colorado White River Office http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html

Shelter urgently needed for captive wild horses in Nevada and elsewhere

Palomino Valley Center near Reno, Nevada and all other holding facilities must provide access to shelter from the elements. Denying shelter is abusive.

Please sign and share the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-emergency-shelter-and-shade-to-captive-wild-horses-and-burros

“Now it’s time for BLM facilities in Nevada, Colorado, Utah and other states to stop making excuses and provide shelter for captive wild horses in their care,” states Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs.
“Contact your elected officials and ask them to intervene to bring shelter to America’s indigenous horses trapped in pens,” urges Tami Hottes, Protect Mustangs’ Outreach Coordinator for the Midwest and South, who was pleased to discover shelters at the Nebraska BLM holding facility.

Send an email if you want to help Protect Mustangs: Contact@ProtectMustangs.org

 

Against the Odds, Three Colorado Communities Protect Themselves from Fracking

Photo credit: Eduardo Amorim / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Photo credit: Eduardo Amorim / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

 

STATEMENT FROM SAM SCHABACKER, MOUNTAIN WEST REGION DIRECTOR FOR FOOD & WATER WATCH

DENVER, COLO. — “We are witnessing historic victories tonight with the anticipated passage of measures to stop fracking in Fort Collins, Boulder and Lafayette, and what appears to be a narrow defeat of a fracking moratorium measure in Broomfield. Hundreds of thousands of Coloradans from across the state spoke out resoundingly against fracking and for protecting their health, safety, property, families and futures from this dangerous, irresponsible practice.

“Up against nearly $400,000 spent by the oil and gas industry, Fort Collins residents are celebrating an overwhelming victory with nearly 65 percent of the vote to establish a five-year moratorium.

“In the financial and population center of the Democratic Party, Boulder voters chose the health and safety of their community over siding with the state’s pro-fracking Democratic leader, Governor Hickenlooper. Boulder’s Question 2H is leading by a landslide – more than 76 percent of the vote as of 10p.m. MT. And the city of Lafayette will make history as the second city to ban fracking in Colorado with 57 percent of voters voting yes on Question 300.

“Even Broomfield’s Question 300, which is currently losing by a razor thin margin (50.7 to 49.2 percent), proves that nearly half of that community is opposed to fracking. With the Colorado Oil and Gas Association spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars in Broomfield alone, the oil and gas industry succeeded in buying Broomfield’s election, but the community will continue to fight.

“These victories are even more impressive given the outrageous spending by the oil and gas industry, totaling nearly $900,000, which was a brazen attempt to intimidate voters and buy these elections. As tonight’s results show, most Coloradans are not fooled by the dirty money and glossy advertisements put out by the oil and gas industry. Voters understand that fracking is inherently dangerous and imperils the future of our beautiful state.

“Governor Hickenlooper should take heed of these momentous results. Instead of representing the people who voted him into office, he’s been champion-in-chief for the oil and gas industry: suing local communities to force fracking next to homes and schools, bragging about drinking fracking fluid, and keynoting multiple oil and gas summits while simultaneously refusing to meet with concerned citizens.

“Coloradans have sent a strong simple message today: they do not want fracking in their communities. It’s something that Governor Hickenlooper should especially take notice of as we head towards 2014, and that all of our state and federal representatives should pay attention to.”

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.

 

 

Breaking News:19 Wild Horses Dead in Inmate Prison Facility

 Once Alive on the Range Now Dead in BLM Hands

11 News Grand Junction Colorado

A mystery is unfolding at a wild horse inmate program facility in Cañon City.

Bureau of Land Management officials discovered 19 wild horses dead in a pen Monday.

Several other horses in the same pen appeared ill.

The BLM and veterinarians are working with state and federal animal health authorities to find out the cause of the illness.

Some of the horses that fell ill have been euthanized.

The facility has been quarantined while investigators try to determine what happened.

First four Virginia Range wild horses move to Colorado

Nevada’s historic wild horses arrive safe and sound

Virginia Range wild horses Brittany and Spencer arrive in Colorado 2012 Photo curtesy HVWHPF

 

Virginia Range wild horses Jesse & JJ arrive in Colorado Photo curtesy HVWHPF

Thanks to everyone’s participation to save 53 Virginia Range wild horses from being sold to possible slaughter!

23 wild horses have been adopted, they are waiting to have their Coggins tests and be shipped out.

30 wild horses need their forever homes. Please help if you can.

Adoption applications are on Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund’s page.

Livestock’s Heavy Hooves Impair One-Third of BLM Rangelands

33 Million Acres of BLM Grazing Allotments Fail Basic Rangeland Health Standards

WASHINGTON – May 14 – A new federal assessment of rangelands in the West finds a disturbingly large portion fails to meet range health standards principally due to commercial livestock operations, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  In the last decade as more land has been assessed, estimates of damaged lands have doubled in the 13-state Western area where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts major livestock leasing.

The “Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report for Fiscal Year 2011” covers BLM allotments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  The report totals BLM acreage failing to meet rangeland health standards in measures such as water quality, watershed functionality and wildlife habitat:

  • Almost 40% of BLM allotments surveyed since 1998 have failed to meet the agency’s own required land health standards with impairment of more than 33 million acres, an area exceeding the State of Alabama in size, attributed to livestock grazing;
  • Overall, 30% of BLM’s allotment area surveyed to date suffers from significant livestock-induced damage, suggesting that once the remaining allotments have been surveyed, the total impaired area could well be larger than the entire State of Washington; and
  • While factors such as drought, fire, invasion by non-native plants, and sprawl are important, livestock grazing is identified by BLM experts as the primary cause (nearly 80%) of BLM lands not meeting health standards.

“Livestock’s huge toll inflicted on our public lands is a hidden subsidy which industry is never asked to repay,” stated PEER Advocacy Director Kirsten Stade, noting that the percentage of impairment in lands assessed remains fairly consistent over the past decade.  “The more we learn about actual conditions, the longer is the ecological casualty list.”

Last November, PEER filed a scientific integrity complaint that BLM had directed scientists to exclude livestock grazing as a factor in changing landscapes as part of a $40 million study, the biggest such effort ever undertaken by BLM.  The complaint was referred to a newly appointed Scientific Integrity Officer for BLM but there are no reports of progress in the agency’s self-investigation in the ensuing months.

At the same time, BLM range evaluations, such as this latest one, use ambiguous categories that mask actual conditions, employing vague terms such as “making significant progress” and “appropriate action has been taken to ensure significant progress” that obscure damage estimates and inflate the perception of restoration progress.  For example, in 2001 nearly 60% of BLM lands (94 million acres, an area larger than Montana) consisted of grazing allotments that were supposed to be managed to “improve the current resource condition” – a number that has stayed unchanged for a decade.

“Commercial livestock operations are clearly a major force driving degradation of wild places, jeopardy to wildlife, major loss of water quality and growing desertification throughout the American West,” Stade added, while noting that BLM has historically been dominated by livestock interests.  “The BLM can no longer remain in denial on the declining health of our vast open range.”

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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER’s environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Links:
Posted from the PEER press release