Recently Released 2014 State of the Rockies Report By John Worlock, SOC Trustee (From his KRCL Wasatch Environmental Update aired on April 27, 2014)
Colorado College recently released the findings in its 2014 State of the Rockies Report. It covers a survey of voter attitudes toward various environmental issues in the six “western” states, including Utah. At first glance, we are encouraged by their findings. The headline of the news release reports that “Conservation could impact Utah’s 2014 ballot box.” The project director, Walt Hecox, tells us that “The West is a major political battlefield this year, and the poll tells us congressional candidates would be wise to consider their positions on conservation and land use issues carefully. Utahns want their air, water, and land protected,” he says, and “where a candidate stands on these issues could potentially sway votes.” Come along with us as we visit some of the survey’s findings. –60% of Utah voters see themselves as conservationists, independent of party affiliation. –Utahns are active in the outdoors: with two thirds hiking regularly, and a similar number being regular campers. –Dwindling water supplies are a serious concern to three-quarters of the voting population, with an equivalent number concerned with pollution of lakes and rivers.
–The survey finds that voters in Utah are avid supporters of their public lands, which enhance their quality of life with little or no burden on traditional extraction industries. A strong majority of 62% believe that environmentally sensitive land should be protected from oil- and gas-well drilling. –Voters in Utah want their state to encourage the use of renewable energy.
While all of that is music to our ears, we begin to wonder what State of Utah was surveyed for this report. These are not the views held by the Utahns who represent us in Washington. Nor are they found in the pronouncements of our statewide elected leaders. This discrepancy is revealed in one of the Survey’s most disturbing findings. Most Utahns acknowledge that conservation is not an issue to which they pay close attention. Furthermore too few are aware of the positions of their elected representatives on such issues as protecting their precious land, air, and water. We, the Utahns, believe in clean air, clean water and wild and undeveloped public land…So let’s elect leaders who share our views! q
Bishop’s Hypocrisy
By Carl Fisher, Executive Director Editor’s Note: This article, authored by SOC’s Carl Fisher, is an updated version of one previously published at sltrib.com. Two years ago, President Obama employed the Antiquities Act to protect nearly 15,000 acres in California with a National Monument designation. Neither I nor the organization I represent, Save Our Canyons, generally gets involved with protection of lands thousands of miles from where our interests lie in the Wasatch Range. But what caught our interest was a diatribe posted on Rep. Rob Bishop’s website lambasting use of the Antiquities Act by presidents, past and present. We find it ironic that Bishop, R-Utah, called for “total transparency and public input” when he introduced HR 3452 and co-sponsored S 1883 — the Wasatch Range Recreational Access Enhancement Act — which required the Forest Service to dispose of pristine inventoried roadless watershed lands without the support of the congressman who represents the area, without the support of the mayors of Salt Lake City and County, without the support of the mayor whose city is congressionally required to manage the area
14 Save Our Canyons,
June, 2014
for culinary drinking water of over 600,000 people; and without engaging the public whatsoever in the process. In the same news release the congressman accused the president of circumventing Congress by utilizing the Antiquities Act. Bishop, Talisker, the Canyons and Solitude resorts and the other Republican members of the Utah delegation circumvented public processes by introducing HR3452 rather than going through public planning processes (the National Environmental Protection Act and forest planning acts) or participating in ongoing local discussions concerning our beloved Wasatch Range. Bishop went on to say that if projects are supported locally, “then they should have no problem passing in Congress on their own merits.” Well. Bishop should then look no further than the Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act (HR 4267), introduced in Congress in 2010 by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah). His proposed legislation was, and continues to be, supported by a vast stakeholder process including local government officials, local businesses, the ski industry, watershed managers and local communities. Public open houses had been
www.saveourcanyons.org