Many of our readers are asking for an update on legislative threats and other issues. The legislative threats still demonstrate redundancy. The relentlessness of the deregulation of federal land  management, and “take over,” currently wears so many masks it is like being at a masquerade. Bills range from direct transfer of public land, removal of any and all regulations that restrict exploitation, removal of authority of federal managers to act without Congressional approval, and even bills that would place voices in opposition into, what appears to be, the category of criminals.

Legislative

We will address a few singularly (the ones deserve a bit of immediate attention) and then give you an overall message for your Representatives. We added, in bold, who you would call to express your opinion on each. We added our opinion for your consideration. You can click here for a fast guide to find your Representatives in Congress.

SCRUB (HR 998), that we have written about before, has passed the House and moved into the Senate. NOW is the time to find your Senator and say “NO.”  Call Senator

Many of you have read our pieces on 2.0 (Sage Grouse) over the last couple of years and already know the three years in the works, billion dollars already spent, plan was put to death by this Congress. The greatest threat to EVERYTHING is S 273, Greater Sage Grouse Protection and Recovery Act. It is not about protecting the sage grouse, it is a land and power grab in a costume. This bill MUST be stopped. Call Senator

HR 622, Local Enforcement for Local Lands, is actually terrifying. This bill eliminates federal law enforcement on federal land. If you are an environmentalist, wild horse advocate or anyone that monitors the land (or just enjoys it on a vacation) this should send chills down your back. THIS MUST NOT PASS. House of Representatives

S 21, Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017, also known as the REINS Act. The bill would strip the executive branch of the power to issue significant new rules on topics ranging from air quality to food safety. This is a Congressional power grab.  A regulation with “an annual effect on the economy of $100,000,000 or more” could not take effect without congressional approval. Regulations like that take years and years to create based on review after review. This type of regulation in the hands of Congress is simply a chance to play “who contributes to my campaign or agenda” with your lives.  Call Senator

Here in Nevada we are watching Amodei. He has tried in years past to transfer control of federal resources to states and this year is no different. Two bills HR 1107, Pershing, focuses on checkerboard and other land sales and transfers. Those of you that don’t know where Pershing is, THIS IS HORSE COUNTRY. HR 1107 needs to fail. HR 243 is essentially a “get back” piece of legislation angry that national monuments can be created by Presidential decree. This measure wants to make national monuments in NV only by Congressional approval ( in normal years getting anything through Congress is difficult).

There are dozens of bills we are watching. We listed some that illustrate the climate and would be very appropriate for a wild horse interest to oppose.

It would be a good idea to mention that you are aware of the massive repetitive nature of bills that essentially ask for the same things. Making a blanket statement that you oppose ALL transfer of public lands and deregulation (under this climate) and any transfer of law enforcement powers. You oppose any and all language that has the potential in any form to turn whistle blowers, environmentalists or voices that oppose exploitation at the expense of the environment into criminals.

In this section on Congress we want to remind you that you can vote out those reps that don’t hear you. Midterm elections in 2018 can stop this landslide.

This is a short piece on “A Congress that wont hear you” and what you can do. It features an interaction with Senator Heller of Nevada: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2017/03/07/are-you-fed-up-with-a-congress-that-wont-hear-you-open-letter/

On March 8, when 2.0 was put to death, we gave you the list of the executioners. We literally have an environmental apocalypse machine: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2017/03/08/2-0-is-gone-what-next/

We are working on the fancy graphics to demonstrate some of these issues but we see several other orgs are doing that so we have not made it a priority,

Additional

We are also addressing multiple mailings on many federal actions. What we witnessed last year under the umbrella of the word “collaboration,” that was tossed around like a bottle in a brown paper bag outside a meeting of AA, was the laying of a foundation to move multiple projects forward for mining and livestock interests. We have found that you must belong to one of those categories for that definition of the word to apply. For the rest of us, environmental or wild horses, there was an entirely different meaning.

We are addressing those issues on another front. We will have news for you shortly.

Onward

We will be bringing you multiple ways that you can participate to raise awareness and take action shortly.

Please bear with us as our plate is very full… we are firing up the litigation machine.

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