5/17/23

Albuquerque BLM likely ground zero for conservation lease pushback

After shedding its antlers a jackalope poses for a trail cam.

In 2008, Bidder 70 Tim DeChristopher crashed a US Bureau of Land Management oil and gas leasing auction to prevent greater harm to the planet then drove up the prices of some of the bids and won more than a dozen parcels valued at some $1.8 million. But in 2011 a federal jury in Salt Lake City declared him guilty of two federal felonies and sent him to prison.

About the time he was released environmental lawyer and activist, Robert Kennedy, Jr. wondered in The Nation why DeChristopher was incarcerated but Massey Energy Earth hater, Don Blankenship remained free. 

Today, putting the country on the path of protecting at least 30 percent of our land and 30 percent of our ocean areas by 2030 (30x30) is imperative to preserving public lands especially now as the worst megadrought in at least 1200 years is driving desertification in much of the western United States. A supermajority of registered voters in the Mountain West agrees according to bipartisan polling conducted by the Colorado College State of the Rockies project. 

Current BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning has called nearly every Trump era ruling illegal including the failure to manage mustangs safely while blows to morale and an exodus of employees have contributed to horse mortalities during gathers. 

Now, conservation is center stage as the Department of Interior and BLM plan to sell preservation leases to parties interested in environmental protection. As expected, Earth haters in Congress are apoplectic and a public meeting is scheduled for Albuquerque on 30 May.
Stone-Manning told the AP that critics were misreading the rule, and that conservation leases would not usurp existing ones. If grazing is now permitted on a parcel, it could continue. And people could still hunt on the leased property or use it for recreation, she said. “It makes conservation an equal among the multiple uses that we manage for,” Stone-Manning said. While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation in limited cases, it has never had a dedicated program for it. Environmentalists have largely embraced the changes, characterizing the proposal as long overdue. [Biden plan to sell land leases for conservation gets pushback]
Don Blankenship was ultimately convicted of misdemeanor conspiracy for willfully violating federal mine safety standards and spent a little time in jail himself after an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 people in 2010.

Tim DeChristopher founded the Climate Disobedience Center and is actively raising awareness of climate necessity defense.

The BLM is being sued for its plans to conduct additional, often-dangerous gathers to reduce the horse population in Wyoming's Red Desert with hopes to avoid violence from Republican welfare ranchers. 

Rewild the West.
 
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