US Bureau Of Land Management Saves Turtles From Ranchers In Oregon.
Jan 4, 2016
US Bureau Of Land Management Saves Turtles From Ranchers In Oregon.
This post has not been approved by Media Co-op editors!
Social media lit up today with countless threads about the armed occupation of an outpost in a wildlife preserve in Oregon, the culmination of a long dispute between a local cattle ranching family and the US Bureau Of Land Management, over restrictions on grazing rights on what has traditionally been a 'commons' for local farmers and ranchers.
The restrictions apparently result from the Bureau's very keen interest in preserving rare turtles and other species in the area, which seem to have survived a long time in the region without the BLM's involvement.
One activist had nothing whatsoever to say on the armed group in Oregon.
He was thinking about a very different situation blowing up a few states over, one also involving the Bureau Of Land Management.
On social media today he posted "Just heard and felt the first MTR explosion of the New Year on the Coal River. Another chunk of mountain gone forever..."
Direct action campaign legend Mike Roselle was a co-founder of Earth First!, The Ruckus Society and currently directs Climate Ground Zero, who focus on Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining in the Appalachias in West Virginia.
A mountain is being brought down with explosives today, destroying a network of streams and forest ecosystems and effecting a terrain much wider than the one in dispute in Oregon. This is being done with permission of the BLM, and with no comment whatsoever from mainstream media or major environmental groups.
The Sierra Club, 350 and other organizations had a lot to say about MTR until 2008, but have said almost nothing since then and absolutely nothing about the most recent MTR projects.
1. MTR continues, yet there's no mention of it by the big green groups since 2012 and many seem to believe there's a moratorium on MTR in effect. Do you know why that is?
Big Green committed to ending MTR back in 05 but unexpectedly suspended the campaign in 08 or so without announcing it. Reasons are not clear, but they did declare victory. Their focus is now on divestment, which will have no effect on mining here.
2.You mention that you can feel it, how close to the current MTR site are you now? Can you see it from where you are?
I am a few miles from the mine, but we can see it from here. You have to trespass to get a look.
3.What are the easiest and least expensive ways people everywhere else can help?
We are support ing a bill, the ACHE Act.
The Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act (ACHE Act) establishes a moratorium on new mountaintop removal mining permits while the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences initiates comprehensive studies into the health effects of the mining on people in surrounding communities.
The ACHE Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 6, 2013, by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky). It currently has 47 co-sponsors.
More information on how to stop Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining can be found at http://acheact.org