New Senate Moves to Increase Wilderness Protection

The United States Senate advanced legislation for the largest expansion of wilderness protection in 25 years in a rare Sunday session. More than 2 million acres in 9 states have been set aside. The bill is a holdover from last year and contains measures sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, though some Republicans complained about not being able to add amendments to the bill.

From The Huffington Post:

By a 66-12 vote, with only 59 needed to limit debate, lawmakers agreed to clear away procedural hurdles despite partisan wrangling that had threatened pledges by leaders to work cooperatively as the new Obama administration takes office. Senate approval is expected later this week. Supporters hope the House will follow suit.

“Today is a great day for America’s public lands,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. “This big, bipartisan package of bills represents years of work by senators from many states, and both parties, in cooperation with local communities, to enhance places that make America so special.”

The measure _ actually a collection of about 160 bills _ would confer the government’s highest level of protection on land ranging from California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range to Oregon’s Mount Hood, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and parts of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. Land in Idaho’s Owyhee canyons, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan and Zion National Park in Utah also would be designated as wilderness.

Republicans are also complaining that the bill prevents development of oil and gas on federal lands, which they claim will deepen America’s dependence on foreign oil. No surprise there.

What a great way to for the new Congress to start. Hopefully it will pass in the House and we’ll be on our way to repairing some of the damage done by Bush.

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user OneofThem

The March of Incompetence: Climate Change Denier James Inhofe Also Hates the Troops

Scott Herring is a new writer here at EarthFirst and a published author, blogger, and professor from the University of California, Davis.

The US Senate is an intellectual landfill. Really–I can’t say it too strongly. It seems like the higher you go in the federal government, the more rubbishy things get.

Take Oklahoma Republican Senator and well known Climate Change denier James Inhofe as an example. Inhofe is wildly hawkish, but as the Huffington Post reports,

“he has consistently voted against health care for the troops and their families, against pay protection for reservists, and against an increase in the death gratuity payments (now $12,000) for the families of military personnel killed in battle. And on top of all that Inhofe has also voted consistently against repealing the heinous ‘disabled veterans tax,’ which penalizes disabled veterans who receive both disability pay and retired pay.”

Armies fall apart when the soldiers aren’t treated well. Just a few years ago, the GOP dominated the political world, with majorities seemingly everywhere except the Berkeley city council, and it is now well on its way to being thrown out of power entirely. Republicans won their dominance because people thought they were good on national defense. Their sickly incompetence on this same issue has in turn done them in.

Link [Huffington Post]