From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: URGENT UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT Date: 05 Sep 1996 14:13:06 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== SUMMARY: On Monday, 9/9/96, Utah Senator Bob Bennett is going to try to pass an amendment to the Interior Department Appropriations Bill which would eliminate funding for the BLM wilderness reinventory. Please call your Senators and ask them to oppose Senator Bennett's amendment. (Utah residents call Senator Bennett and Senator Byrd (D-WV), the ranking democrat on the Appropriations Committee.) The numbers for the capitol switchboard are (800) 972-3524, (800) 962-3524 and (202) 224-3121. THIS IS AN URGENT ALERT -- PLEASE CALL! DETAILS: We'll send out more details later today as they become available. See previous alerts for more information on the BLM reinventory. Some points you might want to make: - The basic message is "Hands off Bob. Let them at least look at the land. What are you scared they might find?" See, they're worried because unlike last time this BLM team is all from outside the state (read: not under control of Utah politicians) - Wilderness opponent Representative Hansen asked Babbitt for the reinventory. - Bennett's amendment would violate Federal Public Lands Management Act by prohibiting public land inventories. - The need for a reinventory has been known for the past dozen years since the 1984 Subcommittee Oversight hearings. - Utah politicians are catering to a Dutch coal company by trying to destroy the outstanding wilderness values of the Kaiparowits plateau. - This amendment ties the hands of the agency again -- it won't let interior do what they think is best (i.e., conduct a reinventory). For more information, contact Tom Price (cloud@CapAccess.org) or Cindy Shogun at (202) 546-2215. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: URGENT ALERT - MORE DETAILS Date: 05 Sep 1996 21:18:36 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== SUMMARY: The full Senate vote on Bennett's anti-wilderness amendment will be next week, perhaps as early as Monday (9/9/96). See below for more details. Please call both your Senators and ask them to oppose Senator Bennett's anti-wilderness amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill. (Bennett will be offering several amendments to various bills next week, so you need to specify which one you're opposing.) Utah residents call Senator Bennett and Senator Byrd (D-WV). The numbers for the capitol switchboard are (800) 972-3524, (800) 962-3524 and (202) 224-3121. THIS IS AN URGENT ALERT -- PLEASE CALL! --------------------------- OPPOSE THE BENNETT ANTI-WILDERNESS AMENDMENT Vote NO on the Bennett Amendment (Evaluation and Review of Utah Public Lands) to the Interior Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3662) * The Bennett Amendment contradicts requests by the Chairman of the House Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee, Jim Hansen (UT), for a wilderness survey in Utah. In April, Rep. Hansen challenged Interior Secretary Babbitt to identify additional lands which might qualify for wilderness in Utah. In late July, Secretary Babbitt announced the Department would embark upon a new wilderness survey in Utah. * The Bennett Amendment kills the Utah BLM Wilderness Survey by eliminating funding. The amendment prohibits the use of BLM funds for the wilderness survey. Instead, it requires that funds for the survey come from the Secretary of Interior's travel account, even if it means the "elimination of staff positions in the Secretary's immediate office." This mean-spirited provision effectively kills the survey process. * The Bennett Amendment kills the Utah BLM Wilderness Survey because it poses outrageous timeframes. The amendment requires the Department of Interior to complete a full environmental impact statement within seven months, a procedure which required ten years to complete after the initial inventory. * The Bennett Amendment violates the BLM's multiple use mandate. Pursuant to the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, BLM is required to "prepare and maintain on a continuing basis an inventory of all public lands and their resource and other values (including, but not limited to, outdoor recreation and scenic values)." (FLPMA, Section 201) By effectively prohibiting the wilderness survey, the amendment removes wilderness from the list of values which the agency is to inventory and consider in ongoing management of the public lands. This places the Department of Interior in an extremely dubious legal position. * The Bennett Amendment is designed to delude the facts surrounding America's Redrock Wilderness. The amendment ignores the findings of the House Subcommittee Oversight hearings from 1984 which found egregious errors in the BLM's initial Utah wilderness inventory. Based on the those hearings, then-House Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee Chairman John Seiberling requested that a new survey be done to correct the errors in the original inventory. * The Bennett Amendment is designed to prevent recognition of the Kaiparowits Plateau's outstanding wilderness values for the benefit of foreign-owned mining interest. Southern Utah's Kaiparowits Plateau is the largest block of unprotected wild country in the Lower 48 states. This region is, however, seriously imperiled by Dutch-owned Andalex Resources' plans to develop a huge coal mine for export to Pacific Rim nations. Utah politicians support the coal mine proposal; the Bennett Amendment is designed to thwart efforts by the Administration to identify the area's unique and unparalleled wilderness values. For more information, call Cindy Shogan at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, (202) 546-2215. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: UTAH WILDERNESS - NEW AND DIFFERENT URGENT ALERT Date: 08 Sep 1996 15:56:32 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== SUMMARY: Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 (9AM - 5PM Eastern Time) and tell President Clinton "I support the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument". DETAILS: Folks -- Thanks for all your calls and notes about the Bennett Amendment to cut the funding for the planned BLM reinventory. It's great to hear from all of you. Thanks in part to all the early calls, Bennett has begun to backpedal and may not introduce his amendment. Which is a good thing, since something even more urgent has come up. We were hoping to keep it a surprise, but the cat is out of the bag: President Clinton is considering using his authority under the Antiquities Act to set aside 1.8 million acres in southern Utah as a national monument. No congressional approval is needed. No filibuster votes and cosponsorships -- just a pen stroke and we could have 1.8 million acres protected overnight. Read all the details below, then call the White House. We've received word that the president really wants to hear it from the environmental community before he takes this step. SO -- give him a call. The White House Number is (202) 456-1111. The operators are on duty 9AM - 5PM Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. (You can skip the voicemail pop-quiz by pressing "0".) Tell President Clinton "I support the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument". Folks -- if you have ever wanted to see something happen, now's the time to help. Have you ever worked a phone banks, told friends to call, handed out and put up action alerts? If so, now's the time to do it again. We need your help now more than ever. We've spent enough time blocking something bad -- it's time to make something good happen. --------------------- President Considers Carving National Monument Out of Utah Land By Tom Kenworthy Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 7 1996; Page A03 The Washington Post The Clinton administration is considering a proposal to designate a huge swath of federal land in southern Utah as a national monument, a move that could prevent most future commercial development throughout a vast area rich in spectacular scenery, coal reserves and land use disputes. Under the proposal, President Clinton would use a 1906 statute known as the Antiquities Act to create, without needing congressional approval, a "Canyons of the Escalante National Monument" out of land currently administered by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The land lies east of the town of Kanab and southwest of Capitol Reef National Park. Sources inside and outside the administration said the most ambitious of the proposals that are still being reviewed calls for as much as 1.8 million acres of federal land to be protected within the monument's boundaries, an area nearly as large as Yellowstone National Park. Creation of such a monument in the arid canyon country of southern Utah would constitute the boldest conservation initiative yet by the Clinton White House and would burnish the president's reputation among environmentally concerned voters just weeks before the November election. On the other hand, it would further alienate many of those voters in the West -- and the Utah congressional delegation -- who already believe the administration has been too heavy-handed in trying to restrict commercial activities on federal forest and range land. Extending additional federal protection to such a large chunk of southern Utah would achieve a major part, though not all, of the conservation community's long-standing goal of designating 5.7 million acres of BLM land throughout Utah as wilderness. The Utah congressional delegation, seeking to end the long wilderness dispute while Republicans controlled the Congress and four out of five of the state's congressional seats, last year pushed legislation that would have earmarked only a bit more than one-third that much wilderness. But an energized environmental community has managed to keep the state proposal from passing Congress. Under the Antiquities Act, the federal government has more discretion in administering land than it does under the Wilderness Act, which specifically bars many activities such as mining and motorized vehicle use. Land management under the Antiquities Act is determined by the particular needs of the resources the president acts to protect, and usually allows pre-existing uses, such as cattle grazing, to continue. If Clinton approves the proposal, it would probably stop development of a giant coal mine planned by the Dutch firm Andalax Resources Inc. in a remote and forbidding area called the Kaiparowits Plateau -- an undeveloped region of more than 600,000 acres bordered by the Paria, Escalante and Colorado rivers. The Kaiparowits includes some of the nation's richest coal deposits, and Andalax, with support from the Utah political establishment, is planning to develop them under federal leases dating back a decade. Andalax would mine the coal underground, ship it by truck almost 200 miles to a rail head, then send it several hundred more miles by rail to Los Angeles and from there by sea to the Far East. The administration believes that under the broad executive discretion granted by the Antiquities Act it has the legal authority to prevent Andalax from developing the Kaiparowits Plateau's coal reserves. Though relatively obscure, the Antiquities Act has been frequently used by U.S. presidents beginning with Theodore Roosevelt to extend broad protections to federal land that otherwise might be threatened by development. The act authorizes the president, "in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments." Over the years, presidents have used that authority 66 times, and have interpreted their power under the statute broadly. Many of the nation's largest and most famous national parks, including Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches in the Southwest, and the C&O Canal in the Washington area, originally were protected as national monuments under the Antiquities Act. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter used the law to withdraw 56 million acres of federal land in Alaska pending congressional approval two years later of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Though the Antiquities Act recognizes so-called valid existing rights such as the coal leases held by Andalax, administration officials believe the act also gives them the authority to deny ancillary permits the firm would need to build roads on federal lands to get the mined coal out. "The lease clearly conveys the rights to explore for and develop and mine the coal," said an administration official, "but not an unlimited right to do whatever they please. It doesn't necessarily say they have a right to get the coal off the lease." A senior White House official said the southern Utah monument designation "is not done yet," and other officials cautioned that the administration might decide not to go forward with the plan. Among the issues still under review, said one official, are substantive questions such as how large the withdrawal would be, the "macropolitics" of the decision and the issue of timing. The last question is crucial since Congress has yet to complete action on the Interior Department budget and could move to block the designation with a rider on an appropriations bill. Staff writer John F. Harris contributed to this report. (c) Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: UTAH WILDERNESS - NEW AND DIFFERENT URGENT ALERT Date: 08 Sep 1996 17:04:54 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== SUMMARY: Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 (9AM - 5PM Eastern Time) and tell President Clinton "I support the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument". DETAILS: Folks -- Thanks for all your calls and notes about the Bennett Amendment to cut the funding for the planned BLM reinventory. It's great to hear from all of you. Thanks in part to all the early calls, Bennett has begun to backpedal and may not introduce his amendment. Which is a good thing, since something even more urgent has come up. We were hoping to keep it a surprise, but the cat is out of the bag: President Clinton is considering using his authority under the Antiquities Act to set aside 1.8 million acres in southern Utah as a national monument. No congressional approval is needed. No filibuster votes and cosponsorships -- just a pen stroke and we could have 1.8 million acres protected overnight. Read all the details below, then call the White House. We've received word that the president really wants to hear it from the environmental community before he takes this step. SO -- give him a call. The White House Number is (202) 456-1111. The operators are on duty 9AM - 5PM Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. (You can skip the voicemail pop-quiz by pressing "0".) Tell President Clinton "I support the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument". Folks -- if you have ever wanted to see something happen, now's the time to help. Have you ever worked a phone banks, told friends to call, handed out and put up action alerts? If so, now's the time to do it again. We need your help now more than ever. We've spent enough time blocking something bad -- it's time to make something good happen. --------------------- President Considers Carving National Monument Out of Utah Land By Tom Kenworthy Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 7 1996; Page A03 The Washington Post The Clinton administration is considering a proposal to designate a huge swath of federal land in southern Utah as a national monument, a move that could prevent most future commercial development throughout a vast area rich in spectacular scenery, coal reserves and land use disputes. Under the proposal, President Clinton would use a 1906 statute known as the Antiquities Act to create, without needing congressional approval, a "Canyons of the Escalante National Monument" out of land currently administered by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The land lies east of the town of Kanab and southwest of Capitol Reef National Park. Sources inside and outside the administration said the most ambitious of the proposals that are still being reviewed calls for as much as 1.8 million acres of federal land to be protected within the monument's boundaries, an area nearly as large as Yellowstone National Park. Creation of such a monument in the arid canyon country of southern Utah would constitute the boldest conservation initiative yet by the Clinton White House and would burnish the president's reputation among environmentally concerned voters just weeks before the November election. On the other hand, it would further alienate many of those voters in the West -- and the Utah congressional delegation -- who already believe the administration has been too heavy-handed in trying to restrict commercial activities on federal forest and range land. Extending additional federal protection to such a large chunk of southern Utah would achieve a major part, though not all, of the conservation community's long-standing goal of designating 5.7 million acres of BLM land throughout Utah as wilderness. The Utah congressional delegation, seeking to end the long wilderness dispute while Republicans controlled the Congress and four out of five of the state's congressional seats, last year pushed legislation that would have earmarked only a bit more than one-third that much wilderness. But an energized environmental community has managed to keep the state proposal from passing Congress. Under the Antiquities Act, the federal government has more discretion in administering land than it does under the Wilderness Act, which specifically bars many activities such as mining and motorized vehicle use. Land management under the Antiquities Act is determined by the particular needs of the resources the president acts to protect, and usually allows pre-existing uses, such as cattle grazing, to continue. If Clinton approves the proposal, it would probably stop development of a giant coal mine planned by the Dutch firm Andalax Resources Inc. in a remote and forbidding area called the Kaiparowits Plateau -- an undeveloped region of more than 600,000 acres bordered by the Paria, Escalante and Colorado rivers. The Kaiparowits includes some of the nation's richest coal deposits, and Andalax, with support from the Utah political establishment, is planning to develop them under federal leases dating back a decade. Andalax would mine the coal underground, ship it by truck almost 200 miles to a rail head, then send it several hundred more miles by rail to Los Angeles and from there by sea to the Far East. The administration believes that under the broad executive discretion granted by the Antiquities Act it has the legal authority to prevent Andalax from developing the Kaiparowits Plateau's coal reserves. Though relatively obscure, the Antiquities Act has been frequently used by U.S. presidents beginning with Theodore Roosevelt to extend broad protections to federal land that otherwise might be threatened by development. The act authorizes the president, "in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments." Over the years, presidents have used that authority 66 times, and have interpreted their power under the statute broadly. Many of the nation's largest and most famous national parks, including Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches in the Southwest, and the C&O Canal in the Washington area, originally were protected as national monuments under the Antiquities Act. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter used the law to withdraw 56 million acres of federal land in Alaska pending congressional approval two years later of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Though the Antiquities Act recognizes so-called valid existing rights such as the coal leases held by Andalax, administration officials believe the act also gives them the authority to deny ancillary permits the firm would need to build roads on federal lands to get the mined coal out. "The lease clearly conveys the rights to explore for and develop and mine the coal," said an administration official, "but not an unlimited right to do whatever they please. It doesn't necessarily say they have a right to get the coal off the lease." A senior White House official said the southern Utah monument designation "is not done yet," and other officials cautioned that the administration might decide not to go forward with the plan. Among the issues still under review, said one official, are substantive questions such as how large the withdrawal would be, the "macropolitics" of the decision and the issue of timing. The last question is crucial since Congress has yet to complete action on the Interior Department budget and could move to block the designation with a rider on an appropriations bill. Staff writer John F. Harris contributed to this report. (c) Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: ESCALANTE/KAIPAROWITS NAT'L MON. - MORE DETAILS Date: 09 Sep 1996 08:59:08 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== * SUMMARY: See below for more details on the proposed Canyons of the Escalante National Monument. (Yesterday's alert didn't make it out to the entire list due to technical difficulties, which is why we're sending this one so close on its heels.) IF YOU HAVEN'T CALLED THE WHITE HOUSE YET, PLEASE DO SO! ((202) 456-1111; 9AM - 5PM Eastern Time; say something like "I strongly support the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument"; press "0" to skip the voicemail pop-quiz.) For those of you who are new to the list, we'll repeat that phone calls are much more effective than email. Sending email is better than doing nothing, but a phone call carries much more weight. (Politicians realize that it's very easy for a small number of people to generate a huge number of email messages.) A phone call is quick, easy, and costs only a few cents. * DETAILS: CANYONS OF THE ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT The Proposal The Clinton Administration is considering a national monument spanning across some of America's Redrock Wilderness. The Canyons of the Escalante National Monument would include the Grand Staircase adjacent to Bryce Canyon National Park, the Kaiparowits Plateau adjacent to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and the Escalante basin adjacent to Capital Reef National Park. The Authority The authority for the creation of national monuments comes from the Antiquities Act of 1906. Inspired by the discovery of archaeological treasures in the Southwest at the turn of the century, the Antiquities Act has become a mechanism for presidents, with or without congressional support, to preserve valuable public lands as national monuments when those lands possess cultural, scientific, and/or scenic values warranting protection. The Precedent To date, the Antiquities Act has been used sixty-six times by virtually every President since Theodore Roosevelt, either to create a national monument or expand the boundaries of a previously designated monument. In Utah, examples include Mukuntuweap National Monument (predecessor to Zion National Park), Arches National Monument and Capital Reef National Monument (both of which later became national parks), as well as Natural Bridges, Cedar Breaks, and Dinosaur national monuments. The Clinton Administration's 1.8 million acre proposal is dwarfed by other national monuments which have been created in the past. Glacier Bay National Monument was 2.3 million acres and Katmai National Monument was 2.7 million acres. In 1978, President Carter withdrew 56 million acres, or more than thirty times the amount of land being considered in the current proposal, in Alaska under the Antiquities Act. The Land The lands being considered for protection under the Clinton Administration proposal clearly have outstanding values which are compatible with the statutory criteria laid out in the Antiquities Act. The Grand Staircase is Utah's "Panorama-land." Kodachrome State Park lies within this physiographic region, which is marked by a series of benches and cliffs exposing nearly ten thousand feet of strata, including the Pink Cliffs, Grey Cliffs, White Cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs, and Chocolate Cliffs. These colorful rock formations contain some four billion years of geologic history, and its fossils are a biography of life on earth. Relict plant communities found within the Grand Staircase contain pristine plant ecosystems found no where else in Utah, and are considered by botanists as an important scientific resource. The Kaiparowits Plateau spans nearly a million acres from its west edge along the Cockscomb Ridge to the Straight Cliffs bordering the Canyons of the Escalante. The Kaiparowits is famous for scenic beauty displayed in its colorful rock formations and other geologic features such as faults, folds, arches, monoclines, crossbeds, cliffs, lava fields and complex canyon systems. Habitat for 59 species of mammals, 200 species of birds, 46 reptiles and amphibians and 22 species of raptors has been preserved chiefly by the remoteness of this region. The Kaiparowits was also home to the largest pre-Columbian Indian population in the region, and included such peoples as the Anasazi, Fremont and Paiute, whose presence was marked by hundreds of recorded archaeological sites throughout the area. Finally, the Kaiparowits Plateau has been found by paleontologists to contain the most complete record of land life known in the world, including some globally unique and as yet, undescribed fossil mammals. The Escalante Canyons are world-renowned for their sinuous, serpentine beauty. There are slot canyons 100 feet deep, narrowing down to 10 inches in width. It contains cliff walls honeycombed with grottoes, alcoves, and caves. Its smooth-walled amphitheaters are muraled with desert varnish and patterned with conchoidal fractures, swirls of crossbedding, and prehistoric rock art. There are rincons, natural bridges, arches, fins, domes, pinnacles, sinkholes, solitary monoliths of sculptured stone. Its canyon bottoms are blessed with clear springs, and groves of whispering cottonwood. It was here, in 1936, that then-Secretary of Interior Harold Ickies proposed a four and a half million acre national monument, which would have included much of the lands slated for protection in the current proposal. The Threats This region's outstanding beauty is, however, deeply threatened by a rash of proposals which would transform its wild character to one of an industrialized zone. The greatest threat is by a huge coal mine which would scatter roads, powerlines, and other infrastructure throughout the heart of the now-wild Kaiparowits region. The coal from the thirty-year-old coal leases held by the Dutch coal mining firm would be exported to Pacific Rim nations. Oil and tar sands exploration and development threatens the eastern Escalante alongside Capital Reef National Park. Oil exploration, off-road vehicle abuse, and pinyon-juniper forest clearcutting proposals threaten the Grand Staircase region. SMOKY HOLLOW MINE PROPOSAL The Place The Kaiparowits Plateau spans nearly a million acres from its west edge along the Cockscomb Ridge to the Straight Cliffs bordering the Canyons of the Escalante. The Kaiparowits is famous for the scenic beauty displayed in its colorful rock formations and other geologic features such as faults, folds, arches, monoclines, crossbeds, cliffs, lava fields and complex canyon systems. Habitat for 59 species of mammals, 200 species of birds, 46 reptiles and amphibians and 22 species of raptors has been preserved chiefly by the remoteness of this region. The Kaiparowits was also home to the largest pre-Columbian Indian population in the region, and included such peoples as the Anasazi, Fremont and Paiute, whose presence was marked by hundreds of recorded archaeological sites throughout the area. Finally, the Kaiparowits Plateau has been found by paleontologists to contain the most complete record of land life known in the world, including some globally unique and as yet, undescribed fossil mammals. The Kaiparowits is truly a living museum, and one which deserves enduring protection. The Proposal The Smoky Hollow mine is proposed in the heart of the Kaiparowits Plateau. The mine would be an underground operation covering more than 25,000 acres. Mine development would require 22 miles of paved road, powerlines and communications facilities in three areas proposed by Utah citizens and the more than 100 member organizations of the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC) for wilderness designation. Subsidence from the underground mining operations would adversely impact fully half of the units proposed for wilderness conservation by UWC. The mine would destroy the wilderness characteristics of the area, harm paleontological and archaeological resources, adversely impact sensitive wildlife and fragile seeps and springs. The Transportation The 129,000 trucks would travel through Kanab and Hurricane and to rail load-outs in either Iron Springs, Utah or Moapa, Nevada where the coal would be loaded onto trains for rail transport to the Port of Los Angeles. From there, the coal would be shipped to Japan, Korea or Taiwan. Utah taxpayers would have to dole out in excess of $100 million for road construction, reconstruction and improvement to handle the 92 foot-long Rocky Mountain Double tractor trailers which would leave the mine as often as every five and a half minutes continuously for forty years. Citizens' groups have sprung up along the transportation corridor to fight the proposal because of the significant safety hazards and taxpayer liabilities it would create. According to a 1980 BLM study, a coal mine comparable is size to the Andalex proposal would be expected to generate as many as 150 additional accidents along the transportation corridor annually, which translates into 6,000 accidents during the life of the mine. The Company Andalex Resources is a foreign-owned mining company which plans to industrialize America's Redrock Wilderness in order to export coal to Pacific Rim nations. Andalex currently operates mines in central Utah and Kentucky. The company maintains its U.S. headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. The U.S. Andalex Resources is, according to documents obtained from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, wholly owned by Dutch-based Andalex Resources BV. The Dutch Andalex is wholly owned by Luxemburg-based Andalex Resources SA, which is wholly owned by Andalex Resources Ltd. The latter is wholly controlled by the "Andrew Trust." This Trust ties back to the family of Geneva, Switzerland-based Peter Green. The Boards of Directors for the various Andalex companies consists of virtually the same people, with addresses listed in the Holland, Bermuda and Switzerland. The Alternatives There are abundant high-quality coal reserves in already- developed regions throughout the West. The Kaiparowits has eluded coal development proponents in the 1970s (southern California power consortium) and 1980s (Utah-International) because of the dubious economics created by its remoteness from potential markets. Andalex could exchange the coal leases it holds in the Kaiparowits for other federal coal lands in central Utah or western Colorado adjacent to places where the company already holds leases. State school trust lands in the Kaiparowits could be exchanged into other coal or other mineral- rich, more economically developable lands in central Utah or the Uintah basin as occurred with the passage of the state-federal land exchange in 1992 when trust lands were exchanged out of national parks, national forests, and Indian reservations in Utah. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: Latest information on Canyons of the Escalante Date: 09 Sep 1996 21:04:40 +0000 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** **** HIGHEST PRIORITY HIGHEST PRIORITY HIGHEST PRIORITY **** ================================================================== Folks-- *** BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: 1. Please phone President Clinton RIGHT NOW and ask him to move ahead with creating the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument. The number is 202-456-1414. Your call will only cost about 50 cents. 2. Please forward this message to friends and family and ask personally that they also contact the president in favor of the Canyons of the Escalante proposal. 3. For those of you in Colorado, Arizona and California, President Clinton is coming to your state in the next few days. If at all possible, turn out with signs supporting 5.7 million acres of Utah wilderness and the Canyons of the Escalante National Monument. *** DETAILS: 1. The proposed CANYONS OF THE ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT is a real possibility. It looks like this could happen soon. Your calls and e-mails are extremely important RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT. With a single stroke of the pen, President Clinton could designate the Kaiparowits Plateau, the Escalante and the Grand Staircase regions to be a National Monument, protecting them forever. Last winter you came to the defense of Utah's redrock wilderness and we were able to hold off the Utah delegation's terrible anti-wilderness bill. That was a tremendous win. We have an equally tremendous opportunity right now to make a wonderful step ahead in our fight for the protection of Utah's redrock wilderness. So, please make your calls and send e-mails right now to President Clinton (president@whitehouse.gov). It looks like he could decide in the next day or two on this issue. So, call sooner rather than later. Will you also please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them personally to make calls to the Whitehouse? This is time to show the President how many of us care about protecting Utah's redrock wilderness and how strongly we support his proposal to establish this National Monument. 2. President Clinton listens to some senators on key issues. It may be important for those of you living in New Mexico, California and Montana to phone Senators Bingaman, Feinstein and Baucus in support of Mr. Clinton's proposal. Ask your senators to relay their support of this National Monument to the president. 3. For those of you living in California, Colorado and Arizona you have a chance to see the president "up close and personal" in the next few days. Take this opportunity to talk directly to President Clinton about our support for his National Monument. Big signs saying "5.7 Wild in Utah" and "We support Canyons of the Escalante National Monument" will make a huge impact on the "campaigner in chief." We'll overnight them to you just for the asking. He will be in Pueblo Colorado Wednesday Morning at 9:30 at the courthouse. We have someone lined up to hand out signs, etc, so let us know if you would like to connect with them. Other appearances: Wednesday in Phoenix, AZ and Palo Alto, CA. (Details pending.) Thursday in Los Angeles and Modesto, CA. (Details pending.) Contact us if you are interested in attending these rallies or if you have local information about times and places. Please contact Tom Price in Washington at (202) 546-2215. 4. Since our time frame on this issue has been short, many of you have sent questions our way. Keep it up and we will get them all answered in the next few days. In the meanwhile, the question asked the most is would the proposed National Monument impact the 5.7 million acre of wilderness to be protected as outlined in HR 1500. Yes it would, but the details can be worked out later. National Monuments, for example, can contain lands managed as wilderness. All things considered, the Clinton proposal is excellent and deserves out strongest support. Let's work on getting this National Monument and we can continue to work on protecting the rest of Utah's redrock wilderness after that. Y'all are the best group of activists going. With luck, we will be able to celebrate a GREAT win before long. So keep up the work for a few more days and we will be in contact soon... ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: More details about the National Monument proposal Date: 13 Sep 1996 13:55:13 -0600 (MDT) Folks: *** BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: President Clinton is still debating whether or not to create a "Canyons of the Escalante National Monument." Please call and express your support today! 1) A better White House number (202-456-1111) 2) Calls to the Clinton/Gore campaign 3) Opposition is building among some in southern Utah. 4) Following Clinton 5) Lots of calls coming in 6) Some common questions you've been asking *** DETAILS: 1) Correct phone number: a more direct number to the President's White House Comment line is 202-456-1111. They are open from 9-5 EST. Push "0" to skip the voice mail pop quiz and go directly to an operator. Sorry for the less direct previous number. 2) Some of our strategists in Washington believe it would be important for us to call the Clinton/Gore campaign offices in a couple of key states. So, for those of you in Nevada, call 702-822-1211: in Arizona call 602-253-9600: in Idaho call 208-336-1815. Be "sweet as pie" with the folks you talk to. Just say you think his plan for the monument is the best thing ever. A couple dozen calls per site is all it would take for them to get the message. 3) Opposition to President Clinton's Canyons of the Escalante proposal is beginning to build in some parts of southern Utah. For example, the Kane County Commission held a special meeting the other night to create a "war chest" to hire a lobbyist to fight the national monument. To paraphrase the SL Tribune: Ray Clark, Chairman of the Kane County Republican Party, urged residents to fight environmental groups with the same tools the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has used in it's struggle to put the 600,000 acre Kaiparowits off limits. "Call 'em , write 'em, e-mail 'em," said Clark. Don't know about you, but I would love to be on that list server! 4) Kudos and thanks to activists in Colorado and Arizona, who slipped homemade and preprinted signs past the image police at Clinton rallies in Pueblo and Sun City. In Colorado, about a dozen folks (lead by will tour) drove 4 hours down from Boulder for a 20 minute speech. Nice work! Rob Smith with the Sierra Club in Phoenix did great work getting folks to Sun City. Clinton is now in Palo Alto ( just a fundraiser, no public events) and we've heard he's heading to Seattle and Portland. Please let us know if you have heard where he's heading, so we can work with you and others to give him a warm, 5.7 wild welcome. 5) Lots of calls coming in We're hearing that folks are having a tough time getting through to the White house. Please keep trying! And, when you get through ask how many calls they have received. 6) Many of you have been asking questions about the impact of the proposed national monument on our fight for saving all 5.7 million acres of the citizen's proposal as wilderness. First, Here are a few comments on that issue from Mike Matz, SUWA's Executive Director: "We have a remarkable opportunity in our continuing quest to preserve as wilderness 5.7 million acres of our public land in Southern Utah. In such a hostile political climate, no one could have imagined that our collective efforts would have us taking such a monumental step forward toward out ultimate objective. While obviously not everything we need, the establishment of a national monument is a bird in hand. We will return--we think in a more favorable political atmosphere-- to get two in the bush." Second, although we're sketchy on exact details, we understand the national monument would be managed to preserve its natural condition, which would enable Congress to designate all or part of it as wilderness some time down the road. What's more, a national monument would be a big help in blocking the coal mine that Dutch-owned Andalex Resources wants to develop--the most serious threat to the integrity of our entire citizen's proposal. Third, there is little doubt that a "seismic shift" like this will effect the dynamics of our campaign to save America's redrock wilderness. Some of our campaigners will beleive they've done their part for southern Utah. But we will not let up until we've reached the finsih line. A national monument is a great stride forward in the campaign to save 5.7 million acres of America's redrock wilderness. A strong wilderness bill is the giant second stride. So, let's continue in the struggle. Together we can get this done. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: NATIONAL MONUMENT-- ANNOUNCEMENT THIS WEDNESDAY? Date: 14 Sep 1996 07:55:56 -0600 ================================================================== *************** UTAH WILDERNESS ACTION ALERT *************** ================================================================== * SUMMARY: The White House has announced that it will be making a "major environmental announcement" on the south rim of the Grand Canyon at 11AM next Wednesday, 9/18/96. We don't know for sure what this announcement will be. But we're pretty optimistic that it will be about the proposed National Monument in the Kaiparowits/Escalante area, and we're making plans for showing up in large numbers to cheer the President on. We urge everyone who is within range and can spare the time to show up. This should be very fun and exciting. And showing support for the President when he does something we strongly approve of gives him incentive to repeat such behavior. You've done a great job of keeping the phone lines busy, folks, and we may be close to seeing our efforts come to fruition. * DETAILS: The Utah Wilderness Coalition and the Grand Canyon Trust will be arranging transportation from Salt Lake City, St. George, Moab, Phoenix and Flagstaff (see below for details). Everyone should bring water, food, and rain gear (just in case). SUWA is working on reserving space in Coconino National Forest (near the Grand Canyon) for group camping. Stay tuned for details. If you are planning on coming, please let us know (see below for phone numbers). This will help us arrange for the right number of busses and/or vans. It will also allow us to forward your name to the Secret Service for advance screening. (People who show up to presidential campaign rallies unannounced must wait at the gate while the Secret Service screens their name on the spot. This can take a long time. If you're on record as having made threats against the President, you probably shouldn't plan on attending.) After the ceremony (assuming it's about what we hope it is), we'll go to the Powell Statue for a little (well, a big) celebration. (There will also be busses leaving for Flagstaff immediately after the celebration.) Salt Lake City -- Call the Salt lake City SUWA office (801 486 3161) for details about busses, vans, carpools, etc., heading for the South Rim from SLC. St. George -- Call Jennifer Lupton at the St. George SUWA office (801 634 8147) for details about busses, vans, carpools, etc., heading for the South Rim from St. George. Flagstaff -- Busses will be leaving at 6AM from the Museum of Northern Arizona parking lot. Call the Grand Canyon Trust at 520 774 7488 for details. Phoenix -- Busses will be arranged. Call the Grand Canyon Trust at 520 774 7488 for details. Moab -- Call Dave Pacheco at the Moab SUWA office (801 259 5440) for details about busses, vans, carpools, etc., heading for the South Rim from Moab. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: We have a new National Monument! Date: 19 Sep 1996 09:28:39 -0600 (MDT) ********************************************* SUWA / UWC INFORMATION ALERT ********************************************* Folks-- Well, we have our new National Monument. We tried all day to get through to you to make certain you knew about this, but communication from the Grand Canyon was next to impossible. This new Monument is a real beauty--and we have it because of your hard work and the hard work of the SUWA staff and others. Congratulations to all of us! This short message is just a brief heads-up. More information will follow. I will also attach a copy of the President's address yesterday for those of you who are interested. ********************************************* THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona) ______________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 18, 1996 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN MAKING ENVIRONMENT ANNOUNCEMENT Outside El Tovar Lodge Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona 12:10 P.M. MST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here and for being in such good spirits. Thank you, God, for letting the sun come out. This is a sunny day -- we ought to have a sunny day for a sunny day. (Applause). Thank you, Rob Arnberger, for the work you do here at Grand Canyon National Park and for your participation; to all of our distinguished guests. I want to say a special word of thanks to my good friend, Governor Roy Romer from Colorado. And thank you, Secretary Bruce Babbitt, for your long, consistent, devoted efforts on behalf of America's natural heritage. (Applause) I also want to thank the Harvey High School Choir and the students and the faculty from the Grand Canyon Unified School who are here. (Applause.) Where are you all? Thank you. I think this ought to qualify as an excused absence. (Laughter.) Or maybe even a field trip. I want to thank all of our tribal leaders who are here and, indeed, all of the Native Americans who are here. We are following in your footsteps and honoring your ethic today. (Applause.) I want to say a special word of thanks to my longtime friend, Norma Matheson. Norma and her late husband, Scott, became great friends of Hillary's and mine when we served together as governors. After Scott passed away, Norma honored me by asking me to come to Utah to speak at a dinner in his honor for a foundation set up in his memory. I never was with Scott Matheson, I never even talked to him on the phone that I did not feel I was in the presence of a great man. Both of them are truly wonderful human beings. And I am very grateful for her presence here today and for her commitment. (Applause.) And finally, I want to thank -- more strongly than I can ever convey to you -- the Vice President for his passion, his commitment, his vision, and his sheer knowledge of environmental and natural heritage issues. It has become a treasure for the United States and I have mined it frequently for four years. (Applause.) I remember when I was trying to decide what sort of person I wanted to ask to run with me for Vice President and I made up my mind I wanted somebody who was smarter than I was -- that left a large field to pick from -- (laughter) -- someone who was philosophically in tune with me, someone who would work like crazy, and someone who knew things I didn't know. And I read Earth in the Balance, and I realized it was a profoundly important book by someone who knew things I wanted to learn. And we have learned a lot and done a lot together over the last four years. Very few things we have done will have a more positive, lasting effect than this, and it will always have Al Gore's signature as well. And I thank him for what he has done. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, the first time I ever came to the Grand Canyon was also in 1971 in the summer. And one of the happiest memories of my entire life was when, for some flukey reason, even in the summertime, I found a place on a rock overlooking the Grand Canyon where I was all alone. And for two hours I sat and I lay down on that rock and I watched the sunset. And I watched the colors change layer after layer after layer for two hours. I could have sat there for two days if the sun had just taken a little longer to set. (Laughter.) And even today, 25 years later, in hectic, crazy times, in lonely, painful times, my mind drifts back to those two hours that I was alone on that rock watching the sunset over this Canyon. And it will be with me till the day I die. I want more of those sights to be with all Americans for all time to come. (Applause.) As all of you know, today we are keeping faith with the future. I'm about to sign a proclamation that will establish the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. (Applause.) Why are we doing this? Well, if you look at the Grand Canyon behind me, it seems impossible to think that anyone would want to touch it. But in the past there have been those who wanted to build on the Canyon, to blast it, to dam it. Fortunately, these plans were stopped by far-sighted Americans who saw that the Grand Canyon was a national treasure, a gift from God that could not be improved upon. The fact that we stand here is due, in large part, to the Antiquities Act of 1906. The law gives the President the authority to protect federal lands of extraordinary cultural, historic and scientific value, and in 1908 that's just what Theodore Roosevelt did when he protected the Grand Canyon. Since then, several Presidents of both parties, Republicans and Democrats, have worked to preserve places that we now take for granted as part of our own unchanging heritage: Bryce Canyon, Zion, Glacier Bay, Olympic, Grand Teton. These places many of you have been to, and I've been to many of them myself. I thank goodness that the Antiquities Act was on the books and that Presidents, without regard to party, used it to protect them for all of us and for generations to come. (Applause.) Today, we add a new name to that list: the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Seventy miles to the north of here in Utah lies some of the most remarkable land in the world. We will set aside 1.7 million acres of it. (Applause.) On this site, on this remarkable site, God's handiwork is everywhere in the natural beauty of the Escalante Canyons and in the Kaiparowits Plateau, in the rock formations that show layer by layer billions of years of geology, in the fossil record of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life, in the remains of ancient American civilizations like the Anacosi Indians. Though the United States has changed and Utah has grown, prospered and diversified, the land in the Utah monument remains much as it did when Mormon pioneers made their way to the Red Canyons in the high desert in the late 1800s. Its uniquely American landscape is now one of the most isolated places in the lower 48 states. In protecting it, we live up to our obligation to preserve our natural heritage. We are saying very simply, our parents and grandparents saved the Grand Canyon for us; today, we will save the Grand Escalante Canyons and the Kaiparowits Plateaus of Utah for our children. (Applause.) Sometimes progress is measured in mastering frontiers, but sometimes we must measure progress in protecting frontiers for our children and all children to come. Let me make a few things about this proclamation clear. First, it applies only to federal lands -- lands that belong already to the American people. Second, under the proclamation, families will be able to use this canyon as they always have -- the land will remain open for multiple uses including hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and grazing. Third, the proclamation makes no federal water rights claims. Fourth, while the Grand Staircase-Escalante will be open for many activities, I am concerned about a large coal mine proposed for the area. Mining jobs are good jobs, and mining is important to our national economy and to our national security. But we can't have mines everywhere, and we shouldn't have mines that threaten our national treasures. (Applause.) That is why I am so pleased that PacifiCorp has followed the example set by Crown Butte New World Mine in Yellowstone. PacifiCorp has agreed to trade its lease to mine coal on these lands for better, more appropriate sites outside the monument area. I hope that Andalex, a foreign company, will follow PacifiCorp example and work with us to find a way to pursue its mining operations elsewhere. (Applause.) Now, let me also say a word to the people of Utah. Mining revenues from federal and state lands help to support your schools. I know the children of Utah have a big stake in school lands located within the boundaries of the monument that I am designating today. In the past these scattered school lands have never generated significant revenues for the Utah school trust. That's why Governor Scott Matheson, one of the greatest public figures in the history of Utah, asked the Congress to authorize the exchange of non-revenue producing lands for other federal lands that can actually provide revenue for the school trust. Finally, I was able to sign legislation to accomplish that goal in 1993. And I will now use my office to accelerate the exchange process. I have directed Secretary Babbitt to consult with Governor Levitt, Congressman Orton, Senators Bennett and Hatch to form an exchange working group to respond promptly to all exchange requests and other issues submitted by the state and to resolve reasonable differences in valuation in favor of the school trust. By taking these steps, we can both protect the natural heritage of Utah's children and ensure them a quality educational heritage. (Applause.) I will say again, creating this national monument should not and will not come at the expense of Utah's children. Today is also the beginning of a unique three-year process during which the Bureau of Land Management will work with state and local governments, Congressman Orton and the Senators and other interests to set up a land management process that will be good for the people of Utah and good for Americans. And I know a lot of you will want to be involved in that and to be heard as well. Let us always remember, the Grand Staircase-Escalante is for our children. For our children, we have worked hard to make sure that we have a clean and safe environment, as the Vice President said. I appreciate what he said about the Yellowstone, the Mojave Desert, the Everglades, the work we have done all across this country to try to preserve our natural heritage and clean up our environment. I hope that we can once again pursue that as an American priority without regard to party or politics or election seasons. We all have the same stake in our common future. (Applause.) If you'll permit me a personal note, another one, it was 63 years ago that a great Democrat first proposed that we create a national monument in Utah's Canyonlands. His name was Harold Ickes. He was Franklin Roosevelt's Interior Secretary. And I'm sorry he never got a chance to see that his dream would become a reality, but I'm very glad that his son and namesake is my Deputy Chief of Staff and is here today. (Applause.) And it was 30 years before that, 93 years ago, that a great Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, said we should make the Grand Canyon a national monument. In 1903, Teddy Roosevelt came to this place and said a few words from the rim of the Canyon I'd like share with you as we close today: "Leave the Grand Canyon as it is. You cannot improve upon it. What you can do is keep it for your children, your children's children, all who come after you. We have gotten past the stage when we are pardoned if we treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for. The use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the water, the scenery -- whatever it is, handle it so that your children's children will get the benefit of it." It was President Roosevelt's wisdom and vision that launched the Progressive Era and prepared our nation for the 20st century. Today we must do the same for the 21st century. I have talked a lot about building a bridge of possibility to that 21st century, by meeting our challenges and protecting our values. Today the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument becomes a great pillar in our bridge to tomorrow. Thank you and God bless you all. END 12:27 P.M. MST ****************************************************** ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: News about the new national monument Date: 23 Sep 1996 11:22:03 -0600 (MDT) ******************************************************** THIS IS A SUWA / UWC INFORMATION ALERT ******************************************************** Folks-- *** BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: We need a campaign to let Americans know the importance of setting aside our new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 1. Letter from SUWA's Executive Director, Mike Matz. 2. Please call President Clinton to thank him for his leadership on this issue. 3. Please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper praising the new monument and the commitment of the President to Utah wildlands issues. *** DETAILS: Here is a letter from Mike Matz, Executive Director of SUWA. To all our loyal activists: This new national monument is yours. You established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. President Clinton just signed the proclamation. It was your letters, your calls, your fine work that enabled this to happen. But remember: This is just the beginning, not an end. We've got a lot of work yet to do. This is a first step -- and a big one at that -- as we press ahead with our campaign to designate as wilderness 5.7 million acres, including the wildlands that are now inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Of the 1.7 million acres that comprise the monument, 1.3 million are part of the citizens' wilderness proposal. Monument lands will be managed by the BLM, and according to the proclamation, hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and grazing are among the uses allowed. Our job now is to ensure that the wildlands inside the monument stay wild and undeveloped until they can be designated wilderness as part of the full 5.7 million acres of public BLM lands in Utah that deserve wilderness status. A national monument is as far as the President can go. It is how the Grand Canyon was originally set aside, as well as 56 million acres in Alaska that became national parks and wildlife refuges later with Congressional legislative approval. Now Utah is among them. And it's up to us to see that Congress takes the bold action necessary. The president has taken a courageous stand -- let's see if we can get Congress to do the same. And thank you. We're making history together. In twenty years, when Maya Rait, now five months old, visits the Escalante, she'll be enormously proud of her father, Ken. Together with your help, he played a key role in setting this aside for our kids and grandkids. Please take a few minutes to pen a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, telling them you support the President's decision to protect the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It's important that we all go on record celebrating this incredible moment. It's the first official step forward in our collective efforts to preserve the redrock wilderness of southern Utah. Mike Matz, Executive Director SUWA Well, as Mike says, the good news is starting to sink in--the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a reality. But at the same time, our work continues on many fronts. SUWA and UWC staff and volunteers have been working hard with the Utah and national media to explain the importance of the lands just protected. They are also discussing the issues surrounding the proposed mine on the Kaiparowits and the offer by the Clinton administration to trade all school trust lands for revenue-generating lands outside of the new monument. This work is critical due to the disinformation campaign that seems to be growing up around the new monument. The Utah delegation is angry about President Clinton protecting these lands and is willing to say so to anyone who has a pen in hand. They are having a field day with the Utah media and have provided extensive offensive statements to the press. Some of this is comical. For example, Enid Greene, one of the Utah delegation's most outspoken members against wilderness, was quoted as saying she is disappointed with the new monument since she had hoped to designate much of the included lands as wilderness. A short list of some of the issues surrounding the new monument follows. We will continue to provide more information over the next few days. >> Opponents of protection state that the new national monument will hurt school children. ** This statement grows out of the school trust lands issue. Much of the state of Utah contains lands dedicated by the federal government for the good of Utah's school children. These lands were designated to raise revenues for education within the state. No more than 2% of Utah's education budget comes from these lands. Furthermore, the lands included in the new monument simply do not generate any funds at all. But, the coal mine proposed for the Kaiparowits Plateau would generate unknown funds that would go to education. President Clinton made very clear on Wednesday that his administration will trade all of the education trust lands in the new monument for federal lands outside of the monument. He even stated that when any debate over comparable values for these lands is raised, he will direct his negotiators to find in favor of the state. >> Opponents have suggested the method for forming the new park was flawed since it did not include discussion with Utah's elected officials. ** The Utah delegation and Utah's governor have shown over and over they are not interested in the will of the people of Utah on wild lands issues. The Utah delegation's bill in the 104th congress is simply a terrible bill which ignores much of the potential wilderness land of the state. The delegation's bill was crafted without significant input of Utah citizens. For example, when hearings on this bill were held in the state, fully 70% of those giving testimony and writing letters favored preserving 5.7 million acres of Utah's wilderness lands. The Utah delegation's bill was pushed in the Congress by Utah legislators in both houses of congress. The bill failed on its bad merits in both the House and Senate. President Clinton by forming the new monument has protected some of the lands omitted from the Utah delegation's bill. It is the Utah delegation who took themselves out of the discussion on Utah wild lands issues. >> The proposed coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau is critically important for the southern Utah economy. ** The coal mine proposed by Andalex Mining is a bad idea. This coal would be mined, trucked to a rail head 200 miles away, shipped by train to the west coast and shipped to the Pacific Rim for sale to Asian markets. Andalex reaps the profits, southern Utah gets the pollution, the danger from hundreds of giant trucks on the roads daily, the costs of maintaining the infrastructure necessary for the mining venture. The net gain in jobs is very small and the overall gain to the local economy is arguably small. >> The formation of the new national monument was strictly a political move on the part of President Clinton. ** Sometimes "all of the stars line up" so that doing the right thing is also the best move politically. That has happened with the new monument in Utah. President Clinton and Al Gore wanted to set this park aside for future generations. Since protecting our national heritage is favored by most Americans, this move is also popular with many people. So, this is a classic win / win situation. >> What about the downside of a national monument? ** This new monument will likely be managed differently from other monuments in the west. President Clinton has announced that the details of management will be worked out over the next three years. We will have to work hard to ensure that this monument preserves the wilderness values of the included wild lands even if visitation increases in parts of the monument. We will provide more information on this issue in the next weeks. 2. ====>> Please phone the President's comment line to thank him for protecting the wild lands in southern Utah with the new national monument. The number for the White House Comment Line is (202)456-1111. This line is open between 9-5 eastern time, M-F, and you can save time by pressing "0" after you are connected. 3. ====>> Please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to let your local citizens know that protecting these lands is of utmost importance and is good for all Americans. A sample letter to the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal from Vera Naputi follows. Letters to the Editor Wisconsin State Journal P.O. Box 8058 Madison, Wisconsin 53708 Vera Naputi 106G Eagle Heights Madison, Wisconsin 53705-1915 September 17, 1996 To the Editor: We can all be thankful that the President, Bill Clinton, had the wisdom and grace to establish the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The soaring red cliffs, slickrock sculpture gardens, and the winding labyrinth of innumerable narrow nameless canyons of stone, are a sight to behold and experience. Better yet, just knowing that this landform exists in the silence of unpopulated vastness never to be bulldozed and paved over, is of greater value than any of the dearth of industrial uses which could have been subsidized to waste this magnificent land. This act by President Clinton to save this part of the rare and valuable resource of unblemished wild lands is just what was needed to end the polarization and jump-start the process to reach a consensus in protecting all the remaining wilderness in Utah. The short-sighted opponents of wilderness will be sure to attempt to subvert the President's action, so we must call on Senators Feingold and Kohl and Representative Klug to lead an effort to cut off any move to weaken our newest jewel in the National Park system. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is truly a crown jewel which future generations will value as the best part of our legacy from today. The awe striking magnificence of this land cannot be conveyed by words. Thank you Mr. President! Sincerely, Vera Naputi That's all for now folks. We will be in contact soon... ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: Nat'l Monument: More info, plus Q&As Date: 26 Sep 1996 14:40:28 -0600 [Below is a letter from SUWA staff and board on the new national monument. It contains some of the details many of you have been asking about. After the letter are some frequently asked questions, along with answers.] We have a new national monument: Long Live the Kaiparowits! ". . . I am concerned about a large coal mine proposed for the area. Mining jobs are good jobs, and mining is important to our national economy and to our national security. But we can't have mines everywhere, and we shouldn't have mines that threaten our national treasures." -- President Clinton announcing creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which also protects the Kaiparowits Plateau Dear SUWA Member: September 18 marked a stunning and exciting reversal in our pursuit of protection for America's redrock wilderness. After repeatedly beating back lousy proposals that would open up much of the land for development, we succeeded in permanently protecting 1.7 million acres in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument -- which includes almost 1.3 million acres of our wilderness proposal. President Clinton signed the proclamation on that sunny Wednesday. Congratulations are due all the way around. Without you it would not have happened. Years from now, you can take your children, and they can take their children, to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. They will be enormously proud of your key involvement in its establishment. This astonishing turn of events pays tribute to you and thousands of others -- perhaps hundreds of thousands around the country -- who joined with us. The President heard our united voices, and he took a bold stand because it was clearly the right thing to do. And now this land is protected for future generations. For more than three decades the battle has waged to preserve this marvelously remote wilderness, a treasure trove of archeological sites and paleontological wonders. The President's proclamation, under authority of the Antiquities Act, does not extinguish existing leases held by Andalex Resources, Inc., the Dutch-owned mining conglomerate that had hoped to extract coal from the Kaiparowits and ship it overseas to the Pacific Rim. But this proclamation does recognize that the landscape's astounding geological, biological, and historical values are more important than its potential as a coal resource. Andalex will now find it very difficult to acquire rights-of-way to get power in and take coal out. Transmission lines and roads for 92-foot-long tractor trailers are unquestionably incompatible with those values President Clinton wants to safeguard in the monument. Beyond stopping a coal mine underneath 25,000 acres -- an area twice the size of Manhattan -- on the Kaiparowits Plateau, what exactly does national monument status mean? Not much changes, really. The Bureau of Land Management continues to manage the land in the public trust, and we aim to keep it that way. Backpackers and hikers can still venture into the monument, now with a certain level of relief that the area won't be lost to a coal mine. Hunting and grazing will still be permitted. Horsepacking and camping are considered compatible with the purposes for which the monument was established. More will be sorted out during a three-year process to provide a management plan for the national monument. That's a whole new and exciting front on which we'll have to participate actively. The monument does not supplant the need to designate those lands as part of the Wilderness Preservation System. We have to steadfastly guard the 1.3 million acres within this new national monument that are part of the citizens' proposal for wilderness. No doubt, we will have battles on our hands in Congress to prevent Utah politicians from appropriating money to pave the Hole-in-the-Rock road or construct visitor facilities in the Paria, or any other deleterious way in which opponents of the national monument attempt to turn this incomparable land into an industrial tourism park. We cannot let this national monument become a magnet for visitation like southern Utah's national parks have become. The land is meant to be set aside for solitude and science, and that's what we aim to ensure. Towards that goal, we cannot let up in our collective -- and successful -- efforts to protect 5.7 million acres as wilderness. That's what we all told the governor and delegation we wanted. They ignored us. Yet many in Congress heard us, stopping dead-in-its-tracks the anti-wilderness legislation Utah politicians advocated. The President heard us and did what he could do to protect a portion of it. We are getting closer than we could ever have imagined to our ultimate objective. In his speech, the President talked about the other times the Antiquities Act has been used "to preserve places that we now take for granted as part of our own unchanging heritage," mentioning the Grand Canyon, Glacier Bay, Olympic, and Grand Teton. Then he said, "Today, we add a new name to that list: the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument." Because of you, we're at this point. We cannot tell you how proud we are -- the SUWA staff and board -- to be associated with all the fine people who have spoken out, writing letters, making calls, and phoning friends asking them to do the same. This accomplishment is simply astonishing, and while there is more work yet to be done, we should revel in this wonderful achievement. What an amazing victory for the land you have attained! Our heartfelt thanks go to each and every one of you. SUWA staff Monument Questions and Answers Q: What about the foregone revenues for Utah's school children now that the writing is on the wall for Andalex? A: Trust lands statewide only generate about one percent of the annual education budget. Even if -- after taxpayers dole out $100 million for road subsidies -- the Andalex mine were constructed, annual education expenditures would only increase by about $2 per pupil, or about the cost of an egg salad sandwich. Q: What about due process? A: Due process meant nothing to Utah politicians last year when they tried to ramrod their anti-wilderness proposal down the throat of not only Utahns, but all Americans; their intransigence only proved to the President that rational negotiation on land protection issues in southern Utah is not possible. Q: Isn't this the mother of all land grabs, according to Senator Orrin Hatch? A: The lands at issue are federal public lands and are to be managed consistent with national public interest, rather than solely in the interest of local county commissioners and foreign mining companies. Q: Is this monument going to become a magnet for paved roads and visitor centers, transforming it into an industrial tourism wasteland? A: Utah politicians will try to appropriate monies for such atrocities, and we will work vigilantly to stop them in the appropriations process and by pointing out that "Disneyland" is inconsistent with the intent of the Proclamation which created the monument. Q: What about the 5.7 million acre proposal? A: That's still the prize; wilderness designation can overlay national monuments and parks just as it can overlay BLM and national forest lands. Q: Why support a monument which allows grazing and hunting? A: These activities are currently ongoing and will still be allowed when the lands are designated as wilderness. There is precedent for these activities in national monuments. Locals can claim no adverse economic impact from the creation of this monument since no existing commercial uses are being displaced. Q: Then what do we gain with this monument? A: No new oil and gas leasing, coal leasing, or hard rock mineral claims will be allowed. In addition, any land development proposals will need to be proven compatible with the purposes of the monument: for the Andalex coal mine proposal, this will be nearly impossible to demonstrate. ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, contact: Tom Price, cloud@capaccess.org, (202) 546-2215 or Lawson LeGate, (801) 467-9294, lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161, suwa@xmission.com . **********************************************************************