March 4, 2010
Dear Friend,
Without your immediate help, we could lose over 40% of the public land managed by the BLM in Utah! The possibility of losing this land in the next year is very real. A radical environmentalist group, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), has made huge progress on advancing their ill intended 9.4 million acre Utah Wilderness bill (H.R. 1925). Should this bill pass you can kiss goodbye recreational gems like the San Rafael Desert and Moab. USA-ALL has the experience and ability to beat this bill and minimize or eliminate it. We need you to take action to help protect the public’s access to these valuable places.
On October 1, 2009 a Congressional committee held a hearing on this bill. We attended the hearing and helped represent how this bill would cause tremendous harm. Our side did well in the hearing but it wasn’t enough to stop SUWA from advancing their agenda. In mid November 2009 the House sponsor of the bill, Congressman Hinchey (D-NY), along with other Congressmen sent a letter to the Obama administration and pressured them to take action on this bill and assist in passing it. Congressman Hinchey also asked the Department of the interior to exercise its considerable power and manage the land in the bill as Wilderness BEFORE Congress acts on it! This is the same Obama administration that pulled 77 Utah oil and gas leases from leases, and essentially denied Utah school children of critical funds that would have come from the development of those leases. Not to mention badly needed jobs and other economic opportunity. This is the same Administration that has tried to designate some of this same land as a national monument with-out first talking to local folks. You’ll remember that President Clinton did this to us in 1996 with the creation of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. That moved has significantly harmed Utahans and we are still dealing with the fall -out from that.
Utah is under attack. The Western U.S. is under attack. Radical environmentalists and their political lackeys are working aggressively to take away our quality of life and tell us how to live according to THEIR ideas. In Utah the principal offender is SUWA. Recently SUWA board member and Swiss citizen, Hansjorg Wyss, stepped down from his position as Chairman. Not coincidentally he also was recently charged with federal crimes involving his personal business and the death of some of his employees. SUWA is no stranger to having criminals at their helm. In 2006 2 of their board members, one of which was their treasurer, were convicted on separate but similar federal fraud charges related to banking scams. These are the leaders of the organization we know will use any tactic legitimate or not to bring about their goal of closing public land to vehicle access.
We bring these things to light to illustrate an important point:
A Swiss citizen leading an radical environmental organization is trying to lock up public land in the USA. This alone is concerning.
3 of SUWA’s board members have been charged with serious federal crimes. 2 have been convicted 1 is awaiting trial. This is the caliber of SUWA’s leadership. We believe this speaks volumes about the organization and those involved in it.
A Congressman from New York and a Senator from Chicago, Illinois are the sponsors of the bill that would turn 9,400,000 acres of public land in Utah into Wilderness and thereby close it to vehicle access.
NONE of Utah’s Congressmen or Senators supports this bill.
The Obama administration, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), are all strongly sympathetic to radical environmentalism.
In February 2010 documents showing the BLM has been considering designating areas in the San Rafael and Cedar Mesa as National Monuments (de-facto Wilderness) surface.
The important Point: Do the math. Our way of life even our very ideals are under attack by those who care little for you or our western way of life. USA-ALL has been fighting back with all we have. The purpose of this letter is to grow our support so we may fight harder and more effectively. Will you join us?
