Erin Allweiss's Blog: U.S. Law and Policy tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/eallweiss//149 2008-12-27T12:56:48Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 Robert Redford and NRDC Join Forces to Stop Sale of Utah Wilderness tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2008:/blogs/eallweiss//149.2339 2008-12-17T17:45:00Z 2008-12-27T12:56:48Z Normally when Congress heads home, things quiet down in Washington. That really isn't the case right now... particularly today when Robert Redford joined NRDC and Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) for a press conference on the Bush administration's most recent midnight... Erin Allweiss Normally when Congress heads home, things quiet down in Washington. That really isn't the case right now... particularly today when Robert Redford joined NRDC and Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) for a press conference on the Bush administration's most recent midnight maneuver: a giveaway of Utah wilderness to their dearest friends - oil and gas companies.

Redford is not only an actor and director, but he is an environmentalist and trustee of NRDC with roots in Utah. As he said today, "you can't put a price on silence or solitude." But if the administration moves forward, hundreds of thousands of acres of Utah wilderness would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, leading to irreparable damage to our nation's most treasured landscape.

At the event today, NRDC, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Earthjustice announced that it was taking legal action to stop the auction, which is scheduled to occur this Friday, December 19.

As NRDC's Sharon Buccino, the director of our land program, said this morning, "Today's lawsuit gives notice to oil and gas companies that the challenged leases may be found unlawful. Anyone buying them at Friday's sale will be proceeding at their peril."

I'm lucky to have her on my team!

The lawsuit challenges the leasing of eighty lease parcels affecting nearly 110,000 acres of some of Utah's most spectacular red rock country. Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration rushed to get these leases out the door. Tim Egan addressed this irreversible - and irresponsible - midnight maneuver in Sunday's New York Times.

While it is both saddening and infuriating to think that we could lose more than 100,000 acres of wilderness to this administration's midnight giveaway, it's uplifting to know that we have people like Robert Redford and Sharon Buccino fighting to protect our land.

With the lawsuit dropped just this morning, and only two days before the fire sale, you can help NRDC take this to court.

In the meantime, I'll be watching to see what happens...

]]> Keeping an Eye on the Energy Debate tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2008:/blogs/eallweiss//149.1777 2008-09-16T23:57:37Z 2008-09-26T20:30:03Z Right now, the House is in full debate over an energy bill that has some good and some bad energy policies. You can read the statement NRDC's President issued today in response to this bill: http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080916.asp Among the good provisions... Erin Allweiss Right now, the House is in full debate over an energy bill that has some good and some bad energy policies.

You can read the statement NRDC's President issued today in response to this bill: http://www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080916.asp

Among the good provisions are energy efficiency codes for buildings and incentives for solar and wind energy. Among the bad is oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet.

Having worked on Capitol Hill, I understand the compromise that went into crafting this bill and the difficult decisions that must be made. But certain decisions should be easy: we should invest in clean, renewable energy, not more of the same policies that got us into this mess. Right? Wrong.

This legislation is the result of policy being hijacked by politics, and it is clear that Big Oil paid big bucks to sway the politics in their favor. According to the nonpartisan group Public Campaign Action Fund, Big Oil spent more than $200 million on advertising in the first six months of 2008. They fed off the fears of Americans forced to cope with rising energy costs and distorted the facts.

Oil companies know we can not drill our way out of this problem, and even Phyllis Martin, a senior analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy, says they are "wrong to say it'll have a big impact on prices."

Yet as we watch the House debate unfold, we should look for allies of Big Oil to offer even more drilling and other bad alternatives. They will do this through something called a "Motion to Recommit," which in real people's terms means they will vote to amend the bill. This would be an unfortunate outcome, and Americans deserve better energy policies that will move our country forward.

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