It looks like national environmental groups are taking command of the national Bureau of Land Management office with a new rule that elevates their reactionary agenda while casting the worries and concerns of local citizens aside.
The new way of doing things would legitimize Astroturf lobbying, elevating the voices of thousands of members of environmental groups from New York City to Los Angeles over the actual community, to tell us how to take care of our own backyard.
The BLM is defending its ridiculously named Planning 2.0 initiative to modernize their planning process, reports the Daily Sentinel.
“And actually under this proposed rule there are several new opportunities for coordination, so I think we’ll only make our opportunities for coordination that much more robust,” said Shasta Ferranto, the BLM’s project manager for the proposed rule.
Our idea of robust is not in taking serious consideration of the likes of Mayor Bloomberg’s supporters, to tell us how to manage our roads, or energy development, grazing, or what recreation should be allowed on public lands and fighting forest fires.
This is the same thinking inside the box approach that leads to one-size-fits-all decisions like the sage grouse management decision, that applied the same rule to different terrains, communities and needs of different regions because Washington doesn’t know any better.
Kudos to local governments like the Garfield County Commissioners who are voicing opposition to the BLM’s abdication to environmental groups. We hope to see more Western Slope governments take up the challenge.