Bennet needs to take a journey in the way-back, time travel machine, because he is clearly losing his memory when it comes to history. Recent history, at that.
He barks that the Interior Department’s decision to review the sage grouse blackmail conservation plan threatens to “to upend years of hard-fought conservation efforts by states, communities, and landowners across the west.”
Really? Because just last year:
‘We weren’t listened to’ on sage-grouse policy, Garfield County says
Bennet continues:
“If adjustments are necessary, the Secretary should engage all stakeholders and work collaboratively through the Sage-grouse Task Force.
Bennet wants future collaboration with communities, but where was he when Colorado communities tried desperately to collaborate before the final decisions were made?
Garfield County officials engaged in a year-long battle using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain emails, which revealed which stakeholders really had a seat at the table.
The emails show that in those last few months, at the same time they were making last-minute changes, the Interior Department had a series of meetings with conservation groups including the Wilderness Society and Advocates for the West, said (Kent Holsinger, the commissioners’ attorney).
That happened after counties were cut off from participating.
Bennet has issued a missive to Interior Secretary Zinke “pressing him to respect local input,” his statement says.
By local input, he does not mean local officials, ranchers or landowners. Bennet’s only concern is that the Washington, D.C. environmentalists who helped get him elected have control of the process, again.