Sierra Club Borderlands event in Utah October 12

Sierra Club hosts a discussion of Borderlands Accountability
October 12, 2012
6:30 - 8:00 pm
Weber State University
Shepherd Union Building, room SU 312
Ogden, Utah

 

An extreme assault on America’s public lands and environmental laws recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The misnamed “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act,” (HR 1505) will waives 16 environmental laws on federal land along the entire U.S. – Mexico border and the entire U.S. – Canada border.  The lawless zone would  extend 100 miles into the United States from the borders for any activity of the Border Patrol.  National Parks from Glacier to Olympic to Big Bend, along with wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, and national forests could see new walls and roads, towers and forward operating bases, with no concern for the environmental impact.

 

Utah Representative Rob Bishop, author of the bill, has a long history of attacking environmental laws and federal lands. 

 

The Sierra Club's Borderlands Team and the Utah Chapter will present a Borderlands Accountability event at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah to discuss the impacts that border enforcement measures such as border walls have already had, and the tremendous damage that HR 1505 could inflict.  Coincidentally, Ogden is in the heart of Representative Bishop's congressional district.

The Department of Homeland Security has not requested either the waivers or carte blanche on protected lands.  The “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act” has nothing to do with security.  It is simply an assault on environmental laws and federal lands, using national security as a cover. 

For campus directions go here.

Write your member of Congress - Oppose HR 1505

An assault on America's public lands and environmental laws has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, bearing the ironic name "National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act" (HR 1505).

Over 30 federal protection laws would be waived in a zone that extends 100 miles into the United States from all land borders and coasts. Roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population lives in the area targeted by this waiver. Cities from San Francisco to Boston and national parks from Glacier to Everglades could be put at risk.

And if that weren't enough, HR 1505 prohibits the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, which oversee our national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges, from taking any actions to preserve the natural integrity of the lands that they oversee if their actions or advice conflict with the desires of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).





HR 1505 is using national security as a cover to attack environmental laws and protected lands. DHS has not expressed a need for these harmful provisions. In fact, DHS testifies that public land managers are not getting in the way of their operations. Last October, the Government Accountability Office found that "most [Border Patrol] agents reported that land management laws have had no effect on Border Patrol's overall measure of border security."

Visit the Sierra Club page to send an email to your member of Congress, telling them to oppose HR 1505:

https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6239