From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Hansen drilling proposal Date: 01 Aug 2001 09:24:19 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Friends: This article is from today's D-News. More spin from Hansen about the benefits of drilling/exploring for coal/gas/oil on federal public lands. Please respond by sending a letter to: letters@desnews.com Hansen measure draws ire=20 Environmentalists say drilling would harm wilderness By Lee Davidson Deseret News Washington correspondent WASHINGTON =97 Environmental groups inflated a fake, balloon-like oil derrick on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest efforts by Rep. Jim Hansen that they say may put real oil drilling in wildernesslike areas. That came as the House is expected to debate this week the portion of President Bush's energy plan that is being sponsored in a bill by Hansen, R-Utah and chairman of the House Resources Committee. Among provisions that environmental groups hate are allowing oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ordering an inventory of coal and alternative energy resources on public lands =97 including national monuments. "If this bill is enacted, the arctic refuge would be sacrificed for what the U.S. Geological Survey estimates is six months' worth of oil," Jim Waltman, director of refuges and wildlife for the Wilderness Society, told the protest rally. He said Hansen's bill would order studies that could lead also to oil, gas or coal development in numerous other pristine areas =97 including Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Book Cliffs, Desolation Canyon and the Lockhart Basin. "This bill is inappropriately focused only on increasing energy production from federal lands," Wilderness Society President Bill Meadows said at the protest rally. "It contains no recognition of the importance of protecting other resources on federal land, or of viewing the issue in a balanced, comprehensive manner." Gene Karpinski, executive director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, also said the bill is "dirty, dangerous and doesn't deliver for consumers." "It's a recipe for more drilling, more spilling, more asthma attacks, more nuclear waste and more global warming." Meanwhile, Hansen issued a statement that he is looking forward to expected House debate this week on his bill, which he called "the most critical piece of energy legislation Congress has considered since it voted nearly 30 years ago to build the trans-Alaska pipeline= system." Hansen said environmentalists also opposed that pipeline, but said it has provided more than 14 billion barrels of oil without environmental damage. "It has been a boon to arctic wildlife, which has flourished next to its warmth in winter and its shade in summer," Hansen said. He added that current "claims of harms to wildlife and plant life are nothing more than political machinations by environmental extremists who are far more interested in immediate political victories than they are in solving the nation's energy problems." Hansen said, "It's time to stop dancing around the issue of energy production. More energy production is critical to the nation's future, just as it was essential to our past." _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Pilot Peak Op-Ed Date: 01 Aug 2001 09:31:44 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Gang: More from today's D-News, this time its an editorial about the proposed Pilot Peak Wilderness bill. Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@desnews.com Bickering endless over Utah wilds=20 By Lee Davidson Deseret News Washington correspondent WASHINGTON =97 A new battle in the Utah wilderness wars is bringing the same old stalemate =97 but also= some unintentionally funny arguments, plus some that are truly nasty and personal. Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, opened a new front last month when he introduced a bill to protect 24,000 acres of wilderness in the remote Pilot Range on the Utah-Nevada border. That is part of a new approach to try to solve= wilderness disagreements that have dragged on for decades. In the past, groups tried to resolve all wilderness fights statewide at the same time by lumping everything together in huge bills. It never worked. Even if they could agree in some areas, they never agreed on all of them. So Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt suggested a couple of years ago trying to solve the battles by first approving smaller chunks that almost everyone agrees should be wilderness. The first such bill, to protect about 1 million acres in the West Desert, failed in the last Congress, despite support from the former Clinton administration. National environmental groups said it didn't include enough acreage overall and was too restrictive, so their allies killed it. This year, Hansen is trying to resolve fights by first pushing the even smaller Pilot Range bill. He says he envisions that as the first of several bills that could solve disagreements region by region. But that hasn't led anyone to change their basic, overall arguments. Some arguments are turning out to be rather funny =97 and= raising questions about whether combatants truly ever want peace on the issue. For example, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club say (as usual) that much more land in the Pilot Range could qualify as wilderness =97 and that Hansen should have included it. They vow to block the bill unless he nearly doubles the area to be protected there. However, Hansen says (as usual) that those extra areas have "signs of man" including power lines, roads, transmission towers and buildings =97 and therefore don't technically qualify for protection under the 1964 Wilderness Act. (He adds that environmental groups themselves never included any of the Pilot Range in their own proposals until the past couple of years). The comical part comes because of how environmental groups also oppose Hansen language designed to protect operations at the Air Force's adjacent Utah Test and Training Range. They complain it could allow the military to build roads, power lines, communications towers and buildings there, and say that would degrade the wilderness experience. In short, each side says roads, buildings and power lines don't matter all that much in the lands they want included but are awful when the other side proposes them. Those who dislike Hansen's bill also raised questions about whether some of its provisions were designed to help his brother-in-law who owns a ranch near the area. Hansen calls those comments unwarranted, nasty, personal attacks. Environmental groups contend Hansen appears to be shrinking proposed wilderness there =97 taking it further away from his brother-in-law's ranch =97 compared to the West Desert wilderness bill in the last Congress. They note Hansen had proposed protecting 37,000 acres there, which is now down to 24,000. Hansen said that was just a clerical mistake by an agency that figures acreage within boundaries drawn on maps and that boundaries are nearly the same. Some groups complain Hansen removed creeks from wilderness protection =97 which might allow ranchers and others to use water without ensuring enough is available to protect wilderness characteristics of the land. Hansen said he drew boundaries to allow officials to maintain systems that provide water for Wendover and to allow state wildlife officials to upgrade environments around streams to help protect a threatened species of trout. He also says if he did what ranchers really wanted, he would "run nothing =97 except environmentalists out of the state." As Rodney King once asked amid Los Angeles race riots, "Can't we all just get along?" When it comes to Utah wilderness, apparently not. _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Drilling approved article Date: 07 Aug 2001 10:32:52 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Gang: Don't think the Bush-Cheney energy plan will effect Utah? Think again. Please respond to this article -- which appeared in today's SL Tribune -- by sending your own LTE to: letters@sltrib.com BLM Allows Oil Probe Near Canyonlands Tuesday, August 7, 2001 BY BRENT ISRAELSEN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE A global energy-exploration company has been given the go-ahead to search for oil near Canyonlands National Park. Veritas DGC Land Inc., which has an office in Denver, on Monday won approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to explore on 36 square miles, or 23,000 acres, of federal land north of Canyonlands,on a corner of Dead Horse Point State Park. Environmentalists are likely to appeal the decision. "This is a terrible decision," said Steve Bloch, attorney for the SouthernUtah Wilderness Alliance. "There's no reason for the BLM to bend over backward to permit this kind of activity." The BLM's approval allows Veritas to temporarily lay 109 miles of "geophone receivers" on the ground in a grid crossed by 151 miles of "source" line. The receivers will record seismic waves to help pinpoint pockets of underground oil deposits. The seismic waves will be created by 10-foot-wide "vibroseis" trucks that follow the source lines, pounding the ground with vibrating pads every 100 meters along the grid. BLM will require Veritas to use existing roads wherever possible, but about 213 acres of undisturbed land will be affected by the trucks, which will crush vegetation and compact soils, some of which are of the sensitive cryptobiotic variety that take generations to recover. To help protect the soils, the BLM earlier this year closed all cross-country travel, restricting vehicles to existing roads. It is making an exception to that rule to facilitate the Veritas proposal. Veritas will be required to rake and reseed all disturbed areas and erect signs to prevent them from being used by off-highway vehicles. The company must conduct its exploration between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15 to minimize disturbance to sensitive wildlife such as the Mexican spotted owl and the bighorn sheep, according to a news release issued Monday by the BLM's Moab field office. "We've taken every reasonable and necessary precaution to protect the land," said BLM field manager Maggie Wyatt. Bloch said the BLM has underestimated the impact of the project. "The company is really being given carte blanche to rototill the federal lands. That's what it will look like, like somebody ran rototillers across the land." Under the BLM's 15-year-old management plan, the land in question is open to oil and gas exploration and contains five producing wells. Its sensitive locale and popularity with recreation enthusiasts, however, make it a battleground of competing interests. To the south is the Island in the Sky entrance to Canyonlands, accessed by state Road 313 and proposed for "scenic byway" status. On the southeastern corner of the oil and gas exploration area is Dead Horse Point, a vantage point for Canyonlands. Dead Horse managers have prohibited any vehicles inside the state park. On the eastern edge of the exploration area is a potential wilderness known as the Goldbar Unit, consisting of a handful of canyons north of Dead Horse. The entire area targeted for oil and gas exploration teems with hikers, mountain bikers and off-highway vehicles. _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Pro Hansen letter Date: 07 Aug 2001 11:02:55 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Gang: This LTE appeared in today's D-News. Is Hansen really a reasonable voice? Please respond by sending your letter to: letters@desnews.com Hansen legitimate voice Lee Davidson closes his story: "As Rodney King once asked amid Los Angeles race riots, 'Can't we all just get along?' When it comes to Utah wilderness, apparently not." He's correct. The impasse is an example of the debasement of democracy by the rise of "advocacy" groups with lots of money and the ear of a willing press. This new activistocracy empowers such groups and weakens what is supposed to be a republic. It also promotes the imposition of power by one region of the country over another. With campaign finance reform, the power of the mass media and politically correct activists will become greater. Never has it been so important for the citizenry to be intelligent and informed. Instead, we seem to have learned our critical reasoning skills from television commercials. U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen is a lightning rod for the frustrations of those who want to take the public out of public lands, but he also represents the majority of the voters in his district. To me, that gives him far more legitimacy than the Pew Trust, SUWA, the Sierra Club, the Great Old Broads and all the other wilderness advocacy groups put together. Allen S. Thorpe Castle Dale Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) wilderness article Date: 08 Aug 2001 10:11:36 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Gang: Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@sltrib.com Brady Legend Backs Greens On Quiz Show Wednesday, August 8, 2001 BY BRENT ISRAELSEN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Here's the story of a green named Brady . . . Who is sick and tired of watching politicians thwart efforts to set aside millions of acres of spectacular Utah lands as wilderness . . . OK, so maybe the verse lacks meter and rhyme, but that is how Mike Lookinland -- who played the dimple-cheeked Bobby on the 1970s TV show "The Brady Bunch" -- sees things. Lookinland, now 40, is using his celebrity status to become a major benefactor for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Sierra Club. The actor and Utah resident soon will appear in a Brady Bunch reunion on the "Weakest Link," NBC's popular quiz-game show, which occasionally invites celebrities to play for charity. In Lookinland's case, the cause is wilderness preservation. His interest in Utah's outback began in 1979 when he moved here with his mother. "She turned me into a little environmentalist by taking me backpacking and into the wilderness," he says. For the past five years, Lookinland, who lives on Salt Lake County's east bench with his wife and two sons, has been a member of SUWA and the national Sierra Club. Until now, he never has been actively involved. "I don't get extreme with anything in my life, but our governor and congressional delegation, with the possible exception of [Democratic Rep. Jim] Matheson, are so extremely anti-environmental that they have to be countered." In particular, Lookinland says, "it burns me up" that Gov. Mike Leavitt is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to identify horse trails and dirt roads that could be used to disqualify large tracts of land from wilderness designation. An environmental coalition led by SUWA and the Sierra Club is lobbying Congress to designate 9 million acres of federal land, or about 16 percent of the state, as wilderness. Utah political leaders generally want no more than 1 million acres. "The Weakest Link" Brady episode, which was taped a few weeks ago, has not been given an air date yet, but talent producer Kalen Gorman says it may be the show's season premiere in September. Joining Lookinland on the show are Florence Henderson (Carol, the Mom), Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Barry Williams (Greg), Eve Plumb (Jan), Chris Knight (Peter) and Susan Olsen (Cindy). Anne Davis, who played the affable housekeeper Alice, could not attend, but Robbie Rist, who played Cousin Oliver, took her place. Robert Reed (Mike, the Dad) died in 1992. NBC expects big ratings because it will be the first time the Brady cast has been together on TV since 1980. One million dollars in prize money is up for grabs on the Brady episode. Each contestant will win at least $20,000 to donate to a favorite charity. Among the Bradys' causes are a Los Angeles homeless shelter, a Lupus foundation, an Alzheimer's association and, curiously for America's most recognizable large family, a group advocating zero-population growth. Lookinland would not reveal how much money he nabbed for SUWA and the Sierra Club but says, "It's quite a bit." _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) response to pro-wilderness LTE Date: 08 Aug 2001 10:17:53 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ More from today's SL Tribune. Please respond by sending letters to: letters@sltrib.com Another Agenda Wednesday, August 8, 2001 Brian Watkins (Forum, July 15) attacked Rainer Huck and the Shared Access Alliance for "being afraid to admit its own agenda." Does Watkins even come close to admitting the agenda of the environmental groups that are pushing for ever more wilderness in Utah? Watkins suggests that the enviro organizations only want space for everyone to enjoy a little peace and quiet. He makes no allusion to the environmental goal that has been established for most of the public land in the West, a goal of "no human footprint." I think that goal really means that we must ultimately enjoy our peace and quiet in Sugarhouse Park. CHARLES PHILLIPS Salt Lake City _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) drilling article Date: 09 Aug 2001 09:04:25 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Friends: This article appeared in today's SL Tribune. Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@sltrib.com Drill Site Makes Sense Thursday, August 9, 2001 If the oil exploration approved by the Bureau of Land Management were going to obstruct the world-famous views of Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park, then environmentalists would have a strong argument for stopping it. But the exploration site is not a scenic vista. It is part of an unremarkable stretch of desert which perplexed tourists pass through every day on their way to the parks, wondering if they missed the turn to the pretty stuff. Veritas DGC Land Inc. trucks will crisscross the desert for six weeks beginning Sept. 1, pounding the ground every 100 meters to create vibrations that can identify underground oil deposits. While that sounds like an incredibly intrusive use of even an unremarkable natural area, "natural" is a poor description for this site. The land has been open to oil and gas exploration for years and already contains five producing wells. It is a popular area for mountain bikers and off-highway vehicles, which have created miles of dirt roads. Veritas trucks will use those roads to access all but 213 acres of the 23,000-acre site, and the company will restore that relatively small piece of undisturbed land before it leaves the area. The land is well-suited for the project. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which has criticized the BLM for approving the Veritas exploration, should pick its battles more carefully. Some areas bordering Utah's state and national parks are indeed scenic and wild enough to warrant some extra protections, but this isn't one of them. Opposing reasonable developments is a sure way to develop an extremist reputation, which will only undermine SUWA's efforts to protect areas that truly deserve it. _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) RS2477 article Date: 13 Aug 2001 11:44:03 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Gang: This article appeared in today's D-News. The state is currently wasting taxpayer dollars on a project that the UWC did for free. Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@desnews.com Deseret News Monday, August 13, 2001 Inventory of dirt roads about half done By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret News staff writer A statewide inventory of tens of thousands of miles of dirt roads and trails  a first step in the state's ongoing battle against wilderness designations  is about half done, reported Steve Boyden, an assistant attorney general working with rural counties on the inventory. "I hesitate to give a percentage because there are so many roads, but we are near 50 percent complete," Boyden said. Boyden on Thursday reported to the Constitutional Defense Council, an entity composed of the governor and selected legislators, county commissioners and others. The council, set up in 1999, oversees a fund set aside by the Legislature to sue the federal government on land issues. Fueled by rural unrest, Gov. Mike Leavitt agreed to take on the issue of who owns the spaghetti- like network of dirt roads the counties under a 19th-century law known as RS2477 or the federal government  which manages the lands where the roads are located. Leavitt hired Dixie Minson, former state director for Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, to organize hundreds of volunteers to map rural roads. Counties are also working with the state, using satellite technology to map the existence of roads and trails. In some cases people are writing down oral histories. Minson has been most helpful by pinpointing on a map the location of oil and gas wells and water diversions to determine the location of old rural roads, Boyden said. San Juan County has been doing its own research while others like Uintah and Rich counties are teaming up on an inventory list. "It shows a lot of cooperation," Boyden said. Conservationists question the methods of documenting roads that were once a mere passageway for horses and cows. "The court has rejected that approach," said Heidi McIntosh, conservation director of Southern Wilderness Alliance. The project is primarily geared to counter efforts by Utah's conservation community, which mustered volunteers to walk Utah's backcountry to document lands suitable for wilderness protection. A bill introduced in Congress calls for about 9 million acres of new wilderness on Bureau of Land Management lands in Utah. The state is hoping the mapping project will give it leverage in ongoing negotiations with the U.S. Department of Interior. Conservationists are upset because they are not part of those negotiations. "I have come to the realization I will never be able to drive on all the roads," Boyden said. "There are tons of them. This is a big state." _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) SUWA article Date: 15 Aug 2001 10:48:26 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ More on how the Bush-Cheney energy plan will effect Utah, including SUWA's response. This article appeared in today's SL Tribune. Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@sltrib.com Activists Seek to Block Park Energy Probe, Wednesday, August 15, 2001 BY JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance wants a federal judge to block proposed energy exploration in a corner of Deadhorse Point State Park near Canyonlands National Park. SUWA filed its injunction request Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Utah. The environmental group also filed a companion lawsuit to force the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reconsider its decision last week to allow the exploration. "If we don't immediately slow this process down, sensitive natural resources in one of Utah's most important scenic corridors will be lost forever," said SUWA attorney Steve Bloch. Denver-based Veritas DGC Land is already preparing to search for oil and gas on the 36-square-mile site. Exploration was scheduled to begin in mid-September and end by Oct. 15 to minimize disturbance to sensitive wildlife such as the Mexican spotted owl and bighorn sheep. "SUWA is misrepresenting the project and is not aware of how limited the impact will be," said Tim Brooks, operations manager for Veritas. The company plans to use "viborseis" trucks to pound the ground every 110yards along a grid to map and analyze the geology for possible deposits. The BLM will allow Veritas to temporarily lay 109 miles of "geophone receivers" on the ground in a grid crossed by 151 miles of "source" line. The receivers will record seismic waves to help pinpoint pockets of underground oil deposits. BLM has required Veritas to use existing roads wherever possible. However, 213 acres of undisturbed land will be affected by the trucks, which will crush vegetation and compact soils, including sensitive cryptobiotic tracts that take generations to recover. To help protect the soils, the BLM earlier this year closed all cross-country travel, restricting vehicles to existing roads. It is making an exception to that rule to facilitate the Veritas proposal. Veritas will be required to rake and reseed all disturbed areas and erect signs to prevent them from being used by off-highway vehicles. In its lawsuit, SUWA claims the activity will harm the local economy as well as the environment. SUWA expects a hearing on its injunction request before Veritas begins work next month. "There are other ways to get the information Veritas is looking for without the wholesale destruction of a pristine natural resource," said Bloch. "Our public land managers ought to vigorously demand these alternatives. Instead, they have a compunction to roll over for big oil and gas and its short-term destructive whims." _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Canyon Lands drilling article Date: 16 Aug 2001 10:25:06 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ This article is from today's D-News. Please respond by sending letters to: letters@desnews.com SUWA sues to stop Utah oil search By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret News staff writer The nation's energy crisis is no reason to explore the possibility of oil and gas drilling near a national park, environmentalists are arguing in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has asked a federal judge to immediately halt a global energy-exploration company's search for oil in a corner of Deadhorse Point State Park near Canyonlands National Park. "If we don't immediately slow this process down, sensitive natural resources in one of Utah's most important scenic corridors will be lost forever," said Steve Bloch, attorney for SUWA. SUWA filed an injunction Tuesday in U.S. District Court, seeking to immediately halt work. At the same time, SUWA filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for approving the project. In its suit, SUWA claims that federal regulators failed to consider the impacts when they gave the go ahead to Denver-based Veritas DGC Land Inc. to explore on 36 square miles of redrock. BLM's approval allows Veritas to lay 109 miles of geophone receivers on the ground that will record seismic waves to help pinpoint oil deposits. The company will use "viborseis" buggy trucks to follow the source lines, pounding the ground with vibrating pads. The work is scheduled to begin Sept. 1 and must be completed within 45 days to minimize disturbance to wildlife. BLM has required Veritas to use existing roads wherever possible but anticipates that about 213 acres of soil or less than 1 percent of the total project area will be affected by the work. The suit contends that the project will disrupt sensitive species and crush vegetation, some of which are part of the sensitive cryptobiotic soils that take generations to recover. Environmentalists also argue that the work will damage the tourism-based economy of Moab. "In essence, the BLM tinkered around the edges of the Veritas proposal, but still failed to take into account the impacts this invasive method of seismic exploration can have on the environment and on the area's economy," Bloch said. "There are other ways to get the information Veritas is looking for without the wholesale destruction of a pristine natural resource. Our public managers ought to vigorously demand these alternatives. Instead, they have a compunction to roll over for big oil and gas and its short-term destructive whims." Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Pilot Peak LTE Date: 18 Aug 2001 10:40:36 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ This is from Satuday's SL Tribune. Please respond by sending your letters to: letters@sltrib.com No Proof of Nepotism Saturday, August 18, 2001 Regarding Alexis Miller (Forum, July 31) criticizing Rep. Jim Hansen's Pilot Peak Wilderness Bill, there is no proof that Hansen is manipulating the bill for nepotism reasons regarding family interest. I believe the majority of his constituency is for open access. Besides, what kind of a family man would he be if he wasn't looking out for his family? I guess Ms. Miller would rather we took our family values from former President Clinton, or Congressman Gary Condit. Regarding the endangered species near Pilot Mountain, perhaps Ms. Miller would be happy to talk values to the families of the four firefighters who burned to death in Okanogan National Forest in Winthrop, Wash., in July. This was because of delays in granting permission for fire-fighting helicopters to use water from nearby streams and rivers protected by the Endangered Species Act. These four individuals gave their lives fighting a lightning-caused fire due to delays of bickering over Forest Service policy. The fear was the helicopters' drop buckets could accidentally scoop up a protected species of fish. Ms. Miller should also understand once a human life is gone, it is gone forever. TERRY FORD Sandy _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Volunteer to protect Utah's wildlands Date: 18 Aug 2001 11:06:07 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Friends: As mentioned in the header of these emails, occasionally we post volunteer opportunities on this listserve when they become available. This is one of those occasions. We have two volunteer opportunities this month for folks who want to help protect Utah's remaining wildlands. 1) 2nd Congressional District Town Hall Meeting For those of you who live in Salt Lake City, Congressman Jim Matheson will be holding a town hall meeting to discuss issues that effect his constituents. Town hall meetings are usually held when Congress is out of session or on break. The great part about these meetings is that your representative will actually be there in person to answer your questions (in a kind of "folksy" setting). This is a tremendous opportunity for you to publicly ask for representative Matheson's co-sponsorship of America's Redrock Wilderness Act. When: Wednesday, August 29th, 6:30 - 8:00 PM Where: Murray Auditorium, 166 East 5300 South Don't miss this opportunity to let your Congressman know what you think about protecting Utah's wildlands! For more information contact Ken at (801) 486-2872 2) Utah Wilderness Rally Are you ready to celebrate the beauty of America's redrock wilderness? If so, we know just the time and place for it. On August 25th, local activists will rally on behalf of wild Utah. Why? Because Vice President Dick Cheney will arrive in Salt Lake City on that day and we'd like to greet him with a show of local support for wilderness protection. The Vice President has been touring the country touting the Bush/Cheney energy plan, a dreadful proposal that forgoes wilderness designation in exchange for oil company profits. Clearly, the Vice President doesn't understand how strongly we Utahns feel about protecting our wild places. We think it's time to make our voices heard. For more information contact Gail at (801) 486-7639, ext. 20. When: Saturday, August 25th, 8:30 to 10:00 AM Where: General Aviation Airport, 340 N. 2200 W. (take I-80 west to exit 117 and Hwy. 215 north to exit 23, or take North Temple to 2200 west. Follow signs to General Aviation, access 3). Please take the time and attend both of these important events. Thank you. _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Pro Norton Editorial Date: 22 Aug 2001 10:35:48 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ Friends: This editorial appeared in today's D-News. Please take time and respond by sending your letters to: letters@desnews.com Interior chief has major task Deseret News editorial Ironically, while Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton was touring Utah's wetlands last week, environmentalists were holding a demonstration urging her to keep Utah's wilderness areas free from drilling for oil and gas. Norton presented the Great Blue Heron Award, which honors efforts to preserve wetlands, to Dee Jense, president of Interwest Mining Co., a subsidiary of PacifiCorp. As Norton pointed out before delivering a short speech to conventioneers in town for the Outdoor Retailers Market, opening up wild lands to drilling is a decision for Congress to make. About half of all the land in Utah comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. That includes property governed by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service. While wilderness areas and national monuments weren't the thrust of her visit, this page commended Norton in April for taking the initiative to investigate ways to scale back the national monuments created by former President Bill Clinton. That followed a statement made two weeks earlier by President Bush saying he would consider allowing oil and gas exploration in national monuments and other public lands that currently are off-limits. A classic example of how not to create a national monument occurred in Utah. The Clinton administration created the 1996 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah without consulting Utah's congressional delegation. The Department of the Interior is focusing on only those monuments created during the last two years of the Clinton administration, not the Grand Staircase-Escalante National monument. However, Bush's views on energy have renewed talk about allowing coal mining or oil exploration in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Bush contends parts of the monument lands can be explored without affecting the overall environment. An energy policy that protects the environment while meeting the needs of consumers is achievable. Norton's job as secretary of the Interior is to find that balance. That appears to be exactly what she's doing. _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Utah Wilderness Coalition Subject: (cwild) Pro RS2477 LTE Date: 23 Aug 2001 11:42:13 -0600 This listserv is designed to keep Utahns informed about wilderness issues by providing articles and letters from Utah's newspapers. It is our hope that information posted here will provide motivation for you to write your own letter to the editor. Please forward this email to others who might be interested in staying abreast of wilderness issues in Utah. Diverse volunteer opportunities will also be posted when available. To give FEEDBACK regarding this list, please send your comments or questions to: cwild@xmission.com (DO NOT "REPLY" TO THIS MESSAGE). _ This letter appreared in today's D-News. Please respond by sending letters to: letters@desnews.com Road policy non-existent The letters to the editor from Bob Brister, recently published in your newspaper, contain some very misleading, if not completely untrue, statements that need to be addressed. To begin with, these are certainly not "bogus RS2477 county roads that threaten much of our best remaining wilderness areas." For Mr. Brister to accuse counties of creating a "web of routes across fragile desert soils and along wash bottoms and streams" is false and unjustified. The roads in question in the lawsuit have been in existence for 50 years or more. Because of the constant shifting of policies and regulations governing roads across federal lands, the routine maintenance activities practiced by county road crews for decades is suddenly attacked with threats, harassment and litigation. The roads in question in this lawsuit are an example of that very action. One of the roads in Garfield County is more than 100 years old and has been on the County's Class B road system for years. What the public needs to know is that Judge Tena Campbell's ruling was based on former Secretary Babbitt's Road Policy, which was never passed by Congress. In fact, Congress was so opposed to the Babbitt's effort to subvert the law governing the existing policy, that they put a moratorium on his proposal. Now, tell me, folks, is it proper for a federal judge to base her ruling on a policy that doesn't legally exist? I am no longer a Garfield County commissioner, but when obvious environmentally slanted information goes out to the unsuspecting and trusting readers of your newspaper, I cannot sit back and do nothing. If counties' asserted RS2477 rights are being overturned by referring to a policy that doesn't legally exist, all users who recreate or travel those roads for any reason are in serious trouble. Louise Liston Escalante _ Ken Venables Utah Wilderness Coalition P.O. Box 520974 Salt Lake City, UT 84152 (801)486-2872 wildutah@xmission.com - Thank you for your interest in Utah Wilderness issues! ** TO SUBSCRIBE:If you have been forwarded this message and would like to subscribe to the list, address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com with only the words "subscribe cwild" in the body of the message (without quotes) or visit our web site at http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html ** TO UNSUBSCRIBE: address an email to majordomo@lists.xmission.com and type only the words "unsubscribe cwild" in the message body (without the quotes) ** To view THE FAQ LIST please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/list_server.html#faq If you would like to review the tips on writing effective letters to the editor, please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing To view a complete list of where to send your letters please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/lte.html#writing If you would like to view the privacy policy please visit: http://www.uwcoalition.org/education/privacy.html **