At the last Mariposa County Board meeting, Supervisors Carrier, Cann and Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government (MERG) Director Smallcombe voted to add a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for mining (on top of CEQA and SMARA) to properties over 160 acres. MERG gave a CUP presentation to the County. I'd like to try and explain why aligning Mariposa County with GREEN groups like MERG is so objectionable.
Since the mid-90's, many radical GREEN groups, in collusion with the EPA, have perfected so-called "Sue and Settle" techniques to gain control of public land agencies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Report on "Sue and Settle (SaS)" techniques and cases is extremely revealing. For years, those of us involved with public land agency policies and plans have realized that the "public input meetings" were for show only, and our comments meant nothing. This Report confirms that, and provides the facts, figures and details to further explain how it's all orchestrated.
The Sierra Club files the most SaS lawsuits, with WildEarth Guardians, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity and several others also on the list. The Sierra Nevada Alliance has brought together many diverse groups (some fairly benign) for the purpose of "protecting" our forests. The aim of many is to curtail all resource use, including logging, mining and grazing. There are many Sierra Club Chapters listed on the Sierra Nevada Alliance site, and the Mother Lode Chapter is one of them, along with the local group MERG.
Supervisors Cann and Carrier, you have aligned Mariposa County with all these anti-mining, logging and grazing (anti-resource-and-use in general) groups. SHAME on you for not putting enough pressure on Supv. Rosemarie Smallcombe to gain her recusal, or if you tried and failed (because of her stronger allegiance to MERG), at the very least, you should have (in all conscience) voted to postpone this issue until your recused fellow Supv. Marshall Long could return and weigh in on it. (Supv. Merlin Jones was the lone voice for common sense.)
Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe, your rationalizations for not recusing ring hollow because of your MERG Directorship. It's interesting how you can square your concern for our volatile forest condition with the anti-forest management and anti-logging stance of most GREEN groups. Perhaps the experience of living in the middle of a half-dead, overgrown forest is "educating" you...
Mainly because of SaS, our public lands agencies are now basically run by GREEN groups and the EPA, and that explains why resource use and indeed ALL uses are being incrementally shut out. It also explains why public agencies are becoming increasingly overreaching and aggressive against cattle ranchers. The BLM is the worst offender; check out incidents involving Wayne Hage, Cliven Bundy and the Hammonds in Oregon.
But pushback is increasing, and you may not be aware that the climate for support of MERG and sister GREEN groups is weakening, as the truth about the Sue and Settle lawsuits is becoming more widely known and understood. This, I predict, will increase, as our current volatile high-density and dead forests continue to burn, and the world condition worsens, and calls for logging, mining and other forest resources increases. (Check out the newly labeled TECHNOLOGY METALS, that are obtained from BASE METAL mining.)
Supervisors, let's see what your Conditional Use Permit (CUP) vote tells us: 1. You have abandoned your obligation to County residents to give all Districts a voice and vote. 2. You have little or no respect for Supv. Long or Freemont Gold Mining; you have betrayed them both. 3. You have shown disdain for Mariposa's mining history,and have aligned with GREEN groupsdetermined todestroy mining. 4. In my opinion, you have actually betrayed your own County by falling in line with Supv. Smallcombe and her MERG GREEN group.
Here are a couple of questions for you: Have you, Supv. Carrier, Cann and Smallcombe, set a course for Mariposa County that will soon be out-of-date and regretted? Will the increasing need for "technology metals" expose your short-sightedness? I guess only time will tell...
'Clickable' links below
SUE AND SETTLE: US Chamber of Commerce (PDF)
Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed Doors
Lawmakers take aim at EPA 'sue-and-settle' collusion
Environmentalists, EPA Use ‘Sue-and-Settle’ to Bypass Congress, Impose Regulations
Sue and Settle: Demonizing the Environmental Citizen Suit (PDF)
EPA's Secret And Costly 'Sue And Settle' Collusion With Environmental Organizations
