More Bush b.s. bites the dust...

What's wilderness? Bush-era curbs are repealed
Interior chief reverses 2003 policy against protections not approved by Congress

DENVER — The Obama administration on Thursday undid a Bush-era policy that curbed some types of wilderness designations within the 245 million acres managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

While Congress remains the only body allowed to create "Wilderness Areas," the move gives BLM field managers the go ahead to protect areas determined to have "wilderness characteristics."

"I am proud to sign a secretarial order that restores protections for the wild lands that the Bureau of Land Management oversees on behalf of the American people," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in Denver, where he announced the shift.

The order essentially repeals a policy adopted in 2003 under then Interior Secretary Gale Norton. That policy stated that Interior could not designate some wilderness protections on its own and had to rely only on Congress for any designations.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40796163/ns ... vironment/


You GO, Ken! :thumbsup:

Once again bureaucrats who we don't elect and can't replace get to run things instead of actual elected representatives. Good to see you are OK with that LJ. DC people who don't even live here deciding what we can do with our land.

Funny, but it was Gail Norton, (whom we didn't elect, and whom we couldn't replace)--instead of an elected representative--who put those stupid rules in place in the first place. I'm VERY OK with having Ken Salazar come along and stop the Bush policies that put some of our wilderness areas at-risk.

Good job! I know the Conservatives want to use up every little bit right now for themselves, but liberals know we need to save something for our progeny.

LJ's happiness over Washington bureaucrats running Colorado is short sighted. In 2 years, Romeny could appoint Palin to head the interior and everything would be upset again. Leave Congress or even state elected politicians in control, people who have actually lived in the state they administer.

I'm happy about bad wilderness policy being overturned--not about the process that put it there in the first place, or the way it had to be thrown out. Our wilderness and protected lands should not be subject to the whims of business-friendly policy, and politicians who will destroy it in the name of capitalism.

My property has some wilderness LIKE characteristics, lets get some common sense back into the Feds after January.