Ground Truth Blog
Op-ed Slams Forestry Provisions in House Farm Bill
For a clear-eyed analysis of the threats to our national forests posed by disastrous provisions in the House version of the 2018 Farm Bill, check out this op-ed, published today on the news website, The Hill. The piece is penned by Jerry Franklin and Norm Christensen,...
Judges Rule Against Pipeline
Prospects for a new natural gas pipeline that would span a 3.6-mile stretch of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia are unclear after a three-judge panel ruled on Friday in favor of activists who hope to stop the project. Construction has begun on the 303-mile...
DeFazio Introduces Bill to Protect Devil’s Staircase
A big thumbs up to Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, who yesterday introduced legislation that would protect one of the most remote slices of the state’s coastal mountains from logging, mining and other development. DeFazio’s bill would designate more than 30,000 acres of...
FSEEE Weighs In on Ski Funding Proposal
FSEEE Executive Director Andy Stahl is quoted extensively in a report published today on the Wyoming-based news website, WyoFile. The article is about proposed legislation in Congress that would require the Forest Service to invest a portion of fees collected from ski...
Trump Administration Launches Endangered Species Act Rollback
The Trump administration yesterday proposed a major overhaul of the Endangered Species Act, outlining regulatory revisions that could clear the way for drilling, logging and other industrial activities in areas that provide key habitat for rare plants and animals. A...
Major Expansion of Utah Ski Area Proposed
The owners of a small ski area in Utah have grand plans for a major expansion into a wild corner of the Wasatch Range. The proposal includes construction of a 4.3-mile gondola that would rank as one of the longest in the world. Mountain Capital Partners, which owns...
BLM Delays Offering Oil and Gas Leases in Colorado
Officials with the Bureau of Land Management will consult with the Navajo Nation before moving forward with plans to open more than 18,000 acres to oil and gas drilling in Colorado. The agency had planned to offer the tracts, which are on the doorstep of Great Sand...
Trump Pardons Imprisoned Oregon Ranchers
President Trump today pardoned two Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment sparked the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven, were sentenced to a mandatory minimum prison term of five years after a 2012 arson...
Forest Service Reins in Target Shooting in Washington State
After years of complaints by residents of a small mountain community in Washington state, the Forest Service announced this week that it will close a nearby site to target shooting. The site, known as the “7013 pit,” is south of the community of Greenwater and...
Forest Service to Give Nestlé New Permit
The Forest Service yesterday agreed to issue a new permit to Nestlé, allowing the world’s largest water-bottling company to continue to remove millions of gallons each year from a creek on California’s San Bernardino National Forest. Joseph Rechsteiner, district...
Lawsuits Filed Over Minnesota Mining Proposal
In a trio of lawsuits, businesses and conservation groups are challenging a Trump administration decision to reinstate two expired mineral leases that could clear the way for industrial copper mining on the border of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Twin Metals...
House Passes Disastrous Farm Bill
It’s back, and worse than ever. The House of Representatives yesterday approved a 2018 Farm Bill that would gut environmental laws, hamstring citizen legal challenges and open now-protected stretches of Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach national forests to road-building...