Inspired by the numerous videos that have already been created as a part of the anti-suicide and anti-bullying public awareness campaign “It Gets Better,” federal government employees from the National Parks Service, U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies have launched their own.

The video features Secretary Ken Salazar and includes employees from across the U.S. Department of the Interior, who share their experiences growing up as LGBT youth.

Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York, has filed a lawsuit against several federal agencies for failing to adequately review the dangers of hydrofracking, the controversial technique used to mine natural gas by injecting large amounts of water and chemicals into shale deposits.

The suit was filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the complaint, the suit “seeks to compel these Federal Agencies to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 by preparing and making available for public comment a draft environmental impact statement before proceeding to adopt proposed Delaware River Basin Commission regulations that would authorize natural gas development within the Delaware River Basin.”

That basin includes parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. The Upper Delaware River, the complaint says, provides drinking water for 9 million New Yorkers, which they say is put at risk by the future development of at least 15,000 natural gas wells in Pennsylvania and New York under regulations being developed by the Delaware River Basin Commission.

EPA has expressed “serious reservations about whether gas drilling in the New York City watershed is consistent with the vision of long-term maintenance of a high quality unfiltered water supply.” The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (“NYCDEP”), which supplies drinking water from that watershed, has concluded based on third-party scientific studies that natural gas development would “pose an unacceptable threat to the unfiltered, fresh water supply of nine million New Yorkers, and cannot safely be permitted within the New York City watershed.” …

The Federal Agencies have determined that authorization of natural gas well development in the Basin would potentially result in significant cumulative adverse environmental impacts and that a study of those impacts should be performed. But Defendants refuse to comply with NEPA and refuse to prepare an EIS assessing the cumulative environmental impacts. Under NEPA, an EIS must include analysis of the environmental impacts of a proposed action, and consideration of alternatives to the action and measures to mitigate adverse environmental impacts.

New York brings this action to protect its waters, air quality, climate, public health, and landholdings within the Basin which have been placed at risk by Defendants’ NEPA violations and to vindicate the State’s procedural rights under that statute.

More than 500,000 acres of public and private land in Michigan has been leased for hydrofracking.

Here’s the full text of the complaint:

nyfracking –

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Sen. Mark Udall sent a letter to the National Park Service this week asking the federal agency to reconsider its rejection of the Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction as a stage venue for this summer’s Quiznos Pro Challenge cycling race.

The 600-mile stage race is the brainchild of cycling legend Lance Armstrong and former Gov. Bill Ritter. Armstrong Tuesday officially retired from professional cycling even as he continues to deal with an ongoing doping investigation looking into the past behavior of the seven-time Tour de France winner. Armstrong has a home in Aspen and strong ties to Colorado.

Lance Armstrong

Set for August of this year, the race will feature some of the stages made famous by the Coors Classic in 1980s. It will start in Colorado Springs and travel through Crested Butte, Aspen, Vail, Steamboat and Breckenridge before concluding in Denver. But organizers wanted to include the famed “Tour of the Moon” stage through the red sandstone formations of the Colorado National Monument.

John Wessels, regional director of the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service, rejected that application. Udall and Hickenlooper argue the race stage would be a much-needed economic boost for the Grand Junction-Fruita area at the base of the monument and would bring attention to the push to make the monument a full-fledged national park.

“If the monument is able to responsibly host the event while protecting its natural and cultural resources, we believe that showcasing this majestic area as part of this world-class cycling event will bring beneficial commerce and attention to this important part of the state,” Udall and Hickenlooper wrote. “In addition, by hosting this event Colorado can significantly add to the stature and profile of the effort to designate the Monument as a National Park – while illustrating that Coloradans can effectively balance the often competing interests of use and protection.”

Udall and Hickenlooper are asking Wessels to convene a meeting to reconsider (see full text of letter below).

Armstrong, meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, said this is definitely it for his storied career. The 39-year-old Texan went from cancer survivor to international icon in the 1990s when he started racking up Tour de France victories. Since then, his Livestrong Foundation has raised more than $400 million for cancer research.

According to the AP, Armstrong recently lobbied hard and successfully for a constitutional amendment in Texas to provide $3 billion for cancer research over the next 10 years and is now working with California legislators to draft a ballot measure for a cigarette tax to fund cancer research.

In Tuesday’s interview, Armstrong rejected the notion of getting into politics now that he’s finally done with racing. But he didn’t completely put the idea to rest.

“I don’t think so. I get asked that question a lot. It’s a job. It’s probably many times a thankless job. … If I were to run for any kind of office, it’s impossible or very difficult to run right down the middle,” he said. “I would have to immediately alienate half of our constituents: ‘Wait a minute, we thought this guy was a Republican. Wait a minute, we thought he was a Democrat.’ I think the effect there would be a negative effect for the foundation. For now, absolutely not on my radar.”

Here’s the full text of the Udall, Hickenlooper letter:

Dear Mr. Wessels:

We are writing to request that your office convene a meeting regarding the revised proposal submitted by the Grand Junction Quiznos Pro Challenge Local Organizing Committee (Committee) to stage a portion of the Quiznos Pro Challenge cycling race through Colorado National Monument (Monument).

We understand that the Committee’s initial proposal to host the bike race at the Monument was rejected, but – based on the issues and concerns raised by Superintendent Joan Anzelmo regarding the initial draft – the Committee has since offered a revised proposal. We are requesting that you convene a meeting with representatives of the Committee and Superintendent Anzelmo to reach agreement on the proposed event.

If the Monument is able to responsibly host the event while protecting its natural and cultural resources, we believe that showcasing this majestic area as part of this world-class cycling event will bring beneficial commerce and attention to this important part of the state. In addition, by hosting this event Colorado can significantly add to the stature and profile of the effort to designate the Monument as a National Park – while illustrating that Coloradans can effectively balance the often competing interests of use and protection.

We will make our staff available to participate in this meeting if needed and look forward to helping reach a resolution that is beneficial to all involved.

Sincerely,

John Hickenlooper, Governor
Mark Udall, U.S. Senator

Got a tip? Story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

As The Colorado Independent reported in June:

Fees at the parks disappear the weekends of June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16. Many National Park Service locations don’t normally charge entrance fees, but tourists visiting Rocky Mountain National Park during the promotional weekends will save $20 per carload. The waiver knocks $15 per car off the cost of visiting Mesa Verde National Park.

National parks, monuments in Colorado (Graphic/National Park Service)

Click on the map to the left for a page listing all the National Park Service sites in Colorado.

Other National Park Service locations in Colorado that normally charge admission but will have free weekends this summer include Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Hovenweep National Monument.

The waiver doesn’t include other fees for park visits, including camping, tours and concessions, but some tour operators, hotels, restaurants and gift shops are offering promotions during the free weekends. Sadly, the promotions don’t amount to much yet — free “eco-friendly” shopping bags at some sites and some buy-one-get-one tour discounts. In Colorado, the only promotion listed so far is a “free children’s souvenir water bottle with retail purchase of $35 or more” at Mesa Verde. But for tourists venturing outside the state, free mid-day rides on a luxury houseboat await visitors to Lake Mead, Lake Mohave and Lake Amistad on the three free Saturdays.

Original reporting by TCI’s Ernest Luning.

Got a tip? Freelance story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter. And we’re hiring.

(Photo/barjack, Flickr)

You will know, too, of the recent killing, while ushering at his local church, of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country still performing late term abortions. Sadly, this case was proof that fatal violence works. His family has announced that his Wichita, Kansas, clinic will not be reopened.

You may be less familiar with the June 1st shootings in an army recruiting office in Little Rock that killed one soldier and wounded another. The suspect in question is an African-American Muslim convert who says he acted in retaliation for U.S. military activity in the Middle East.

Soon, however, these terrible deeds will be forgotten, as are already the three policemen killed by an assault weapon in Pittsburgh; the four policemen killed in Oakland, California; the 13 people gunned down in Binghamton, New York; the 10 in an Alabama shooting spree; five in Santa Clara, California; the eight dead in a North Carolina, nursing home. All during this year alone.

There is much talk about hate talk; hate crimes against blacks, whites, immigrants, Muslims, Jews; about violence committed in the name of bigotry or religion. But why don’t we talk about guns?

We’re arming ourselves to death. Even as gunshots ricocheted around the country, an amendment allowing concealed weapons in national parks snuck into the popular credit card reform bill. Another victory for the gun lobby, to sounds of silence from the White House.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, wrote, just days before the Holocaust Museum incident, that “rather than propose concrete action that makes it harder for dangerous people to get firearms — while still respecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners — all Washington can seem to muster after high-profile shootings are ‘thoughts and prayers’ for the victims and their families.

“For his part, the President has also included sincere expressions of ‘deep sadness’ at these tragic losses — though without any call to change any of our policies to prevent those losses.”

Yet, as a presidential candidate, Obama pledged “our determination to do whatever it takes to eradicate this violence from our streets, from our schools, from our neighborhoods and our cities. That is our duty as Americans.”

The fact is, neither party will stand up to the National Rifle Association, the best known front group for the arms merchants. In Virginia, just across the Potomac River from the Holocaust Museum, this week’s Democratic primary for governor was won by state legislator R. Creigh Deeds, a man who supports allowing concealed weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol and opposes limiting handgun purchases to one a month.

After Wednesday’s shooting, a conservative organization immediately offered those of us in the media a chance to interview the founder of “Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership,” whose expertise, it was said, is in helping people understand why gun control doesn’t belong in a civilized society.

The e-mail went on to say, “Your audience will appreciate [his] non nonsense common sense talk that will make them wonder why anyone wants to ban guns in the first place.”

Thanks, but no thanks. And no thanks to his counterparts among Christians and Muslims who use every violent shedding of blood to try to promote the worship of guns. Guns don’t kill people, they say. People kill people. True. People kill people — with guns.

So let the faithful of every persuasion keep their guns for hunting and skeet, for trap and target practice, for collecting. They can even have a permit for a gun to protect their business or home, even though it’s 22 times more likely to shoot a member of the family (including suicides) than an intruder.

But please, there are already some 200 million, privately owned firearms in America. Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and in some years more than 400,000 non-fatal, gun-related assaults. The next time someone wades through a pool of blood to sidle up and champion the preservation of firearms, can’t we just say, no thanks?

Enough’s enough.

Bill Moyers is managing editor and Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday night on PBS. Check local airtimes.

“During these tough economic times, our national parks provide opportunities for affordable vacations for families,” Salazar said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to visit one of our nation’s crown jewels this summer and especially to take advantage of the three free-admission weekends.”

Entrance fees at national parks disappear the weekends of June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16. Many National Park Service locations don’t normally charge entrance fees, but tourists visiting Rocky Mountain National Park during the promotional weekends will save $20 per carload. The waiver knocks $15 per car off the cost of visiting Mesa Verde National Park.

National parks, monuments in Colorado (Graphic/National Park Service)

Click on the map to the left for a page listing all the National Park Service sites in Colorado.

Other National Park Service locations in Colorado that normally charge admission but will have free weekends this summer include Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Hovenweep National Monument.

In neighboring states, Kansas offers but one National Park Service site that normally charges an entrance fee — Fort Scott — but Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico count plenty of crown jewels, including Yellowstone, Canyonlands and Carlsbad Caverns.

“National Parks also serve as powerful economic engines for local communities and we hope that promoting visitation will give a small shot in the arm to businesses in the area,” Salazar said.

The park system boasted more than 275 million visits last year, according to the parks service, pumping $10.6 billion into local economies and providing more than 213,000 jobs, on top of National Park Service jobs.

The waiver doesn’t include other fees for park visits, including camping, tours and concessions, but some tour operators, hotels, restaurants and gift shops are offering promotions during the free weekends. Sadly, the promotions don’t amount to much yet — free “eco-friendly” shopping bags at some sites and some buy-one-get-one tour discounts. In Colorado, the only promotion listed so far is a “free children’s souvenir water bottle with retail purchase of $35 or more” at Mesa Verde. But for tourists venturing outside the state, free mid-day rides on a luxury houseboat await visitors to Lake Mead, Lake Mohave and Lake Amistad on the three free Saturdays.

Colorado Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall backed the measure introduced today by ultra-conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., following a weekend compromise by Senate Banking Committee members that further watered down some consumer protections but still not to the liking of the lobbyist-heavy financial industry.

The 67-29 bi-partisan vote, with one Republican defection with the “no” votes, adds a possible legislative override to the court-blocked Bush Administration 11th-hour rule to permit loaded, concealed firearms in national parks, historical centers and wildlife refuges.

The gun rule is currently stymied by a temporary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in response to a complaint filed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and National Parks Conservation Association. The Obama Administration decided last month that it would not defend the rule in court after the judge called the government’s process for implementing the gun regulation “astoundingly flawed.”

Poison pill amendments are not unusual in Congress but the attempt to sink a hugely popular law to beef up consumer protections against the predatory credit card industry is curious, at best.

More puzzling is Udall’s vote to support the Coburn Amendment — especially, as a leading proponent of the reform bill who earlier today released the text of a floor speech urging his Senate colleagues to support the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act.

Neither Udall or Bennet’s offices could be reached for comment.

The WaPo reports that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the temporary injunction based on a lawsuit brought by environmental and gun-control advocates:

In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly agreed that the government’s process had been “astoundingly flawed.”

She noted that the government justified its decision to forgo an environmental analysis on the grounds that the rule does not “authorize” environmental impacts. Calling this a “tautology,” she wrote that officials “abdicated their Congressionally-mandated obligation” to evaluate environmental impacts and “ignored (without sufficient explanation) substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts” of the rule.

An April 20 deadline was set by the judge for the Interior Dept. to review the rule and propose a response to the injunction.

The controversial midnight regulation rolls back a 25-year-old Reagan administration rule that required guns to be unloaded and stowed away. Not surprisingly, the National Rifle Association backs the new rule that would allow gun enthusiasts with state concealed-carry permits to pack heat on public lands and historical centers managed by the National Park Service.

The new gun rule has generated tremendous hue and cry from environmentalists, national park leaders, gun violence groups and Park Service retirees.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Parks Conservation Association sued to block the rule’s implementation. The Brady Campaign characterized the rule as a “parting gift” from the Bush administration to the gun lobby.

National park visitors hoping for a peaceful stroll through natural wonders sans pistol-packing may not have a friend in Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The rule was supported by then-Sen. Salazar before he was tapped by President Barack Obama to lead the Interior Department.

MSNBC reported that an Interior Department spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday, citing the ongoing court case.

The previous common-sense rule had been in effect for national parks since the early 1900s, in one form or another. The rule did not prohibit guns, but simply required them to be unloaded, cased and not immediately accessible.

Here is what was wrong with the Bush Administration rule-making process:

• The 2008 rulemaking, carried out by the Department of the Interior (DOI), was completed with no environmental impact analysis, and judged to be “categorically excluded” from the National Environmental Policy Act and other relevant considerations. The process used was inconsistent with similar rulemaking processes conducted by the National Park Service and DOI in dozens of previous instances.

• The rulemaking was carried out against the advice of the then-Directors of the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS); against the advice of all seven living former NPS directors and against the advice of three NPS employee groups (Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR), Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR).

• The rule was implemented even though 73 percent (over 100,000) of the 140,000 public comments received during the rulemaking opposed the proposed rule.

• A survey of NPS and USFWS managers and staff resource specialists in the fall of 2008 concluded that there could be significant negative impacts from the rule to visitor safety, employee safety, natural resources (especially wildlife) and cultural/archeological resources. This report was presented to the Department of the Interior and was ignored.

On Jan. 6, CNPSR and the National Parks Conservation Association filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking injunction against the Bush Administration implementation of the parks gun rule.

What happens next?
Last week, Interior Secretary Salazar announced that his department would conduct a “90-day environmental review” of the impacts of the “gun rule.” Secretary Salazar is to be commended for taking this action, although what the specific action will entail is still unclear.

By calling for an environmental review on the rule, DOI is now admitting that there could be negative environmental impacts to the rule and is in effect agreeing that such impacts should have been considered during the 2008 rulemaking process and that the public should have been made aware of such potential impacts at the time the proposed rule was published. Moreover, by agreeing that there may be environmental impacts to the rule, this makes the case for the plaintiffs in the suit against DOI much stronger.

Secretary Salazar should immediately take the next logical step which would be to suspend the implementation of the Jan. 9 rule and agree to either restore the former long-standing rule or to engage in completely new rulemaking, assuring that the appropriate consultations and environmental analyses are completed and made available to the public prior to requesting comment. Doing so would be consistent with the Obama Administration’s pledge to use science in decision-making, make such actions “transparent” and involve the public in important decisions affecting them. It could also have the effect of eliminating an expensive litigation on the issue.

The 700 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 21,000 years of stewardship of America’ most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members now strive to apply their credibility and integrity as they speak out for national park solutions that uphold law and apply sound science. The Coalition counts among its members: former national park directors and deputy directors, regional directors, superintendents, rangers and other career professionals who devoted an average of nearly 30 years each to protecting and interpreting America’s national parks on behalf of the public. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site.

New West.net has the details on the last-minute rules that would have short-changed states on commercial oil shale royalties, de-listed the gray wolf as an endangered species and allowed loaded guns in national parks, among other measures:

Tuesday’s memo from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel calls for a withdrawal of any regulation yet to be published, a ban on new regulations and a request that departments wait 60 days to implement any regulations that have been published and reopen public comment periods.

“It is important that President Obama’s appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any new or pending regulations,” Emanuel wrote to federal departments and agencies.

Newly confirmed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has already signaled his opposition to the oil shale regulations in a Nov. 18 Colorado Energy News story:

Colorado’s governor and one of its senators jumped on the Bush administration late yesterday for what they called “reckless” and “flawed” new rules for commercial oil shale development.

National park visitors hoping for a peaceful stroll through natural wonders sans pistol-packing may not have a friend in Salazar. The proposed rule to roll back a Reagan-era ban on loaded guns in national parks was supported by then-Sen. Salazar before being tapped by Obama to lead the Interior Department.