27 Comments
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Prudence Gildroy's avatar

Here's the question I want to ask the R's -- Why do you hate the Earth?

The Trump administration has moved to rescind the Roadlless Rule and open 45 million acres of wilderness to road construction and other development. - NYT

Fidel Mercado's avatar

I don’t know how else to ask this question but here goes…

Bit of a thought exercise, if there somehow was a billionaire out there who was willing to dump as much money as possible to fight this, what could they do?

I just ask because it just feels like the only way to combat this effectively is to fight fire (money) with fire (money also). Sigh. Yes, I think I understand voting as much corruptness out but that seemingly only goes so far at this point. Or lawsuits but those drag on.

Ryan Busse's avatar

Great question and there is a simple answer.

We need a big funder to juice an org like public land warriors, sole purpose outbound is to politically penalize repubs that enable this stuff. We could have huge impact with $10-20mil. Take out Pete Stauber in MN. Van Orden in Wis. A couple in CO. Etc.

Let them know who is doing it and why and make sure the mess from their loss splatters nationwide so that others see what happens.

Right now…there is no one doing this….all enviro orgs scared to engage like this. so the political gravity only pulls one way and it’s the wrong way.

Teri Lown's avatar

It's ALWAYS greed and grift with this guy. These examples Ryan shows us are more in a long list of how the family is robbing us blind. It's not just the money; it's the environment, our democracy, our sense of unity as a country, decades of progress on social justice, world opinion,US aid for the sickest among us--the moral issues are the greatest heist ever.

Star Childs's avatar

Thank you Ryan for being so up to date on these contentious and corrupt reversals of our natural heritage legacies. The BWC mining permits stink to the highest degree and the Ambler Mining District and incipient rd along with ANWR leasing were causes I personally had fought against over the past 50 years. I only hope that the courts can roadblock these long enough to reverse decisions again under a newer more sane and proactive admin. I know that is a big hope. In the meantime, thank you for keeping these issues in the spotlight while so much else is ongoing. Good luck. Star

Ryan Busse's avatar

Appreciate this note Star. Thanks.

Angela Clark's avatar

Thank you, Ryan, for giving us the background on the degradation of these pristine environments.

It's notable that Biden's administration protected some of these areas, but as soon as drump was reelected all protections were banished. The patience and persistence of these corrupted greed hucksters is astonishing.

Ryan Busse's avatar

Appreciate this note Angela.

Markie's avatar

That's an easy question. Because repubes want to pillage and ruin public lands for the profit of the elites without regulations and protections

StandStrong's avatar

Unbelievable and so shameful! Thank you for putting this corruption on record.

Ryan Busse's avatar

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Nancy Beebe's avatar

Wow. Thanks for laying all this out. Unbelievable corruption!

Ryan Busse's avatar

Thanks for your comments - spread this news - it’s ugly.

Ramona Palin's avatar

And did you see the amount of idiots that voted for Alme in June?

The Democratic party in Montana is a joke.

I am a Montana native and I am embarrassed that this state has devolved into the level of stupidity that votes for pedophiles and criminals.

Giant farte is a bully and a poacher.

Daines is a pedophile protector

Zinke is Whitefishes “Town Drunk”

Knudsen is a falling down drunk .

Sheehy is a bully that broke a Veterans arm.

And these freaking morons that have infested Montana think that's okey dokey.

cparrh@aol.com's avatar

How very sad for one of the most beautiful states in America. Vote them gone!!!! Keep this list!!!!

Ryan Busse's avatar

Well…that’s all spot-on accurate.

Karen's avatar

Corruption and greed hold hands with Evil. It’s amazing that every GOP willingly and earnestly seek the dirty dollars and ignore the needs of their Constituents. They definitely don’t expect any more elections. Playing with the fires of Hell will eventually burn them and frankly, they deserve it. WE CAN STOP THIS-IF we unite. We are too distracted to make the “Good Trouble “.

We are too afraid because of ICE and arrested protesters. We are succumbed to Evil and Fascism. What we have forgotten is that this our country not theirs. We need to fight like Hell, save Our lands and water and kick them out. We Can do this IF WE UNITE and focus.

Noreen Lassandrello's avatar

I am afraid but continue to do whatever I can to fight the oligarchy. There are many more of us than them. And there are many ways to fight. Governor Walz has the right idea. Sometimes throwing a wrench in the machine to slow things down is the best strategy.

I know we are all overwhelmed with the attacks coming everyday from every direction. But the regime is also overwhelmed and trump is basically his own worse enemy at this point. We need to keep up the pressure because we are actually winning. It might not feel like it, but I believe it will go down in history as the most remarkable

resistance to Facism. They did it in Hungary and we can too.

Ana warner's avatar

They are literally killing us! Destroying everything we hold dear: education, healthcare, economy, international relationships, peace, environment, food safety, our rights and our constitution.

WTF are we going to DO? how long are we going to tolerate this and what are we prepared to do when they thwart transfer of power?

Lee Lenard's avatar

Thank you. So many of us in the east and South are so waste deep in the muck that is destroying our daily lives we miss information about the Midwest and especially Alaska.

Beverly G. D. H's avatar

Promoting your essay to LinkedIn

Steve's avatar

This is all part of it, but the thing I have not seen anyone mention is all of this is important to people who oppose the current regime and so it must be destroyed simply for spite.

Louis Russ's avatar

They are only concern about making money ??? Will they lease or sell America to China for the right brib--- ???

Ana warner's avatar

absolutely! felon would sell his own family for the right price