A message I received today from Robert Redford speaking for the Natural Resource Defense Fund and the urgent work they do:
No one voted on Election Day to hand over Utah's Redrock wilderness to oil companies.
But the Bush Administration cynically chose that very day to advance an outrageous plan that will sell off leases for some 300,000 acres of spectacular Utah canyonlands to oil and gas speculators.
While America was voting for Barack Obama and his vision of a clean energy future, Bush and Cheney's underlings were conspiring to plunder one of the crown jewels of our natural heritage for their fossil fuel cronies.
Please register your own opposition right now.
The auction of Redrock country will take place on December 19. At stake are world-renowned vistas near Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, as well as near Dinosaur National Monument. The highest bidders will earn the right to turn vast tracts of pristine wilderness into industrial wastelands.
It's bad enough that Bush officials went behind the backs of the American people with this disastrous scheme. But what's worse, they didn't even tell their own National Park Service until after the fact.
In my mind, this theft of our heritage goes beyond the cynical -- it's criminal. What will be left to give to our children and their children if we allow this administration, in a parting shot, to destroy our legacy of public lands for short-term gain?
I hope you're as angry as I am about this blatant land grab, because we've got to stop it -- and we have to act fast. The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing more than one million Americans in an outpouring of protest over the coming days.
Send your own message of opposition immediately. Tell the Bush Administration that you will not allow it to destroy one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
We'll automatically send copies of your message to your two senators, your representative and to the Obama transition team, which has signaled their opposition to this disastrous attack on our Redrock heritage.
The Bush Administration is racing to complete the auction of our lands before Inauguration Day, which will make sales difficult to reverse.
We must fend off this land grab now -- before the oil and gas companies can lay claim to the spoils.
Those spoils include stretches of Desolation Canyon, which has been proposed for national park status. Bush's own Interior Department describes the canyon as "a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.
"The very idea of oil and gas operations invading these remote sanctuaries -- which have remained untouched for millennia -- is deeply upsetting. Once the dirty deed is done, our wilderness can never be restored. That's why I'm asking you to help us sound the alarm and organize now.
Tell the Bush Administration to cancel the Redrock auction. Remind them that we the people are the rightful owners of this majestic wilderness and that we won't stand for its destruction.
And thank you for joining with me and the NRDC Action Fund to save these beautiful wildlands for all future generations.
Sincerely,
Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund
P.S. After you send your own message of protest, I'll let you know of an easy way to spread the word to your friends and family. With only 10 days to mobilize one million Americans, I'm counting on you to rally everyone you know to speak out and save this precious wilderness from destruction.
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The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans to speak out in defense of our environment. The four campaign areas span the most urgent environmental challenges of our time, focusing on flashpoint battles where online citizen action can make a critical difference. These include Wildlife, Wildlands, Oceans, and Global Warming. For more information, or to get on NRDC's mailing list (if you already aren't), please go here: http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/campaigns/mobilizing-america-for-our-environment.html. Thank you.
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