Heads up: Peter Metcalf interview on NPR, 6-4

[freeclimb9]

An interview of Peter Metcalf (President of Black Diamond) with Howard Berkes will air Wednesday morning on NPR. The interview subject involves Governor Leavitt's deal to remove wilderness designation for 6 million acres of Utah lands. Metcalf wrote an OpEd piece published in the Salt Lake Tribune on May 4th (check it here ) that began the threat to move the Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter Markets to another state. More information can be found at BD's "Stand" webpage .

[Rodchester]

His OpEd was well put, simple but direct. On time on target. I'm no enviro nut, but this strikes me as a good fight.

 

Kudos to Metcalf. We need more wilderness, not less.

[JoshK]

Good stand on their part. Gayle Norton can eat a dick, she is worthless. Talk about hiring the fox to watch the henhouse.

[catbirdseat]

When Bush was governer of Texas he put a chemical industry representative in charge of enforcing water quality laws. Texas now has only four rivers that are safe in which to swim.

[Dru]

catbirdseat said:

When Bush was governer of Texas he put a chemical industry representative in charge of enforcing water quality laws. Texas now has only four rivers that are safe in which to swim.

 

 

Given the cattle industry, how many rivers were safe to swim in before? Ya wouldnae catch me swimmin in any Texas river Bush or no.

[iain]

will there be call-ins? ask him to beta-test his bindings before he puts 'em out on the shelves or at least buy out another company to take care of the problem.

 

[Dustin_B]

catbirdseat said:

Texas now has only four rivers that are safe in which to swim.

CBS - where did you hear/read this? Do you have a source?

[Dustin_B]

Dru said:

catbirdseat said:

When Bush was governer of Texas he put a chemical industry representative in charge of enforcing water quality laws. Texas now has only four rivers that are safe in which to swim.

 

 

Given the cattle industry, how many rivers were safe to swim in before? Ya wouldnae catch me swimmin in any Texas river Bush or no.

 

I've swimmined in many Texas rivers and I came out oK.

[Dave_Schuldt]

Way to go BD. Trade shows are a big deal and bring in lots of $$$$. Maybe Seattle should go after it.

[erik]

Dave_Schuldt said:

Way to go BD. Trade shows are a big deal and bring in lots of $$$$. Maybe Seattle should go after it.

 

cept the police will prolly have a hay day beating all the granolas!

 

 

[Dave_Schuldt]

Herd interview, verry good report. NPR rules and howard is one of there best reporters. This is good news for SUWA. BD really got peoples attention.

[pindude]

In case you missed it:

 

NPR audio: Trade Shows May Boycott Utah over Wilderness Issue

 

 

[wdietsch]

freeclimb9 said:

subject involves Governor Leavitt's deal to remove wilderness designation for 6 million acres of Utah lands.

 

 

bush just appointed him head of the EPA

 

President Bush Picks Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, an Advocate of State Regulatory Power, to Head EPA

 

AP News Back to News

President Bush Picks Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, an Advocate of State Regulatory Power, to Head EPA

8/11/03 10:09PM

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

 

 

President Bush has picked Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, an advocate of shifting environmental regulation to the states, to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a senior administration official said Monday.

 

Leavitt, a three-term Republican governor, would succeed Christie Whitman, a former New Jersey governor who held the post of EPA administrator for the first 2 1/2 years of the administration before resigning in May.

 

The EPA post has been a lightning rod for critics of the administration's environmental policies. Bush, on a Western trip to talk about timber policies and wildfires, was expected to announce Leavitt's nomination late Monday.

 

Leavitt, 52, has championed the idea of increasing environmental cooperation among federal, state and local officials.

 

Over the objections of environmentalists, he advocated a major highway extension through wetlands near the Great Salt Lake. The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals halted the project, saying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not pay enough attention to wildlife or look at alternatives before approving it.

 

As governor, Leavitt has made several environmental arrangements with the Bush administration, most recently settling a long-standing dispute over ownership of roads across federal land. He has also negotiated several exchanges of state and federal land, some of them questioned by Interior Department auditors.

 

Administration officials described Leavitt, the nation's longest serving governor, as a leader on environmental issues with a record of improving air and water and conserving land. He has been co-chair of the Western Regional Air Partnership, and officials said he was instrumental in bringing together states, tribes, environmentalists and industry to address the problem of brown haze over the Grand Canyon.

 

Leavitt also oversaw his state's preparations for and hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and since then has served on a presidentially appointed advisory committee on homeland security.

 

As Utah's governor, he has fought against plans to build a temporary storage facility for high-level nuclear waste on an Indian reservation in western Utah. The state is also home to a biological test site, a chemical weapons incinerator, a low-level nuclear waste dump and a company that is one of the nation's largest air polluters.

 

In 1995, Leavitt called a growth summit to deal with Utah's booming population and economy. The meeting resulted in calls for local-based, free-market approaches to preserving open space, but yielded few tangible changes.

 

Whitman, who had a record as an environmental moderate when she was New Jersey's governor, clashed several times with officials in Bush's White House and other agencies. Her views often lost out to concerns raised by developers and energy companies.

 

Bush, for example, reversed his campaign position in favor of regulating carbon dioxide from burning coal and oil as a pollutant. Whitman had stated the administration's position would be in favor of placing a ceiling on CO2 emissions. Against her advice, Bush also rejected an international treaty on global warming negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 by the Clinton administration.

 

Leavitt had met with administration officials in early June to discuss the possibility of taking the post, but he declined then, saying it would be "highly problematic" because he was considering running for a fourth term, a spokeswoman said at the time.

 

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, a former Republican senator, also had been mentioned as a candidate for the EPA post. Kempthorne confirmed earlier this month that he had talked with White House officials about the job shortly after Whitman's resignation.

 

© 2002 AT&T and The Associated Press. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be republished or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

 

 

 

 

Enter city or US Zip

 

 

 

 

[iain]

it's almost as if he chooses these folks to tick people off on purpose...

[freeclimb9]

Thanks for posting the announcement, wdietsch.

It's an interesting choice for many reasons. For folks here in Utah, of significance is that it means Leavitt won't run for a fourth term. I'm sure the fight for Republican party endorsement among potential Governor canidates will be like a sack of cats: nasty and mostly out of sight.

[catbirdseat]

...Mike Leavitt, an advocate of shifting environmental regulation to the states, to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency...

That's right, put the states in charge of protecting the environment. That way they can compete with one another for business by trying to see which can have the most lax standards. The one with the lowest standards will attract the most big employers.

[wdietsch]

That's right, put the states in charge of protecting the environment. That way they can compete with one another for business by trying to see which can have the most lax standards. The one with the lowest standards will attract the most big employers.

 

 

worked for Mexico in the 70-80's