A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision lets corporations spend unlimited amounts of their money to influence our elections. A public finance bill could remedy that imbalance of power that corporations now have over real people.

Members of Congress prefer the present system because it favors incumbents—incumbents like Sen. Max Baucus, who received about $3 million from the health care industry and then did their bidding as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. When his committee held an exploratory meeting to discuss the various health care bill options, Baucus would not allow advocates for a “public option” to be part of the meeting. A number of single-payer proponents still attended the gathering. When they stood up in the audience and expressed their support of the single-payer program, Baucus had them removed. That group is now called the “Baucus 8.” Many in that group were practicing physicians.

Polls indicate that over 60 percent of voters support a public option. The same percentage of our nation’s doctors are in agreement.

The health care bill that is now being discussed in the Senate represents a huge give-away to the health care industry—giving them up to three million new clients. People should control the process, not corporations and their subservient politicians.

Gene Jack

Cascade

I recently received an e-mail from Rep. Denny Rehberg about the government spending $572,602,739 per day on interest from the national debt (which he helped to create since he was elected in 2000). He likes scaring me with big numbers, but here’s a number he’s afraid to talk about: $2,876,712,329 every day on oil imports.

That’s right, it’s over five times higher than Rehberg’s scary number and it’s not “funny” money either—it’s real dollars right out of your pocket at the gas pumps. It’s energy jobs in Saudi Arabia instead of Montana, and it’s oil wars spilling American blood on foreign soil. Imported oil costs us nearly $3 billion dollars every day; $350 billion a year bled out of our country in oil imports and another $700 billion in lost jobs.

And what has your Montana representative done about it? Nothing.

But he does want to cut Social Security for Montana’s seniors. Reforming entitlement is political code for taking away benefits earned by hard-working men and women, or putting the safety net in the hands of Wall Street.

He also wants to destroy education by freezing “discretionary spending.” And the “hard-working Americans” Denny wants to lower taxes for are the same Wall Street bankers that nearly drove us into bankruptcy.

Dennis McDonald has a real plan for an energy independent America: Clean coal, wind and natural gas for heavy trucks, and we can do it all in Montana! These are jobs for Montanans, jobs for Americans, and they don’t involve any more “oil wars.”

Let’s tell Rehberg and his foreign oil buddies, “No thanks.” 

Jerry McDonald

Thompson Falls

James Balog is full of baloney (see “On the rocks,” Feb. 18, 2010). He’s just a photographer, evidently with no science education, who provides erroneous information. For example, he claims Greenland is melting. However, that’s a gross exaggeration—it’s only melting around the edges, which it has done in the past. It melted enough during the Medieval Warm Period to allow Vikings to settle there and raise crops, until the Little Ice Age drove them out. The main ice sheet, with the vast majority of the ice, is in no danger of melting. The ice cores Balog cites actually reveal that increases in carbon dioxide occur hundreds of years after warming begins. The warming oceans release CO2 into the atmosphere.

Balog suggests that the melting of snow and ice of Mt. Kilimanjaro is due to human-caused greenhouse warming. But researchers conclude that the real cause is deforestation of the lower slopes, which removes the source of moisture that falls as snow and ice at the upper elevations.

Basically, Balog photographs natural occurrences, such as melting glaciers, in time-lapse mode, so he can attempt to frighten people. He’s just another misguided global warming alarmist.

Roger Stang

Missoula

The Buffalo Field Campaign has strongly opposed Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park’s (FWP) bison quarantine experiment at every step, knowing that bison have never transmitted brucellosis to livestock and that quarantine destroys the wild qualities that make these bison so unique. FWP ignored public input and proceeded anyway, falsely promising that after five years the survivors would be given happy homes on public and tribal lands. Five years later, with the FWP lease of the current quarantine pens due to expire, we learned that the agency, in fact, had no plan.

Breaking trust with tribes, the public and the bison, FWP denied tribal proposals and refused to consider the thousands of public acres available in Montana. In a last-minute, back-room deal, Gov. Brian Schweitzer appealed to Ted Turner for a bailout (see “Helping the herd,” Feb. 25, 2010). Turner agreed to house the quarantined bison on his ranch in exchange for 75 percent of the Yellowstone calves born there. The deal sets the dangerous precedents of turning public wildlife into currency and transferring ownership of a cherished public resource to a private, for-profit corporation.

The 88 formerly wild Yellowstone bison that now find themselves captive behind Turner’s fences were stolen from all of us. As long as they reside on Turner’s ranch they are off-limits to the public.

But not everyone comes out on the short end of this deal. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC), an organization with close ties to Turner (he is listed as a board member on their most recent tax return) has been busy heaping praise on the deal. Perhaps GYC, who last year charged $1500 for exclusive tours of Turner’s ranch, will be one of the greatest beneficiaries.

FWP now promises that after five more years, any surviving Yellowstone bison in Turner’s possession, along with the few offspring remaining after Turner takes his share, will be returned to the public. Given their track record, why should we believe them?

Stephany Seay

Buffalo Field Campaign

West Yellowstone

It is time for everyone interested in outdoor recreation and productive natural resource management to get behind Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. We have been in a 35 year management stalemate since the RARE I and II (Roadless Area Review and Evaluation) studies of the early 1970s. The RARE studies set out all of the areas the U.S. Forest Service recommended for wilderness classification. Since then, those areas plus many others, including large buffer zones, have been managed to protect wilderness qualities. Any attempts at resource extraction have been met with expensive litigation.

A number of proposals have been worked on by thousands of us in the ensuing years. One of the most similar was the Lolo/Kootenai Accords in the early 1980s. A large group representing all interests, from miners and loggers to strong wilderness advocates, got together to produce a seemingly impossible document that would delineate all wilderness and general forest zones on the Kootenai and Lolo National forests. Despite original doubts, the task was accomplished after hundreds of hours of meetings. The only reason for failure was a new senator who didn’t want more wilderness and was out to make a point. He didn’t consider that at least 50 percent of the effort was put forth by his supporters. If that bill had passed, there would no doubt be more lumber mills still in business, operating under sustained yield forest management practices.

I have been an avid outdoorsman and hunter for over 55 years, starting work with the Forest Service as an assistant packer in 1964. I worked for a commercial outfitter, as well as having my own small outfitting business for a few years. Elk hunting and horse pack trips into non-motorized areas are my most cherished experiences as a Montanan. I understand how difficult it is to balance all opinions where public lands are concerned, and how important these lands are to private businesses in Montana.

Tester’s bill respects private business and puts job creation out front as a primary goal, along with setting aside those lands that deserve protection for diverse recreational uses. Fortunately, Tester understands both sides and does not consider them mutually exclusive.

We should all applaud the effort Tester and hundreds of citizens have put forth to create this bill. I would also like to commend Sen. Max Baucus for his support and Rep. Denny Rehberg for his efforts to understand the public’s concerns. Bipartisan collaboration and support for this bill is what Montanans expect and deserve.

It is time to end the stalemate and pass legislation for a more productive and certain future.

Michael Chandler

Missoula

I’ve noticed an even higher than usual level of traffic on Sen. Jon Tester’s forest bill lately. I find it encouraging because this type of dialogue is a necessary part of any collaborative process, and it’s a good sign that we have a bill that’s well worth talking about.

Yet, I can’t help but notice a stark contrast between those who stand in opposition to this bill and those who support it. The critics are taking it more personally, but I suppose those at the radical end of any compromise often feel wronged. Folks in the middle though, understand that it is unreasonable to expect this bill to have only wilderness provisions in it, just as it is unreasonable to expect the bill to have only timber provisions in it. They’re willing to acknowledge imperfection and move forward.

They are backing Tester because he’s interested in getting past the division that defines our dialogue over public land management. That’s why Tester is maintaining an open process. This bill is still being amended and rewritten by Tester and by the subcommittee in Congress, and Tester is still open for further suggestions.

This bill is the product of conversations between people who were traditional enemies: loggers, off-road vehicle users and wilderness advocates. They’ve seen that arguing with one another and alienating one another was not working. They were ready to try a different approach.

I’d encourage those in the opposition to follow their example by taking part in the process productively, rather than complaining from the sidelines.

Brian Fauver

Missoula

I appreciate the passionate comments regarding Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act written by Marilyn Olsen and others in recent pages of the Independent (see “Tester taken to task,” Feb. 11, 2010). I too love Montana’s wild places and recognize their ecological and cultural significance. That’s true of most Missoulians. What is also true is that Tester’s bill is the product of an open public process with promise to restore inclusive deliberation and adaptability to natural resource decision-making in the West.

All three of the projects in Tester’s bill had websites up for everyone to view for more than a year before the senator introduced his bill last July. I personally helped organize one of many public meetings on the Blackfoot Clearwater project at the Missoula Public Library last May that was attended by over 120 people.

Tester’s bill designates over 670,000 acres of new wilderness in 25 new areas. These areas range from the low country of Roderick Mountain in northwest Montana to the high country of the Lima Peaks in southwest Montana. The bill would include no less than six areas in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and five additions to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area.

The bill calls for 7,000 acres to be treated in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest annually for 10 years. The bill gives local contractors agency to conduct fuels reduction and thinning in the wildland-urban interface, where the Forest Service has identified an immediate need to mitigate severe fire risk to homes and communities. In a forest where1.6 million acres are marked “suitable” for timber harvest, treating just 4 percent of the available land is a remarkably moderate goal.

That this bill has generated such fervent public dialogue illustrates how much people care about public land. I hope this bill sets a precedent for more place-based, collaborative land management decisions to come.

Alex Hessler

Missoula

Why would Rep. Denny Rehberg propose changes to Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act when Montana mill owners say it won’t work?

During his tour of southwest Montana, Rehberg told Montanans he wanted to “fix” the bill by adding complicating provisions. But Sherm Anderson, owner of Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge and a former Republican state legislator, said he fully supports the bill as it is. Anderson also said he doesn’t think Rehberg’s plan would work. Anderson said the proposal would upset the compromise and be impossible to sell in Congress. He’s right. Not one single bill with trigger language has passed in Congress. After 10 years in Washington, Rehberg must know his plan won’t work.

Tester’s bill is supported by a broad spectrum of Montanans, including mill owners and respected Republican leaders such as former Gov. Marc Racicot, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Brown and state Sen. Dave Lewis.

Rehberg’s suggestions would do nothing more than maintain the status quo and keep Montana in gridlock, losing good jobs in the woods and mills. As Rehberg himself said, “Doing nothing is not an option.” Montanans need leadership, not politics.

Leticia Romero

Missoula

In the beginning, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (see “A fan’s guide to the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival,” Feb. 11, 2010) committed to screen my film, Hear The Buffalo, at this year’s event. This film advocates ending the Yellowstone Park bison hunt and for the safety of the herd. The film is controversial. In the end, however, Big Sky censored the film from screening for esoterically lame reasons of their own. Janet Rose, on the other hand, welcomed our film at her CINE event at the Roxy. Go figure.

Frankly, I have no problem with Big Sky yanking off a bison advocacy film. That is entirely their business. What disturbs is the exploitative use of the bison image in all their advertising. Higgins Street is inundated with their bison image ads. Their website flaunts mega images of the bison. And their preview guide is emblazoned with bison. People in our region care deeply about wildlife. How is it that the Big Sky Film Festival censors a buffalo advocacy film, yet hypocritically exploits the image to sell seats? Is this business as usual?

And why should anyone complain about the white buffalo image, sacred to Native Americans, plastered upon a tub of popcorn on the Independent’s front page? It makes good business sense, right?

All is not lost, however. Anyone wishing to view Hear The Buffalo, can see it for free, that is, no charge, on the website www.worldwidefilmexpedition.org. Enjoy!

Gene Bernofsky

Director

World Wide Film Expeditions

Missoula

Marilyn’s Olsen’s letter on Sen. Jon Tester’s forest bill (see “Tester taken to task,” Feb. 11, 2010) got one thing right: More people need to read Tester’s bill.

The levels of timber treatment called for in the bill are sustainable precisely because the mandates include a range of activities, not just commercial logging. Mechanical treatment can include pruning the understory of overgrown stands, hauling forest materials that are building up on the ground, doing selective thinning in the wildland-urban interface, among many other activities. What’s more, the bill only mandates a level of acres to be treated, not an amount of board feet to be cut. And the 21 amendments that Tester has proposed make sure that restoration work is done within a set amount of time, that only local mills will get the contracts, and that treatment projects are prioritized in the wildland-urban interface.

The mandates in the bill can be met using a very broad range of treatments, but the critics of Tester’s bill love to talk about commercial logging because that’s the bogeyman that frightens other environmentalists. Thankfully, most Montanans are getting beyond scare tactics and following Tester’s lead. Tester is talking about much more than commercial logging. He’s talking about getting more work done in lands that are already roaded and suffering from extensive beetle kill. He’s trying to forge a future for our timber mills that focuses on restoration instead of just “getting the cut out.” He’s trying to work alongside timber industry leaders to preserve our options for the local management of our forests.

And, he’s trying to make sure that we protect the headwaters of Rock Creek, Monture Creek, the North Fork of the Blackfoot and the Clearwater River. These are Montana rivers and last time I checked there isn’t even one other bill that stands half a chance of protecting them.

Tester just introduced 21 proposed changes to a bill that was already quite good. For some people, it will never be enough. For Tester and for most Montanans, though, enough is enough. We aren’t going to get a bill that is perfect for everyone, that’s why we compromise and work together on these things, something you know if you’ve spent much time at all in the West. We need to designate these 670,000 acres of new wilderness and get more work done in the woods. Here’s to Tester and to Sen. Max Baucus for backing a fine bill.

Emma Young

Missoula