Archive for November 24th, 2008

Grijalva is being vetted as our Nations next Secretary of Interior. He would be the third Sec. of Interior from Arizona, following in the footsteps of Bruce Babbitt and Morris Udall.  Both Babbitt and Udall made lasting impacts on the west as will Grijalva.

There is no question that George Bush took us in a decidedly anti environmental direction. Grijalva will change that.

The largest land owners in Arizona are governmental agencies. In Pima County only 14% of the county is in private hands. Attempts at State land reforms by the legislature or by the initiative process have fallen short. Pima County voters have approved $220+ million for open space purchases and another $250 million will be put in front of the voters in the near future. There is not doubt that the momentum is there to protect the desert and the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) is a road map on how to do that.

Should Grijalva be selected the SDCP will get a huge leg up. The property owners of Pima County will benefit in the form of not having to continue the bonding process. If Grijalva can wave the Obama administrative wand and change federal land policy and potentially influence the State of Arizona’s policies we could see major tracts of land set aside at virtually no cost to Pima County tax payers. I know it’s a stretch but there are cause and effects around the decision. From the Tucson Citizen - HERE.

Environmental leaders were thrilled at the prospect of Grijalva assuming the secretariat. Mining, ranching and other land-use industry representatives expressed dismay.

“Talk about a 180 from where we are today,” said Richard Mayol, communications director at the Grand Canyon Trust. “That is certainly something that we would love to get behind, something we would cheer.”

He has long been regarded as an environmental advocate, leading efforts to regulate hard-rock mining and establish a National Landscape Conservation System. He recently told The Arizona Republic that Bush’s administration sold away public resources to private interests, performing “more like real-estate agents than stewards of (public) lands.”

From the Arizona Daily Star Sunday Greg Hansen column:

For 59 minutes Saturday it was great theater played before 48,503 fans and 10,000 empty seats. The Beavers were playing to preserve an opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the Dark Ages, and the Wildcats were playing to prove that they had evolved from a scrambling mediocrity to a dead-on, prime-time bowl game TV slot against someone from the big leagues.

“I’ve got no problem with the way the kids played tonight,” said Stoops. “But we’re still in the process.”

It is the same sort of process shown by Rio Nuevo, isn’t it? A lot of chatter. A very slow process.

Read Emerines article HERE

By Steve Emerine
Inside Tucson Business
November 22, 2008