TAKE ACTION: Defend the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument 16MAI26

 

The vibrant colors of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. (Getty Images)

HALF way through the second year of his ( most unfortunate ) second term it seems that NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, his corrupt drumpf / trump-vance administration and the gop / greed over people-republican party is realizing they will probably lose their ability to eliminate laws, restrictions and regulations protecting American public lands after the 2026 midterm elections. Jumping because drumpf / trump told them to jump, and because they have been bought and paid for by the rich and corporate America, fascist fotze trunt Rep celeste maloy r-UT with fascist fotze trunt Sen mikie lee r-UT, both ass-licking drumpf / trump sycophants, are introducing in the House and Senate resolutions invoking a CRA ( Congressional Review Act ) that if passed and signed by the president will revoke all regulations and protections now applied to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Please sign the petition from EarthJustice to congress to defeat this CRA, and then if you have time e mail your representative and senators telling them to vote against this CRA. My e mails will be at the end of this post. If you don't think these actions do any good consider these from EarthJustice....

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. 

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. 

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. 

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.

There are threats that could bring chaos to a treasured landscape in Utah — help us defend it. TAKE ACTION   Our national monuments are once again under attack, and Earthjustice is defending these vital public lands. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a national monument totaling 1.9 million acres in southern Utah, is a treasured landscape in the nation’s public lands system. Several members of Congress introduced a resolution that would strip protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante and we need your help. An attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante could set precedent for similar attacks on national monuments across the country. Send a letter to your representatives today. Lawmakers have been abusing a little-known law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to strip protections from millions of acres of America’s public lands. Now members of Congress reportedly want to use this law to attack Grand Staircase-Escalante, and likely other national monuments in the future. While this is the first attack on a national monument using the CRA, it won’t be the last if we don’t oppose it. The CRA is a powerful tool that allows Congress to bypass normal democratic processes, like public notice and comments, to help industry develop our most cherished public lands. To undo a rule, the CRA requires both chambers of Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval, which then goes to the president to sign. If this resolution is passed, Grand Staircase Escalante’s management will be thrown into chaos, with rules that protect the monument’s irreplaceable resources tossed in the trash. We cannot let this happen. When President Trump attempted to dismantle Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in 2017, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit. After it was restored by the Biden administration in 2021, Earthjustice also successfully intervened in a legal challenge to the restoration. Advocates like you have stayed with us along every step of the way by putting pressure on your representatives, and we need you with us again. Contact your members of Congress today and ask them to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante from irreversible destruction. TAKE ACTION   . Sincerely, Blaine Miller-McFeeley Senior Legislative Representative

Thank you for your support of Earthjustice DONATE TODAY   Earthjustice, 180 Steuart St #194330, San Francisco, CA 94105 About Us   Delivered to you by Earthjustice. Your support makes the difference. Photo Credits: The vast and austere landscape of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument offers a spectacular array of scientific and historic resources. Encompassing 1.9 million acres, the Monument was created in 1996 by presidential proclamation – the first monument entrusted to BLM management. (Bob Wick / BLM)  © 2026

MY E MAILS TO REP SUBRAMANYAM D-VA 10TH, SEN WARNER D-VA AND SEN KAINE D-VA

HALF way through the second year of his ( most unfortunate ) second term it seems that NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, his corrupt drumpf / trump-vance administration and the gop / greed over people-republican party is realizing they will probably lose their ability to eliminate laws, restrictions and regulations protecting American public lands after the 2026 midterm elections. Jumping because drumpf / trump told them to jump, and because they have been bought and paid for by the rich and corporate America, fascist Rep celeste maloy r-UT with fascist Sen mike lee r-UT, both drumpf / trump sycophants, are introducing in the House and Senate resolutions invoking a CRA ( Congressional Review Act ) that if passed and signed by the president will revoke all regulations and protections now applied to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I expect you to vote against this CRA and hope you will work with the Virginia congressional delegation to make sure you all vote against it.

Thank you,

This is bad. Very, very bad. Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today. 18JUN18

IF you have not sent a letter to your representative in Congress to sign the discharge petition to bring the CRA to restore net neutrality (already passed by the Senate)  you can click here to do so. This from Demand Progress.....

Mark Stanley, DemandProgress.org	Jun 17, 2018, 5:09 PM

It's only been 5 days since net neutrality protections officially died, and already AT&T has merged with Time Warner and Comcast announced plans to buy 21st Century Fox for $65 billion.1 This merger mania is the worst-case net neutrality nightmare, with gigantic ISPs buying up content providers to control what we see and do online. Now more than ever, we need Congress to step in and reinstate net neutrality, and we're flooding Capitol Hill with phone calls, organizing in-distict, and running polls in congressional districts all over the country to show undecided members of Congress that their constituents support net neutrality. Will you chip in $5 to help convince undecided members of the House to save net neutrality? With no net neutrality rules to stop them, ISPs like Comcast and AT&T can push their subscribers to their own content—and block or throttle the rest. With AT&T taking control of CNN and HBO, it will be able throttle or block competitors like YouTube or the BBC. As part owner of Hulu, Comcast will have the incentive to censor competitors like Netflix. AT&T will be able to force users to watch CNN instead of MSNBC or PBS, while Comcast could push customers into Fox programming.2 Those of us who want to stream independent news? Good luck. Meanwhile, the small content companies, like 3M video and IFC, could be crushed. This isn’t just about entertainment. The way we communicate, conduct business, and live our civic lives will all be controlled by these ever-expanding ISPs unless we save net neutrality. The Senate has already voted to overrule the FCC and reinstate net neutrality, but to convince the House to join them, we need to convince undecided members that their constituents care about this too. Will you chip in $5 to help fight for net neutrality and organize in every key district with an undecided member of the House? Yes, I'll chip in $5. Thanks for standing with us. Mark Stanley, Demand Progress DONATE Sources: 1. CNN, "Comcast bids $65 billion for most of 21st Century Fox," June 13, 2018 2. Recode, "Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today," June 11, 2018 PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter. Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today The media landscape used to be straightforward: Content companies — studios — made stuff — TV shows and movies — and sold it to pay TV distributors, who sold it to consumers. Now things are up for grabs: Netflix buys stuff from the studios, but it’s making its own stuff, too, and it’s selling it directly to consumers. That’s one of the reasons older media companies are trying to compete by consolidating. And new distributors like Verizon and AT&T are getting in on the action. AT&T, for instance, wants to merge with Time Warner. Meanwhile, giant tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple that used to be on the sidelines are getting closer and closer to the action. To help sort this all out, we’ve created a diagram that organizes distributors, content companies and internet video companies by market cap and their main lines of business. Here’s what the Big Media universe currently looks like. We will update it periodically:

Tell your House Rep: Sign the discharge petition on the CRA to save net neutrality! & Senate votes to save net neutrality rules 11JUN&16MAI18

AFTER the Senate Democrats with 3 Republicans forced a vote and passed a CRA to restore net neutrality the CRA in the House is being pushed for a vote. Please sign the petition organized by Demand Progress and a plethora of allied organizations telling your representative to sign the discharge petition to bring the CRA to the House floor for a vote and then to vote for it and send the repeal to NOT MY pres drumpf/trump to sign and so restore net neutrality.

The House of Representatives has the opportunity to save net neutrality — or let it die. Tell the House: Sign the CRA discharge petition! SIGN THE PETITION

It's Monday, June 11: the day the FCC's repeal of net neutrality takes effect.

You may not notice any changes immediately. We don't know exactly when or how AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast will start throttling speeds and creating fast and slow lanes on the internet.

But we know it's coming. And that's why we need to force the House to save net neutrality.

Thanks to your activism, a bipartisan majority of senators voted to overturn the FCC and save net neutrality.

Now the fight is in the House, where we are gaining more support for the CRA resolution by the day. But we still need dozens more reps to sign a discharge petition to force a floor vote.

There's not a moment to lose. Every day the American people go without protections for a free and open internet will be one too many.

Tell your member of Congress: Sign the discharge petition for the CRA resolution to restore net neutrality!

The pundits and Big Cable lobbyists said we could never win the CRA resolution in the Senate, but we did.

We flooded the Senate with millions of calls and emails from constituents -- and we got all 49 members of the Democratic caucus, along with three Republicans, to pass the CRA. It’s going to be an uphill climb, but if we make sure our representatives hear us loud and clear, we can win in the House too.

86% of Americans oppose the repeal of net neutrality, including a huge majority of Republicans. With multiple Senate Republicans voting to overturn the FCC, we have a strong shot of winning the House if we get the support of all Democrats and about two dozen Republicans.

We proved the pundits wrong once, and will prove them wrong again. But we need to raise our voices and make sure every representative knows you expect them to stand on the side of Team Internet, and not Team Cable.

Tell the House: Sign the discharge petition and bring the CRA resolution to the floor for a vote today!

For the free and open internet,

Carli Stevenson
Campaigner
Demand Progress

Senate votes to save net neutrality rules

BY HARPER NEIDIG - 05/16/18 03:47 PM EDT

The Senate on Wednesday voted to reinstate the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) net neutrality rules, passing a bill that has little chance of advancing in the House but offers net neutrality supporters and Democrats a political rallying point for the midterm elections.

Democrats were able to force Wednesday’s vote using an obscure legislative tool known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA). CRA bills allow Congress, with a majority vote in each chamber and the president's signature, to overturn recent agency moves.

Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Kennedy (La.) — joined the 49 Senate Democrats to pass the bill 52-47.

They argue that without the net neutrality regulations, which require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally, companies such as Verizon and Comcast will be free to discriminate against certain content or boost their partner websites.

And despite the odds against the bill, Democrats see tremendous upside in the potential to use it as a campaign issue.

"A key question for anyone on the campaign trail in 2018 will now be, 'Do you support net neutrality?' " Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who introduced the bill, said in a press conference after the vote.

Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai blasted Democrats for their "scare tactics" and said that his proposal is meant to correct the FCC's regulatory overreach during the Obama administration.

“It’s disappointing that Senate Democrats forced this resolution through by a narrow margin," Pai said in a statement. "But ultimately, I'm confident that their effort to reinstate heavy-handed government regulation of the internet will fail.”

The bill will have a much harder time in the House, where Democrats would need 25 Republicans to cross the aisle and join a discharge petition in order to bring it up for a vote.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said he would be releasing a discharge petition on the bill on Thursday morning.

For their part, most Republicans argue that the net neutrality rules are unnecessary and onerous for broadband providers. The GOP has been urging Democrats to come to the negotiating table to work out a legislative replacement to the FCC rules, a move that is also backed by the broadband industry.

"I’m disappointed but not surprised that Democrats rejected my offer to write, consider, and amend legislation in a process open to ideas from both sides of the aisle," Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said in a statement. "Despite this vote, I remain committed to finding a path to bipartisan protections for the internet and stand ready to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when they are ready as well.”

But net neutrality supporters reject the idea that a Republican-controlled Congress could come up with protections as strong as the FCC rules. Legislation offered by GOP members leaves open the possibility that internet providers could create “fast lanes” by charging websites for faster speeds.

At a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) joined Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in calling on Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to bring the bill to the House floor — and rank-and-file Republicans to back it.

"We consider this one of the major issues of the 2018 campaign," Schumer told reporters.

Polls consistently show public support for net neutrality, with one from before the FCC’s repeal vote reporting that more than 80 percent of respondents — including 75 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of Democrats — wanted to see the rules stay on the books.

The FCC voted 3-2 along party lines in December to repeal its Obama-era Open Internet Order, a move the GOP hailed as a rollback of regulatory overreach.

"Following today’s vote, Americans will still be able to access the websites they want to visit. They will still be able to enjoy the services they want to enjoy," Pai said last year. "There will still be cops on the beat guarding a free and open internet. This is the way things were prior to 2015, and this is the way they will be once again."

Democrats on and off the panel have decried the action ever since.

"As a result of today’s misguided action, our broadband providers will get extraordinary new power from this agency," Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said at the time. "They will have the power to block websites, throttle services and censor online content. They will have the right to discriminate and favor the internet traffic of those companies with whom they have pay-for-play arrangements and the right to consign all others to a slow and bumpy road.”

Democrats and net neutrality supporters are also trying to fight the FCC’s repeal order in court, though the legal battle is likely to drag on for months.

Updated at 4:58 p.m