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Hundreds attend Senate hearing on wilderness bill
Udall, left, listens as Bingaman speaks at today’s hearing. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
U.S. Rep. Harry Teague among those who show up; Bingaman says there’s not yet a timeline for moving the legislation forward
Hundreds of people showed up in Las Cruces today for an official U.S. Senate hearing on the proposal from Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, D-N.M., to protect more than 300,000 acres of land in Doña Ana County.
Those in attendance included U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., who is in a tough re-election battle and said more today about the contentious wilderness proposal than he has publicly in the past.
While not taking a stand on the senators’ bill, Teague said he has a “commitment to hearing all sides.” He said he supports “efforts to conserve” the land but said he also has questions, including some about law enforcement access to roadless areas and flood control.
“No one group will – or should – get everything out of this process that they want,” Teague said during the hearing. “But in the end, what we do must be right for Doña Ana County and right for this nation.”
During the hearing, Bingaman said he believes “there is support in Doña Ana County to provide protection for lands.” Udall added that the bill “seeks to preserve… in perpetuity,” the beauty that is the draw for many people who live in the area.
Before the hearing, Bingaman said bill he and Udall introduced in September could change, and there’s not yet a timeline for moving it forward to a Senate vote.
“I think Sen. Udall and I want to make sure that we understand everyone’s perspective, and that’s what today is about,” Bingaman said.
Teague, during the hearing, called the Organ Mountains “the goose that lays the golden economic egg” and said “we’d better tend carefully to that goose.”
“The peaks of the Organ Mountains define Las Cruces, just as the Empire State Building defines New York City and Cowboys Stadium defines Dallas,” Teague said.
Teague at today’s hearing. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Chamber supports wilderness for Organ Mountains
The official Energy and Natural Resources Committee field hearing included testimony from people Bingaman invited to speak but not other public input. Bingaman, the committee’s chairman, made sure divergent opinions were represented. Several of those invited to give testimony expressed concerns or spoke against the bill.
That included the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce’s John Hummer, who said the chamber pledges its “full support” for designating the Organ Mountains as wilderness but has concerns about proposed wilderness designations for other areas in the county.
The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act would designate 259,000 acres as wilderness and 100,000 acres as national conservation areas. In addition to the Organ Mountains, land on and around the Robledo, Doña Ana and Potrillo mountains would be protected.
The bill would also release 16,350 acres currently designated as a wilderness study area along the county’s border with Mexico. That’s intended to address concerns that law enforcement patrols are hampered by rules against motorized vehicles entering the protected area.
Hummer said the chamber has concerns based on the area’s “economic demands” in addition to questions similar to those raised by Teague.
An estimated 700 people attended the hearing. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
A big show of support
There was a big show of support at the hearing for the bill.
Las Cruces Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Thomas said during the hearing that the senators’ proposal has widespread community support and strikes the appropriate balance between differing opinions. She said the legislation is necessary to preserve the landscape, protect the water and grow the economy.
“I urge you to move forward with all possible haste,” Thomas said.
Before the hearing, New Mexico State University graduate student Martin Moses, who helped start a local chapter of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance on campus, spoke in favor of the legislation.
“It’s vital if we’re going to protect the land,” he said. “Las Cruces is growing by leaps and bounds.”
Las Cruces City Councilor Nathan Small, who works for the Wilderness Alliance, said the bill’s time has come.
“It’s been proven many times that this is what our community desires,” he said. “There are no more excuses. That’s what today is about, is taking that final step.”
Some protesters
The hearing was also well attended by people who oppose the legislation. And about 15 of them – including members of the Las Cruces TEA Party – stood outside NMSU’s Corbett Center and held up signs opposing the legislation before the hearing. Among those protesters was James Belver of Tularosa, who was gathering opposition signatures on a petition.
“We don’t want a government takeover of American land. That’s God-given land,” he said. “They think they have the authority to take it away. I could see some management, but not a complete lockout.”
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I like the Teddy Roosevelt quote, but although I disagree with Teague on several issues I feel it is only fair to point out that he is getting hammered by the right in his district, his business has been picketed, etc. He IS “the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…”
Keep the faith Congressman Teague. Don’t cave into the radical wilderness movement. You are your own person and not beholden to any special interest. Real courage would be to review the information and sit down with Senator Bingaman and advise him on what is best for your district based on solid information not emotional rhetoric regardless of the heat you may get from the far left of your party.
Thank you for your service.
Force does not always make right nonsequitur. Just because we took it from the Indians did not give us God’s right to do so. God gave us this land to preserve and give us sustenance, but we abuse it at every turn, by trying to improve on his work and most times we bollix it up. “It doesn’t pay to fool with Mother nature” was a good ad on TV and it is a lesson we can all learn from.
As for the developers, I don’t remember seeing any of them in the crowd, but there may have been a few. I hope that the people who support this Wilderness Bill realize their mistake before it is too late. Using common sense to stop the encroachment on the mountains is one thing, but the opening of an area so close to Las Cruces or anywhere within this state to drug pipelines is not only foolish it is downright dangerous.
Maybe we should pay attention to the experts such as the Border Patrol, Retired Border Patrol and Esslinger, Hummer Cooper and Du Boise. They have a finger on the problem and it isn’t Wilderness. There are other means to controlling building on the mountains and the encroachment on its beauty. Take a look at the Alpines in Europe. The houses you see on the mountains there do no detract from their beauty, they enhance it. Millions of people go there to see the splendor of the country and the mountains. Wilderness will not work along the border with Mexico and that is simple fact, proven by the different areas that have become Wilderness.
It is interesting that Mr. Belver, from Tularosa, thinks “this is God-given land.” He doesn’t want the government to take it over. Just exactly how does Mr. Belver think the United States acquired this land? By asking God for some of His property? No, we took it–stole it really. If he is so interested in fair play, then he, his friends, and all of us in the Mesilla Valley should vacate this area and leave it to the aboriginal peoples who settled it. The countries of Mexico and the United States swiped it.
Congressman Teague should remember the words of Teddy Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Congressman Teague – Stand up for wilderness!
Anti-wilderness forces and and a few developers are joining forces in an attempt to derail the Wilderness Act that would preserve the Organ Mountains for future New Mexicans. This bill is an outstanding compromise between various community organizations. Only a few developers and few extremists are against it including the anti-everything Tea Party proponents. This is well-thought legislation.
Congressman Teague is a total disappointment – he is afraid to take a stand – sad.