SUWA routinely threatens state and federal agencies with lawsuits. These threats compel agencies to be overly cautious and engage in excessive and expensive planning, which cost the taxpayers extra money. They block oil, gas, and mining development, which costs us money at the pump, the grocery store, at home, and every aspect of our lives. It should be well known by now that when energy costs raise so does the cost of everything else. If we can’t even tap our own resources for energy we have to meet demand by finding them elsewhere. Most of us are painfully aware of the financial and human costs when we as a country do not control our own energy supplies and are forced to outsource our energy needs to those who seek to destroy us. I often wonder if it really is about the environment. What environmentally protective measures does Russia, China, India, Mexico, and Venezuela, enforce when they develop and extract resources for U.S. needs? The answer is few if any. So does SUWAs efforts really protect anything? I think not. I take that back it certainly protects OPEC and many Saudi sheiks lucrative juggernaut on American fuel prices.
I believe SUWAs actions are very harmful to the United States and all who live here. But we in Utah are most impacted. This organization needs to be called on the carpet for their egregious actions. The people of Utah must wake up and unite against them. They can be beaten. On a fraction of their budget we have stopped their abuses, challenged them in court, and won major victories. We know how to win the war but we need people’s names and dollars to get the job done. The organization I work for Utah Shared Access Alliance is dedicated to seeing the simultaneous protection and responsible use of public land in our gorgeous state. We also are committed to stopping groups like SUWA from further harming the greatest state in the greatest country on the face of the earth.
You don’t have to take my word on the things I have asserted in this article you can read for yourself search the sources cited above and on SUWAs website www.suwa.org. You will see we are not making this stuff up. They are a real and immediate danger. What are you going to do about it? You must let your elected representatives know how you feel about these issues and tell them you have joined our organization. If we all unite under one umbrella we really can make a huge difference. You don’t have to be a political geek or land use pro, that’s what we’re here for. All you have to do is care enough to give your good name and your hard earned dollars to a cause that will fight hard for you and your family.
Michael Swenson is married with two children. He and his family reside in Orem out of necessity. He would rather be living in a more rural area. He has been the executive director of USA-ALL since 2004. It is his full time job. He handles the daily operation of the organization, government relations, and legislative affairs. He is a local boy and graduate of Emery High School. His parents still reside in Orangeville. He can’t think of a better place for a young boy to grow up. He deeply cherishs his childhood here and playing in the surrounding mountains and deserts. It was growing up in Emery County and the attempts to create wilderness in the mid 1990s by SUWA that inspired him to pursue higher education that would let him become involved and influential on these important policy issues.
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