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Title: DC Tells Tombstone, AZ They Can Repair Water System, As Long As They Use Horses and Hand Tools
Source:
All American Blogger
URL Source: http://www.allamericanblogger.com/2 ... hey-use-horses-and-hand-tools/
Published: May 11, 2012
Author: Duane Lester
Post Date: 2012-05-12 11:49:01 by We The People
Keywords: None
Views: 1041
Comments: 3
This is an incredible story showing how far the federal government is from rational thought. Here’s what happened in Tombstone: Between May and July 2011, the Monument Fire engulfed a large part of the eastern portion of the Huachuca Mountains. Record-breaking monsoon rains followed. With no vegetation to absorb the runoff, huge mudslides forced boulders to tumble down the mountain sides, crushing Tombstone’s mountain spring waterlines, destroying reservoirs and shutting off Tombstone’s main source of water. In some areas, Tombstone’s pipeline is under 12 feet of mud, rocks and other debris; while in other places, it is hanging in mid-air due to the ground being washed out from under it. So the city got to work repairing the system so the people of Tombstone could have water. Believe it or not, water is kind of a big thing in the desert. But when the federal government found out what they were doing, they stopped them and said they could only make the repairs if they used horses and hand tools. No, really: Citing the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service is refusing to allow the city to repair its waterlines to mountain springs it has owned for nearly seventy years – and which date back to the 1880s. This refusal is threatening residents, private property and public safety with the risk of a total loss of fire protection and safe drinking water. … …federal bureaucrats are refusing to allow Tombstone to unearth its springs and restore its waterlines unless they jump through a lengthy permitting process that will require the city to use horses and hand tools to remove boulders the size of Volkswagens. Because the spotted owl is more important to the federal government than a steady supply of water during an emergency. John Stossel had the president of the Goldwater Institute on his show to talk about this: This is the same logic bureaucrats will apply to health care, or any other part of your life you give them any control over.
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#1. To: All (#0)
A post on youtube; Here is a suggestion. Just go out and fix the pipes. Bring your sheriff and a bunch of armed citizens and see what happens. I bet NOTHING. Just a bunch of enviro-pussies.
If the residents of Tombstone and Cochise County are going to sit around and allow the federal government to do this to them then they they damned well deserve everything the government is doing and will do. A lawsuit? The hell with that. That could take years. Where are the residents getting their water now? Is it being shipped in? Are there other wells? The city, county, and state should have every swinging Richard in the area willing to work and/or stand armed guard up there getting this fixed while telling DC to screw themselves. There needs to be a showdown with the federal government and what better place to do it than the home of the OK Corral? WTF are the feds going to do? Not a damned thing that's what. They will piss and moan and take everyone to court but WGAS, the water problem will be solved. I doubt that will happen though. Instead they'll just take it up the fourth point of contact and whine about the injustice of it all.
The wilderness act mandates a prohibition of motorized machines and tools in wilderness areas. They are following law Congress passed and a president signed. I have done a lot of working in the woods. When I worked on trails in wilderness areas, we were supposed to use hand tools too. They inspected our work checking for signs of a chainsaw or gasoline auger use. The contracts were bid with the added expense in mind, and where we sneaked the use of tools other than permitted, we got away with using power tools. On wild land fires I have been on, they have waved the requirement because safety trumped law and they backed down from requiring the use of crosscut saws (misery whips) and axes. They even allowed bulldozers in to fire line instead of requiring all such construction to be hand made lines. The bottom line is Tombstone needs to coach this in the form of this being an emergency that endangers public welfare and sanitation. I would bet they could get the exception clause of the act invoked on those grounds.
#2. To: We The People (#0)
#3. To: Fibr Dog, wethepeople (#2)
(Edited)
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