(remember the Clinton legacy) The Utah Coal Lockup: A trillion dollar Lippo payoff?

When the President signed the Executive Order designating 1.7 million acres of land in southwest Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, his action placed the area off limits to mineral extraction and development.

The New York Times reported that the monument encloses the largest coal field in the nation, the Kaiparowitz Plateau, which contains at least 7 billion tons of coal worth over $1 TRILLION.

Kentucky-based company Andalux Resources, which holds leases on 3,400 acres in the area, was planning to open a huge operation (underground, not strip mining) that would have generated 1,000 jobs, $1 million in annual revenue for Kane County, and at least $10 million a year in state and federal taxes, according to the New York Times. Folks living in the area wore black arm bands the day o the signing - but Clinton didn't see them. He chose to make his announcement in a neighboring state. WHY?

An obvious explanation is he was hoping to secure the environmentalist vote. Though that was no doubt part of his reasoning, he had surely achieved such an objective earlier this summer when he declared the huge area outside Yellowstone National Park a World Heritage Area. Let'' look further.

In the weeks prior to the past election, revelations surfaced almost daily regarding donations from foreign sources to the Democratic Party and Clinton's past campaigns. At the center of the controversy was another set of people to whom Clinton owes a few favors: the Lippo Group, a powerful $5 billion Indonesian conglomerate, founded and owned by the Riady family who, it turned out, had raised and funneled millions of dollars into campaign coffers.

Democrats attempted to downplay the allegations of impropriety. Even if the Clinton campaign and the Party did receive illegal contribution- which is denied -what, they demanded, had Clinton done for Lippo Group, the Riadys, or Indonesia that really affects this country adversely? Good question. The Payoff

Clinton's announcement at the Grand Canyon was wrapped in political correctness. "Mining jobs are good jobs, and mining is important to our national security - but we can't have mines everywhere, and we shouldn't have mines that threaten national treasures," he told his sycophanticaudience.

But coal is not only important for our nation's security. More importantly, at the present time it is the most cost-effective fuel for the electric plants that supply our homes and industries with light, heat and power.

Moreover, the coal at Kaiporowitz Plateau is a kind of coal that is not found "everywhere." It is very low sulfur, low ash - hence, low polluting -coal, the kind in high demand for power plants, such as one being designed for Ensenada, Mexico. That megawatt giant, presently on the drawing boards, will supply electricity across northern Baja, an area plagued by brownouts.

Had it not been taken off the world market, the logical source of coal forthe Baja plant would be the Kaiparowitz Plateau. Once mined it could be transported by rail to the ports of Long Beach or Los Angeles, then by barge to Ensenada. Thanks to Clinton, there will be no exporting of Kaiparowitz coal, which means the facility's procurement people will have to look elsewhere for clean non-polluting fuel.

Besides the Kaiparowitz Plateau, there are only two other known locations in the world where comparable coal is found in sufficient quantities to make mining it worthwhile. Colombia in South America is one, but it'll be yearsbefore the necessary mining and shipping infrastructure is built.

That's right - the coal fields of South Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. Bigplans are online for its development. Indonesia has been a source of coal for over a century, but the coal varies sharply in terms of quality. Recently, however, a coal that is very low in sulfur has been discovered. Anumber of coal companies are already there, and it's a good bet Lippo Group money is involved. A major company is Adaro Indonesia, of which 20 percent is owned by the Spanish government, 50 percent by New Hope Corp., an Australian firm.

According to the 1994 report Mineral Industry of Indonesia, by the bureau of Mines, U.S. Dept. of Interior, Adaro aims to produce 15 million tones by the year 2000 of what they call Envirocoal - a reference to its quality. Adaro has for several years anticipated the U.S. as a major market, and has one committed purchaser already: Tampa Electric Co., which signed a long-term contract to purchase 400,000 tones a year from the Indonesian firm.

To handle the shipping of the increased production, new shipping terminals are being constructed. One huge one is on a neighboring island at a cost of $1 billion. The P.T. Indonesia bulk Terminal, as the megaport is called, is owned 50 percent by New How, and 50 percent by "Indonesian interests" (the Lippo Group perhaps), according to the Interior Dept. report.

Massive coal deposits, massive shipping facilities - that spells massive investment, massive contracts. This isn't some small-0is-beautifuleco-operation. We're talking real money here, and it's hard to imagine that the "Lippopotamus" is not in on the action. But even if Lippo's not directly involved, the Indonesian government, with which Lippo has a cozy relationship, certainly does. So too will the various foreign investors and mining companies to whom the Indonesian government has extended an open invitation.

In any game there are winners and losers, and there are Americans in the first category - the investors who put their money in overseas coal mining, producers of natural gas, which the administration supports wholeheartedly.

Plus, there's a deal between a Little Rock firm and Lippo. According to the ENERGY ECONOMIST for Sept., 1994, Entergy Group of Little Rock, in partnership with the Lippo Group of Hong Kong, signed a memorandum of understanding with the North China Power Corporation for the cooperative management and expansion of the $1 billion 1,200 megawatt coal-fired Daton 2 power plan in Shanxi Province. Isn't that interesting And where do you think the coal will come from?

The Democrats' question: What has Clinton done for Indonesia that harms the United States? The answer is - with a stroke of his pen he wiped out the only significant competition to Indonesian coal interests in the world market before it even got started, a move that at the same time relegates this country to importer status. His edict will force us into eventual dependency on foreign producers of coal as we are presently dependent on overseas sources for oil - an unconscionable situation considering that we have abundant deposits of both commodities.

The President has given our children a legacy of continued energy dependence, marked by contrived shortages and crises, the full impact of which will be sharply felt in the years to come.

HERE IS THE ANSWER. BUSH CAMPAIGNED AGAINST THIS, THEN DEFENDED WHAT CLINTON DID. SICKENING.

January 2002, I challenged Bush at a townhall meeting that was broadcast on CSPAN to solve the problem. And I got a shot in on Tommy Daschle. The problem didn’t get solved, so here we are.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=62589

Judge Upholds Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 20, 2004 (ENS) - President Bill Clinton’s 1996 proclamation creating a 1.7 million acre national monument in Utah is constitutional and legal and may not be set aside, a Utah federal district court ruled Monday. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, and this decision is likely to be appealed.

Judge Dee Benson delighted conservationists and disappointed the Utah Association of Counties and the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, legal center dedicated to individual liberty, and the right to own and use property which challenged President Clinton’s 1996 designation.

The suit was brought against President George W. Bush in his official capacity as President, although the case challenged President Clinton’s use of the Antiquities Act.

Mountain States Legal Foundation argued that the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument violates the U.S. Constitution, which assigns power over all federal lands to Congress, as well as a host of federal laws.

Judge Benson ruled that the court lacks authority to determine if President Clinton abused his authority under the Antiquities Act and that the claims of the foundation on the violation of federal laws “are without factual or legal support.”

“President Bush and Vice President [Dick] Cheney, who campaigned across the West against Clinton’s Utah monument decree, sent federal lawyers into court to vigorously defend Clinton’s actions; they must be thrilled with this victory,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation.

“On behalf of Kane and Garfield Counties, which have suffered economically as a result of Clinton’s order, we are disappointed. Of course, we will appeal,” Perry said.

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is Utah’s largest conservation organization, said it was “thrilled” with the decision in this “tough political climate.”

President Clinton’s use of the Antiquities Act to create the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996 was the first use of the law in two decades. Judge Benson ruled that although the original intention of the act was to protect small, interesting ruins, the act had “clearly expanded” beyond that.

While there is nothing in the act that specifically authorizes the creation of national monuments for scenic purposes or for general conservation purposes, several Presidents have used the act to withdraw large land areas for these purposes, the judge wrote. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to do so, establishing a precedent, and used the act for this purpose 18 times, Judge Benson pointed out.

Near the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument in Utah there are six other monuments that were created in the same manner - Cedar Breaks, Hovenweep, Timpanagos Cave, Dinosaur, Rainbow Bridge and Natural Bridges. In neighboring Colorado and Arizona, there are other monuments created using the Antiquities Act, the judge wrote.

While most monument designations under the Antiquities Act have not been controversial, there have been a few legal challenges, but all have failed, Judge Benson wrote.

The court has only the jurisdiction to decide that in fact President Clinton used the Antiquities Act to designate the monument and that he was within his rights to do so. The court has no jurisdiction to decide whether President Clinton violated the Constitution or any other law, the judge ruled.

On claims the plaintiff attempted to make based on federal laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, they are “of no merit,” Judge Benson ruled.

The fact that President Clinton’s decision to announce the monument occurred eight weeks before the 1996 federal election angered Westerners, the Mountain States Legal Foundation claims.

“Clinton admitted that he did so to kill an underground coal mine that would have employed 1,000 Utahans and would have produced a $20 million annual revenue stream for the local economy. Westerners were furious over Clinton’s action undertaken, according to official White House documents, to cause environmental groups to aid Clinton’s 1996 re-election,” the foundation wrote.

The monument covers three separate regions - the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Escalante Canyons. Each of these regions has a different topography, and is recognized for its own unique attributes.

The Grand Staircase region is a series of multi-colored cliffs which begin at the rim of the Grand Canyon, and ascend nearly 5,500 feet across the southwestern side of the monument, to end with a final stair of pink cliffs in Bryce Canyon National Park.

These stairs consist of “risers” of resistant and non-resistant rock formations up to 2,000 feet high, and “treads” which are valleys or plateaus up to 15 miles wide.

The stairs include the Chocolate Cliffs, Vermilion Cliffs, White Cliffs, Gray Cliffs, and Pink Cliffs, all large expanses of exposed, virtually undeformed rock strata which provide a continuous stratigraphic record from Grand Canyon (Precambrian) to Bryce Canyon (Tertiary).

The Kaiparowits Plateau is a remote, wedge shaped region of vast mesa tops and sheer cliffs. Giant sections of petrified trees are also found on the Plateau, and an excellent, nearly continuous fossil record of late Cretaceous terrestrial life.

Because of its remoteness and isolation, many plant species have evolved there virtually unaltered by human interference. The region was also a contact point for Fremont and Anasazi cultures, and numerous prehistoric artifacts and structures there provide archeologists with the opportunity to learn more about the interactions between these two groups.

The Canyons of the Escalante consist of a maze of twisting, meandering, and interconnecting canyons of Jurassic sandstone that have been slowly carved over the centuries by the Escalante River and its tributaries. A favorite place for hikers and backpackers, these riparian ways serve as migration corridors for neotropical birds, and are habitat for many relict plant communities which have evolved in these canyons. Here also are artifacts and remains from early American Indian cultures and nineteenth century pioneers.

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