Sacrificing jobs for a few weeds

Sacrificing jobs for a few weeds

Inflexible bureaucracy claims gravel pit

The insanity of environmentalism and the federal bureaucracy that nourishes it are poised to claim their latest victims: the owners and employees of Sandia Aggregates.

The sand and gravel producer has operated for years in the northeast valley, providing essential materials for the construction industry. Its crew has nearly exhausted the resources of its current location.
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But the company cannot expand into neighboring public lands. Its path is blocked, not by a forest, a river, mountains or a national park, but by weeds.

The barren landscape that abuts the gravel pit looks no different than other open acreage on the edges of the valley. It hardly qualifies as an area of interest for locals.

But in the eyes of the Bureau of Land Management, the crusty desert floor is an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern," a long-winded designation that prohibits mining or development on about 62 square miles around the gravel pit. Of "critical environmental concern" to the BLM is the bearpaw poppy, an unremarkable scrub that can be obliterated by a single stomp without a hiker ever realizing it.

(The bearpaw poppy should not be confused with the Las Vegas bearpoppy, a sister weed so adored by the BLM that the agency is trying to block the development of 8,000 acres in the northern valley.)........

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Apr-15-Fri-2005/opinion/1131781.html