Saving the wilderness

SCOM students lobby in D.C. over break to prevent drilling in southern Utah’s wilderness

What started out as a class assignment for five SCOM 313 students turned into a full-fledged lobbying effort last week in Washington, D.C.

Junior Yasmeen Alamiri and sophomore Beth Schermerhorn, along with their professor Pete Bsumek, hand-delivered 107 JMU student-signed letters to senators. The petitions pushed for senators’ support of the Redrock Wilderness Act, an environment preservation effort to prevent drilling in southern Utah.
With a list of key Republican and Democratic senators from both Virginia and West Virginia, Alimiri, Bsumek and Schermerhorn made appointments to speak with the congressperson’s legislative aides to ask them to co-sponsor the Redrock Wilderness Act.

"This is the first time [my class has] done something like this — gone out and actually lobbied for a cause," Bsumek said.

The students in SCOM 313 had the chance to volunteer for a non-profit organization rather than do a traditional research project. Juniors Sarah Smith, Paul Hanson and Alamiri and sophomore Carly Estock and Schermerhorn chose to work for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a grassroots organization based in Washington, D.C.

"The trip [to D.C.] made the issue a real thing — when you’re in class doing this, you wonder how this stuff going on in Utah really affects you," Schermerhorn said.

If the government succeeds in drilling for oil in southern Utah, the land can no longer be claimed as a preservation area. According to Schermerhorn, recent increases in gas and oil leases pushed by the Bush administration will only cause more destruction.

"Our main goal was to get that message to senators that we students are aware of what’s going on in our wilderness and what their plans are, and how we want to protect it," Schermerhorn said.

SCOM students involved in the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance will present a program on March 30 at 7 p.m. in the meeting room in the Massanutten Regional Library to raise awareness about Utah and what students can do to help save the Utah wilderness. They also will host another program on campus on April 20 at 7 p.m. in the PC Ballroom.