Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126254
.... l-< 0.. < LO NG BEACH . CA . MAR . 25 , The White House continued to deny that proposed amendments to Executive Order 11644 would immediately ban off-road vehicle use on federal lands , even though copies of the proposed a':'len.dments obtaine~ by Cycle News mdlcated ot he rw ise . The amend.ments w~re formu lated ~y th e , ~ounc~l on ~nv,tronm~ntal Qua lity f~r m clusI?n m President Carter s upcommg message to Congress on the Environment. . . IE' a d Th e ongma xecutrve R ' rh erd' id h P announced b y tnen-b rest en 8 IC ar t M N' F I 72 e ruary . . . . 9 , . Ix? n on resulted •m D off-roa d co mpetitIOn In the ·< C a 1n orrua esert ( the largest off-road vehicle use area in the cou n r ) b . . r t Y emg I concentrated In lou r h fi genera . areas jWirb i f h I In a . ew mh0nt Sf' t e rrst signs 0 overuse m t. ose our dareas were I d h • fi a rea y s ow!ng, u p . an . now , rve years la ter , Significant damage from overuse has occ urred. T he proposed amendments wou ld add a Section 3A 'and a Subsection 3d - to E,O . 11644 . and read as follows : Section 3A, Protec t io n of t h e publi c la nds • "Notwi t hs tandi ng the pro vision s of Section 3, where th e u se of offr o ad ve hicles may ca use und u e a dverse effects o n the soil , vegetation, wil dlife . wil d l ife habita t o r cultu ra l or histo ric resources of pa rticula r area s of the public la n ds , the respec ti ve agen cy hea d sha ll immediately close such areas to the use of off- road vehicles," Subsection 3d. "Each respective agency h ea d sh a ll be au th orized to a dopt the policy th at all or portio n s of the pub lic la nds within its jur isd iction sha ll he cl ose d to u se b y off- road vehicles except th ose areas a nd tr ails which are su i ta ble and spe cifically designated -as open to such use under Subsection A of th is sec tion ." When as ked in a te lep hone interview March 24 if the proposed amend me nts co u ld cause th e clos u re of pu bl ic . la nds to off-ro ad ve hicles. Dan Beard o f the Wh it e Ho use Dom est ic Council told Cycle News . ': 1 can deny it. The d ifference betw een th e two (t he original Executive O rd er a nd th e amend me nts) is like look ing a t a glass of wa ter and dec iding .whet he r it's half em pty or half full ." . Judg in g by the te xt of t h e am endments . a mo re re al ist ic comparison of the origi na l Execu tive Order a nd th e proposed a mend ments would be as follows: The origina l starts with s ecified lands 0 en , ' with action' neel..d to close th~m. The amendments start with the lands closed ith I . h b . . • WI engt y urea u cra u c action needed to open a ny part of th e . areas. G'rven t h e c rorce d overuse 0 f an d Iling d amage to t h e restrrcte d . ' resu areas now avai lab le to O RV . . . for COmpetlllOn . m C a lif orrua I exampl' t Id b foi I d e. I ~o~ e easy or an m an agers to justi fy emergency closure f h di hi ' 0 t ose areas pen Ing t e com p enon of Env ironmenta l Im pact Statements ·' ' wh IC h can normally take two to four yea rs in desert areas. On th e same da y (March 24) that Beard denied t ha t th e proposed amendments would result in a closu re of public lands to ORV use . Council on Env ironmental Q u alit y spokesmen to ld th e Associ ated Pr ess th at total closure was " hig hly unlikely." That sta teme nt ' was meant to try to slow down th e flood of tele!,:r am s. m a ilgrams, lett ers and p ho ne ca lls a lready po uring int o the capitol from co nc erned off-readers .. Senat or Paul Laxalt (R· Ne v). upon o b tai n ing a co py of th e proposed amendments, issued his own sta tem ent to the Assoc ia ted Pr ess, dis agreeing with both th e White Hou se and th e Coun cil o n En vironment al Qu alit y co nte ntio ns. As qu oted by AI' . Lax alt sta ted that he op posed a ny closure and termed the proposed a me n d men ts " ove r k ill." Saying th at he had written President Carter, Laxalttold AI' " I wou ld like to point out that this u nilat eral ac tion to ban off- road vehicles is in violation of th e Co ngressiona l sec tions of t he Federal Land Po licies Act of 1976 . The Act gi ves t he public the rig ht to adequa te notice and th e opport uni ty to co m me nt on th e formulat ion of s ta n d a rd s a nd progr am s for m anagem ent of la nds ." T he first rumor s of th e p ro pose d a me ndme nt s to E xec u tive Order 11644 rea c he d the Los Angeles a rea on Ma rch 18. Wit h bo t h th e Co unc il on Envi ronmen ta l Qu a lity and t he Wh ite House refu sin g to co m me nt on ea rly reports, it wasn 't unt il March 21 that first confirm a tio n of the existence of the amendments ca me. Answer ing a n inqu iry from a loc a l television newscaster, who was ripped ,off by a po liti cally. active bi ker friend , Senator Jake Gam received from th e White House the first admission that th e amendment s were being considered . Congressman Mo Udall (D·AZ) confirmed the reports to the Motorcycle l ndustrv Council's ( l\Il Cl ~ ashington staff the sa me day. By the lime those two co nfirmations were a va ila ble. last week 's Cycle N ews had alread y gone to press (4 :00 p .m . Monday) with a sketchy first report of pending O RV bans. Also on Monday. March 21 . t he Motorcycle Industry Council held an e mergency m eeting in N ew port Bea ch . Ca lif., reviewed the rumors and ea rly co nfi rm a tions. a nd vote d $100 .000 for a m assive m a ilgram an d first -c la ss ma il cam p a ig n to a le rt m o to r cycl e d ea le rs. accessory m a nu fa ct u re rs. a nd r id e rs to t he immi ne nt da nger to the sport. O n the morni ng of T uesday. March 22 . M IC President Al a n Isley m et wit h th e American Mot o rcycl ists' Association Board of Directors in Los Angeles. After outlining the situation, Isley asked that th e AMA jo in with th e MI C in th e first-class m a iling to riders. The AMA boa rd voted to spend 525 .000 for tha t mailing . and a lso to hire former congressman Henderson to lo bby in Washington aga inst the p roposals . for another 53.000. Cycle N ews Publisher Sh aron Cl a yton d ona ted $1 .000 to aid th e AMA 's efforts. Also on March 22 . T he Co uncil on En vironmenta l Q u a lity Chairman Charles Warren (a former as semblyma n from Los Ang.·ll's ) co nfirmed to Mel Stahl of the Motorcycle l nd ust rv Cou n"; I tha t a me ndme nts were 'in the works . Warre n gave St ahl th e same wordi ng as Uda ll had given t he MIC ea rlie r. a dva nci ng the th eo ry th at it was a n officia l respon se.statement . O n W ednesday. Ma rch 23 . Cycle N ews hit the stands with th e first sketc hy reports . By that t ime . ma nufacturer s involved with th e MIC had a lrea dy alerted employees. who ha d sent ou t mailgrams and st arted the word -of-m outh grapevin e t h a t wou ld soon inv o lve m ost o f the mot orcycle clubs in Cal ifornia a nd other western sta tes . A W hi te H ou se sou rce la te Wednesday admi tted that opposit ion to the proposa l was already' up . and that announcemen t of t he proposed a mendments wo uld probably be delayed. Earlier. the MIC had feared th a t the a nno unc em ent would co me as early a~ March 25 . and that once Carter ha d made his position .known , he wou ld n't back down . Wi th this first sig n of uncerta int y. the fu ll impact of t he r esp on se to t he MI C/AMA mailing to 515 .0 00 off· ro ad mo to rcycle owners would have time to rea ch t he Presid en t before he stu ck his neck out. T he estim a ted ret urn o n t he ma ilin g wo ul d b e. ac cording to M IC President Isley. 10· 20 % . or 50. 000 to 100 .000 letters, with an estim a ted time of arrival in th e W hite Hou se of about March 30 . O n Ma rch 25 . Cycle News received a co py of the proposed a mendments deal ing wit h O RVs, a nd forwa rded cop ies to severa l Congressmen . The Whit e Ho us e Press O ff ice d e ni ed kn o wled ge o f a ny a men d me nts o r pro posed ba n. and referred our ca lls to t he Coun ci l on Env ironme nta l Quality. Jammed phon e lines made it impossib le to get th rou gh . According to one Western Union ope ra tor . additiona l operators had to be ca lled in to work overtim e to hand le th e flood of mailgrams and telegra ms for O RV enthusiasts in th e firs t wave of t he fight against th e pro posed amendments . The fact that th e proposed amendments got as far as they did with no provision for pub lic com ment or imput , and without regard to t he extre m e econo m ic a nd socia l impact th ey co uld hav e had . sho ws th e kind of radical irresponsibility rampant in the Cou nc il on Environmental Quality, It is essential that mailgrams. letters and tel egra ms pou r in to t he White Hou se a nd p ile u p so deep that t he environ mentalists currently enjoyi ng the favo r of Presiden t Ca rter's ear will never again "overlook" the legit im at e concerns of off-road ent h usiasts. If anyone you know ha s not yet co nt a cted the President a n d their Senators and Congressman. drag them to a table to wri te a letter now. Or. have them call the toll -free Western Union number (800) 257·2241 and send a Public. Opinion Message now ( 15 words for $2 . bill ed to their phone). The addresses follow: (Continued on page J4 .) 5