Rehberg Listening Session
Congressman Denny Rehberg listens as Tom Horelick talks about firewood cutting issues on Saturday in the Ponderosa Room at Libby City Hall. Photo by Kootenai Valley Record
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Rehberg hears local concerns
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
August 13, 2010
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg heard concerns ranging from asbestos to wolves during a Saturday afternoon visit to Libby.
Rehberg’s stop at Libby City Hall’s Ponderosa Room was one of a series of 15 "listening sessions" held by the congressman in counties across Montana during the first week in August. The tour was part of the Republican "America Speaking Out" campaign, an effort to solicit public input on policy issues that Rehberg compared to the "Contract with America" led by Newt Gingrich in the 1990s.
Around 50 people attended the Libby session.
Gordon Sullivan told Rehberg he’s not satisfied with the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing work to clean up asbestos contamination left over from years of vermiculite mining and processing in Libby.
"If you really want to stimulate the economy – I own two businesses here – get this town cleaned up," Sullivan told Rehberg.
Tom Horelick, who runs a firewood business, asked Rehberg to look into the matter of people cutting and selling firewood under personal use permits issued by the Forest Service, which he said shouldn’t be allowed.
"What this has done, it’s killed my business, because guys are just selling it cheap," he said.
Phil Soucy expressed concerns about the area’s growing wolf population and showed Rehberg photos of his son’s dog after it was severely injured by wolves. Soucy noted a ruling last week by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy that reinstates Endangered Species Act protection for wolves, canceling Montana’s efforts to control population through hunting.
"I’ve got a pack of wolves in my backyard that I can’t do anything about," Soucy said.
Rehberg suggested that anyone unhappy with federal court rulings campaign against the senators who approve the judges.
"Get angry," he said. "Do something about it. Help me out."
Scott Lennard compared some rulings, such as a recent one overturning California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban, to "acts of treason."
"Treason used to be punishable by death," he said. "At what point does that start?"
Several people in attendance asked Rehberg to support the Montanore Mine project near Libby. Charlotte Woods called the permitting process "an ongoing spectacle" in which federal regulatory agencies have exhibited "incredible airheadedness."
"We are talking jobs, and this is one of the biggest things that is being talked about all over the country," she said. "We need jobs, we need jobs."
Rehberg said he’s working to help streamline the permitting process for things like power lines and pipelines.
"We’re trying to get legislation passed to solve that kind of issue," he said.
Paul Coon, an employee of Revett’s mine at Troy, urged Rehberg to continue his support for resource industries.
"If we don’t keep these jobs in America, they will mine them in China, they will log them in China," Coon said.
Pat Pezzelle, director of the Lincoln County Campus of Flathead Valley Community College and a member of the Kootenai River Development Council board, said the problem lies with "regulatory obstructionists" in federal agencies. He asked Rehberg to help put pressure on those agencies.
"I would like you to march down to the EPA and say, ‘Start being a public servant and stop being an obstructionist,’" Pezzelle said.
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Editor’s Note: See the August 10, 2010 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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