Paul Gosar, tree hugger
Him? ... Water, education and AI — oh my … And at least he quit with class.
Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar is the unsung hero of Arizona environmentalism and forest conservation — or at least that’s what he seems to think.
In his newsletter following the Dragon Bravo Wildfire, the congressman demanded answers from United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum — about how Joe Biden’s policies caused the fire.
Gosar said he is concerned about the “devastating loss of natural resources” and is eager to help the Department of Interior investigate how the Biden administration's policies are to blame. His cooperation with the secretary stands in stark contrast to his relationship with Burgum’s predecessor, Deb Haaland, who he routinely attacked for having a relationship with the Indigenous-led grassroots environmental group Pueblo Action Alliance.
All the finger-pointing over the wildfire at the Grand Canyon got us wondering: What has Gosar done to protect Arizona’s environment?
According to the League of Conservation Voters, Gosar has a lifetime score of voting for pro-environment policies just 4% of the time, which includes 14 years of voting against climate protections in a variety of different ways.
So today, let's look at some of this tree hugger’s highlights…
Gosar's newsletter, This Week With Gosar, boasts about all the media attention he's received after calling for Dragon Bravo answers.But the Grand Canyon is mine!
When Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado proposed the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act in 2021, it contained a provision promising to maintain the lands surrounding the Grand Canyon from uranium mining.
That provision, appropriately named the Grand Canyon Protection Act, took a million acres off the table for harvesting uranium, which could contaminate groundwater and pollute tribal lands. Gosar, however, thinks protections would be too costly for his constituents.
“This falsely-named legislation has absolutely nothing to do with protecting the Grand Canyon. Instead, it is an open attack on Northern Arizona mining and the hard-working people of my district,” Gosar wrote in a press release at the time.
And perhaps Gosar’s concern about jobs has some validity, but we wouldn’t venture to say the bill had “nothing” to do with protecting Arizona’s crown jewel.
Gosar’s prayers were answered in the Senate, where the bill did not pass — though some parts were worked into other pieces of legislation.
Pieces of the Grand Canyon Protection Act have seen the floor of Congress multiple times, including a 2021 bill introduced by Arizona’s own Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema — which never made it into law. But in 2023, Biden designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, protecting over 900,000 acres from new uranium mining.
Run Forest, Run
The Gosar-backed Fix Our Forests Act — which environmental groups call a wildly misleading title — would implement reforms to facilitate active forest management and improve wildfire responses.
But that’s not the whole story.
The bill, proposed by Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, would create fireshed management areas, establish a Fireshed Center that is responsible for communicating and understanding risks, and make other requirements to reduce wildfires. Firesheds are prioritized areas for risk reduction and mitigation efforts. The act would allow trees to be cut down as a way to minimize the likelihood of those areas catching and spreading fire.
The bill has some bipartisan support and seems to have a foundation of protecting natural lands. But opponents take issue with the part that would change the review of certain forest management projects under the National Environmental Policy Act. The act would allow projects up to 10,000 acres to be excluded from consideration of possible environmental impacts from logging, a review currently under NEPA law.
David Super, an opinion contributor for The Hill, wrote that the NEPA is in place to encourage the government to make informed decisions “before it leaps.”
“It does not mandate or prohibit any projects; it simply requires that a project’s likely effects be assessed before it is approved. This is the essence of good government,” Super wrote.
The LCV, or known by Gosar as the “forest-rabid environmentalists,” also warned the bill could stifle the public’s rights to review projects.
Drilling the House for an amendment
Gosar has even introduced a bill of his own from time to time related to the environment, including a 2018 bill that reminded people there is more to Arizona than the Grand Canyon.
Gosar shined the spotlight on Southern Arizona’s Ironwood Forest National Monument — as a potential mining and drilling site. Gosar's amendment to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act would have loosened the protections on the forests, rare wildlife and archeological sites located in the monument.
Gosar’s biggest opposition in his mission was Arizona’s own Rep. Raúl Grijalva. The fact that the monument was part of Grijalva’s district sat on the back burner as Grijalva spoke on the House floor about the “callous disregard to the public input” of Southern Arizonans.
Gosar’s argument back? It’s a bad monument. Well, specifically, "you couldn't make a more worse definition for a monument.”
Even seven years later, Gosar and company have continued to push back against existing environmental laws. Republican U.S. Rep. Eli Crane has followed suit on Gosar’s frustrations about the Dragon Bravo Fire — specifically the loss of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.
“We’re talking about possibly doing some NEPA waivers, waiving environmental reviews and just trying to fast-track this as quickly as we can to get that historic structure back up and running again,” Crane said, per KJZZ.
NEPA waivers are a major component of the Fix Our Forests Act, which also tries to sidestep environmental reviews.
Crane said he seeks to “fast-track” recovery and has already reached out to the White House, writes KJZZ reporter Michel Marizco. The call to Washington, however, is likely premature with the fire still being just over a quarter contained.
Gosar and company’s demands for fast answers seem to prove once again that the government and fire will continue to move at their own pace.
The Education Agenda
International students at Arizona State University have anonymously spoken about their support (or lack thereof) from the university amid Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In this week’s edition of the Education Agenda, we checked in on Arizona State University students who took to online message boards to voice their frustration, while ASU President Michael Crow took to the Wall Street Journal to take a lukewarm stance on Trump’s rampage against universities.
Subscribe to the Education Agenda to hear what students had to say, and check out the tough choice facing Arizona’s governor on federal school vouchers, the ongoing battle over federal funding for schools and much, much more.
The A.I. Agenda
Wondering who you can trust in a world being taken over by artificial intelligence?
In this week's A.I. Agenda, our resident tech guru Adi Jagannathan opens up his Rolodex to highlight the people he relies on to stay ahead of New York Times reporters who cover A.I.
Subscribe to the A.I. Agenda to see who Adi thinks is worth listening to, and get the skinny on the Trump administration’s grand plan for the future of A.I..
Plus, updates on the big business moves in Arizona’s A.I. industry and why Stephen Fry thinks A.I. is both “thrilling and chilling.”
The Water Agenda
The Arizona Legislature may not be in session anymore, but the state government is still making moves.
In this week’s edition of the Water Agenda, two fast-growing Arizona cities just got approval for big water transfers to fuel their growth, which is the first time that’s ever been done in Arizona.
But as is usually the case with water deals, it’s more complicated than just signing off on new agreements.
Subscribe to the Water Agenda to see how much all this is going to cost, why these two cities got to go first, and what’s next.
Along the way, you’ll see what’s on the line in a San Pedro River lawsuit, what’s up with WIFA and why an HOA won’t just let a Goodyear man hand out bottles of water on hot summer days.
It’s been a rough couple of years for former Republican Sen. Justine Wadsack.
She got pulled over for speeding last year, lost her reelection bid, and now, her lawyer is dumping her.
After being pulled over for driving 71 in a 35 mph zone in 2024, Wadsack brought a lawsuit claiming she can prove that the couple-hundred-dollar ticket actually caused her more than $8 million in damages, “not inclusive of emotional distress, psychic trauma and other general damages incurred.”
But now, Wadsack’s attorney is dropping her a week before she was scheduled to go to court for her civil case against Tucson over that speeding ticket, Capitol scribe Howie Fischer reports.
Attorney Dennis Wilenchik, who represented fake elector Jim Lamon and the Arizona Republican Party when it challenged the 2020 election results, said he’s leaving the case for “professional considerations” and without Wadsack’s consent.
But at least he didn’t call her a “loser” or a “drug dealer” or email her that he looks forward to “the many nights and mornings when you think of my name and squeal," as he did to a client back in 2015.1
That squeal line is a reference to the 1972 movie "Deliverance," which is “notorious for a scene of male rape,” as the Republic noted in its original write-up of the complaint Wilenchik’s client filed.
Whatever happened to raking the forest floors?
Who will be the lucky duck who gets to hit Gosar with a shovel? Whap!!!