Time runs out on wilderness bill

With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid abandoning hopes of passing an omnibus public lands bill during the lame duck session, it appears that securing the permanent wilderness designation for hundreds of thousands of acres in Doña Ana County is going to have to wait. Some think wilderness supporters have missed what may be their best chance for a long time of winning the federal government’s highest level of protection for the land. Reid confirmed Tuesday that plans for an omnibus public lands bill in the lame duck session of Congress are dead. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., had hoped to pass such a bill and was being pushed to include his Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks Wilderness Act in it. Not any more...more

A story very similar to yesterday's, but it gave me a chance to break out the old tombstone generator.