Motorheads still wrecking west as feds don't change

Sec. 'start your engines' Salazar.

UPDATE, Tue. Aug 17: LAS VEGAS -- After deaths, BLM permits bigger off-road race this weekend.
SAN DIEGO -- Union-Tribune calls for off-road racing moratorium
LOS ANGELES -- LA Times: Off-road race still on, despite safety concerns

TUCSON -- Off-road 'wreck'reation, for too long a plague on American public lands, is still a problem as President Obama's troubled Interior Department and Forest Service are seemingly doing little to nothing to reign in the 'Mad Max' recklessness so common to off-roading.

Some recent lowlights:

-- On Saturday, 8 people were killed and many injured at a federally-permitted off-road race on BLM public lands in the Mojave Desert.

-- Reckless off-road racing on BLM public lands is also a problem in Nevada.

-- The Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona continues to be poorly managed, as do other southwestern national forests.

-- BLM is proposing allowing off-roaders rip up 40,000 acres of protected public lands on the Algodones Dunes near Yuma.

How many more people have to die or be injured?
How many more Rangers have to be assaulted?
How many more quiet recreationists must be run off?
How many more hunts have to be ruined?
How many more millions of acres of wildlife habitat must be wrecked before Washington gets serious about taking on the off-road vehicle lobby and brings balance to America's public lands?

The continuation of destructive Bush/Cheney-type federal off-road policies is hardly 'change' and it adds to legitimate concern that Obama, Salazar and too many others in Washington are weak on protecting public lands, safety and the environment.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and other public interest orgs are fighting across America for reform.