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Today, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after HavasuNews.com reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will only extend the public comment period on proposed boating restrictions for Lake Havasu by 30 days and will not meet the 60-day extension request made by the Congressman and numerous other stakeholders:
“Even after more than one thousand passionate citizens showed up last week in Lake Havasu City in opposition to unjustified boating restrictions, the Service continues to blatantly ignore the will of the people. This type of tone deaf bureaucratic behavior has built an unprecedented level of distrust and frustration between the federal government and the American people. Furthermore, it is unbelievable that my staff and I had to find out about this shortened extension through a news report, especially as we just reached out to the Service yesterday to see if there were any updates.
“Based on what I witnessed at the public meeting in Lake Havasu City, the agency should have scraped this terrible proposal and went back to the drawing board. Instead the Service appears hell-bent on forcing unwarranted boating restrictions down the throats of local stakeholders. If the Service really cared ‘about soliciting public input from all users’ then it would have met these users’ request and extended the comment period an additional 60 days. I will continue to do everything in my power to fight these misguided boating restrictions that are not based on science. Service officials can hide behind the curtain when it comes to public scrutiny, but they can’t hide from me.”
Background:
Congressman Gosar has created a comprehensive information page on his website HERE documenting all relevant facts of this issue as well as a timeline of important events.
On April 29, 2016, Congressman spearheaded a bipartisan letter signed by 21 members of the House of Representatives to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, Regional Director and Havasu Refuge Manager requesting a 60-day extension of the public comment period for the draft recreational boating Compatibility Determination (CD) for Havasu National Wildlife Refuge.
The 21 bipartisan cosigners of the letter include: Mark Amodei, Ken Buck, Jason Chaffetz, Paul Cook, Kevin Cramer, Jeff Duncan, Trent Franks, Paul Gosar, Cresent Hardy, Walter Jones, Cynthia Lummis, Tom McClintock, Martha McSally, Dan Newhouse, Devin Nunes, Steve Pearce, David Schweikert, Kyrsten Sinema, Scott Tipton, Greg Walden and Ryan Zinke.
Numerous other organizations and individuals have also raised concerns and requested a 60-day extension including: Lake Havasu City Mayor Mark Nexsen, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Lake Havasu Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Havasu Marine Association and the Mohave County Board of Supervisors.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is currently taking public comments on the draft recreational boating compatibility determination, which aims to close significant portions of Lake Havasu to motorized boating activities, through June 13.
Comments can be emailed to: Havasu_Boating_Comments@fws.gov.
Written comments may also be sent to:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Havasu National Wildlife Refuge
Attn: Draft Recreational Boating CD
317 Mesquite Avenue
Needles, CA 92363
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