My sense of hope changed considerably upon hearing the election results, but as citizens, I know we must continue to be watchful. No law is enacted without rule making, and this is the job of our administrative agencies regardless of the party in power, at all levels of government. I've been writing comments on rulemaking since the 1970s. The Administrative Procedures Act gives citizens the right to comment on rules and policies of most federal agencies. Since the mid-1980s, there has been a concerted effort to privatize and consolidate everything that is held in the public trust. A few current examples:

a. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is proposing to deregulate ownership rules for radio, television, and newspapers. This means a large corporation could own all the stations and papers that a person has access to within a community. What does this mean to you? Attend a public hearing at the Seattle Public Library on Nov. 30 at 6 PM.

b. Most of us have felt confident that all agencies must study and report on the consequences of any actions and decisions they make because of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The Council on Environmental Quality (under the President) oversees federal agencies' compliance with NEPA. They are currently revising the rules of environmental studies to give agencies the ability to categorically exclude many of their actions from public comment. Go to http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/ntf/implementation.html for more information. The deadline for comment on these changes is Dec. 1, 2006.

c. The National Park Service proposes to give corporations the right to "prospect and mine microscopic resources (the genetic and biochemical information found on wild plants, animals, and microorganisms) for use to develop products, pharmaceuticals, and industrial applications. They are calling this "NPS Benefits-Sharing." More information can be found at www.edmondsinstitut.org/yellowstone.html. Deadline for comments is Dec. 15, 2006.

d. The Forest Service and National Park Service have been busy privatizing the campgrounds and public facilities on our national lands for quite some time. We pay to park in the forest or enter the park. They close facilities for the public, but open up the lands for more resource extraction by the corporations. The Forest Service is currently doing an inventory on public sites and how they intend to use or remove them without any public notice or comment. In western Colorado, they've bulldozed many campgrounds, capped the drinking water systems, and closed public areas. No studies were done. Congress appropriates money for these sites. This year, $368 million. Find out if your favorite forest is doing this. You can find your Forest Supervisor's name and address through www.fs.fed.us or more information on forest issues by accessing www.wildwilderness.org.

e. Since 1997 or before, I've been commenting on Washington State Department of Ecology, Bureau of Land Management, and National Forest Service studies for the Buckhorn Mine operation in the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest. This proposal has gone through many stages, including withdrawal of the proposed mining plan, but in the current Bush administration rush to extract everything, Canadian-owned Kinross Gold Corporation reopened their proposal. Instead of blowing off the top of the mountain to do an open pit operation, they will extract rock in the existing mine, and transport it to privately owned property to mill the gold out. For the agencies, the study simplified to the questions of road building in the forest and the water treatment from the gold extraction operation. The question to be answered is, What happens to the water? Who drinks it afterwards? The state completed their environmental study in September. The Forest Service final study should be available this month. For more information, go to http://www.buckhornseis.com.

What I find incredibly sad and frustrating is that as a working citizen, I cannot possibly keep current of all the actions by our government agencies. If my government is of, by, and for the people, why am I spending whole days researching and writing letters? Why do I send part of every paycheck to organizations trying to preserve the public trust? I pay taxes! Do the large corporations who benefit from these studies and decisions pay a comparable amount? Are they held accountable for the consequences of their actions?

Until we have responsive and responsible elected representatives to our many governing boards and councils, I intend to stay vigilant and participate in the letter-writing process.