|
|
You play an important role as a World Wildlife Fund activist, working alongside us to protect the world's wildlife and wild lands. Over time, you've spoken out for countless imperiled creatures, including the world's great apes. Nearly 100,000 messages from WWF activists like you over the past four years helped convince the U.S. Congress to steadily increase funding for the protection of great apes. Even now, Congress is poised to approve more than $1 million for great ape conservation for the coming year.
However, these funds are woefully insufficient to address the crisis affecting one of the most loved great apes - the gorilla.
Thousands of lowland gorillas are being slaughtered and the trend is alarming: once hunted only by local people to feed their own families, gorillas are now being gunned down with automatic weapons, murdered simply to be served smoked, or as a steak or stew in "gourmet" restaurants as far away as Paris or Brussels.
Habitat loss, poaching for a growing commercial bushmeat trade, and most recently an outbreak of Ebola that is affecting human and ape populations alike, threaten to decimate Africa's population of lowland gorillas and other great apes. We could lose not just populations but entire species of gorillas in the next five to ten years.
WWF has launched an emergency response to this crisis.
We have created a plan to safeguard gorillas - stepped up anti-poaching activities; increased support for protected areas; and innovative efforts with multinational logging companies to stem their harmful actions --
and we want you there by our side once again.
With a donation to WWF, you can make a difference in our life or death efforts to save wildlife and wild spaces. Your contribution supports programs that protect gorillas and other wildlife rescue projects where the need is most urgent.
DONATE NOW at http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ctt.asp?u=26681&l=3507
The odds may seem stacked against the gorilla's survival, but we haven't given up - and neither should you.
Sincerely,
Kathryn S. Fuller
President
In reaction to a strong financial privacy law adopted earlier this year in California, big banks, insurance companies and other financial firms are pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would set a low national standard for our financial privacy.
Current federal law allows widespread distribution of your private information among financial institutions. Under legislation being considered by the Senate, financial institutions would be able to continue selling and sharing details of your personal financial life without your approval. This includes all of the financial and personal information that banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions possess.
But some Senators are fighting back. A proposed amendment to the bill would restrict the amount of information available for sharing and would allow you to indicate that you do not want your information to be released.
Take Action! Help ensure your financial records are kept private and secure.
Click here for more information and to send a free fax to your Senators:
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=13719&c=40
*************************************************************
For more information on other issues and the latest news, please visit our website at http://www.aclu.org
Help Strengthen the ACLU's Voice in Congress... Click below to become a card-carrying Member or donate today!
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========================================
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin for Environmental Activists
October 1, 2003
========================================
In This Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. Speak out to keep snowmobiles out of Yellowstone National Park
2. Don't let an industrial hydropower complex destroy Canada's boreal forest
======================================================
You will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action Center, which includes
tools for taking action easily online, at http://www.nrdc.org/action
(Please do not reply to this message; see the instructions below for how to
unsubscribe or contact NRDC with questions or comments.)
=============
Action alerts
=============
1. Speak out to keep snowmobiles out of Yellowstone National Park
Bowing to the pressure from the snowmobile industry and the Bush
administration, the National Park Service has proposed a new rule that would
allow snowmobile use to continue in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
In doing so, the Park Service is abandoning its original proposal to ban
snowmobiles in the parks, as well as ignoring the wishes of hundreds of
thousands of people who wrote in support of the original plan (including almost
70,000 NRDC online activists).
Although the new proposal includes a few new restrictions on snowmobile use,
the end result would not reduce pollution or noise, or protect the parks and
their wildlife and visitors. In fact, a two-year Park Service study showed that
continued use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone would cause haze at Old Faithful;
present a continuing risk to visitors and employees, especially those who
suffer from asthma and other respiratory conditions; generate engine noise
across many of the park's most visited attractions; cause more stress and harm
to Yellowstone's wildlife; and emit twice as much carbon monoxide as compared
to switching to snowcoaches.
The Park Service has identified banning snowmobiles and implementing the use of
snowcoaches as the best way to protect the park, its wildlife and its visitors,
but is nevertheless moving ahead with the new, ill-advised plan. The Park
Service is accepting public comments on the proposed rule through October 14.
== What to do ==
Send a message, before the October 14 comment deadline, urging the Park Service
to protect Yellowstone and Grand Teton by banning snowmobiles in the parks.
== Contact information ==
You can send a message to the Park Service directly from NRDC's Earth Action
Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/. Or use the contact information and
sample letter below to send your own message.
Park Service Planning Office
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Ban snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Dear Park Service staff,
I urge you to adopt the National Park Service's original plan to ban noisy,
polluting and disruptive snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national
parks and replace them with a public transportation system of multi-passenger
snowcoaches. Adopting such a plan is the best way to protect the parks for our
inspiration and enjoyment now and for future generations.
Your agency's own two-year study, costing $2.5 million, showed that allowing
snowmobiles to remain in Yellowstone would cause haze at Old Faithful; present
a continuing risk to visitors and employees; generate engine noise across many
of the park's most visited attractions; stress and harm Yellowstone's wildlife;
and emit twice as much carbon monoxide as switching to snowcoaches. This option
would also cost taxpayers $1.3 million more each year while providing less
protection for the health of visitors, employees and Yellowstone itself. Less
protection at a higher cost simply makes no sense.
The new draft plan is not the kind of farsighted directive called for here. The
law, science and overwhelming public opinion all support a phase-out of
snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I again urge you to adopt the
Park Service's original decision to ban snowmobiles in these historic national
parks.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
2. Don't let an industrial hydropower complex destroy Canada's boreal forest
Canada's boreal forest, part of a green crown circling the northern reaches of
the globe, is a wild, prehistoric landscape of granite rock formations, lakes,
rivers and marshes interspersed with pine and poplar forests. This vast expanse
of forest is home to woodland caribou, moose, bears and wolves. The elusive
great gray owl is a year-round resident, while pelicans, geese and 30 percent
of North America's songbirds come to nest every spring. The boreal forest is
also home to hundreds of First Nations communities, many of which rely on
fishing, hunting and trapping for their livelihoods.
In Manitoba, the heart of the Canadian boreal forest is threatened by a massive
hydropower industrialization plan. Manitoba Hydro, the provincially run
hydroelectric company, is planning to build an enormous complex of new dams and
transmission lines, in part to send power to the United States. One of the
first projects in Manitoba Hydro's long-term plan is the proposed Wuskwatim
dam, which would be located to the north of Lake Winnipeg and would
dramatically affect the traditional territories of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation.
The Pimicikamak know the consequences of industrial hydropower development.
Since the 1970s, dams have flooded their lands. Sediment has clouded waters
they rely on and starved fish of oxygen. Erosion has eaten away at thousands of
miles of shoreline, causing landslides and exposing ancient burial grounds.
The Pimicikamak, along with Manitoba environmental organizations and other
First Nations, are asking provincial officials to study the environmental
impacts not just of the proposed Wuskwatim dam, but of the entire hydropower
complex that will surely follow if this dam is approved. But the Manitoba
government is currently reviewing and licensing components in the expansion
individually -- a process that cannot possibly offer a true assessment of the
full range of consequences.
== What to do ==
Send a message urging the Manitoba Minister of Conservation to broaden the
environmental review of the Wuskwatim hydro projects.
== Background information ==
The Boreal Forest - Earth's Green Crown
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/boreal/intro.asp
== Contact information ==
You can send a fax or email to the Manitoba Minister of Conservation directly
from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/. Or use the
contact information and sample letter below to send your own message.
Honourable Steve Ashton
Manitoba Minister of Conservation
333 Legislative Building
R3C OV8 Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada
Fax: 204-945-3586
Email: mincon@leg.gov.mb.ca
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Broaden environmental assessment and review of proposed Wuskwatim dam
Dear Minister Ashton,
I urge you to use your authority to ensure that the Manitoba Clean Environment
Commission carries out the environmental assessment and review of the Wuskwatim
hydropower projects in the context of Manitoba Hydro's larger expansion plans.
The Wuskwatim dam and transmission projects are a first step in Manitoba
Hydro's plan to expand its industrial hydropower facilities in Manitoba's
boreal forest. Consequently the true environmental impacts of the Wuskwatim dam
can only be adequately assessed as part of a review of the overall planned
industrial hydropower complex. Such an assessment must include all elements of
the complex of which the dam would be a part.
Manitoba's boreal forest is a natural treasure of global significance and its
health is critical to the survival of both people and wildlife. I therefore
urge you to ensure that the Clean Environment Commission carries out a
comprehensive and realistic assessment of the full range of
environmental
consequences of the Wuskwatim dam and all
related projects.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
========================
Subscription Information
========================
NRDC distributes three bulletins by email: the CALIFORNIA
ACTIVIST NETWORK
ACTION ALERT, EARTH ACTION, and
LEGISLATIVE WATCH. To subscribe to any or all
of them,
go to: http://www.nrdcaction.org/join/subscribe.asp
If you already subscribe and want
to change your subscriptions or update your
email
address or other information, go to:
http://www.nrdcaction.org/profileeditor
==========
About NRDC
==========
The Natural Resources Defense
Council is a nonprofit environmental organization
with
more than 550,000 members nationwide and a staff of scientists, attorneys
and environmental experts. Our mission is to protect the
planet's wildlife and
wild places and ensure a safe and
healthy environment for all living things.
For more information about NRDC or how to become a member
of NRDC, please
contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense
Council
40 West 20th Street
New
York, NY 10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773
(fax)
General email: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Earth Action email: nrdcaction@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org
Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving
Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural
Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
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Read our Privacy Policy. |
Alaska's cold ocean waters support some of the largest
populations of marine birds, mammals, fish, and
invertebrates in
the world. They also support some of
the largest commercial
fishing operations in the United
States and the world. Dramatic
changes in marine
populations have led many fishery scientists
to conclude
that unsustainable commercial groundfish fishing is
negatively impacting the Alaskan marine ecosystem.
Steep declines in Steller sea
lions, northern fur seals, harbor
seals, seabirds, and
several species of crab and fish, and
widespread habitat
disturbance have gone hand in hand with the
explosive
growth of North Pacific groundfish fisheries. We need
your help to get the federal government to take action to
protect Alaska's remaining pristine marine ecosystem
before it
is too late!
The National Marine Fisheries Service (Fisheries Service)
is the
government agency charged with protecting our
oceans resources.
Recently, due to a Court order, the
Fisheries Service released a
document describing the
effects of the massive groundfish
fisheries on the
Alaskan and North Pacific marine ecosystem.
This
report, also called an Environmental Impact Statement,
provides an opportunity for the public to tell Fisheries
Service
how we can better protect our oceans.
Please take a minute to tell the
government that it should
protect Alaska's marine
mammals, and pristine marine ecosystems.
The more people
who send in public comments about the new report
- the
better the chance we all have of making a difference.
Right now, NMFS only hears fishing
industry advocates - the
Fisheries Service needs to
hear another point of view, from
ocean conservation
advocates BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. Now is your
chance to
tell the Fisheries Service to take care of your ocean
resources.
For the oceans,
Dawn Martin
Oceana
You
can take action on this alert either via email (please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://ga0.org/campaign/protect_alaska/
Visit the web address below to
tell your friends about this.
http://ga0.org/campaign/protect_alaska/forward/
We encourage you to take action by
November 10, 2003
Help Protect
Alaska's Marine Mammals and Pristine Oceans
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on
this
alert by going to the following URL:
http://ga0.org/campaign/protect_alaska/
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email program.
Your letter
will be addressed and sent to:
Dr. James Balsiger
----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN
YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically
inserted here],
I am writing to
voice my strong concern about the current
management of
commercial groundfish fishing in the North Pacific
and
to encourage you to adopt and implement the Oceans
Alternative. The Oceans Alternative incorporates ecological
principles into fisheries management to ensure that all
elements
of the marine ecosystem are given due
consideration and
protected from harm.
As stewards of our oceans public
resources, you must put
commercial groundfish fishing in
its proper context and ensure
that our marine ecosystems
are protected for future generations.
----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----
--------------------------------------------------
If you received this message from
a friend, you can sign up for
Oceana Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/wavemaker/join.html?r=P1zXrt61hP-ME
 | ||||||||||||
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***********************************************
*Your WildAlert for Thursday, October 2, 2003
***********************************************
The House-Senate Energy conference
committee has released a
draft energy bill "compromise"
that will pave the way for
drilling and mining on our
most special public lands, from the
Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to the Otero Mesa of
New
Mexico and the Red Desert of Wyoming. Although still termed
a "draft" proposal, these provisions could very well end up
in
the final bill.
It is a horrid bundle, written by a few members of Congress
working with corporate special interests in the back
room,
dripping with bad ideas and taxpayer giveaways
that will enrich
energy companies.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF
CONGRESS TODAY. PHONE CALLS ARE
BEST
You can reach your congressional representatives
at:(202)224-3121. Talking points are below. Or, send a fax
from
our web site:
http://ga1.org/campaign/enconf_tws
***************************************
THE BILL IS TAKING SHAPE NOW
Although final action on the bill won't occur until later
this
month, key decisions are being made right now. It
is critical
that members hear from us as soon as
possible. Phone calls would
be best, faxes second best.
There is little in this legislative
package to boost
alternative energy sources, still less to
foster
conservation. Even solutions to the recent blackouts in
the eastern U.S. and Canada haven't yet been drafted, and
have
taken a back seat to the bill's "drill America
first" policy.
If its goal was
to do damage to the largest number of special
places
this draft achieves near-perfection. The bill relies on
production at any cost. And the cost will be huge, both
environmentally and fiscally: the measure could contain as
much
as $20 billion in handouts to industry. Please take
a few
minutes to tell your Members of Congress that this
energy bill
is so bloated with destructive provisions
and unnecessary
subsidies, so lacking in sound policy,
that it must be scrapped
for the good of the country.
**********************************
TALKING POINTS
Ask for the staff
person handling energy issues for the senator
or
representatives. After identifying yourself, ask that the
senator or representative vote against the energy bill when
it
comes to the floor. And if you are speaking to a
Senate office,
urge the senator to vote to sustain a
filibuster against the
bill. If you wish, you can also
make these points:
* The bill
does nothing to meet America's energy needs through
conservation or alternative energy sources.
* But it contains countless provisions that will endanger
America's wildest places, from the Arctic National
Wildlife, the
nation's coastlines and wonderful public
lands in the
intermountain west.
* The bill will weaken environmental protections on millions
of
acres of public land and do little to give us lasting
energy
security.
* The bill will
give away as much as $20 billion in subsidies
and tax
deals to big oil companies.
********************************************
BACKGROUND:
We've enlisted your help
regularly to protect the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge
from energy drilling. That provision
is, once again, in
the conference committee's package. But with
little
fanfare, the conference committee (really only the
majority members since Democratic conferees have been all
but
excluded from the process) has loaded the bill with
draconian
provisions that threaten public lands across
the west and all of
America's coastlines.
The conference leaders, Sen. Pete
Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Billy
Tauzin (R-LA) released
their draft on September 23. Its language
unabashedly
paves the way for oil and gas development to be the
dominant use of America's public lands. Under these new
rules,
oil and gas development on our National Forests
and on the lands
the Bureau of Land Management oversees,
would trump every other
use. All else would take a
distant back seat: water quality,
wildlife and wildlife
habitat protection, the preservation of
wild lands, the
protection of cultural, historical and
recreational
values and even the property rights of ranchers and
farmers.
In
significant ways, this legislative proposal is nothing more
than a codification of much that the Administration has
sought
to do by internal fiat. And both are a direct
reflection of many
of the fevered dreams of Vice
President Cheney's industry-only
energy task force.
The toll is already apparent. "The
results of these actions,
billed as promoting national
energy security, have begun to turn
vast tracts of the
western United States into industrial
landscapes. The
winners are the energy companies..." So reads a
special
report in the October 2003 issue of Field and Stream
magazine.
This "drill first, wild places be damned" philosophy emerges
in
a whole suite of provisions in the draft conference
bill. It is
an approach fundamentally at odds with the
careful balance that
the Congress has crafted and that
has governed our public lands
for more than 50 years.
Americans have every right to expect
that oil and gas companies
should have to obey common
sense laws and reasonable regulations
to protect the
environment and the public interest. Yet the
energy
conferees are systematically sweeping aside
"inconvenient" rules in an effort to drill anywhere and
everywhere.
Specifically, the bill would:
* Prohibit drilling fluids (drill "muds") from being
considered
"pollutants" of drinking water under the Safe
Drinking Water Act
(Sec. 28);
*
Require the United States Geological Survey to report on
"restrictions and impediments" to the development of federal
oil
and gas deposits (Sec. 45). These inconvenient
"restrictions and
impediments" would include policies
and regulations designed to
protect fish and wildlife,
wild lands, and cultural and
historical values on the
public lands;
* Possibly allow the Interior Department
to designate utility
and pipeline corridors across
public lands without seeking
public comment through the
land use planning process (Sec. 51);
* Establish an
"Office of Federal Project Coordination" within
the
White House intended to expedite the permitting and
completion of energy projects on federal lands, and override
environmental safeguards (Sec. 41);
* Put the Department of Energy in charge of implementing
Executive Order 13211, which requires federal land
management
agencies to determine, before "taking any
action," whether such
actions would have a "significant
adverse effect on energy
development (Sec. 46).
Beyond these, there are other
damaging provisions of the
proposal that neither the
Senate nor the House has ever
approved. The conference
chairs simply imposed them on the
draft. Here are some
of them:
* Sec. 49 allows
applicants for drilling permits on federal
lands to take
up to two years to comply with application
requirements,
but provides the Bureau of Land Management only a
few
days to approve drilling permit applications.
* The
measure would mandate an immediate survey of the oil and
gas resources in sensitive marine habitats of the Outer
Continental Shelf, including previously off-limits waters
off
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and Alaska, using
seismic and
other intrusive techniques (Sec. 14).
* The proposed bill greases the skids for the
Administration's
plans to lease 100 percent of the
National Petroleum Reserve in
Alaska (NPRA). It would
expand the Interior Secretary's
authority to permit oil
and gas development there without
consideration for
wildlife habitat, native hunting and fishing,
water
quality or other non-commercial values.
* The bill makes
it far easier for the Interior Secretary to
quite
literally give away public resources to private companies,
letting her waive all fees and royalties for almost any
reason.
What's Missing from the
Bill?
The short answer: Anything
that doesn't directly benefit Big
Oil, either through
subsidies or gutted environmental
safeguards!
America needs-deserves!-a responsible energy policy that
enhances our national security by promoting clean, renewable
energy sources and energy efficiency.
Such a policy must respect the
private property rights of
western ranchers and
landowners, protect our most
environmentally sensitive
lands and wilderness-quality
landscapes from the impacts
of energy development, and preserve
the entire spectrum
of values and uses of our public lands, from
drinking
water and wildlife habitat to clean air and recreation.
There is
nothing of the sort in the draft energy conference
bill.
Rather, it would actively undermine public-lands
protection, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and
NPRA to
full-scale drilling, and hand out an estimated
$20 billion in
subsidies and tax give-aways to oil, gas
and coal companies.
That's not an energy plan for
America's future. It is a lavish
payday for the energy
industry, tough luck for taxpayers and
consumers, and a
devastating blow to the public lands our
children will
inherit.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TODAY!
The conference committee continues its dismal work on
the energy
bill and will probably wrap it up in the next
two weeks. The
next step would be to send it to the
House and Senate for
ratification. Please contact your
Members of Congress now. Phone
calls would be best,
faxes next best. Please tell them this
energy bill is
fatally flawed. Even if drilling in the Arctic
Refuge is
not included in the final bill, the balance is too
destructive to allow it to become the law of the land. You
can
take immediate action from:
http://ga1.org/campaign/enconf_tws
If you'd rather prepare your own
message to your senators and
representative, we've
included a sample letter and link that
will give you
contact information.
****************************************
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Capitol switchboard at
(202)224-3121 will connect you to
your senators' and
representative's offices.
You can
find other contact information for your Member of the
House of Representatives at
http://www.wilderness.org/TakeAction/contactdir.cfm
********************************************
THANK YOU
Thanks for helping us
defeat this resoundingly bad legislation.
There is
additional background below, as well as a sample
letter.
If you'd like to write your own letter, you can draw on
it for the major points.
Thank you, as always, for being an important part of
WildAlert,
our online community of wilderness
activists!
**********************************
WORDS TO INSPIRE
"The Arctic has a
call that is compelling. The distant mountains
(of the
Brooks Range) make one want to go on and on over the
next ridge and the one beyond that... This wilderness must
remain sacrosanct."--William O. Douglas
You can take action on this alert
via the web at:
http://ga1.org/campaign/enconf_tws/
Visit the web address below to tell
your friends about this.
http://ga1.org/campaign/enconf_tws/forward/
We encourage you to take action by
October 30, 2003
Stop the Bloated
Energy Bill
INSTRUCTIONS TO
RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser,
you can take action on this
alert by going to the
following URL:
http://ga1.org/campaign/enconf_tws/
Your letter will be addressed and
sent to:
Your Congressperson
Your
Senators
----THIS LETTER WILL BE
SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear decision maker name
automatically inserted here],
I
write to urge you to oppose the energy bill now under
consideration in the House-Senate Conference Committee. The
bill
fails to meet America's energy needs, but carries
countless
provisions that endanger this country's
wildest, most important
natural places. By putting
drilling first on America's public
lands, the energy
bill promises lasting harm without offering
lasting
energy solutions.
As drafted, the
bill would weaken environmental protections on
millions
of acres of land that belongs to all Americans. It
would
hand over as much as $20 billion in taxpayer subsidies
and tax breaks to corporate special interests. It would pave
the
way for oil and gas drilling off America's Pacific
and Atlantic
coastlines. And it would open the pristine
Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to industrial energy
activity that would surely
destroy it, all for what at
best would be a few months' energy
supply for this
nation and even that a decade away from
consumers.
When the energy bill emerges from
the conference committee,
please vote against final
passage. Thank you for your
consideration.
----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----
--------------------------------------------------
If you received this message from a
friend, you can sign up for
The Wilderness Society
at:
http://ga1.org/wilderness/join.html?r=Ipa4MzE1s7q7E
U.S.
oceans are plagued by overfishing and habitat destruction. And now, Senator Ted
Stevens has attached anti-environmental amendments to the Department of Commerce
funding bill that would undermine vital protections for ocean ecosystems.
Important work to protect fish
habitat and marine ecosystems will be undone unless Senator Stevens's amendments
are removed from the bill when it is considered by the Senate within the next
few weeks.
Please take a moment
to urge your senators to oppose Senator Stevens's amendments and safeguard our
ocean resources. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this
e-mail to them.
To take action,
click on this link or paste it into your web browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=313&id4=ES
Just as the
Pew Oceans Commission and prominent scientists are warning of the collapse of
our ocean ecosystems, Senator Stevens, the powerful chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, is trying to roll back some of the most vital
conservation provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act by:
* Stopping
regional fishery and federal fishery managers from protecting essential fish
habitat in the North Pacific. By blocking funding for habitat preservation, the
Stevens amendments stop a seven year effort to protect essential fish habitat,
including deep water coral and sponge ecosystems, from destructive fishing
practices like bottom trawling.
* Directing the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to
reopen fishing for depleted Aleutian Islands pollock. Pollock feed on
kelp-eating sea urchins, and in turn provide food for the endangered Stellar sea
lion. Overfishing this species will destabilize an entire ocean ecosystem.
* Protecting a groundfish fishery
that causes substantial habitat damage, targets long-lived fish that are
vulnerable to overfishing, and kills other marine life as bycatch.
* Micromanaging the work of the
North Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council by dictating the allocation of
fisheries.
These amendments
bypass the public fishery management system established by Congress under the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. If these amendments
prevail, they set a dangerous precedent for the protection of other important
ocean ecosystems.
Congress
should instead enact laws that provide an open and public framework for
fisheries management and ecosystem protection.
Please take a moment to urge your senators to oppose Senator
Stevens's amendments and safeguard our ocean resources. Then ask your family and
friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.
To take action, click on this link or paste it into your web
browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=313&id4=ES
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
U.S. PIRG Executive Director
GeneK@uspirg.org
http://www.USPIRG.org
P.S. Thanks again for
your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family
and friends.
The
October 6 issue of Newsweek includes a lengthy article about
the problems facing the United States in rebuilding Iraq.
The
lead paragraph includes an astounding piece of
information. The
entire paragraph is below. It makes
clear the this
administration's one guiding principle is
to keep the right-wing
happy.
LAST FEBRUARY, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner
was trying to put
together a team of experts to rebuild
Iraq after the war was
over, and his list included 20
State Department officials. The
day before he was
supposed to leave for the region, Garner got a
call from
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who ordered him
to
cut 16 of the 20 State officials from his roster. It seems
that the State Department people were deemed to be Arabist
apologists, or squishy about the United Nations, or in
some way
politically incorrect to the right-wing
ideologues at the White
House or the neocons in the
office of the Secretary of Defense.
The vetting process
"got so bad that even doctors sent to
restore medical
services had to be anti-abortion," recalled one
of
Garner's team. Finally, Secretary of State Colin Powell tried
to stand up for his troops and stop Rumsfeld's meddling. "I
can
take hostages, too," Powell warned the secretary of
Defense.
"How hard do you want to play this thing?" (end
of Newsweek
paragraph)
This information comes on the heels of recent administration
actions to end funding for a well-respected program
working to
fight the spread of HIV/AIDS among refugees
in Africa and Asia
because one of the organizations
involved supports abortion
rights and to expand the
odious global gag rule policy. Finally,
the
administration is still refusing to release the funding
Congress approved for the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA). The Senate will likely consider legislation to
reverse
that decision sometime in the next few weeks. We
will let you
know when that happens.
Thanks for your support.
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below to tell
your friends about this.
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=ZPG_Action_Network
If you received this message from a
friend, you can sign up for
Population Connection
(formerly ZPG) Email Action Network at:
http://actionnetwork.org/populationconnection/join.html?r=Z1qUq8d1UP-1E
| |||
|
The House and Senate
Appropriations Committees will meet soon to finalize spending on parks, refuges,
and forests for 2004. It is extremely important that you contact your U.S.
Senators and Representatives, urging them to include $3 million for the Land and
Water Conservation Fund to directly support the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
This year, the U.S. Forest Service has an opportunity to
acquire a total of 1,747 acres of land in Montana within the ecosystem. It is
important that the final funding level for this critical project in the Land and
Water Conservation Fund within the Senate's 2004 Interior Appropriations bill be
maintained at $3 million because the House of Representatives did not provide
specific funding for Greater Yellowstone in its version of the bill.
We urge you to help protect this great national treasure.
Please contact your Senator or Representative.
More information on the Land and Water Conservation Fund in FY 2004
appropriations.Ask Congress to continue its support for the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem
At the
last minute, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has attached
legislative language (known as a rider) to the
appropriations
bill funding the Department of Commerce
that undermines vital
legal protections for the ocean
ecosystems of the U.S. North
Pacific. In stalling
protection for the North Pacific, this
legislative end
run puts at risk habitat protections that have
been under
development with public participation for seven
years.
This rider sets a dangerous precedent that threatens fish
habitat and ecosystem protection for all of our country's
marine
ecosystems.
Important ongoing work to protect essential fish habitat
and
marine ecosystems will be stymied unless the Stevens
rider is
removed from the bill when the Commerce
Appropriations bill is
considered on the Senate Floor
within the next few weeks. Thus,
your Senator will be in
a key position to stop this anti-ocean
conservation
rider. Please respond to this alert immediately and
urge
your Senators to notify Senator Stevens about their
opposition to this rider.
The language blocking work to protect essential fish habitat
is
one of several anti-environmental riders included in
Title IX of
the Commerce, Justice, and State
Appropriations bill for fiscal
year 2004. For the sake of
simplicity we refer to these riders
collectively as the
Stevens rider, both in this alert and in the
sample
letter. The essential fish habitat and the other "Title
IX" riders are summarized in the "Tell Me More" Section of
the
Alert Website: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/f714AwK1QPJa/
You can take action on this alert
either via email (please see
directions below) or via
the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/title9/
Visit the web address below to tell
your friends about this.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/title9/forward/
We encourage you to take action by
November 5, 2003
INSTRUCTIONS TO
RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser,
you can take action on this
alert by going to the
following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/title9/
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email program.
Your letter will
be addressed and sent to: Your Senators
----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
***To Make Edits to this Sample Letter, Please Visit the
Alert
Website and Make Changes in the Letter Edit
Window***
Dear [decision maker
name automatically inserted here],
I am writing you out of a deep concern for the health and
future
of our nation's ocean ecosystems. I urge you to
oppose a rider
added to the Commerce Department
appropriations bill by Senator
Ted Stevens of Alaska to
prohibit the implementation of critical
protections for
North Pacific ecosystems mandated by the
conservation
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation
and Management Act.
Senator
Stevens' rider mandates that no funds may be used to
implement the essential fish habitat provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson Act) in the North Pacific, and that no funds can
be
spent to establish marine protected areas to protect
important
habitat, including recently discovered deep
water corals. The
rider also proposes incentives for
reopening fishing for
depleted pollock stocks and
continues rockfish fisheries that
target vulnerable
species, have high levels of destructive
bycatch, and
utilize practices that damage sensitive bottom
habitats.
The
rider does all this and more by bypassing the regular
legislative process and the fishery management system
established by Congress under the Magnuson Act. If this
rider
prevails, it sets a dangerous precedent for
removing protections
from other important U.S. ocean
ecosystems. Congress should not
carelessly endanger our
resources and eliminate the opportunity
for public
participation by doing end runs around our existing
conservation laws.
I urge you to do all you can to protect our oceans by
publicly
opposing the Stevens rider. Please sign onto
dear colleague
letters that oppose this dangerous
legislation and support
efforts to strike Title IX when
the Commerce Department
appropriations bill is considered
on the Senate Floor. Thank you
for considering my views
and please let me know your actions on
this important
issue.
----END OF LETTER TO BE
SENT----
Instead
of protecting communities at risk from forest fires, the so-called "Healthy
Forests Restoration Act" weakens environmental protections, interferes with our
independent judiciary, and cuts the public out of the decision making process
for public lands. It also fails to provide any protections for roadless areas in
our national forests.
To protect
lives and communities at risk from forest fires, Congress should direct scarce
federal funding and resources to the Community Protection Zone, the area
immediately surrounding at-risk communities.
Please urge your senators today to vote NO on the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act and to instead support efforts that protect communities
from forest fires without weakening environmental protections. Then ask your
family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.
To take action, click on this link
or paste it into your web browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=181&id4=ES
Among other
harmful impacts, the misnamed "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003" would
eliminate the core of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and allow the
Forest Service to conduct large-scale, environmentally damaging logging projects
without considering alternatives, including the "no-action" alternative. The
bill would also limit the public's involvement in forest management decisions,
and allow temporary roads to be built in pristine roadless areas of our national
forests, even though these roads can be as harmful to the environment as
permanent roads.
The full of
House of Representatives approved the bill in May. The Senate version of the
bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee in July, and a number of
senators recently filed an amendment to the bill using language reportedly
worked out with former top timber industry lobbyist and current Undersecretary
of Agriculture Mark Rey.
This
"compromise" language still fails to prioritize protecting communities at risk
from forest fires and it still continues to weaken environmental protections,
interfere with our independent judiciary, undermine public participation in
decisions affecting our public lands, and fails to provide any protections for
roadless areas in our national forests.
Please urge your senators to vote NO on the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act and to instead support efforts that protect communities from
forest fires without weakening environmental protections. Then ask your family
and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.
To take action, click on this link
or paste it into your web browser:
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=181&id4=ES
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
U.S. PIRG Executive Director
GeneK@uspirg.org
http://www.USPIRG.org
ETC
Group
Genotypes
10 October 2003
www.etcgroup.org
Maize Rage in Mexico
GM maize
contamination in Mexico - 2 years later
Twenty-five months after the first scientific evidence
became public, the Mexican government and the scientific community have
acknowledged that Mexico's traditional maize crop is contaminated with DNA from
genetically modified (GM) maize despite a government prohibition on the planting
of GM seeds in Mexico. Mexico is the centre of origin for maize - one
of the world's most important food crops.
Yesterday, peasant farmers and indigenous communities along
with civil society organizations in Mexico publicly released the results of
their own testing that found GM contamination of native maize in at least nine
states - far more serious and widespread than previously assumed. (1) For a
detailed report of their findings see: http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=407 and http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=408 (The
report will soon be available in English.)
No fewer than four government-sponsored studies have been
undertaken in Mexico over the past two years to determine whether or not
transgenes are present in native maize (see details below). Although none of the
studies has yet been published, each study found varying levels of contamination
in two or more states. But acknowledgment of gene flow has not come with a clear
plan of action to address contamination and to prevent it from continuing.
Neither is there a plan to protect vital national and international collections
of crop germplasm stored in gene banks in Mexico and elsewhere.
Given the appalling lack of action
and follow-through by the Mexican government, international plant breeding
institutes and the multinational Gene Giants, the true creators and custodians
of maize decided to take matters into their own hands. At a news conference
yesterday in Mexico City, indigenous and peasant farmer communities in Mexico
joined with civil society organizations, including ETC Group, to announce the
results of genetic testing of maize grown by traditional farmers in 138
communities. The results show that contamination has spread to farmers' fields
in nine states, including Chihuahua, Morelos, Durango, Estado de Mexico, Puebla,
Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.
Of 2,000 maize plants tested,
samples from 33 communities in nine Mexican states tested positive for
contamination. In some cases as many as four GM traits, all patented by
multinational Gene Giants, were found in a single plant. The organizations were
especially alarmed to find traces of the insecticidal toxin (Cry9c), the
engineered trait found in StarLink maize (formerly sold by Aventis CropScience).
StarLink was never approved by the US government for human consumption because
of concerns it could trigger allergic reactions. Illegal traces of StarLink were
found in US food products in 2000. Following a massive recall of tainted food
products in the US, Aventis withdrew StarLink from the market. Apparently,
StarLink sought asylum in Mexico.
Baldemar Mendoza, an indigenous farmer from Oaxaca, said at
yesterday's news conference that people had come to his community to tell them
that they needn't worry about GM contamination because transgenic crops have
been available in some countries for six or seven years and there is no evidence
that GM crops are harmful to health. "But we have our own evidence," asserts
Mendoza. "We have 10,000 years of evidence that our maize is good for our
health. To contaminate it with transgenics is a crime against all indigenous
peoples and farming communities who have safeguarded maize over millennia for
the benefit of humankind."
The
coalition of indigenous communities, farmer and civil society organizations
demanded that the Mexican government make public the results of all studies on
GM contamination, stop all imports of transgenic maize, continue its moratorium
on the cultivation of transgenic maize, and scrap the flawed "biosafety" bill
crafted by biotech proponents, which is now under discussion in Congress.
Safe Contamination? At
events leading up to today's news conference, many Mexican government officials
and scientists acknowledged contamination, but insisted that it wasn't a
problem.
On September 7th
Mexico's newly-appointed Minister of the Environment, Alberto Cárdenas told the
Global Biodiversity Forum in Cancún that there is no doubt that GM contamination
in Mexico is real but he insisted there is no harm to native maize biodiversity
or to public health. The Minister offered no specific information on
contamination levels, nor did he provide evidence supporting his claim that
public health and the environment had not been compromised.
At a conference held September 29-30
in Mexico City, academics, and government officials confirmed -and even Gene
Giant corporations accepted- that there has been a "flow" (contamination) of GM
traits into traditional maize varieties in at least two states. The
conference, titled "Gene Flow: What Does It Mean for Biodiversity and Centers of
Origin," was organized by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology (PIFB)
and the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC). www.maizegeneflow.org.
At the conference, Klaus Amman,
Director of the University of Bern's Botanical Garden (Switzerland), argued that
there are no known environmental impacts of transgenic gene flow. Amman cited
data from Novartis (one of the Gene Giants - now Syngenta) showing that under
field conditions genetically engineered Bt maize posed minimal risk to Monarch
butterflies in the United States. Jorge Soberón, the director of Mexico's
National Commission on Biodiversity (CONABIO) pointed out that a comparison
between field conditions in the US and those in mega-diverse Mexico may not be
relevant. He noted that the USA has around 60 butterfly species whereas Mexico
has more than 2,000. In the meeting, Soberón called for a strict application of
the precautionary principle.
A
representative of the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Victor Villalobos,
recently described the GM contamination in Oaxaca as "a natural laboratory" to
study the effects of gene flow, and he complacently urged that the moratorium on
the planting of GM maize be lifted. (2)
"It is exasperating that many scientists refused to take
action on gene flow for more than two years, insisting that they required
stronger scientific evidence," said Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group. "Now those same
scientists admit gene flow but are claiming - in the total absence of scientific
proof - that gene flow poses no threat to biodiversity or to people. Using
Mexico and its people as guinea pigs is good science?"
Studies Concur: According to
Ezequiel Ezcurra, the director of Mexico's National Institute of Ecology of the
Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, four government-sponsored
studies have been undertaken in the past two years to determine whether or not
transgenes are present in maize in Mexico. Although none of the
studies has yet been published, Ezcurra stated that each study found varying
levels of contamination in two or more states:
* The National Institute of Ecology, an agency that operates
under Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, conducted an
initial study that was released in September 2001.
* The
National Institute of Ecology (INE) and the National Commission for the
Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) jointly sponsored a study that was
conducted by scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
and the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic
Institute (CINVESTAV). The results of this study were announced in December
2002.
* The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and
Fisheries (SAGARPA) conducted a study that was commissioned by the
Intersecretarial Commission for Biosafety and Genetically Modified Organisms
(CIBIOGEM). The results of this study have not been made public.
* The National Institute for Agriculture and Forestry
Research (INIFAP). The results have not been made public.
The studies corroborate the
independent findings of two University of California (Berkeley) researchers who
first reported their conclusions in Nature in September 2001. In an
unprecedented move, the editor of Nature later disavowed the Berkeley
scientists' peer-reviewed report in his own journal.
Traveling transgenes are a global problem, not one confined
to maize in Mexico. Among others, GM contamination of traditional varieties of
cotton in Greece,(3) canola (rapeseed) in Canada,(4) soy in Italy,(5) papaya in
Hawaii have been reported.(6)
International Action Needed: In February 2002 La Via
Campesina (the international organization of small farmers) and several hundred
other civil society organizations worldwide joined forces to call upon the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR (Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research) to address the issue. Although FAO has
expressed concern, it has only been in touch with CIMMYT (International Maize
and Wheat Improvement Centre), the CGIAR institute in Mexico, which has global
responsibility for maize breeding and for the world's most important maize gene
bank. CGIAR has refused to take decisive action until they are convinced there
is solid scientific proof of contamination. However, CIMMYT did decide to halt
its maize collection program in the region for fear that it could inadvertently
introduce GM traits into its gene bank, and began to test for the presence of
transgenes in its seed collection.
At yesterday's press conference in Mexico City, indigenous
people and small farmers described CIMMYT's failure to acknowledge and take
action on the contamination of traditional maize as "deplorable," and urged that
responsibility for the CIMMYT gene bank as well as other banks in the CGIAR
network be surrendered to an intergovernmental body such as FAO, under
conditions that will make it more responsive to the concerns of small farmers
and indigenous people. The group also condemned the Convention on Biological
Diversity for its failure to effectively address GM contamination in centers of
genetic diversity.
Next
Steps:
The long-term
impacts of GM contamination on crop genetic diversity are not known. Neither
governments nor international institutions have taken action to stop GM
contamination and to protect farmers and indigenous peoples' livelihoods. In
February 2002 hundreds of civil society organizations called for a moratorium on
the shipment of GM seed or grain in countries or regions that form part of the
center of genetic diversity for the species. The communities and CSOs meeting
yesterday in Mexico City repeated demands for a global moratorium.
ETC Group believes that a number of
issues urgently require further study. Most obviously, studies are needed to
determine the impact of GM contamination on traditional maize varieties in
Mexico, not only looking at the traits that are currently contaminating the crop
but also consider future introductions that might include traits for industrial
or pharmaceutical compounds. Most importantly, we need to understand not only
how to prevent further contamination but whether or not it is possible to
de-contaminate without further harming diversity. Peasant farmers throughout the
world, those who hold intimate knowledge of local farming systems and crop
diversity, are the only ones capable of undertaking the task, but must have the
support of the international community in this process. Globally, there is a
pressing need to study more broadly the impacts of gene flow, which are already
affecting other crops and regions. Most urgently, FAO and CGIAR need a specific
strategy and procedure to ensure that gene bank accessions are protected from
contamination and that the vitally important exchange of genetic resources
between gene banks and breeders is not imperiled by concerns about
contamination. Because all GM traits are patented, the intellectual
property implications of accidental contamination and dissemination should also
be studied. Until the studies can be completed and evaluated by farmers'
organizations and the international community, existing national moratoria on GM
crops should remain in place. These issues should be discussed at the next
meeting of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture and at the FAO Conference in November.
Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) siliva@etcgroup.org --
+52 55 55 632 664
Hope Shand or Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC
Group (USA) hope@etcgroup.org -- +919 960-5223
Jim
Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim@etcgroup.org -- +44 (0)18652 07818
Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc@etcgroup.org -- +204
453-5259
The Action Group on
Erosion, Technologyand Concentration, formerly RAFI, is an international civil
society organization headquartered in Canada. The ETC group is dedicated to the
advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human
rights. www.etcgroup.org. The ETC group is also a member of the
Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation Programme
(CBDC). The CBDC is a collaborative experimental initiative involving
civil society organizations and public research institutions in 14
countries. The CBDC is dedicated to the exploration of
community-directed programmes to strengthen the conservation and enhancement of
agricultural biodiversity. The CBDC website is www.cbdcprogram.org .
Endnotes:
(1) The document released
yesterday is a collective effort prepared by indigenous communities and peasant
farmers from Oaxaca, Puebla, Chihuahua, Veracruz and CECCAM - Centro de Estudios
para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano, CENAMI - Centro Nacional de Apoyo a
Misiones Indígenas, Grupo ETC - Grupo de Acción sobre Erosión, Tecnología y
Concentración, CASIFOP - Centro de Análisis Social, Información y Formación
Popular, AJAGI - Asociación Jaliscience de Apoyo a Grupos Indígenas, UNOSJO -
Unión de Organizaciones de la Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca.
(2) Lourdes Rudino, "Aprueban experimentos con maiz
transgenico - Tiene SAGARPA 'laboratorio natural' en Oaxaca," El Financiero,
October 3, 2003.
(3) Dina Kyriakidou, "Greece to further
test, destroy any GM cotton crops," July 4, 2000, Reuters News
Service. Available on the Internet: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7343
(4) See www.percyschmeiser.com
(5)
David Brough, "Italy police seize more Monsanto seed in raid," April 10, 2001,
Reuters News Service. Available on the Internet: http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE2/Italy-Seizes-Monsanto.htm
(6) Greenpeace, "Genetically Engineered (GE) Papaya
-- Unknown Plant," June 2003. http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/290394/0/papaya_unknown_plant.pdf
*************************************************
*Your WildAlert for Friday, October 10, 2003
*************************************************
The WildAlert community has done a
terrific job of sending
letters to the Park Service
about snowmobiles in Yellowstone
National Park. So far,
we've generated nearly 10,000 comments
opposing the
noisy, polluting vehicles! Thanks for all you've
done on
this issue.
If you haven't yet
had a chance to send your comments to the
Park Service,
there's still time. Click here to take action:
http://ga1.org/campaign/yell2_tws
****************************************
BACKGROUND: We Can Enjoy Yellowstone in Winter Without
Wounding
The Park
Ignoring public sentiment, solid science and the law, the
Bush
Administration is moving to not only perpetuate
harmful
snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
National Parks but
to actually increase it by as much as
35 percent. We urgently
need your help in opposing this
terrible decision! The deadline
for comments is Tuesday,
October 14, 2003. You can take action
immediately by
clicking here:
http://ga1.org/campaign/yell2_tws
The Administration's proposal for
winter use in Yellowstone is
depressingly familiar. It
would continue current problems from
snowmobile use in
Yellowstone, the pollution, the noise, the
threats to
human health, and the disturbance of wildlife. It
flies
in the face not only of common sense but also of years of
scientific analysis.
Continuing snowmobile use in Yellowstone, in light of all we
know about the damage it causes, will put America's
national
parks on a sad new path. In taking it, the
National Park Service
would flatly reject the essence of
its mission: to protect our
parks for all Americans and
to hand them on, undiminished, to
future generations.
That would be a scandalous surrender to an
industry that
profits from the insistence of a selfish few on
rampaging through our first National Park as they choose,
never
mind the impact on the park, its employees or
other visitors.
The
Administration's own two-year study is unequivocal. Phasing
out snowmobiles in favor of snowcoaches offers the best
protection for visitor and employee health. Even the newest
and
most advanced snowmobiles would:
* Emit twice as much carbon monoxide as snowcoaches;
* Cause haze at Old Faithful;
*
Present a continuing risk to those who suffer from asthma and
other respiratory conditions;
*
Generate engine noise across many of the park's most visited
attractions; and
* Cause more stress
and harm to Yellowstone's wildlife.
It gets worse. In early September the Los Angeles Times
reported
that the snowmobile industry is actually
producing dirtier
machines today than it did just two
years ago. In fact, the new
machines heralded by the
Administration emit between 40 percent
and 213 percent
more carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons than those
the
Administration used in its studies do.
There is absolutely no doubt that if the current plan is
implemented, health risks, haze and engine noise will be
significantly worse than the Administration's most
optimistic
predictions.
THERE IS A BETTER WAY
The Park
Service's own analyses point the way, one that
preserves
our opportunity to see the achingly beautiful
spectacle
of Yellowstone in winter but without inflicting
lasting
damage on one of America's best-loved National Parks.
Three years ago, the National Park Service embraced that
approach, the heart of which is replacing snowmobiles in
Yellowstone and Grand Teton with park-friendly snowcoaches.
A
new administration, capitulating to industry, blocked
that move.
Growing public
concern over this issue has reached the Congress
and has
influenced lawmakers. In July, the House of
Representatives voted on the issue of snowmobile use in
Yellowstone. As time expired, the vote tally favored ending
snowmobile use in the park. Before the gavel could fall,
however, high-level arm-twisting and political chicanery
managed
to change one vote. The ban failed on a tie,
210-210.
And it's not only the
Congress that is concerned.
In
an unprecedented letter in late May, leaders of the National
Park Service under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter,
Reagan,
Bush, and Clinton came together to condemn a
decision they
believe is crucial to the future of our
National Parks.
In their letter
to the Administration they wrote:
"The choice over snowmobile use in Yellowstone is a choice
between upholding the founding principal of our national
parks-stewardship on behalf of all visitors and future
generations-or catering to a special interest in a
manner that
would damage Yellowstone's resources and
threaten public health.
The latter choice would set an
entirely new course for America's
national parks."
*************************************************
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP: Please Take Action Today!
Though the Administration has been slavishly attentive to
the
demands of the snowmobile industry, it has turned a
deaf ear to
the public's voice and a blind eye to the
imperatives of its own
science.
Can it also ignore the cumulative
weight of these distinguished
National Park Service
leaders, energized congressional champions
and public
health advocates? We don't think so. But we need you
and
other WildAlert subscribers to keep the pressure on and to
help create the political strength necessary to save
Yellowstone
from the Administration that is pledged to
protect it.
Please contact the
National Park Service today! Urge it to
protect the
world's first national park and the people who work
and
visit there from the pollution, noise and disruption caused
by snowmobiles. The deadline for comments is Tuesday,
October
14, 2003!
You can send a your comments immediately from:
http://ga1.org/campaign/yell2_tws
MAIL ADDRESS FOR COMMENTS
Planning Office
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box
168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
THANK YOU!
We appreciate your help in
protecting Yellowstone and Grand
Teton National Parks.
There's more information below. We've also
included a
sample letter you can draw from should you wish to
write
your own comments. We hope you can! Your own thoughts
expressed in your own words are the most powerful.
And thank you for being part of
WildAlert, our online community
of wilderness
activists!
********************************************
WORDS TO INSPIRE
"It is not
enough to understand the natural world; the point is
to
defend and preserve it." - Edward Abb
More than 23
million schoolchildren board school buses in the United States
each day. While the buses are still the safest way to get to
school, most of the country’s half million school buses run on
aging diesel-powered engines, which emit smog-forming
chemicals and sooty particles known to cause cancer. Tailpipe
exhaust often seeps inside the bus, sometimes in
concentrations far higher than outside the bus.
Thinking of buying
a car but wondering how it rates on fuel economy and tailpipe
emissions? Our interactive Tailpipe Tally allows you to build
your own comparison list of up to four vehicles for model
years going back to 1978. You might discover that your dream
car does more harm to the environment than you thought.
The legendary
California frog said to have inspired a famous Mark Twain
story just got a jump-start on the road to recovery, thanks to
a new Safe Harbor agreement with the Robert Mondavi Winery.
The vintner has pledged to restore streamside habitat at its
Cuesta Ridge vineyards to entice these rare red-legged
critters to take up residence there and breed. Two endangered
songbirds also stand to benefit from this landmark agreement
to protect rare species.
In a
recent closed-door session of House Republican leadership,
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) argued that drilling in the
Arctic would set an example for energy exploration in other
sensitive areas. According to the newspaper Roll Call , DeLay said drilling in
the Arctic was about "precedent." He then made several
references to the "symbolism of ANWR." DeLay's quote is
especially significant given that energy bill conferees,
Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA),
have included a provision that opens the Arctic Refuge to new
oil drilling. This despite the fact that a recent Zogby poll
revealed that 53 percent of Americans oppose drilling in the
Arctic, while a minority 39 percent believe the refuge should
be opened.
Defenders and
sixteen other conservation and wildlife protection groups
filed suit this week to challenge the federal decision to
lower the status of the gray wolf from endangered to
threatened in the lower-48 states. The decision would also
ultimately hand over species management to state governments,
at least one of which has called for extermination of the
species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's new regulation
would eliminate any realistic chance of wolves expanding their
range beyond the current limited recovery areas, and would
undoubtedly undermine the gains that have been made toward
restoring the species. 
Help celebrate the
success of the National Wildlife Refuge System during Refuge
Week, October 12-18. The Refuge System, established 100 years
ago by Teddy Roosevelt, has grown to include 95 million acres
in over 540 refuges–from the Arctic Refuge in Alaska to
Pelican Island in Florida–and is considered the largest system
of lands in the world dedicated to wildlife conservation. With
a refuge within an hour's drive of most major cities, Refuge
Week is a great opportunity for discovery right in your
backyard. Visit 
