🚀 go-pugleaf

/*Written 12:25PM Oct 3,1995 by 
RapidResponse@Defender.Defenders.org    in en.alerts */

/*Written 12:25PM Oct 3,1995 by 
RapidResponse@Defender.Defenders.org    in en.alerts */


**********************************************************************
*  RAPID RESPONSE * RAPID RESPONSE * RAPID RESPONSE * RAPID RESPONSE *
**********************************************************************

October 3, 1995

October 3, 1995

This week's legislative alert asks for your help in
defeating crippling amendments relating to the Tongass National Forest
in Alaska, Endangered Species, and the National Biological Service.

There will be no action in Congress this week because the House and
Senate are out on Columbus Day recess until October 10.  But since
members are in their home districts and states checking in with you,
their constituents, this week is a great opportunity for you to let
them know how you feel about an issue they'll be dealing with soon
after they return.

As we mentioned in last week's message, the anti-wildlife
politicians in the 104th Congress are using the budget and
appropriations process in a stealth attack on our natural resource
and wildlife conservation programs.  Many of the key wildlife and
wildlife habitat conservation and management programs are funded by
H.R. 1977, the 1996 Interior Appropriations bill.  This bill has
passed both the House and Senate in different forms and has just been
approved by a conference committee resolving House- Senate
differences.  President Clinton has said he would veto the
House-Senate compromise -- called a conference report -- in its
present form.  Conservationists won a hard-fought victory when the
House voted on the conference report last Friday September 29.  The
House voted to send H.R. 1977 back to the conference committee for
reconsideration because the conference report would have allowed
resumption of controversial give-away mining patents on public
lands.  The House-passed version of the bill would have extended the
current moratorium on new mining patents.  The patenting of mining
claims is an outdated process used my mining companies to "patent" --
buy -- land that they wish to mine for $2.50 to $5.00 per acre.
After paying almost nothing, these companies can then mine millions
to billions of dollars of hard-rock minerals while inflicting
enormous damage on the surrounding habitat.  Because of the House
vote on Friday, the moratorium is likely to be reinstated when the
enormous damage on the surrounding habitat.  Because of the House
vote on Friday, the moratorium is likely to be reinstated when the
conference committee is reconvened.  However, the bill still
contains numerous egregious legislative provisions -- called riders
-- and funding cuts that would gut the wildlife and conservation
protections that have been won over the last 20 years. We are most
concerned about the Tongass National Forest, endangered species
protection, and the National Biological Service.

First, Senator Stevens of Alaska has succeeded in attaching a rider
that would turn back the clock on the management of the Tongass
National Forest. The Tongass is the United State's largest National
Forest and is one of the largest remaining parcel of temperate
rainforest in the world.  It provides habitat for large numbers of
wolves, brown bears, and other species.  The Steven's amendment rider
would increase timber harvest on the forest by about one-third and
allow harvesting in some of the most environmentally sensitive areas.

 The rider also directs the Forest Service to impose a discredited
four-year-old draft management plan which will endanger wildlife and
fisheries populations and is strongly opposed by Southeast Alaska
residents.  The rider shields the plan from judicial challenges and
permanently blocks the agency from protecting key fish and wildlife
habitat.  We urgently need to defeat this rider because even worse
proposals are pending--including a bill that would give- away this
entire National Forest to the state of Alaska.

H.R. 1977 includes a second problematic rider that would prevent the
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service from extending the protective embrace
of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to additional declining species
and their habitat.  With this action, Congress would be turning its
back on the need for protection of almost 400 plants and animals --
such as the Florida black bear -- and the habitats on which they
depend, increasing the likelihood of future extinctions and greater
long-term costs for recovery.  This anti- wildlife bill also imposes
severe funding cuts in critical ESA programs.  These cuts will
hamstring implementation of the Act, exacerbate conflicts with
severe funding cuts in critical ESA programs.  These cuts will
hamstring implementation of the Act, exacerbate conflicts with
landowners and make species recovery more difficult and expensive.

A third problem with H.R. 1977 is that it would eliminate the
National Biological Service (NBS), by slashing its funding and
transferring its activities to the United States Geological Survey.
This attack on science is a serious mistake because sound science is
the very cornerstone on which the National Biological Service
collects and integrates scientific information on our nation's vast
storehouse of biological wealth.  It provides this information to
government agencies, universities, industries, and private
landowners who need it to make sound resource management decisions.
These changes would eviscerate the agency, forcing closure or
substantial reductions for major biological science facilities and
programs.

Please call, E-mail or visit your Representative or Senator and tell
him or her that you oppose these damaging provisions in the 1996
Interior Appropriations bill. Since Members of Congress are home
this week, you may be able to meet him or her in your district office
or take a few minutes to weigh in at a town meeting or other event.
The most important overall message to get across is that the
appropriations process should not be used for making back-door policy
changes which weaken our hard-won conservation protections.  Most of
these sneaky amendments could never survive on a straight up or down
vote.  You should also make the following points:

     1) The House vote supporting continuation of the mining patent
moratorium was a good first step, but H.R. 1977 contains a number
of other destructive provisions that must be removed;
     2) Tongass National Forest riders should be deleted from H.R.
1977;
     3) moratoria on the protection of additional species and their
habitat under the ESA should be eliminated from the bill and
funding for ESA programs restored;
    4) the National Biological Service should retain its
independence and funding increased above the current proposed
level, closer to the 1995 level of $162 million.

     As always thank you for your efforts to protect wildlife
and the environment.  Look for a new update after October 10th.


** End of text from cdp:headlines **

***************************************************************************
This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking
service.  For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org
***************************************************************************