a cornucopia of issues

[Guest guest]

1. EARTH DAY 2002: Time to renew our commitment to wildlife

 

Earth Day arrives Monday with our wildlife and wild lands facing

their greatest threat in a generation. With the help of Interior

Secretary Gale Norton and other allies in the Bush administration,

wealthy special interests have launched an unprecedented assault on

America's vanishing natural heritage. Defenders of Wildlife

President Rodger Schlickeisen called it " a clear, massive and

undeniable strategy on the part of the Bush administration and its

appointees from industry to weaken, undermine and subvert the

nation's environmental protection laws to benefit their big

corporate supporters. " Defenders is joining other environmental

groups across the country in acting to ensure that laws protecting

wildlife are enforced.

 

Click here for an audio report from Schlickeisen, who went to

Florida this week to announce actions to help protect endangered

manatees and other species:http://www.defenders.org/audio/02.html

 

To read our new, in-depth report " Open Season On America's Wildlife "

go to http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/openseason.pdf . And read

this special edition of DENlines to find out what you can do to help.

 

2. BACKROOM VOTE-BUYING: Big Oil's allies hatch new scheme to

exploit Arctic refuge

 

Big Oil's political allies are resorting to cynical schemes to

pressure senators to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to

drilling. In the latest, they tried to tie drilling to a steel

industry bailout. Even the pro-drilling Wall Street Journal

denounced his ploy as an attempt to " bribe " votes. Secretary

Norton, meanwhile, is functioning like a press agent for Big Oil,

distributing an industry-produced video depicting the refuge as a

frozen tundra. " The Interior Department shouldn't be spreading oil

company propaganda any more than the Department of Energy should be

promoting Enron stock, " Congressman Edward Markey of Massachusetts

said.

 

Celebrate Earth Day by urging your senators to save the Arctic

refuge. The Senate is likely to vote this week, and only a handful

of votes will make the difference. To make your voice heard, go to

http://www.Savearcticrefuge.org. And help spread the word about the

threat to the refuge by sharing this edition of DENlines with

friends.

 

3. FOR 40 MINUTES OF OIL: Rocky Mountain Front in the cross hairs

 

If you think the Alaska refuge is the only important wildlife habitat

under siege by Big Oil, think again. Secretary Norton, the chief

steward of one of every four acres of this country's land, has issued

an open invitation to the oil, gas, mining and timber industries to

exploit great swaths of America's last remaining wild places. One

major target is the spectacular Rocky Mountain Front. It's the only

place in the Lower 48 where grizzly bears still roam from the

mountains to their historic habitat on the plains, and it's a major

corridor for some of the largest remaining herds of big horn sheep,

elk and moose, as well as rare species such as wolves, wolverine

and lynx. Oil development would destroy this land. And what would

we gain? Enough oil to satisfy U.S. demand for less than 40 minutes.

 

An amendment to the energy bill now before the Senate would seriously

weaken environmental protections for oil and gas pipelines across

public land. To speak out against this harmful proposal, go to

http://www.DenAction.org and respond to Alert #149.

 

4. IGNORING THE LAW: No sanctuary for manatees

 

Defenders of Wildlife asked a federal judge this week to force

Secretary Norton to comply with a court-approved agreement

establishing 16 new safe havens for Florida manatees. Norton has

been flouting the agreement. Instead, speeding to the aid of boat

manufacturers, marinas and pleasure boaters, she's trying to weaken

protections for the imperiled sea cows. She ignored the objections of

a supervisor in one of her own agencies when she decided to allow

boat manufacturers to test watercraft at high speeds inside existing

manatee sanctuaries. Last year alone, 81 manatees died in collisions

with boats, and powerboats killed 18 more just this past January--a

record for a single month.

 

Tell Secretary Norton that she must act now to protect manatees from

reckless pleasure boaters. To send your message, go to

http://www.helpmanatees.org

 

5. GHOSTS OF THE SELKIRKS: Last herd of caribou moves closer to

extinction

 

The woodland caribou is one of our most highly endangered species.

Only 30 of the animals remain alive in the contiguous United States.

They're known, sadly, as the " the Ghosts of the Selkirks. " But the

U.S. Forest Service is allowing the Stimson Lumber Co. to log the

Colville National Forest in the Selkirk Mountains of northeastern

Washington--right in the path of this last herd of caribou. That's

even though government wildlife scientists have concluded that

logging will likely result in the deaths of caribou, as well as

grizzly bears and lynx, and the further fragmentation of their

vanishing habitat.

 

6. WHERE WILDLIFE COMES FIRST? Not when it's up to Norton

 

" Wildlife comes first " in national wildlife refuges, according to

the government slogan. But Secretary Norton is standing by while

irrigators along the Snake River drain the habitat of millions of

migratory birds that depend on the Deer Flat National Wildlife

Refuge in Idaho. Norton is refusing to appeal an Idaho court ruling

that denies water rights to the refuge. That refuge--100 islands in

the Snake River--was created in 1937 by President Roosevelt to

protect migratory birds.

 

Earth Day is a time to send the message that America's natural

heritage is precious and belongs to all of us, not just the special

interests. To find an Earth Day event near you, click here

http://www.earthday.net/events/events-us.stm