From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: Call-in tomorrow against the grazing bill Date: 08 Jul 1996 17:11:40 -0600 ************************************************************* Utah Wilderness Action Alert ************************************************************* Folks-- *** Here's the bottom line: tomorrow (July 9, 1996) is the official "call-in" day to oppose the Domenici Grazing Bill, S. 1459. Make your calls in defense of public lands. *** As you will remember from the last couple of messages, this bill is a STINKER. So, let's work to defeat this bill. It has several major flaws that will cause environmental havoc on public lands: ** S 1459 will reverse the recent improvements made in rangeland improvements on public lands in the west. We must protect these fragile lands. ** S 1459 will continue massive subsidies to the public lands grazing industry while allowing the degradation of our public lands. ** S 1459 puts grazing as the most important use of all public lands. It decreases the ability of land managers to manage our public lands for multiple use, diminishing the importance of all uses except grazing. Please phone your Representative and ask her/him to oppose S 1459. It is especially important to ask them not to allow this bill to be placed in the Omnibus Parks Bill. For Utah activists, our target is Newt Gingritch. Call and ask the Speaker to tell the Conferees to oppose adding S 1459 to the Parks Bill. OUR MESSAGE IS NO ON S1459 OR NO ON THE OMNIBUS PARKS BILL IF S1459 IS INCLUDED. The following two FREE telephone numbers will connect anyone in the U.S. to the Capitol switchboard from where you can connect to any Congressional office: 1-800-962-3524 1-800-972-3524 So, let's see what we can do to defeat this bad piece of legislation... ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Tom Price (202) 546-2215; e-mail cloud@CapAccess.org or Liz McCoy (801) 486-2872; e-mail liz.mccoy@sfsierra.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Samuel R Rushforth Subject: Action needed on Omnibus Parks Bill Date: 22 Jul 1996 10:14:14 -0600 (MDT) Folks-- *** Here's the bottom line. Please phone your Senators and ask them to oppose the Omnibus Parks Bill as proposed by the House Conference Committee. It is a terrible bill that is entirely unacceptable. *** THE ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL ATTACK CONTINUES IN THE CONGRESS. Even in the face of recent overwhelming data that the American public wants to see our environment protected, Republican Representatives, led by Utah's Jim Hansen and Alaska's Don Young, have taken the mostly acceptable (except for the Snow Basin land transfer) Omnibus Parks Bill and loaded it down with truly outrageous proposals to pave our National Parks, pollute our coasts, overgraze our public lands, dry up rivers, kill Threatened and Endangered fish and ripoff taxpayers. Members of the House Conference to the Omnibus Parks Bill (H.R.1296 -- also referred to as the Presidio Bill) have just presented their offer to the Senate Conference Members. The offer, a revised H.R. 1296 now includes 92 titles and is 420 pages long. Some of the "bills" included in the package have not had hearings or passed either the House or Senate. This blatant backdoor approach to forcing anti-environment, anti-taxpayer bills by packaging bad bills with pro-environment legislation must be stopped. Please call/write/visit your Senators immediately and tell them to keep the Omnibus Parks Bill clean. The Senate may try to vote on this before the August recess. If it gets delayed until September please be sure to meet with your Senators during the August Recess. *** Call you Senators at 1 (800) 962-3524 or 1 (800) 972-3524. *** Here is a brief description of just some of the egregious parts of the House offer: 1) S. 1459 - The Public Rangelands Management Act, Section 821-874. This bill is strongly opposed by sportsmen, taxpayer groups, wildlife and conservation organizations. This bill rolls back environmental protection and public participation on our National Forests, National Grasslands and BLM public lands. It Creates new private "rights" on the public's lands by allowing livestock permittee to obtain title to water rights and range improvements. And the bill legislates a new lower grazing fee -- lower than most state and private fees. 2) H.R. 2100 The Coastal Barrier Resources System Section 215. This bill would give taxpayer-backed subsidies to wealthy corporations to build condominiums and other structures on sensitive undeveloped, biologically rich barrier islands and beaches in Florida. This development pollutes coastal water and destroys habitat for animals such as manatees and sea turtles. 3) RS 2477 - Rights of Way - Section 405. This section would require Congressional approval of any Interior Department regulations involving RS 2477 rights of way. This would establish a terrible precedent, prevent the Department of Interior from managing this controversial issue and has not passed either the House or Senate and is opposed by the Administration. 4) Alaska Giveaway - Section 302A. This provision would allow the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to select up to 3 million acres within its region in exchange for 1.49 million acres of land to be included in the Gates of the Arctic National Park. This clearly is a raid on the National Petroleum Reserve, which includes known oil and gas resources. Under one interpretation the lands subject to trade would also include the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 5) Snow Basin Exchange - Section 304. This sweetheart deal for a Utah multi-millionaire who, under the mantle of the Olympics is seeking to develop Forest Service lands for his personal profit. 6) Sand Hollow Land Exchange Section 309. This section would permit a land exchange near Zion National Park. It would allow the construction of a new reservoir without any environmental review; there is a specific NEPA exemption for the project, which may adversely affect the Virgin River, habitat for threatened and endangered fish species. This has not passed either the House or the Senate. One last issue: FOR YOUR INFORMATION, TOM AND LIZ HAVE TAKEN A LEAVE OF ABSENCE UNTIL NOVEMBER! For grassroots needs: videos, tabloids, buttons, stickers, information packets, and the like, please contact: Cindy Shogan cshogan@capaccess.org or Lawson LeGate lawson.legate@sierraclub.org That's all for now... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Subject: A few summer items FYI Date: 30 Jul 1996 14:33:03 -0600 (MDT) Folks-- A couple of issues for your information: 1)--Cindy Shogun in the SUWA Washington office will be away from her office for the month of August. During that period, send any requests or questions to suwa@xmission.com. Erin will read and answer mail there. Tom and Liz will be in touch with folks in the Salt Lake City office if you need to talk with one of them. Tom Price says: Hey folks--As you heard here before, I'm taking a leave of absence from SUWA until the November election. Because SUWA and the UWC are non-profit groups we can't engage in direct lobbying or advocacy of candidates. So, obviously, I need to exhibit some caution about what I say in this forum. That said, here's the deal: I've taken a position as campaign director for someone who is running for Congress from Salt Lake City. This seems to be the best place for me to be right now, at least until the election in November. Liz McCoy will probably be joining me shortly. I have a local e-mail account here in SLC (tprice@inconnect.com) so please drop me a line if you think of it--I'd love to hear from ya. It has been a wonderful year, and we have accomplished amazing things together. Now it's time to take the campaign for Utah's wilderness lands to the next level, so we can pass HR 1500 next year! Lawson Legate of the Sierra Club in SLC, and Cindy Shogun of SUWA (after Aug. 31st) will keep you up to speed until Liz and I are back from the campaign trail. 2)--Help protect 5.7 Million Acres of Wild Utah! (Asking for help from list members in Utah) WHAT: Sierra Club and friends of Utah wilderness summer yard-sign event: to place pro-wilderness signs in Salt Lake City neighborhoods. WHEN: Saturday, August 10th at 10:00am WHERE: Sugarhouse Park, North Pavilion Parking Area WHY: Because you care about the environment and Utah wilderness. Besides, the Olympics will be over, your mother-in-law will have left town, summer re-runs will be painfully boring and it will be better than soaking your body in chlorine at the water park. For further information contact: Greg Underwood, SIERRA CLUB 801/467-9294 BE SURE TO CALL AND TELL US YOU CAN HELP! That's all for now. Hope your summer is wild and beautiful... ********************************************************************** This wilderness alert is produced by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and the Utah Wilderness Coalition (UWC). We are dedicated to the preservation of Utah's redrock wilderness. You can learn more about SUWA from our web site at: http://www.xmission.com/~suwa/ Visit the Utah Wilderness web site at: http://acs1.byu.edu/~wildweb/welcome.html If you want to join our list, send e-mail to: utah_wilderness-request@xmission.com with the word "subscribe" (and only that word) in the body of your e-mail message. If you have any questions or problems regarding the mailing list, please send a message to suwa@xmission.com. ********************************************************************** For immediate information on Utah wilderness issues, phone: Cindy Shogan (202) 546-2215; or Lawson LeGate (801) 467-9294; e-mail lawson.legate@sierraclub.org@sfsi.sierraclub.org You can also phone the Salt Lake City SUWA office at (801) 486-3161; e-mail suwa@xmission.com. **********************************************************************