>
It would be comforting to think that Grassley's cleverly hoisting this
pork barrel so he can cadge 4 more votes for ethanol and a renewables
portfolio.  But that's probably a non-starter.

BW





 Shelley Sheehy wrote:
>
> What do people know about the holdup on the energy bill caused by
> Grassley's
> demand that the Townsend rainforest project near Coralville be included?
> I
> read this in the Post last week.  Didn't local residents express real
> opposition to this project?
> ==============================================
> The following message was posted on another Iowa listserve Sunday and is
> copied here by Jane Clark.
>
> On the front page of Saturday's Des Moines Register was a story headlined
> "Pork for Iowa" (see web address below)
>
> http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/22710629.html
>
> The story reported that Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is seeking
> special
> government financing, as part of a new energy bill in Congress, for a
> tropical rainforest and learning center in Coralville (better known to
> some
> of you as the "Iowa Environmental Project", promoted by the Iowa Child
> Institute).  I would encourage you to contact Senator Grassley (using the
> web address below) and ask him to not fund this project.  Let him know
> that
> good examples of Iowa's real "rainforest" (its prairies, forests and
> wetlands) are being lost every year because of a lack of funds.  Iowa
> needs
> to protect these areas, part of its natural heritage, not build a copy of
> a
> plant community from another part of the world.  Suggest to Senator
> Grassley
> that Iowa needs more projects like the addition to the Effigy Mounds
> National Monument in northeast Iowa, which he supported with federal
> funds.
>
> chuck underscore (_) grassley with an @ after grassley, then
> grassley.senate.gov.  (I am writing this out because computers insist on
> underlining the entire e-mail address, which hides the _ between chuck and
> grassley.
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> The proposed "Iowa Environmental Project" has a tenative budget of $225
> million.  That could purchase a lot of prairie, forest and wetlands.
> Remind
> Senator Grassley that Iowa's public and private conservation agencies do
> not
> have anywhere near enough funds to protect the best examples of Iowa's
> plant
> communities, its natural heritage.
>
> It probably would not hurt to e-mail Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa either:
>
>
> The proposed "Iowa Environmental Project" has a tenative budget of $225
> million.  That could purchase a lot of prairie, forest and wetlands.
> Remind
> Senator Grassley that Iowa's public and private conservation agencies do
> not
> have anywhere near enough funds to protect the best examples of Iowa's
> plant
> communities, its natural heritage.
>
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