From Garth Frable of the Beautiful Land Coalition, forwarded by Jane Clark
at [log in to unmask]
Iowa Sierra Club is a part of the broad coalition supporting expansion of
the Bottle Bill.

(1) The majority of Iowans support the Bottle Bill and support expanding
it.
(2) The bottle bill achieves its goals and has numerous side benefits.
(3) More than 25,000 Iowans have already signed a petition to expand it.
(4) The Governor's Environmental Enterprise Team recommended the four
points
of the expansion.
(5) The State Agency Directors recommended the expansion as one of the top
40
priorities out of 300 for the Governor to pursue.
(6) The Governor's Environmental Issues Team recommended expansion as a
priority.
(7) The DNR and DOT both support expansion.
(8) The Iowa Recycling Association and the Iowa Society of Solid Waste
Operations both believe expansion of the Bottle Bill will help not hurt
recycling efforts statewide.
(9) Numerous social, environmental, and governmental organizations support
expansion.  These groups easily represent more than 10,000 Iowans.

But.......
With all this evidence, the Governor has decided to completely remove
expansion from the administration's priority list and to direct the DNR and

other state agencies to no longer participate in efforts to support
expansion.  (at this point you should be getting mad!!)

The Bottle Bill is an indicator -- the outcome of the Bottle Bill effort
during the next legislative session will be an indication of whether
environmental policy in Iowa is determined by people or by dollars; by
facts
or financial contributions; for the interests of the citizens of Iowa or
for
special interests.  By their admission, the group to repeal the Bottle Bill

is committing $200,000  -- Is Iowa's environmental policy now for sale?

The Governor has indicated that he has not heard from Iowans on this issue,

yet his correspondence coordinator indicates they are swamped with letters
asking for expansion.  Is Iowa's environmental policy now for sale?

I Ask That You Stay Involved To Save And Update The Bottle Bill!

Contact Policy Makers.  Email, write, and call your legislators and
candidates for office in your area. Attend candidate meetings, coffees, and

debates and ask if they support the Bottle Bill and its expansion.  Email,
call, and write the following people in the Governor's Office (please do
this
today).  Encourage your members to do so today.

Mailing address is State Capitol; Des Moines, IA  50319.

Name            Title           Email                           Phone
Tom Vilsack Governor        [log in to unmask]    (515) 281-5211
John Norris     Chief of Staff  [log in to unmask]   (515)
281-0159
John Cacciatore Policy Director [log in to unmask](515)
281-0150
Dusky Terry Policy Advisor  [log in to unmask]    (515) 281-0141

Thanks,  Garth Frable

Sample email/letter:
In the subject line of the email, please use "Support And Update The Bottle

Bill!"

Dear ________:

I am writing to strongly express my support for protecting and updating
Iowa's Container Redemption Law, better know as the Bottle Bill.  For more
than 20 years,  the bottle and can deposit has reduced litter on roadways,
streams, lakes, trails and communities, increased recycling, created jobs
including meaningful employment in sheltered workshops, and fostered pride
in
Iowa.  To make a good thing better, I support expanding Iowa's Bottle Bill
in
the following ways:

(1)  Place the 5-cent deposit on bottles and cans used for tea, water,
fruit
and vegetable juices & drinks, sports drinks, and other noncarbonated
beverages excluding milk.
(2)  Increase the per container handling fee paid to grocery stores and
redemption centers from 1 to 2 cents and establish a schedule for future
increases.  (this would not increase the deposit)
(3)  Create the Robert D. Ray Beautiful Land Fund to support local and
state
litter and recycling initiatives.
(4)  Require all beverage containers sold in Iowa to be made of recycled
material equal to a minimum post-consumer recycled content of 25% by
weight.

The bottle bill helps empower all Iowans to protect the environment and
take
pride in our state.  I support the bottle bill and the efforts to make this

effective, popular law better.  Please feel free to contact me if you have
any comments or questions.

Sincerely,

_________________
name

_________________
address

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT
to [log in to unmask]