From Melanie Griffin, forwarded by Jane Clark

 Update and Position on CARA Bill

 The Conservation and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 701) is expected to go to the
 House floor late this afternoon and votes on amendments will continue into
 tomorrow (Thursday.)   This bill embodies much of President Clinton's Land
 Legacy agenda, providing significant funding for land acquisition, coastal
 restoration, open space preservation and other critical programs.

 Although the bill has been improved several times along the legislative
path,
 the current version still contains provisions that could be harmful to the
 environment, including funding for development projects that could damage
our
 fragile coastal areas.  For this reason, the Sierra Club is not supporting
 the bill at this time.  **However, we do not object to members of the
House
 voting to move the bill forward so that further improvements can continue
to
 be made.

 Many amendments are expected to be offered when the bill comes to the
floor.
 We support *only* the first amendment, which is a "managers" amendment
that
 goes a long way in eliminating the incentives for increased oil drilling
that
 were in the bill.  This is a crucial amendment (a smaller version of the
 Boehlert/Markey amendment we sent out alerts on last week) that greatly
 improves the bill.  Members should be urged to vote against all other
 amendments, because we certainly don't want to see the bill weakened.
Here
 is our quick message to members of the House:


 PLEASE SUPPORT THE MANAGERS' AMENDMENT TO HELP FIX CARA

 - The Young/Miller/Boehlert/Markey/Pallone compromise is a significant
 improvement to the CARA bill, and goes a long way in eliminating the
 incentives for off-shore oil drilling that were contained in the
legislation.

 PLEASE VOTE AGAINST ALL OTHER AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSERVATION AND
REINVESTMENT
 ACT

 - The Sierra Club looks forward to working with lawmakers and the
 administration to continue improving the CARA legislation as it moves
 forward.  However, all amendments on which votes are expected could
further
 weaken the bill or derail this historic effort to protect our natural
legacy.

 We encourage members to speak on the House floor about the need to further
 improve the bill.

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