--- Eric Uram <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Reply-to: <[log in to unmask]>
> From: "Eric Uram" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Charlie Winterwood" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Press release on Norton Confirmation - post
> to iowa-topics please
> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 18:09:15 -0600
>
> For Immediate Release
> Contact:  Brett Hulsey (608) 257-4994
>
> Charlie Winterwood (319) 588-2783
>
>
>
> SIERRA CLUB PRAISES SENATOR HARKIN
>
> FOR VOTING AGAINST GALE NORTON
> AS SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
>
> Washington, DC -- The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra
> Club praised Senator Harkin
> for voting against the confirmation of Gale Norton
> as Secretary of the
> Interior today.  The U.S. Senate's confirmation of
> Norton could lead to
> devastation of Iowa’s few remaining parks and
> wildlands unless Congress and
> the residents of Iowa keep close tabs on Norton's
> actions, the Sierra Club
> warned today.  The group said the public outcry at
> her nomination
> demonstrates that Americans reject the extremist
> views Norton has advocated.
>
> "We applaud Senator Harkin for voting against
> someone whose views on the
> environment are far out of step with the vast
> majority of people from Iowa,"
> said Charlie Winterwood, Midwest Regional
> Conservation Committee delegate
> from Dubuque. "Norton's extremist views on public
> lands could have serious
> impacts on beautiful natural places like Iowa’s
> Upper Mississippi National
> Wildlife Refuge, unless Senator Harkin and the
> residents of Iowa keep close
> tabs on Norton's actions."
>
> Gale Norton has long advocated opening America's
> wildlands to the oil, gas,
> mining and logging industries. In addition, she
> would put Iowa’s few
> remaining wild areas at risk by opening them to
> development.
>
> "By voting against Gale Norton, Senator Harkin has
> shown that he cares about
> the
> wildlands of Iowa," warned Brett Hulsey, Senior
> Representative for the
> Midwest Office of the Sierra Club. "Unfortunately,
> she was still confirmed.
> Under the heat of Senators' inquiries, Norton ducked
> many questions, but she
> made some commitments to enforcing laws that she had
> previously advocated
> against as a lawyer and lobbyist.  However, two days
> of hearings cannot
> negate the decades that Norton has worked to
> dismantle laws protecting our
> public lands."
>
> Under questioning, Norton said she would uphold
> federal law stipulating that
> protecting endangered species, such as Peregrine
> Falcons, Pleistocene Snail,
> Northern Monk’s Hood can require protecting their
> habitat.  During her legal
> career, however, Norton had argued this violated the
> so-called takings
> clause of the U.S. Constitution. The real-world
> implication of her previous
> position would have prohibited people from hunting
> falcons but allowed them
> to destroy habitat around wildlife refuges.
>
> "We understand that deference is paid to a
> President's choices, but we felt
> we had a responsibility to shed light on Norton's
> radical record and warn
> that Americans would not stand for her extremist
> agenda," Hulsey said.
> "Norton's nomination is a giant reward to the oil,
> gas and mining industries
> that funded President Bush's campaign.  This
> election was no mandate to
> pillage our public lands.  If Norton pushes policies
> that profit polluters
> at the expense of our clean water and spectacular
> lands, Americans will howl
> in protest and we will urge Senator Harkin to stop
> her dead in her tracks."
>
> In comparison to the 24 Senators who voted against
> Norton today, 12 Senators
> voted against the 1981 nomination of Norton's
> mentor, James Watt, who was
> later ousted as Interior Secretary due to his
> extremist agenda.
>
> Through local press conferences, email campaigns,
> phonebanks, volunteer
> mobilizing, radio and television advertising, and
> other grassroots actions,
> the Sierra Club educated the people of Iowa about
> Norton's
> anti-environmental positions and raised questions
> about her qualifications
> for Interior Secretary.
>
>
>
>
>
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