-
> Thursday June 21, the House of Representatives will
> have a chance to vote
> to protect our National Monuments and other public
> lands when the annual
> Interior Department funding bill comes to the House
> floor.  Overall, the
> bill has been substantially improved from the
> proposed Bush Budget, but
> there is still much work to be done.  Please call
> your Representative on
> Thursday as early in the day as possible.  Call the
> Capitol Switchboard at
> 202-225-3121 and ask for your representative's
> office.  Ask your
> representative to vote to improve the Interior
> Appropriations bill by
> supporting 6 critical pro-environment amendments
> that will be offered by
> Representatives Rahall, Defazio, Maloney, Inslee,
> Sanders and Davis.
>
> Details on those amendments follow:
>
> * Support the Rahall amendment to protect National
> Monuments from energy
> and mineral development.  The Bush Administration is
> using all avenues to
> try to open up these special areas to oil and gas
> drilling and coal mining.
> The Rahall amendment will put Congress on record in
> support of the 68% of
> Americans who oppose drilling in our National
> Monuments.
>
> * Support the Defazio amendment to remove the
> anti-environmental rider that
> expands the recreational fee-demo program and
> extends it for another four
> years.  This controversial fee-demo program allows
> federal agencies to
> charge visitors for simply entering our National
> Forests and other public
> lands.
>
> * Support an amendment by Rep. Carolyn Maloney to
> ensure that oil companies
> are not allowed to use the "royalties in kind"
> program (which allows them
> to pay the government in barrels of oil rather than
> money) as a loophole to
> escape paying taxpayers fair market value for
> leasing on public land.
>
> * Support an amendment by Rep. Jay Inslee to protect
> communities from the
> environmental threats posed by hardrock mining. The
> Bush administration has
> proposed doing away with a regulation that  protects
> water resources from
> pollution caused by mining, allows land management
> agencies to deny permits
> for irresponsible activities, and keeps mining
> companies from shifting
> their costs to taxpayers. The Inslee amendment would
> make sure critical
> taxpayer and environmental safeguards are kept in
> place.
>
> * Support an amendment by Rep. Sanders to transfer
> money from polluting
> fossil fuel programs into energy efficiency programs
> like weatherization.
> This amendment will save consumers money and reduce
> global warming
> emissions and other pollution.
>
> * Support an amendment by Rep. Jim Davis to protect
> Florida's coasts from
> oil drilling.  The Bush Administration is moving
> forward with the
> controversial leasing program off the Gulf Coast
> known as Lease Sale 181.
> Davis' amendment would prohibit unpopular and
> potentially damaging oil and
> gas production off Florida's sensitive coastline.
>
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