From Sierra Club:
Dear friend of Alaska:
We ask for your help to protect Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in
southwest Alaska: an extraordinary wildlife sanctuary with cold-water
lagoons and internationally significant wetlands that make it one of the
world's most critically-important resting places for migrating birds. It
is home to virtually all the world’s Pacific black brant, as well as
hundreds of thousands of other migratory waterfowl, such as tundra swans,
ptarmigan, bald eagles, and geese, as well as threatened species, such as
Steller's eiders. Plenty of mammals use the refuge too - including
caribou, brown bears, wolves and wolverines.
Congress is considering a bill, H.R. 2801, that would allow a road to be
built through Izembek's protected Wilderness -- a pet project being
pushed by Alaska's congressional delegation: Senators Ted Stevens and
Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young .
If your Representative sits on the House Natural Resources Committee that
will hold a mark-up of this bill next week (scheduled for April 23)
please contact your Representative immediately to urge a NO Vote on this
unnecessary and ecologically damaging road through the heart of the
Izembek Refuge. Contact committee members in your state even if you are
not in their District.
Below please find:
1. List of committee members in your state and several others, with DC
phone and fax #s:
2. A sample letter which you can personalize.
3. Background info/talking points.
Area code for all offices: 202 phone (202) fax
(202)
AZ:
Jeff Flake - R 225-2635 226-4386
Raul Grijalva - D 225-2435 226-6846
Rick Renzi - R 225-2315 226-9739
CO:
Doug Lamborn - R 225-4422 226-2638
Thomas Tancredo - R 225-7882 226-4623
Mark Udall - D 225-2161 226-7840
ID:
William Sali - R 225-6611 225-3029
LA:
Bobby Jindal - R 225-3015 226-0386
MI:
Dale Kildee - D 225-3611 225-6393
NM:
Steve Pearce - R 225-2365 225-9599
NV:
Dean Heller - R 225-6155 225-5679
OK:
Dan Boren - D 225-2701 225-3038
Tom Cole - R 225-6165 225-3512
SD:
Stephanie Herseth - D 225-2801 225-5823
TN:
John Duncan, Jr. - R 225-5435 225-6440
TX:
Louie Gohmert - R 225-3035 225-5866
Solomon P. Ortiz - D 225-7742 226-1134
UT:
Rob Bishop - R 225-0453 225-5857
Chris Cannon - R 225-7751 225-5629
WI:
Ron Kind - D 225-5506 225-5739
SAMPLE LETTER:
Write your representative at his or her LOCAL, district, office, or
contact the DC office via phone or fax.
Subject: No road through Izembek
Dear Representative______,
I oppose H.R. 2801, legislation sponsored by Representative Don Young
that would authorize a land exchange and road corridor through the very
heart of Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and its
congressionally-designated Wilderness. The proposed road would harm the
wildlife in the area, including migratory bird populations, brown bears,
caribou, and the habitats on which they depend. Construction and use of
the road plus associated disturbance, and pollution all conflict with the
purposes of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.
The King Cove Health and Safety Act, passed by the U.S. Congress just 10
years ago, adequately addressed the health and safety concerns of the
community by providing more than $37 million for a new medical facility,
airport upgrades, and a hovercraft marine transportation link to Cold
Bay. The hovercraft works well and is the most reasonable and safest
transportation mode, which also causes the least harm to the environment.
The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and its federally protected
Wilderness belong to all Americans. I urge you to protect these special
places by voting NO when H.R. 2801, the land exchange and road corridor
proposal being pushed by Rep. Young, comes before your committee for
markup.
Thank you for considering this important issue.
Sincerely,
(Your name and full address.)
TALKING PONTS/Background: Why H.R. 2801 Is a Bad Idea
· The proposed road is not needed. The Alaska congressional
delegation claims the road is necessary to address the transportation,
health, and safety needs of King Cove. In fact, Congress met those needs
in 1998, in the King Cove Health and Safety Act. That legislation
provided $37.5 million to upgrade King Cove's medical facilities,
purchase a hovercraft to provide regular ferry and emergency medical
service between King Cove and Cold Bay, construct new marine terminals,
and build an unpaved road between the town of King Cove and the
connecting marine terminal. This law specifically prohibited a road
through Izembek's federally protected Wilderness. The current bill seeks
to overturn Congress' explicit intent to protect the Refuge.
· The hovercraft is working. Hovercraft service began regular
training runs in February 2007, and commenced full-time operation on
August 7, 2007. By all accounts, the hovercraft service has met every
medical evacuation need of the King Cove community since it began. The
proposed road would be far less safe and more uncertain than the
hovercraft has proven to be.
· The land swap would sacrifice quality—206 acres of critical,
internationally recognized wildlife habitat—for quantity. Izembek and
Kinzarof lagoons contain some of the world’s largest eelgrass beds which
attract thousands of migratory birds annually. The narrow isthmus between
the two lagoons is an important nesting area for tundra swans and
migration corridor for the Southern Alaska Peninsula caribou herd; it is
foraging grounds for brown bears. The 61,000 acres of proposed exchange
lands do not offer comparable protection or habitat for Izembek’s
important wildlife species.
· Designated Wilderness would be lost or irreparably harmed by the
construction of a road. Taking lands out of Wilderness for a proposed
road would set a terrible precedent for America’s National Wilderness
Preservation System. When Congress designates Wilderness, the intent is
to provide permanent protection—to keep these lands wild forever: in
perpetuity. In the 43 years since the Wilderness Act passed, no
significant, major removal from Wilderness has taken place. If this bill
passes, no Wilderness area anywhere in our nation is safe from attack.
· The proposed road is not compatible with the purposes for which
Congress established the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The purposes
of the Refuge are to conserve fish and wildlife populations and their
habitats; to fulfill the United States' international treaty obligations
(such as the four migratory bird treaties and the Convention on Wetlands
of International Importance); to allow continued subsistence by local
residents; and to ensure water quality and quantity within the Refuge.
· The wildlife values of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge are
globally significant, and should not be compromised. The Refuge's current
boundaries were established for a reason, and should not be altered for a
road that is not needed.
· American taxpayers have subsidized the King Cove-Cold Bay
transportation link long enough. The hovercraft now operating there was
paid for out of the $37 million appropriated by Congress in '98 - federal
money. Now it's time for the state to step up and handle operations and
maintenance of this hovercraft; most easily by adding it to the state
ferry system.
__________________
Vicky
Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club
staff, Alaska Task Force
85 Second St., 2nd floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3459
(415)977-5527
fax:(415)977-5799
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