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]