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NWRA ALERT: ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW REFUGES UNDER ATTACK IN THE HOUSE!
You can take action on this alert by reading the information below and following the
directions at the bottom.
Stop H.R. 3009
The Executive branch has created ninety percent of all national wildlife refuges, including EVERY President since Teddy Roosevelt who created the first one at Pelican Island in Florida on March 14, 1903.
But some in Congress plan to take this authority away and put a halt to the creation of all new national wildlife refuges although Congress itself mandated that the Refuge System should be strategically grown in the 1997 Refuge Improvement Act:
“In administering the System, the Secretary shall—
plan and direct the continued growth of the System in a manner that is best designed to accomplish the mission of the System, to contribute to the conservation of the ecosystems of the United States, to complement efforts of States and other Federal agencies to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats, and to increase support for the System and participation from conservation partners and the public;”
Congressman John Fleming (R-LA) has introduced H.R. 3009, the National Wildlife Refuge Review Act of 2011, which would do away with this authority. H.R. 3009 would make it impossible for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to establish new refuges administratively even though they currently must go through a rigorous public process to do so. Instead, only Congress would be able to create new refuges – and we know just how easy things move through Congress these days! The passage of this bill is a death knell to the growth of the Refuge System.
The FWS must go through a rigorous public process before any refuge is established. And while the executive branch can create a new refuge, ONLY Congress holds the purse strings when it comes to any acquisition of lands or management dollars – Congress already holds oversight power on land acquisition; this legislation is unnecessary.
Please join the National Wildlife Refuge Association in urging the members of the House Natural Resources Committee to reject this proposal. The Committee could take up the issue in September.
Below is a list of House Natural Resource members, if your U.S. Representative is a member of this committee, please call them via the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 3009 and follow up by sending an instant message.
If your U.S. Representative is not on this list, please send them an instant message to oppose H.R. 3009 and if possible, call them and urge them to contact Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Ranking Member Edward Markey (D-MA) to voice their opposition to this ill conceived proposal.
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE:
Republican
Doc Hastings, Chairman (WA)
Don Young (AK)
Jimmy Duncan (TN)
Louie Gohmert (TX)
Rob Bishop (UT)
Doug Lamborn (CO)
Rob Wittman (VA)
Paul Broun (GA)
John Fleming (LA)
Mike Coffman (CO)
Tom McClintock (CA)
Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (PA)
Jeff Denham (CA)
Dan Benishek (MI)
David Rivera (FL)
Jeff Duncan (SC)
Scott Tipton (CO)
Paul Gosar (AZ)
Raul Labrador (ID)
Kristi Noem (SD)
Steve Southerland (FL)
William Flores (TX)
Andy Harris (MD)
Jeffrey Landry (LA)
Chuck Fleischmann (TN)
Jon Runyan (NJ)
Bill Johnson (OH)
Mark Amodei (NV)
Democratic
Ed Markey, Ranking Member (MA)
Dale Kildee (MI)
Peter DeFazio (OR)
Eni Faleomavaega (American Samoa)
Frank Pallone (NJ)
Grace Napalitano (CA)
Rush Holt (NJ)
Raul Grijalva (AZ)
Madeleine Bordallo (Guam)
Jim Costa (CA)
Dan Boren (OK)
Gregorio Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands)
Martin Heinrich (NM)
Ben Ray Lujan (NM)
Donna Christensen (VI)
John Sarbanes (MD)
Betty Sutton (OH)
Niki Tsongas (MA)
Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico)
John Garamendi (CA)
Colleen Hanabusa (HI)
Your message will be sent to each of the following targets:
Your U.S. Representative
A sample message appears below, which you may edit before sending.
Please say no to H.R. 3009 and protect the National Wildlife Refuge System
Dear Representative,
I stand with the National Wildlife Refuge Association in urging you to oppose H.R. 3009, the National Wildlife Refuge Review Act of 2011, a bill to remove Executive Branch authority to create national wildlife refuges; effectively halting the growth of the Refuge System.
Since 1903, national wildlife refuges have been created both by the executive branch and Congress, but a recently introduced bill by Representative John Fleming of Louisiana would change all that. H.R. 3009 would make it impossible for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to establish new refuges administratively even though they must go through a rigorous public process to do so. This is an affront to the local communities that partake in the public process and will effectively eliminate the creation new national wildlife refuges, as the vast majority of refuges have been created by the executive branch.
If the executive branch didn’t have the authority to create refuges – we wouldn’t have a National Wildlife Refuge System. Period.
The executive branch – including EVERY President since Theodore Roosevelt - has established 90% of all refuges. The creation of refuges has been bipartisan with nearly the same number created by Republican and Democratic Administrations, however Republican Administrations have much greater acreage - most recently with 50 million acres added by President G.W. Bush in 2009 for the Pacific Monuments.
Further, Congress, in overwhelming majority with only one dissenting vote, mandated that the Refuge System should be strategically grown in the 1997 Refuge Improvement Act. This new bill goes directly against the intent of Congress in the Improvement Act.
The FWS must go through a rigorous public process before any refuge is established. And while the executive branch can create a new refuge, ONLY Congress holds the purse strings when it comes to any acquisition of lands or management dollars – Congress already holds oversight power on land acquisition; this legislation is unnecessary.
Please oppose H.R. 3009 when it comes up for consideration in the House Natural Resources Committee in September.
Your name and address here
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