Stop congress from selling 15 National Parks

[Lorien]

(My note: Rep Pombo is the same pro-corporate/ anti-environment extremist who authored the recently passed "extinction bill" which guts the 1973 endangered species act and makes it easy for corporations to grab both public and private land):


What I'm about to tell you is so outrageous, it's hard to believe it's true. But unfortunately, it is: Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA) has outlined a plan for the House draft budget reconciliation bill to sell off 15 national parks for energy and commercial development.

That's right - our natural heritage could soon be up for sale. Please sign this petition today to stop Congress' national park give-away.

One of the parks on the chopping block is Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Lake Clark protects the largest known Athapaskan archeological site in Alaska; an incredibly rugged wilderness containing two active volcanoes; and a wide variety of wildlife, including caribou, Dall sheep, brown bears, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons. The protected Lake Clark watershed is a significant part of the greater Bristol Bay watershed, which contains the world's largest Sockeye salmon fishery. This national treasure is irreplaceable.

Incredibly, there's more to the bill than just selling off 23% of the National Park System's acreage. Rep. Pombo's bill would require the Park Service to sell commercial advertising on the exterior and interior of all buses, shuttles, vans, trams, and passenger ferries operated within the National Park System. This bill would also require the Park Service to solicit and sell commercial sponsorship of park visitor centers, education centers, information centers, museums, trails, auditoriums, amphitheaters, and theatres throughout the National Park System.

And a painfully ironic provision of this bill would require the immediate sale of Theodore Roosevelt Island in the District of Columbia, which was established as a memorial for our nation's greatest conservation president.

Congress and the administration have a responsibility to protect our national heritage. Instead, Representative Pombo seems prepared to put our American heritage on the auction block, insulting the American people and tarnishing the birthright of current and future generations.

Sign this petition today to urge your Representative to oppose Rep. Pombo's National Park give-away! http://go.care2.com/e/Gg./BN/lUNW

Thank you so much for helping to protect our national parks,

Rebecca Young,
Care2 and ThePetitionSite team

[CottonBear]

1. Can they do that? Sell off a National Park? That's the last straw.

Idiotic, stupid, stupid, stupid idea. :grr:

[Lorien]

3. They've always wanted to

they've always wanted them commercialized, with Hyatt hotels, McDonald's, etc. Oil exploration means infrastructure, which means more no bid contracts for Hallibuton...and that's what Bushco is all about!

[sandnsea]

39. Nobody paid a bit of attention to the Pombo bill

Just like nobody is paying a bit of attention to the G.A.S. Act which lets them build refineries on old military basis and gut the little bit that we have left of our environmental laws. People are so damned busy playing cutsie face with spines and balls, that they don't do a damned thing to help the Dems who are fighting this shit every single day.

Republican G.A.S. Act Exploits Katrina For Gas & Oil Industry
6 October 2005

Numerous environmental and public service groups have issued warnings on the upcoming G.A.S. Act, HR 3893, scheduled for a vote in the House on Friday. Donald J. Borut, executive director of the National League of Cities has bluntly said that "the goal of this draft legislation seems to be to pass every provision that didn't make it into the recently-enacted energy bill."

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1405

[elehhhhna]

2. Tried to sell of a parcelt of Big Bend Nat'l here in TX to a rancher--

just last month. OOPSIE. locals had a cow, long story short: NO SALE!

[phusion]

4. Is this real?

I don't really doubt it, but I can't find a bill number in any of this...

It just never stops! Every day there is some new legislation to rob the American people and future generations.

This is our natural heritage they are trying to auction off...

AGHHH!!!

:grr: :grr:

[Lorien]

6. Yep. Here's another article:

No Arctic oil drilling? How about selling parks?
Pombo hopes threat will boost bid to tap refuge's resources

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Saturday, September 24, 2005


Washington -- House Resources chairman Richard Pombo is circulating a draft of a bill that would sell 15 national parks and require the National Park Service to raise millions of dollars by selling the naming rights to visitors' centers and trails.

Pombo's spokesman said the proposal, written by Pombo's House Resources Committee staff, is intended only to influence lawmakers to support an item in the budget bill that would permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

If drilling continues to be banned in the refuge, Pombo's staff argued, the government would have to sell parks as well as advertising space on park buses, trams and ferries to reach the level of revenues expected from oil leases sales in the Alaskan refuge.

While Brian Kennedy, Pombo's spokesman, said the Tracy Republican lawmaker has no plans to introduce the bill, environmental groups expressed outrage that he would even suggest selling national parks -- including the Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site in Danville -- to raise money for the federal Treasury.

"These proposals for the national park system are unconscionable," said Craig Obey, vice president of the National Parks Conservation Association. "It's hard to believe anyone could even contemplate drafting something this extreme."

More:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/24/MNG2HETE8D1.DTL

[phusion]

7. Thanks...Here's a pic of the vampire

http://www.sfgate.com.nyud.net:8090/c/pictures/2005/09/24/mn_pombo_environme9.jpg

It doesn't look like he gets out much, anyway...Probably doesn't understand what he's proposing. :)

[Iris]

30. His name suits him.

"Pombo"

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Nominated for greatest page. This is important.

True conservatives are conservationists.

Faux conservatives sell the nation's heritage to preserve rich tax privileges. No sacrifice from the Republican Crony Crust Class.

[NV Whino]

8. This man is stark fucking mad!

I'm embarassed to live in the same state.

[shenmue]

9. This is disgusting

Is there anything that belongs to the people and not the friggin' energy companies anymore? This is getting unholy. Fifteen national parks.

Bastards.

I am definitely sending some letters. Thanks for the tip.

:patriot:

[Lorien]

11. Thank YOU

for taking action. Each of us needs to let our reps know where we stand on this issue; silence implies consent, which is something they've been allowed far too much of already.

And don't forget; the Pombro's "extinction bill", another HUGE givaway to mega-corporations (and robbery of our future) heads to the senate soon. Voice your opposition to gutting the endangered species act!

[tk2kewl]

10. where is the complete list of parks? ... i cant find it at the link

[Lorien]

12. Here you go:

Fifteen national parks from Alaska to California to Massachusetts, plus Theodore Roosevelt Island- the memorial to our nation’s greatest conservation president-would be sold under Pombo's legislation.

The parks up for grabs are:
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Texas
Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Alaska
Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska
Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska
Eugene O’Neill National Historical Site, California
Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Arizona
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historical Site, Massachusetts
Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Mary McCleod Bethune Council House, Washington, D.C.
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota
Noatak National Preserve, Alaska
Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania
Thomas Stone National Historical Site, Maryland
Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska

Less than a month ago, a similarly damaging proposal was leaked to the public. Paul Hoffman, a political appointee, proposed a rewrite of the Park Service’s management policies. His proposed rewrite would force a wholesale change in how the National Park Service does its job, reducing the priority that has long been placed on erring on the side of preserving the parks for future generations, opening up our national parks to rampant commercialization, placing the parks at greater risk of air pollution and allowing unfettered access to off-road vehicles that damage park resources and the quiet and solitude sought by park visitors.



These continued assaults on our national parks won't stop unless we stand up to reckless policy changes that would impact our national heritage for present and future generations.



NPCA contact: For more information, contact Craig Obey, Vice President of Government Affairs at [email protected] or 800-NAT-PARKS

[Angry Girl]

13. This probably won't get pass the Senate

So I hear, not that that's the greatest reassurance in the world.... Chaffee is a good defender of the environment apparently.

It is such an outrageous proposal.... Only under this administration would anyone even dare to suggest such an abomination.

[Lorien]

15. Maybe so, maybe not. There are plenty of pro-megacorporation Dems too

we need to voice our opinions on this bill. It's a slippery slope; once they've done away with these 15, they'll go after the rest. We can't allow them to get away with further destruction of our National Heritage.

[LaPera]

14. People don't give a shit about the environment, and they will do nothing..

to stop it!

[Lorien]

17. And yet environmental destruction is THE greatest threat to human survival

far greater than terrorism or peak oil. If the media told the truth about what's really happening to our planet right now, much of the population would be utterly terrified.

[texpatriot2004]

16. Another DU thread on this topic says they can't exclude public

Court: Bush admin can't exclude public participation in forests

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2138935&mesg_id=2138935

[Lorien]

18. Here's an additional link for taking action:

http://www.npca.org/actioncenter/ActionAlertDetail.aspx

[struggle4progress]

19. Pombo's "Gut the Endangered Species Act" just passed the House.

[struggle4progress]

20. Pombo? Oh, No.

<snip> In March 1997, Pombo attempted to pin the above-mentioned January flood in the Central Valley on the ESA, charging that levee repair work had been delayed to protect the valley elderberry longhorned beetle. The Feds had long exempted disaster-related work from ESA considerations, and the ESA had no effect on levee construction.

Then there's the time he testified before the Senate Environment Committee that he had suffered untold financial damage because his ranch had been declared critical habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox. An alert reporter determined that this had not, in fact, happened, and Mollie Beattie, late head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, pointed this out in a public forum. Pombo retreated a bit, saying it "may have been one of his neighbors' ranches." Finally, after having it pointed out to him that no critical habitat had been declared anywhere for the fox at that point, he caved. <snip>

http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/03/pombo.html

[Lorien]

23. Pombo seems to have a near pathological hatred of nature

greedy, conniving POS. How could anyone from CALIFORNIA elect this whack job?

[struggle4progress]

25. His district's demographics may be in flux: his seat may not be safe.

[Lorien]

28. God, let's hope they get someone sane in 2006! n/t

[SiouxJ]

21. kick

:kick:

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Done

[williesgirl]

24. Just signed petition. This is nuts even for the repukes. Talk

about pandering to the corporations and lobbyists who pay for everything they touch! This must be stopped.

[blindpig]

26. Thanks Lorien.

Jesus, I think I hate that bastard Pombo as much as the rest of the Cabal combined. If they have their way, and I fear Roberts as much Pombo on this, I might go off the rails as this attacks my heart of hearts.

Got to keep this issue alive around here. I've been dismayed by the lack of interest in conservation issues here. Never been much on starting threads but I'm going to have to get to work.

Going to go home and stare at my Audubon print of Carolina Parakeets.

[Lorien]

32. Lack of interest in conservation issues; just shows how far to the right

the democrats have moved, imho. When I posted a thread about Pombo's bill that guts the endangered species act last week, several DUers said "no I don't really care about this issue. There are more important things, like the Iraq war and the economy". They REALLY are clueless about how human survival depends on a healthy planet with functioning ecosystems, and by allowing various species to go extinct (which CANNOT be undone) the ecosystem, and the planet, are put at risk. It's amazing to me that so many on DU are throughly freaked out about peak oil, but the prospect of global climate change causing another ice age and bringing about conditions that would put oxygen in short supply and kill most life on earth in the NEAR future...well, that just doesn't seem to bother them.

[MsConduct]

27. Signed, sealed, delivered and forwarded. Thanks! n/t

[BigBearJohn]

29. Done -- PASS IT ON!!!

[KamaAina]

31. Later to that! Tell 'em to convert 1600 Penna. Av. NW into condos.

I mean, it's not like anybody's been using it the past few years, is it? That way they could get a hell of a lot more than $50,000 for the Lincoln Bedroom!

[roguevalley]

33. Lake Clark is just over from me. The fuckers. Just try and sell it.

[free2decide]

34. lets buy

I used to be into forestry and the US forestry department is the only government agency that makes money. In fact they compete to make money, and I know of instances of wicked clearcutting of old growth redwoods behind the publics backs. The problem is they don't conserve, they 'manage', which means try to make money. I have less faith in government then most leftists, and feel that we the people should see this as a opportunity to raise the money together, and really conserve it, but also allow public access. The question is how can we find rich people, trusts, foundations, or environmental groups to buy these properties?

[blindpig]

44. that's not how I understand it

The cost of providing infrastructure for the loggers often exceeds the bid.

As for private initiatives, well and good. The Nature Conservancy has done great work saving premier habitat. However, I wouldn't expect private sources to be able to do all that needs to be done. Furthermore, a healthy, vibrant environment is a public good. Biodiversity is a public good. The natural world is humankind's heritage, it is where we come from. For hundreds of thousands of years it was our home, it is what we are truly adapted to. Our experiment with cities and agriculture is a blip on the radar in comparison. With our current way of life racing toward the precipice it would be madness to let it slip away in our monumental hubris.

[blindpig]

47. wasted my breath on a pizza. n/t

[Lorien]

35. Kick

:kick:

[AuntiBush]

36. As a "Historic Preservationist"

This is pathetically disgusting!

Signing now, and KICKED!

[sadiesworld]

37. .

[chelsea fc]

38. Senate won't approve

The senate won't approve of such non-sense.

[Lorien]

40. Really? They've approved of loads of other nonsense during the

past five years.

[AmyDeLune]

41. Signed & Kicked n/t

[nicknameless]

42. Humanity needs to stop killing its host.

Wish I could sign and recommend more than once.

Thank you.

[nicknameless]

43. Humanity needs to stop killing its host.

Wish I could sign and recommend more than once.

Thank you.

[nicknameless]

45. Humanity needs to stop killing its host.

Wish I could sign and recommend more than once.

Thank you.

[nicknameless]

48. Sorry for the dupes -- didn't know that happened.

(Couldn't sign & recommend more than once, so my post multiplied? :crazy: )

[Bernardo de La Paz]

46. True conservatives are conservationists. Any true conservatives left?

[Rainscents]

49. Signed and kick!

[KenCarson]

50. done

.