(Bill) Nelson wants (Bush) official fired for Glades move - St. Petersburg Times

[Eugene]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

Nelson wants official fired for Glades move

The senator says the park still faces danger.

By CRAIG PITTMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 3, 2007

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to convene federal hearings into
why Everglades National Park was taken off a United Nations
environmental "danger" list at a time when restoration of the
River of Grass has faltered.

-snip-

A month ago, Willens persuaded the United Nations' World
Heritage Committee to take the Everglades off its list of
sites that are in danger from various threats.

This week, the St. Petersburg Times reported that Willens
took that step despite findings by the National Park Service
and the committee's science advisers that the Everglades
had not yet met the requirements for being taken off the
list.

"We said it should stay on the danger list because further
work needed to be done," said David Sheppard, who serves
as the U.N. committee's top science adviser. He is the head
of the Programme on Protected Areas for the Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/03/State/Nelson_wants_official.shtml

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Source: Palm Beach Post

Nelson wants Bush official fired for opposing Everglades

By LARRY LIPMAN

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Friday, August 03, 2007

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the firing of
a high-ranking Bush administration official who recommended
deleting Everglades National Park from in international list
of endangered sites.

Nelson, D-Fla., announced Friday that he will hold a hearing
when Congress returns from its August recess next month
into the actions of Todd Willens, a deputy assistant secretary
of the Interior Department. Nelson chairs the Senate Foreign
Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and
Organizations, Democracy and Human Rights.

Willens deleted the Everglades from a list of endangered
sites recommended by a National Park Service panel of
experts. Acting on that recommendation, the United Nations
World Heritage Committee agreed in June to drop the
Everglades from its list of the world's endangered sites.

Nelson wrote a letter this week to Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne arguing that the U.N. "should have been
presented with the position of our agency experts." Nelson
added that, "this action is absolutely unacceptable and,
I believe, warrants Willens' removal."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2007/08/03/0803DCnelson.html