Attack on the Environment #1
As America's corporate interests begin to feel the wind in their sails with the Bush victory, a major campaign has been launched to undo EVERY environmental protection that might hamper corporate profits.
"Attack on the Environment" will periodically expose another example of this attack and give you, the citizen, a way to fight back.
Today's Attack: Salmon in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Legal Foundation, a right-wing law firm based in Sacramento and backed by powerful development and extraction industries, announced on November 16, 2004 that they will be "challenging Endangered Species Act listings of salmon and steelhead spanning four western states if federal regulators enact a new policy that would continue to distinguish between hatchery and naturally spawned fish." Find out more about this organization here: http://www.pacificlegal.org/
The argument is simply, salmon that are raised in hatcheries are just as good as wild salmon and therefore, there is no reason to protect the watersheds and rivers that wild salmon need to survive.
The Bush administration would allow the federal government to include hatchery-reared salmon in population counts for endangered Pacific salmon species, a move that will undercut protection and management under the federal Endangered Species Act. By counting hatchery salmon with wild salmon, the Administration claims this will eliminate the need to protect, restore and conserve wild salmon and steelhead, and the habitat that they depend upon.
Here is a quote by the Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Russ Brooks, "Needless regulations to protect fish are crippling the economies of western states, driving prices up and killing jobs in almost every major economic sector from farming and agriculture to new home construction and transportation."
Tell that to the fishermen, Indian tribes, and outdoor recreation businesses who are watching what was once the region's most vibrant wildlife species head toward extinction at the hands of the Bush administration and his corporate cabal, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
TAKE ACTION:
Contact: Russ Brooks, Managing Attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation at (425) 576-0484 or rb@pacificlegal.org
Message:
Mr. Brooks, you and your corporate cronies want Americans to believe that wild salmon and fishery salmon are equal. That is like saying a zoo-raised lion could survive in the wild of Africa.
We see right through your efforts to undermine protection for these species, and dismantle the Endangered Species Act on behalf of developers and corporate interests.
If Pacific Legal Foundation moves ahead with this attack on protections for wild salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest you can expect a fight from citizens of the region and protests at your offices in Sacramento.