AMC CONSERVATION ACTION NETWORK
NETWORK NEWS
JULY 1999

IN THIS ISSUE:

National News

* Land and Water Conservation Fund
* Air Quality
* Roadless Areas in National Forests

On the Regional Front

* Maine Land Bond Act Approved
* Cleaning Up Dirty Old Power Plants, MA
* Androscoggin River Canoe Trek
* NJ Highlands

LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND

A number of bills in Congress seek to provide permanent funding up to $2.5 billion for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and related conservation programs. Congress established LWCF in 1965 to provide money for outdoor conservation and recreation projects. Funds for this program came from taxes on profits from offshore oil drilling. Over the past thirty years, LWCF has helped protect over seven million acres of open space and created over 37,000 parks and recreation projects, including much of the Appalachian Trail, Cape Cod National Seashore and the C&O Canal. Over the last decade, Congress has not kept its promise. Instead of providing a steady source of funding ($900 million) to LWCF, as much as 85% has been used for other programs. Although the word is spreading about this small, but important program, every member of Congress needs to hear that there is strong public support for these programs.

What you can do:

1) Write your Representatives and Senators and remind them that full funding for LWCF is long overdue. Urge them to do everything in their power to pass legislation this year to full and permanently fund LWCF. For a sample letter, go to: http://www.outdoors.org/Conservation/ and click on "act now."

2) Call your Senators and Representative and tell them about the importance of your local parks or the need in your community for improved funding for parks and recreation. Use the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121.

3) Attend the Land and Water Conservation Summit- July 8th, Trenton, NJ: This event will feature Governor Whitman as keynote speaker and a panel discussion by members of NJ's Congressional Delegation on the status and prospects of Land and Water Conservation Fund legislation. The legacy of LWCF in NJ, priority areas for LWCF funding (Highlands, Pinelands, etc.), and strategies for restoring full funding to LWCF will be explored. To register: contact Tom Gilbert, AMC Mid-Atlantic Conservation Advocate, at (609) 818-1776, or tgilbert@igc.org

AIR QUALITY

Last month's US Court of Appeals ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency in a case brought by the American Trucking Association and others, threatens to postpone the deadline for states to submit their revised State Implementation Plans (SIP) to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) is responsible for ozone and is a key component of smog pollution. Part of the new air quality standards established by the EPA, required states to design plans to reduce NOx. State Governors need to hear from citizens that they should submit their revised State Implementation Plans for NOx reduction, despite the court's ruling. Downwind or upwind of pollution, abandoning plans to move forward with the SIP will have the same unacceptable result -- dirtier air, increased illness, and damage to the environment. Although the D.C. Court of Appeals delayed the deadline for States to submit revised SIPs, neither the Court nor the lawyers can delay the serious health effects on citizens that another season of increased emissions and dirty air will cause.

What you can do: Ask your state governor to go forward with your state's SIP to ensure that the air we breathe is clean and healthful. Cleaner air will save lives, prevent countless hospital visits for those whose health makes them vulnerability to poor air, save thousands of dollars in avoided health care costs and decrease pollution across the region. Residents of Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island can also thank their Governors for moving forward with their state implementation plans.

For more information:

Check out information on air quality at www.outdoors.org/Conservation or go to the EPA's website: http://www.epa.gov/ARD-5/naaqs/noxred.html

ROADLESS AREAS IN NATIONAL FORESTS

Over a hundred and sixty members of the House of Representatives signed onto the Hinchey/Horn letter to the White House calling for protection for the last, wild roadless areas within National Forests. "As the millennium dawns, safeguarding those remaining wilderness areas will provide a lasting legacy akin to the bold actions taken by President Theodore Roosevelt when he set aside our first forest reserves." said the letter sponsored by Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Steve Horn (R-CA). "We urge you to act boldly in that tradition so that these national treasures are not lost." This letter calls for the U.S. Forest Service to permanently protect of the last remaining roadless areas of 1,000 acres or more within our National Forests.

What you can do:

f your Representative was one of the 55 members of the Northeast delegation who signed the letter, please thank them for their support. Within AMC's region, Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Baldacci (R-ME), Lazio (R-NY), King (R-NY), Fosella, (R-NY), Engle (D-NY), Gilman (R-NY), Sweeney (R-NY), Boehlert (R-NY), McHugh (R-NY), Walsh (R-NY), Reynolds (R-NY) and most of the Pennsylvania delegation, with the exception of Brady, Fattah, Borski and Hoeffel, did not sign onto the letter. Write Vice President Al Gore to protect our last backcountry wild places in the National Forests! To reach the Vice President, write The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20500 or go to: http://www.outdoors.org/Conservation/ and click on "act now."

MAINE LAND BOND ACT APPROVED

Early in June, the Maine legislature approved a $50 million bond to return money to the Land for Maine's Future Program! The vote in the House was 109 to 22; the vote in the Senate was 30 to 2. This shows there is significant support for land protection in a very conservative legislature! In the final bill, Phil Harriman (R- Cumberland) pushed for language saying that the bond dollars should be matched by federal money. This should help strengthen the case for revitalizing the state side program within the Land and Water Conservation Fund!

CLEANING UP OLD DIRTY POWER PLANTS

Governor Cellucci promised last October to clean up Massachusetts's dirtiest power plants. The utility industry wants to weaken the legislation by delaying the clean up for ten or more years and by instituting pollution trading. Coal and oil burning power plants are the largest source of smog and soot forming air pollution. The Clean Air Act stipulated that older power plants would not have to meet the same standards as newer, more efficient ones, because it was believed that these older plants would soon be obsolete. With the advent of utility restructuring, cheap power has become increasingly valuable. Not surprisingly, last year, air pollution from power plants increased in the state.

What you can do: Call Governor Cellucci's office at 617-727-9173 to tell him that you value clean air. Ask him to do all he can to ensure that old power plants meet the same standards as newer plants. For more information: Contact Clean Water Action at 617-423-4661 or via email: bostoncwa@cleanwater.org

ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER SOURCE TO SEA CANOE TREK

This July marks the fourth annual celebration of Androscoggin River which flows from headwaters in northeastern New Hampshire to tidewaters in the Gulf of Maine. This year's event will also serve as a floating meeting of a new watershed council formed last fall to promote and protect the 167-mile long waterway and its 3,500 square mile watershed. Free and open to the public, the Trek celebrates the renaissance of this once very polluted New England river. Most Trek participants join the moving river festival as a day trip, but a few hardy souls paddle the entire 19 days. This year's Trek will launch July 10 and finish July 28.

For more information: Contact Trek Coordinator Sue Lincoln at 207-824-0191, or htrupp@nxi.com.

NEW JERSEY HIGHLANDS

New Jersey is developing a State Development and Redevelopment Plan which sets out to manage growth, develop alternatives to sprawl and seek ways in which the government can encourage smart growth. One aspect of the plan is to identify Areas of Critical Concern. In order for this plan to be meaningful, several additions need to be included. The Highlands region must be identified as an Area of Critical Concern. In addition, the plan needs to encourage water quality protection, community character, promote sustainable economics, consider development in a regional context and coordinate local and state infrastructure projects.

What you can do: 1. Attend the State Planning Commission Plan Development Committee (PDC) public meeting tentatively scheduled for July 14, 9:00 AM in Trenton, to act on this proposal. This meeting is tentative, so call the Office of State Planning at 800-522-0129 to confirm time and place. 2. Write to Joseph Maraziti, Chairman, State Planning Commission, PO Box 204, Trenton, NJ 08620, before July 14, supporting recognition of the Highlands as an "Area of Critical State Concern." Send a copy of your letter of support to your county Freeholder Board and to Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 004, Trenton, NJ 08625. For more information: Contact Tom Gilbert, 609-818-1776, or email:tgilbert@igc.org or call the Highlands Coalition at 908-234-1225.

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