http://www.nrdconline.org/biogemscenter/home.html Alerts from NRDC's BioGems program about action you can take online to save threatened wildlife and wild places. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) &#169; Natural Resources Defense Council http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~r/BioGems/~3/130912906/biogems_yellowstone_0607a <P>Tell the Bush administration to protect the outstanding wildlands of the Rocky Mountain West.</P><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=UANOn2Kh"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=UANOn2Kh" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=YEsABtvV"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=YEsABtvV" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=qCDViToZ"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=qCDViToZ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=DiRD3DGv"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=DiRD3DGv" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=dbstFZKh"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=dbstFZKh" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~r/BioGems/~4/130912906" height="1" width="1"/> alert 2007-06-18 2027-06-07 http://img.getactivehub.com/alert_images/act_now.gif Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Department of the Interior I urge you to act now to slow the pace of energy development on public lands across the Rocky Mountain West. If you do not take action soon, this region will be forever transformed into a vast industrialized zone, stripped of its iconic wildlife, open spaces and clean water. As Secretary of the Interior, you are responsible for protecting and conserving our western public lands and their irreplaceable natural resources. In addition to their world-famous national parks, the Rockies boast some of America's most beautiful, remote and unprotected wildlands. These include Wyoming's Upper Green River Valley, New Mexico's Otero Mesa and Colorado's Roan Plateau. These wildlands include vital habitat for many of our nation's most beloved wildlife species: threatened grizzly bears, wolves and thriving herds of pronghorn, elk and bison. And the area's superb recreational resources are contributing to new and burgeoning economies across the region. Yet these special places are facing numerous threats -- most notably oil and gas drilling and oil shale development. Even as oil and gas drilling takes a mounting toll on local communities and wildlife throughout the region, the Bureau of Land Management is seeking to expand this destructive activity. Even as western governors call for stricter protections for wildlife corridors -- the key land bridges that numerous species depend on for their long-term survival -- proposals are mounting that would industrialize lands within or next to these areas. And even as Interior Department officials call for "off-site mitigations" for wildlife, new drilling is being proposed in areas that could be used for those very mitigations. Meanwhile, elected officials at every level are calling for a step back from the rush to develop oil shale. To prevent more damage to our western wildlands, your department must act quickly to return balance to the management of the public's natural resources in this region. http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_yellowstone_0607a http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~r/BioGems/~3/46007845/biogems_emeraldcoast_0906 <P>Urge the Bush administration to perform a complete environmental study of the impacts of a proposed new airport in the Emerald Coast's sensitive wetlands habitat. </P><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=FvDF8GFr"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=FvDF8GFr" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=i55j4x7O"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=i55j4x7O" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=p2nlI2AM"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=p2nlI2AM" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?a=r8SvdVjQ"><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~f/BioGems?i=r8SvdVjQ" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~r/BioGems/~4/46007845"/> alert 2006-09-25 2020-09-20 http://img.getactivehub.com/alert_images/act_now.gif Chief Lawrence Evans, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers I strongly urge you to perform a complete environmental review of the proposal to build a new airport at the West Bay site in Bay County. This process must include a public hearing for citizens to comment on the Army Corps of Engineers' proposal to issue a Clean Water Act permit to the Panama City-Bay County Airport Authority that would allow wetlands and streams to be destroyed. There are less environmentally damaging alternatives to building a new airport at the West Bay site, yet the Corps has not met its obligation to analyze the full range of options. Instead, the Corps defined the purpose of the project narrowly to eliminate all alternatives to the airport authority's proposal, without evaluating their environmental impacts. At the same time, I am concerned that the Corps' analysis examined only a fraction of the harmful environmental impacts of the first phase of the airport's construction, but considered a 50-year mitigation plan that is intended to compensate for the environmental harm of the entire building process. The Corps' analysis must evaluate the full impacts of losing 2,000 acres of wetlands for the airport footprint and sacrificing more than 7,000 acres of wetlands surrounding the airport site to secondary development. The proposal would eliminate more than 300 acres of flood surge protection and bury more than four miles of natural streams. Again, I request that you examine the full impacts of the proposal for the new airport and hold a public hearing so that citizens can comment. http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_emeraldcoast_0906