Sequoia Audubon Armchair Activist

December 2007 LETTER OF THE MONTH

Armchair Letter of the Month
December 2007

Countdown to a Strong National Energy Policy

You’re experiencing that sense of deja vu. Didn’t we just do this same topic last month? Yes, tried as we could to come up with a different issue for December, there simply isn’t anything as imminent, as salient, as important as the energy bill in the House and Senate. So trade in your long-weary Arctic Refuge pencils and sharpen up your energy/global warming ones. We’re in this for the long haul and we’ll settle for nothing less than the strongest possible bills. That’s where you come in!

As Congress prepares to take a two-week break for the Thanksgiving holiday, negotiations around crafting a final energy bill are still ongoing. Efforts have been underway to bring together a final bill since the Senate and House both passed their respective energy bills over the summer, and Congressional leaders have pledged to finish the
bill this year.

Among the many forward-thinking provisions in each bill, two in particular stand out. The House bill establishes a nationwide renewable electricity standard (RES) that would require 15% of our electricity to come from clean sources—such as wind, solar, and biomass—by 2020, while allowing for a percentage of the requirement to come from energy efficiency improvements. The Senate bill, which does not include
a renewable standard, seeks to improve vehicle fuel efficiency standards (CAFE)to 35 mpg by 2020. The House bill did not include an increase in CAFE standards. Not surprisingly, these two provisions also happen to face the most opposition from the electricity sector and the auto industry.

The final energy bill is also expected to include a mandate to expand the production of biofuels, which was included in the Senate energy bill. Unfortunately, the biofuels provision is missing key environmental safeguards, which are needed to ensure that these fuels are produced in a sustainable manner that will not harm the environment.

Audubon has been working hard in recent months to ensure that the final energy bill includes the best clean energy provisions from both the House and the Senate versions of the bill — the renewable electricity standard and the increase in CAFE standards. Doing so will move the United States toward a cleaner and more secure energy future while also making an important and necessary down payment toward solving global
warming. We’re also working to include the necessary safeguards and standards for producing biofuels.

Congress is expected to hammer out the final details of the energy bill in the coming weeks. Help us keep the pressure on for a strong, clean energy bill. The November Letter of the Month is on the energy bill and your letters can help us get the strong, clean energy bill we all need and deserve. We have the opportunity to pass the strongest national energy bill to date — one that can make a real difference in onfronting
global warming and leaving dirty coal and oil behind.

San Mateo’s representatives are:

U.S. Senators

Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3553

Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3841

U.S. Representatives

Tom Lantos (12th District)
2413 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-3531

Anna Eshoo (14th District)
205 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-8104
FAX 202-225-8890

SAMPLE LETTER

Your Name
Address
City State Zip

Date

The Honorable _______
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
and
The Honorable _______
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator (or Representative) ______:

As this session of the 110th Congress draws to a close, the House and Senate should finish with a bang and pass an energy bill that secures our energy future through a nationwide renewable energy standard and higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.

The House bill contains a key provision to provide that 15 percent of our electricity comes from clean, renewable sources, like properly-sited wind power, solar power, and biomass. It provides additional flexibility to allow a percent of that target to come from energy efficiency.

The Senate bill increases fuel economy for cars and light trucks to 35mpg by 2020. This provision will reduce greenhouse gas pollution and save consumers money at the pump.

Biofuels, if done right, offer an opportunity to reduce both U.S. dependency on oil and global warming pollution. Unfortunately, the Senate-passed Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) includes a 5-fold increase in biofuels production over the next 15 years without including many of the necessary environmental safeguards. Any version of an RFS provision must include protections for public lands like national wildlife
refuges, wilderness areas, old growth forest, and for private lands that are in reserve programs or are without a cropping history.

Congress should pass this energy bill with both these provisions and make an important down payment on urgently needed reductions to the greenhouse gas pollutants that are causing global warming.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

Armchair Activist Updates and News

Thanks for Writing!

Teshekpuk Lake
The comment period was extended to November 6, and that’s good news for T-Lake. Collectively, organizations working on this issue generated over 100,000 comments on Teshekpuk Lake. We hope to have positive news on the fate of this wetlands wilderness soon.

No Child Left Inside
There’s been little movement on this piece of legislation or the No Child Left Behind reauthorization. It looks like this issue may slide till the next sesson of Congress. Thanks for your help in getting environmental education back in our schools.

Clean Water Restoration Act
Support for this key clean water and wetlands bill continues to grow. There are currently 169 cosponsors.

Thanks to all who wrote their House members on making sure that the Clean Water Act protects all waters of the United States, including small streams, lakes and wetlands.

Global Warming
Senators Leiberman (CT) and Warner (VA) recently introduced their global warming bill, S 2191. It’s not as strong as the bills mentioned below but promises to be a good starting point as the Senate moves forward on this issue. By all accounts, it only gets us a 50% reduction under 1990 levels by 2050 and that’s not good enough, but we are working hard to strengthen it as it moves through committee in the next
few weeks. Once the dust settles on this legislation a bit, you’ll likely see this as an Armchair Letter of the Month.

HR 1590, the Safe Climate Act is now up to 140 cosponsors! That’s a strong number for a strong global warming bill. Your letters on HR 1590 helped build a solid position for good energy and global warming legislation.

We’ll keep you posted on the complex but oh-so-important updates on global warming and energy legislation.

The next Armchair Activist Letter of the Month will come out in January 2008.
Happy Holidays to All!

Advocacy Tip of the Month: It’s a Marathon, not a Sprint.

Legislative Antics Behind Closed Doors — The Conference Committee Process

Didn’t We Do This Last Year? The Iterative Process of Passing Legislation

Those who need immediate gratification or a quick fix are not well suited for work within our nation’s capital, for the job of passing good legislation is a long and arduous process. The goal can seem even more elusive and its pursuit more frustrating to those beyond the beltway — you, our dedicated grassroots. Yet, most bills worth their salt take one — or more — congressional sessions to become law. Our political system is more suited to stopping legislation than passing it: the Senate with its emphasis on consensus in an age of bitter bipartisan politics can be a major hurdle, and a like-minded president is needed to sign a bill into law. Those hurdles served us well when the conservation community was on the defense, but now the momentum has shifted and it’s time to start passing good legislation again.

It took years, and multiple congresses, to reauthorize the Clean Air Act, but we did it. It’s not clear we’ll get the Farm Bill through this session of Congress — we may be able to finish it before the 110th Congress calls it a day next fall and adjourns for the final time. If not, we’ll be back at it in the 111th. Global warming work will most certainly span this Congress and possibly into the next.

The work we do today, the letters, the phone calls, the asks for cosponsorship, the request to sign a letter to their colleagues, the hearings and the committee markup votes, the floor votes that are held and fail — all these things and much more combine to create the momentum, the foundation, that endless pressure, endlessly applied, to finally enact a bill into law. It most certainly will not happen without people like you who care enough to write those letters and keep that pressure on.

Thanks!

Sequoia Audubon Armchair Activist

November 2007 LETTER OF THE MONTH

HOUSE AND SENATE PASS TWO DIFFERENT — BUT GOOD — ENERGY BILLS
Armchair Activist Letter of the Month
November 2007

We have the opportunity to pass the strongest national energy bill to date — one that can make a real difference in confronting global warming and leaving dirty coal and oil behind.

A Tale of Two Bills
This past summer, the House and Senate passed separate energy bills. Both bills contain certain provisions necessary to jumpstart a cleaner, more renewable energy economy. However, while each bill provides important steps forward for good energy policies, alone they do not completely address our nation’s needs. This fall, Congress will convene a Conference Committee to iron out the differences between the two bills and pass one energy bill for the President to sign into law. The final legislation must include the best provisions of each bill.

Now is the time to let Congress hear that you care about replacing our old, dirty energy policies with a cleaner energy future. Please write to your U.S. Representative and Senators and ask them to pass a strong energy bill this fall.

The House Bill
The House bill establishes a nationwide renewable electricity standard (RES) that would require 15 percent of our electricity to come from clean sources — such as properly sited wind, solar, and biomass — by 2020, while also allowing for a smaller percentage of the requirement to come from energy efficiency improvements.

The Senate Bill
The Senate bill seeks to improve fuel efficiency standards for automobiles by increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 35 mpg by 2020. Until now, Congress has not improved CAFE standards in more than two decades!

The House bill does not include an increase in CAFE standards; the Senate bill contains no RES language. Combined, these two very important provisions will create tens of thousands of new jobs, save consumers money, spark economic growth, and relieve the pressure to drill in precious wildlife habitats. And this energy bill will make an important down payment to curb global warming pollution.

What’s the Problem?
It will take concerted grassroots pressure — letters like yours! — to roll out the total package we need to make this a strong energy bill.

There was an effort to add RES language to the Senate bill but a group of conservative Senators blocked that vote. We know we’re going to need 60 votes in the Senate once the Conference Committee combines the bills and sends the final product back to the House and Senate for a last vote. Every Senator needs to know we want a strong energy bill — and that means RES needs to be part of the mix.

There are challenges on the House side too. Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-MI) will almost certainly be one of the Conferees. He has a long-standing loyalty to Detroit automakers and opposes meaningful increases in CAFE standards. We need to press House members to support CAFE in the final bill.

San Mateo’s representatives are:

U.S. Senators

Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3553

Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3841

U.S. Representatives

Tom Lantos (12th District)
2413 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-3531

Anna Eshoo (14th District)
205 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-8104
FAX 202-225-8890

SAMPLE LETTER

Your Name
Address
City State Zip

Date

The Honorable _______
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
and
The Honorable _______
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator (or Representative) ______:

This fall the House and Senate have a chance to make good on the promises they made to the American people in their respective energy bills passed this summer. But the promise won’t be complete unless the best of both bills is rolled into one comprehensive energy package.

The House bill contains a key provision to provide that 15 percent of our electricity comes from clean, renewable sources, like properly sited wind power, solar power, and biomass. It provides additional flexibility to allow a percent of that target to come from energy efficiency.

The Senate bill increases fuel economy for cars and light trucks to 35mpg by 2020. This provision will reduce greenhouse gas pollution and save consumers money at the pump.

Both of these provisions are needed to fulfill the promise of a clean energy bill that meets the needs of our nation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, protect our health, create jobs and make a strong down payment towards curbing global warming pollution. Please support the passage of a strong energy bill with both of these provisions.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

NEWS & UPDATES

Teshekpuk Lake
The comment period has been extended to November 6, and that’s good news for T-Lake. Just recently Audubon, Alaska Wilderness League, NRDC, and a variety of volunteers testified at Bureau of Land Management hearings in Washington, DC. No one from the oil companies appeared to testify.

No Child Left Inside
There’s been little movement on this piece of legislation or the No Child Left Behind reauthorization. Now that Congress is back from the August recess, we expect committee action soon.

Thanks for your help in getting environmental education back in our schools.

Clean Water Restoration Act
Support for this key clean water and wetlands bill continues to grow. There are currently 169 cosponsors.

Thanks to all who wrote their House members on making sure that the Clean Water Act protects all waters of the United States, including small streams, lakes and wetlands.

Global Warming
HR 1590, the Safe Climate Act is now up to 140 cosponsors! That’s a strong number for a strong global warming bill that on its face is still pretty controversial. Thanks for writing your House member and asking him/her to sign on to the bill.

Good news! The House passed good energy legislation in July. The legislation contains a requirement that 15% of electricity nationwide will come from a combination of increased efficiency and clean, renewable sources by 2020.

The Senate passed their energy bill in June. It contains improvements in gas mileage for cars, but did not have a renewable electricity standard component.

Advocacy Tip of the Month

Legislative Antics Behind Closed Doors — The Conference Committee Process

It is almost inevitable that the House and Senate may start out with similar approaches to legislation but pass bills that are different. Such is true for the energy bills that Congress considered and passed earlier this summer. When that occurs, a Conference Committee of House and Senate leaders, committee chairs and other Members of Congress are appointed to craft a compromise bill.

If the differences are small, the trading begins. If the difference is a dollar amount, House and Senate Conferees often split it. Sometimes, one chamber or the other will accede to the higher amount.

But when the changes are dramatic and controversial — as in the two energy bills passed this summer — the Conference Committee process can take weeks and a stalemate is possible over key provisions.

Negotiations are often done behind closed doors, there are no recorded votes and horse trading is done at all levels. It’s a precarious place for important legislation.

Letting your Members of Congress know you are watching key bills as they go through Conference Committee helps shine the light of public opinion on the process. Once a final product comes out of Conference — or sometimes if — then both bodies need to vote on the bill again before it goes to the President’s desk for signature into law.

Thanks for writing to your delegation on the energy bill. With strong grassroots pressure, we believe we can have our cake and eat it too on renewable energy and better fuel economy for cars and trucks.

Sequoia Audubon Armchair Activist

September 2007 LETTER OF THE MONTH

Hi, I’ve had some illness in my family for several months and so have neglected sending out the Armchair Activist letters. I hope that you are still writing letters and if not will start up again with this important issue.

ADMINISTRATION ONCE AGAIN PROPOSES LEASE SALES IN TESHEKPUK LAKE SPECIAL AREA

Once again, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is poised to open the Teshekpuk Lake area in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) to oil and gas leasing. The Teshekpuk Lake area is one of the most important wetlands in the Arctic, providing habitat for tens of thousands of molting geese, threatened species like the Spectacled Eider, and the 45,000-head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd.

As part of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) recently released, the public is invited to submit comments. There is a short window to provide comments — they are due October 23, 2007. For this Letter of the Month, please submit comments to the BLM in opposition to drilling in this magnificent wetlands wilderness.

History is Instructive

The NPR-A is our nation’s single largest block of wild public land, 23.5-million acres, on the North Slope in Alaska’s western Arctic. Since 1976, the Department of the Interior has managed NPR-A “to meet the energy needs of the Nation,” while providing for “maximum protection” for fish and wildlife, as mandated by Congress.

The NPR-A has been explored for its oil and gas potential for decades, but a small part of the Northeast Planning Area around Teshekpuk Lake has always been protected because of its extraordinary importance to wildlife. Secretaries of the Interior from Cecil Andrus under President Carter to James Watt under President Reagan to Bruce Babbitt under President Clinton have recognized the necessity of balancing development and conservation in NPR-A and prohibited oil and gas leasing in this most critical habitat.

But in January 2006, under President Bush, the BLM reversed this history of protection, opening every single acre of the Teshekpuk area to petroleum leasing. This decision ignored more than 200,000 public comments, expert opinions from biologists and wildlife managers, objections from Alaska Natives on the North Slope, and the wisdom of four U.S. Presidents. Only an 11th hour federal district court ruling — the result of a suit brought by Audubon and other conservation groups — halted the lease sale in September 2006, days before the scheduled sale. The court ruled that BLM failed to consider the cumulative environmental impacts of development in NPR-A.

What makes Teshekpuk Lake Special?

For starters, lots of geese and caribou. The area around the lake is the primary annual calving ground for the 45,000 head Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd. The herd is a key subsistence resource for Alaska Natives on the North Slope. Thousands of caribou converge near Teshekpuk Lake each May and June, seeking calving grounds with few predators, low levels of disturbance, and abundant, high-quality forage. After calving, the caribou typically move to the coast north of the lake, seeking relief from insects.

The Teshekpuk Lake area is also one of the most important goose molting habitats in the circumpolar Arctic. When geese molt, they replace old, worn flight feathers, becoming flightless and vulnerable to predators and human disturbance. Teshekpuk Lake provides ideal conditions for molting geese: a remote location, free of development, large lakes where flightless birds can escape from predators, and tender sedges to fuel their high energy demands. It is no accident that geese gather annually near Teshekpuk Lake by the tens of thousands: as many as 35,000 Greater White-fronted Geese and 37,000 Brant molt at Teshekpuk Lake, plus thousands of Canada and Snow Geese.

The geese are not alone. More than a dozen species on Audubon’s Alaska WatchList, including threatened Spectacled and Steller’s Eiders, Long-tail Duck, King Eiders, Red-throated Loons, Dunlins, and Buff-breasted Sandpipers, nest, molt, or stop there in migration. Of special concern is the Yellow-billed Loon, which nests on deep, fish-bearing lakes in the area and is under consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

You can view the full SEIS at www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/planning/npra_general/ne_npra/ne_npr-a_supplement.html.

Letters can also be faxed to: 888-907-3677

Sample Letter:

Northeast NPR-A Supplemental IAP/EIS Comments
ENSR Project Office
1835 South Bragaw Street, Suite 490
Anchorage, AK 99508

To Whom it May Concern:

The BLM should not lease any land north and east of Teshekpuk Lake. While oil development can occur in much of the NPR-A, some places are too sensitive and significant for drilling. Teshekpuk Lake is one of those places.

Development near Teshekpuk Lake would disturb tens of thousands of vulnerable molting geese, pregnant caribou cows, and newborn caribou calves. It could impact “threatened” Spectacled and Steller’s eiders, as well as rare Yellow-billed Loons.

In the face of a rapidly changing climate in the Arctic, the conservative approach is to protect the Teshekpuk Lake area and give wildlife the time and space to adapt to changing conditions. Drilling in the Teshekpuk area will not solve America’s energy problems and will only add to emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Furthermore, seven Alaska Native communities on the North Slope depend on the caribou and other fish and wildlife at Teshekpuk Lake for their subsistence way of life. Additionally, oil and gas development across the North Slope has resulted in documented human health impacts.

Again, the BLM should not lease any land north and east of Teshekpuk Lake. Thank you for considering my comments.

Sincerely,

 

Sept 2007 Armchair News and Updates

Thanks for Writing!

No Child Left Inside

There’s been little movement on this piece of legislation or the No Child Left Behind reauthorization. Now that Congress is back from the August recess, we expect committee action soon.

Thanks for your help in getting environmental education back in our schools. We’ll have more information in the October Armchair Activist.

Clean Water Restoration Act

Support for this key clean water and wetlands bill continues to grow. There are currently 169 cosponsors.

Thanks to all who wrote their House members on making sure that the Clean Water Act protects all waters of the United States, including small streams, lakes and wetlands.

Global Warming

HR 1590, the Safe Climate Act is now up to 140 cosponsors! That’s a strong number for a strong global warming bill that on its face is still pretty controversial. Thanks for writing your House member and asking him/her to sign on to the bill.

Good news! The House passed good energy legislation in July. The legislation contains a requirement that 15% of electricity nationwide will come from a combination of increased efficiency and clean, renewable sources by 2020.

The Senate passed their energy bill in June. It contains improvements in gas mileage for cars, but did not have a renewable electricity standard component.

When these two bills go to Conference Committee — where differences are resolved — we hope to ensure that the renewable electricity standard is retained from the House bill and the fuel economy standards are retained from the Senate bill.

Your letters on HR 1590 helped build a strong position for good energy legislation.

We’ll keep you posted on the complex but oh-so-important updates on global warming and energy legislation.

Sept 2007 Advocacy Tip of the Month

The National Environmental Policy Act and the Importance of Writing Comments

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), passed in 1970, was a quiet little law that has had huge impacts. NEPA requires that federal agencies assess the environmental impacts of significant activities such as the construction of airports, buildings, military

complexes, and highways; parkland purchases; and other proposed federal activities. Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), which are assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, are required from all federal agencies and are the most visible NEPA requirement. Once federal actions are proposed. the public has the right to comment on the course of action, either at hearings or through written comments or both. These comments must be reviewed, catalogued and considered carefully as the agency moves forward with proposed actions. Many environmentally destructive projects have been halted or significantly changed because of NEPA and the comments and public action it engendered.

Thanks for submitting comments on behalf of Teshekpuk Lake and all the wildlife that depends on this important and special area. We hope, with your help, that we can preserve Teshekpuk Lake for future generations.

 

Sequoia Audubon July 2006 Armchair Activist

Ask Interior Secretary Kempthorne Not to Hand Over Teshekpuk Lake to Big Oil

Congress and three prior Interior Secretaries serving under three different presidents have recognized the importance of wildlife habitats around Teshekpuk Lake in northern Alaska. Prompted by Congress in 1976, Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus created the 1,734,000-acre Teshekpuk Lake Special area in 1977. Then in 1983 DOI Secretary James Watt closed an area of more than 200,000 acres north of the lake to oil and gas leasing because of the area's high density of molting brant (a marine goose and an Audubon WatchList species). In fact, as many as 37,000 brant call this area home that is almost 30% of all Pacific brant. Under Secretary Babbitt in the 90s, the BLM designated the 857,859-acre Teshekpuk Lake Surface Protection Area and 588,998 acres of that were closed to oil and gas leasing to protect birds and other wildlife in the area.

Now, the Department of Interior under the new leadership of Dirk Kempthorne, plans to offer up areas of the previously protected Teshekpuk Lake to be leased for oil and gas this September. We must not allow this biologically important region that is so critical to many species of migratory birds and other wildlife to be handed over to big oil companies like ConocoPhillips. Drilling in Teshekpuk Lakewill NOT solve America's energy problems and will compromise this culturally and ecologically significant public land permanently.

Ecological Resources and the Impacts of Oil Development

After nearly two years gathering information on ecological and commercial resources in the western Arctic, Audubon scientists reached the following conclusions:

Teshekpuk Lake and the many nearby lakes and wetlands comprise one of the most important wetland complexes in the circumpolar Arctic.

Disturbance associated with routine human activities in an industrialized oilfield could displace molting geese and reduce their populations.

Oilfields attract predators, which then prey on nesting birds and young.

The 45,000-animal Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd is growing and is the most important herd for subsistence harvests by Alaska Natives living on the North Slope.

The interactive, cumulative effects of global warming and industrial oil development could have major consequences for Teshekpuk Lake wildlife.

An Arctic Jewel

Teshekpuk Lake is ecologically unique and one of the most critical wildlife habitats in the Arctic. It provides habitat for molting geese from three nations, nesting birds from six continents, and caribou on which several North Slope communities depend for subsistence. If this wetland wilderness is degraded by industrial-scale oil development, the likely impacts on wildlife will be felt not only inAlaska, but in the Lower 48 states, Mexico, Canada and Siberia.

Please take a minute and write a letter to the Secretary of the Interior encouraging him to stop the lease sale, currently scheduled for this September, that would lease parcels of land in the TeshekpukLake area for oil and gas drilling to the highest bidder.

Activist Letter

Your Name
Address
City, State, ZIP

Date

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240

Dear Secretary Kempthorne:

As a concerned citizen and member of Audubon, I ask that you protect the unique resources of TeshekpukLake and cancel the oil and gas lease sale scheduled for this September. Teshekpuk Lake in northernAlaska is a natural treasure with a unique and fragile wilderness that is home to an incredibly diverse variety of migratory birds and wildlife. The wetlands surrounding Teshekpuk Lake provides prime nesting and molting grounds for waterfowl, shorebirds, and the rare Yellow-billed Loon. NumerousNorth Slope native communities depend on the 45,000 head caribou herd that still roams the area for their subsistence. Development of oil and gas fields in this fragile habitat can only have significant, long-term detrimental impacts on the birds, wildlife, and people of northern Alaska.

I urge you NOT to give this previously protected, internationally significant area to oil giants like ConocoPhillips. I am very concerned that leases for oil and gas development will be sold this September to the highest bidder, without protecting the area?s unique and fragile habitat. Drilling inTeshekpuk Lake will NOT solve America?s energy problems and will compromise this culturally and ecologically significant public land permanently. The remote Teshekpuk Lake area is currently free of the influences of industrial scale oil development. I urge you to cancel the lease sale scheduled for September and protect Teshekpuk Lake for future generations.

Sincerely,
Your name

ARMCHAIR NEWS AND UPDATES

Just two weeks remain until Congress takes off for its July 4 recess. Legislative calendar days continue to dwindle but determined and powerful Members of Congress will redouble their efforts to attack key wildlife legislation in the days remaining.

Arctic National Wildlife
What Armchair LOM would be complete without mention of this key issue? It's been quiet on the Arctic front but as the House gets geared up for Energy Week (June 26) we may see some bad ideas float to the surface pairing energy efficienies with drilling the Arctic. We'll be ready to stop it.

Endangered Species Act
Possible legislation to undermine cornerstone protections for endangered and threatened wildlife is stalled at the committee level. At press time, we are hearing some late-breaking news that the Senate Finance Committee may take up a piece of the ESA debate and pass some legislation through that committee. Where it might go from there is anybody's guess right now.

Outer Continental Shelf Oil Drilling
This hasn't been featured in any recent Armchair Activist letters, but we did do an alert on it recently and prevailed in the House when it tried to left the 20-year moratorium on gas drilling off our east and west coasts. We stopped one attack in the House but expect additional efforts to crop up during Energy Week.

Get Connected
If you are receiving this Armchair Activist via email, are you on our E-Activist list? Get monthly updates on news and issues and alerts when action heats up on Capitol Hill. Consider joining our E-Activist list at http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon. It's quick, easy and free!

Endangered Species Still Endangered in Congress!

Continue to write letters to Senators Feinstein and Boxer about the Endangered Species Act and urge your friends and family in other states to write their senators.(See Sequoia Audubon's WEB Site at http://www.sequoia-audubon.org. Senator Crapo's (R-ID) Endangered Species (ESA) bill, S 2110, looked like the only horse in the ESA Senate race but focus has shifted to a possible second bill that would come from Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Senator Inhofe (R-OK). Though we have no specific idea what his bill might look like, we are not optimistic that it would benefit endangered species or their habitats.

Legislative calendar days are dwindling, especially in the Senate and there are rumors we might see amendments to ESA offered as "riders" to other bills as another means of getting something out of the Senate.

Stay tuned for an alert if the Senate attempts to slip weakening amendments onto other legislation.

Sequoia Audubon May 2006 Armchair Activist

Get the Lead Out to Protect California Condors!

The lead contained in bullets leads to the poisoning and deaths of many California condors every year.

Now wildlife supporters in California can prevent these poisonings and deaths. A bill (AB 2123) introduced in the General Assembly would protect California condors and other susceptible wildlife from poisoning by banning the use of lead ammunition within southern California (prime condor habitat). This bill would also create a program in which the state Department of Fish and Game may provide free non-toxic, non-lead ammunition to hunters.

"Lead poisoning is the primary threat to California condors in the wild and was the main reason why all wild condors were brought into captivity in the mid 1980s," according to Dr. Noel Snyder, former leader for condor field conservation at the USFWS and author of "The California Condor," a definitive history of condor conservation. "The failure to address the lead threat is resulting in numerous cases of lead poisoning in released condor populations and promises to preclude real success in the reintroduction program. Nothing less than a full replacement of lead ammunitions with non-toxic alternative ammunitions can be expected to solve this problem," added Snyder.

Released condors must be captured frequently to have their blood lead levels checked, and birds often need to undergo intrusive chemical chelation therapy to reduce dangerously high lead levels. At least 35 percent of the entire wild condor population has experienced acute lead poisoning and up to 80 percent of the birds released in southern California have experienced elevated lead levels since 1997. Released condors are supplied with lead-free cattle carcasses, but they still forage for carrion that may be lead-tainted. Since 1997, five reintroduced condors have died and at least 33 others have required blood treatment after feeding on lead contaminated carcasses. Mass mortalities may occur as released birds begin to forage more widely.

Hunters who use lead ammunition also risk poisoning by accidentally eating shot or bullet fragments embedded in meat. Lead is an extraordinarily toxic element that can damage the brain, central nervous system and reproductive system, and cause kidney disease, high blood pressure and numerous reproductive disorders. Health effects in humans following ingestion of whole lead shot pellets have been reported in many cases. A Canadian study of blood lead levels in hunters showed that shotgun ammunition used to harvest wild game is a major source of lead exposure in Native American communities in Canada.

Lead-free ammunition currently is available for many hunting and shooting activities. All-copper bullets are available in a wide variety of calibers as are bullets whose lead cores are entirely encased in steel. These bullets perform as well as or better than lead bullets for hunting big game. Effective, affordable non-lead shotgun ammunition also is widely available. The U. S. military is exploring a conversion to lead-free bullets, which promises to spur development of alternative ammunition and lower its price.

Please write your State Senator and State Representative
(see sample letter below):

Assembly Member Ira Ruskin

Capitol Address
State Capitol
Room 4139
Sacramento, CA 94249-0001
(916) 319-2021

District Address
5050 El Camino Real Suite 117
(650) 691-2121

Senator Joseph A. Simitian

Capitol Address
State Capitol
Room 4062
Sacramento, CA 94249-0001
(916) 651-4011

District Address
160 Town & Country Village
Palo Alto, CA 94301

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Assembly Member Ruskin (Or Senator Simitian):

As a supporter of the California condor, I am writing to request your support for AB 2123 by Assembly Member Pedro Nava.

I support this bill to protect the endangered California condor and other wildlife from the serious threat of lead poisoning. Specifically, AB 2123 bans the use of lead centerfire ammunition within a large portion of Southern California condor habitat, where condors are most at risk of lead poisoning.

The bill would also provide free non-lead ammunition coupons to hunters of big game and coyotes within this same region.

Despite great efforts to bring them back from the brink of extinction, endangered condors continue to perish in the wild due to lead poisoning. Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service California Condor Recovery Team and the California Department of Fish and Game have concluded that lead poisoning is one of the most serious obstacles to the recovery of the California condor.

Other large birds, such as golden and bald eagles, are also susceptible to lead poisoning from ingesting lead bullet fragments. Overwhelming evidence shows that these birds experience highly elevated lead blood levels as a result of ingesting lead ammunition.

Although AB 2123 is designed to protect wildlife, the bill also provides public health benefits. Humans that use lead ammunition are exposed to lead residues and airborne lead particles. Hunters may also accidentally ingest small fragments of lead in wildlife meat.

I urge you to vote "aye" on AB 2123. Thank you for considering my views.

Regards,

(put your name and address)