CoBirders: Just a little more background info in the Murkowski amendment, since Karl Stretcher voiced concerns about the Audubon alert. I had assumed that this was pretty urgent, rather bird-habitat related, and that an Audubon alert would not be terribly controversial for an ornithology list serve. (Bruce Gill has been kind enough to send along the amendment itself.)
The following comes from the Public Citizen Action Network, sent yesterday (please excuse the rather strident language. . .) *With climate legislation held up in the Senate and the Copenhagen climate talks' failure to produce a binding, international agreement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has emerged as the critical agency in regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Through application of the Clean Air Act, the EPA has the authority to curb climate change. Unfortunately, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and lobbyists for some of the biggest polluters in the country have other plans for the Clean Air Act<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=67IAbHwjmTkpCkzlVMkIGn86wkb2byLu> . **Tomorrow, Senator Murkowski is planning to introduce an amendment that would halt the EPA's implementation of the Clean Air Act and undermine one of our most important environmental laws. We know that big energy likes the amendment, since they helped draft it. In the Washington Post, a lobbyist for energy giants like Southern Co. and Duke Energy<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=28268q%2B0xyhDJdFmwxFeGH86wkb2byLu>, Jeff Holmsted, admitted to working with Murkowski's staff on the exact language of the amendment.This is after Senator Murkowski received more than $124,500 from Holmsted's clients.* *The Murkowski amendment seeks to reverse the EPA's critical finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers public health. The endangerment finding triggers the Clean Air Act and prompts the EPA to take the first step toward curbing climate change pollution. ** (Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts.) * * *Again, more background. . . Paula * * -- soaring.b...@gmail.com paulabardphotography.com 303-898-5054 *"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." William Blake*
