And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 09:38:07 -0600 To: "Wild Rockies Alerts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Wild Rockies InfoNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Salmon alerts (2) To All: If you are for SALMON RECOVERY, support MARINE PROTECTED AREAS as the Murray-Metcalf Marine Resource Committee intends, and WANT SAFE WATER RECREATION, then you can take the lst step towards seeing sediment cleanup is done in a listed chinook area--the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Please sign on to the letter to Senator Patty Murray to direct USEPA Administrator Carol Browner to see that the hazardous wastes (dioxins, PCBs, heavy metals) deposited by Rayonier Pulp Mill over 70 years are thoroughly cleaned from the sediments, soils, and water. It will ONLY BE DONE if the site is listed on the Superfund National Priority List. This is the only true option for direct citizen involvement into the process. REMEMBER, TOO, THESE ARE NATIONAL AS WELL AS STATE WATERS AND INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY ANIMALS ARE DEPENDENT ON THIS RESOURCE. FOR THEIR SAKE AND YOURS, SIGN ON AND HELP GET THESE RESOURCES CLEANED RIGHT. These are national and international resources which all of us steward and have a say about. Just send me your name, organization (optional), and address on a separate email, or return this with your name added at the bottom. I would like to have your email signature this week. Thank you. And feel free to ask friends, etc. to sign on. We need many hundreds of signatures. Darlene Schanfald Olympic Environmental Council 3632 O'Brien Road Port Angeles WA 98362 360-417-0855 (Phone & FAX) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -------- OLYMPIC ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL 3632 O'BRIEN ROAD PORT ANGELES WA 98362 360-417-0855 date Senator Patty Murray 111 Russell Senate Office Bldg Washington DC 20510-4704 Dear Senator Murray: We need your immediate help. Please contact Carol Browner, Administrator, USEPA and Chuck Clarke, Administrator, Region 10 EPA. Direct them to list on the Superfund National Priority List (NPL) the Port Angeles WA (ITT) Rayonier contaminated mill and adjoining properties. These are some of the reasons for the listing: * EPA Region 10 voted to recommend the mill site for the NPL and oversee the site cleanup after finding sufficient levels of dioxins, PCBs and heavy metal on the mill site and in off-site adjoining water bodies and soils of residential, hospital and business properties . * The mill belched and dumped into the Port Angeles community and into the adjoining state and national water bodies a vast array and amount of dangerous chemicals for 70 years. * WA State Vital Statistics determined that the highest numbers of Port Angeles deaths in several disease categories occurred under the reach of Rayonier's plumes. The type of contaminants spewed out of this mill are associated with the types of death causations. It is time Rayonier repays the Port Angeles community and state and national residents by doing a QUALITY CLEANUP of these most dangerous chemicals. But we face the opposite scenario. * A "quick and dirty" cleanup by WA State Department of Ecology (DOE), dictated and paid for by Rayonier. DOE will be entirely dependent on Rayonier financing. There will be no backup by Federal EPA enforcement powers, staff, or dollars should Rayonier refuse to cooperate with the cleanup. * DOE disputes the severity of existing contamination and promises to do the cleanup "faster." * DOE must oversee the cleanup of toxicants not listed as hazardous waste. Yet a DOE document, referring to a Rayonier contaminated site still under Superfund investigation, states DOE will not test for levels of other toxicants, as required, if EPA does not rank this a Superfund site. * The State's Toxic Cleanup Account faces an $8.4 million shortfall, and DOE's entire cleanup act faces a legal challenge in court by another national polluter, ASARCO. Years of documentation verify DOE abandoned its role of public protection. It ignored and minimized Rayonier's pollution and permit violations. It interpreted state regulations favorable to Rayonier. It was generous to Rayonier with variances and conditions. DOE consistently refused to work with citizens to reign in Rayonier's pollution during the mill's operation. DOE has lost credibility with citizens. Page 1 of 2 The Bellingham Herald, March 24 editorial title well encapsulates the problem: ECOLOGY DEPT. IS TOO POLITICAL TO HANDLE CLEANUPS. COST: ENORMOUS EXPENSE in lost private property, human functioning, and wildlife and habitat. Neither the Murray-Metcalf Marine Resources Committee work nor the ESA listing of the area's chinook can be taken seriously without the highest quality cleanup of Rayonier's contaminants in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Only the federal government with citizen backup will effect this high quality cleanup. The PETITIONERS for the Superfund Assessment represent 15 western WA environmental, health and educational organizations, four Port Angeles homeowner associations and many local residents, together representing about one quarter million WA State residents. We are joined my more citizens and organizations in wanting this to be listed on the Superfund NPL. Only we, the citizens, did our homework and dared to bring this matter to the public. We, the citizens, are working for a QUALITY CLEANUP OF THESE MOST DANGEROUS CONTAMINANTS. We have our "eyes on the prize" and we ask you to join and be in the front line of our march to achieve Superfund listing of this most dangerous site, and support a partnering oversight cleanup team consisting of the citizen petitioners and EPA. . We ask you to honor the citizens' work to restore personal properties, life expectancies and natural resources. You can honor us by stepping forward and insisting the Rayonier mill and adjoining contaminated properties are listed on the NPL. We think this is a simple, doable and appropriate request. This matter is on a fast track. Please let us hear from you in the very immediate future. Respectfully, [signees] ***************************************************** Northwest Endangered Species Alert -- Issue #67 Endangered Species NORTHWEST May 5, 1999 A regular update on endangered species published by the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Endangered Species Northwest is your source for regional news. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with <unsubscribe> in the subject line (do not include the <> brackets). -- ACTION ALERT...ACTION ALERT...ACTION ALERT...ACTION ALERT GOVERNORS ILL-ADVISED "SALMON SOLUTION" IS MORE OF A PROBLEM Plan will be Locked in place for at least 10 generations of Puget Sound chinook Fish and Forests Report will help neither fish nor forests. When the State legislature reconvenes for a special session May 17th, it will vote on SHB 2091. There's still time to deliver the counter punches needed to knock Governor Locke's salmon "fix" to the canvas. The bill that would guarantee certainty only for the timber industry in an age of salmon extinctions, has been staggered recently by universal and virulent criticism from conservationists and independent scientists. The timber industry has lobbied hard for the bill, which incorporates Locke's " Fish and Forest Report", a lengthy document, negotiated with the timber industry, that is purported to be Washington State's answer to recent listings of salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act. It's an answer allright, but it's the wrong one. Twenty-eight leading regional independent scientists give salmon some pretty long odds for survival under the Fish and Forest Report's streamside buffer guidelines. Streamside protections under the the plan, pale by comparison to those guaranteed in Federal forests under the Northwest Forest Plan. In fact, Forest and Fish standards are less stringent than any current or proposed management plans for salmon. It will also compromise disturbance sensitive, ESA listed bull trout and sensitive amphibian species. Moreover, SHB 2091 would ---further sweeten the pot for "big timber" by granting regulatory certainty and continued subsidies in the form of some pretty liberal tax breaks, ---undermine the Forest Practices Board's rule-making authority, ---remain in place 50 years, ---puts the timber industry largely in control of any changes to future logging rules, ---cover 10 million acres of state and private forest land in Washington. In addition to the paltry streamside reserves on fish-bearing streams, virtually all smaller upstream reaches would receive no streamside buffers at all, and there are very minor limits on logging where soils and slopes are landslide prone. There are four other proposals before the Forest Practices Board-from the environmental community and three tribes-all proposals deserve a fair hearing and review. The Las Vegas oddsmakers are giving the Governors plan a 60-40 chance of passing (down from a few weeks ago when it was a sure thing, because of relentless pressure) but giving salmon much longer odds for survival if it does. However Vegas insiders predict that activists can turn the tables and thrash the bill if they can keep pressure on legislators and make their voices heard in the media. Those who have opposed the bill include the environmental/conservation community, the League of Women Voters, fishing groups, several tribes, and thousands of citizens. WHAT YOU CAN DO...... Please tell your legislators to Oppose 2091. Please call before May 17th, as the special session will be a short one. Hand written letters are especially effective. E-mails are least effective. A "no" vote on 2091 is a vote for salmon and for good government. Top scientists have said this deal is not scientifically credible. Don't give big timber a tax cut to continue to degrade salmon habitat and water quality. We don't need this bill. Let the Forest Practices Board do its job. Contact info for Legislators- If calling: use 1-800-562-6000. Regular letters should be addressed to: Senator___ POB 40482 Olympia, Wa. 98504-0482 Representative____ POB 40600 Oly, Wa. 98504-0482 If emailing, use up to the first 8 letters of your legislator's last name, followed by a _ and then the first 2 letters of the first name @leg.wa.gov. If you do not know your legislators' names go to: http://dfind.leg.wa.gov (there is no "www.") Example for email: Representative Helen Sommers: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] It is especially important to call the following legislators, if you are in their districts. But calls and letters should not be limited to these legislators. Even if your legislators are not on this list, you should still call them. House: 1 (360) 786-____ Dave Anderson (D) 10th -7884 Kelly Barlean (R) 10th -7914 Pat Lantz (D) 26th -7964 Laura Ruderman (D) 45th -7822 Helen Sommers (D) 36th -7814 Mike Wensman (R) 5th -7894 Frank Chopp (D) 43rd -7920 Dave Quall (D) 40th -7800 Debbie Regala (D) 29th -7974 Don Carlson (R) 49th -7924 Senate: Tracey Eide (D) 30th -7658 Al O'Brien (D) 1st -7928 Jeanne Edwards (D) 1st -7900 Brian Thomas (R) 5th -7876 Al Bauer (D) 49th -7696 Ruth Kagi (D)32nd -7910 Kathy Haigh (D)35th -7966 Marilyn Rasmussen (D) 2nd-7602 Shirley Winsley (R) 28th -7654 Georgia Gardner (D) 42th -7862 Jeanine Long (R) 44th -7686 Bill Finkbeiner (R) 45th -7672 Valoria Loveland (D) 16th-7630 Ed Murray (D) 43rd -7826 For more information, call Becky Kelley at the Washington Environmental Council, 206-622-8103 or email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]. _____________________________________________________________________________ Joe Scott, Conservation Director mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Northwest Ecosystem Alliance http://www.ecosystem.org/~nwea/ 1421 Cornwall Avenue, Suite 201 360/671-9950 (ext. 11), fax:671-8429 Bellingham WA 98225 NWEA broadcasts to a periodic public lands and endangered species alert listserv, called Endangered Species NW. If you wish to get on this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with <subscribe> in the subject line of the message (do not include the <> brackets). ************************************************************************ List-Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> News Submissions or Problems: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This list is a public service provided by WIN: http://www.wildrockies.org Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
