UPDATE, 4/30/07, via NRDC:

One more last-minute alert and sample letter, this time from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Take action here.

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UPDATE, 4/24/07, via Audubon:

The Forest Service has released its draft plan and environmental impact statement (EIS) for managing the Tongass National Forest in Alaska for the next 10-15 years. Currently, the Tongass is the only national forest in the United States where road building and commercial logging are allowed in roadless areas, a result of the December 2003 decision by the current administration to exempt the Tongass from the national Roadless Rule, which prohibits most commercial logging in the remaining roadless areas of all other national forests.

Public comments on the draft plan are due Monday, April 30th. This is your opportunity to tell the Forest Service to protect the remaining intact watersheds (roadless areas) of highest ecological value in America’s largest national forest and the world’s most significant region (along with British Columbia) of old-growth temperate rainforest. The Forest Service will then review your comments and make a decision later this summer.

Click here to take action.

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Via Campaign for America’s Wilderness:

Protect America’s Largest National Forest

The Tongass National Forest, located in south- eastern Alaska, is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. This home to bald eagles, spawning salmon and brown and black bears is a natural wonder that deserves our care and respect. However a new management plan from the Forest Service would allow commercial logging and development in some of the wildest areas in the forest: roadless areas home to some of the oldest and largest trees and best habitat for fish and wildlife.

Please take action before April 30 and tell the Forest Service to fix its plan.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts Campaign for America’s Wilderness forests national forests Tongass National Forest Alaska rainforest logging wildlife conservation audubon nrdc Natural Resources Defense Council

UPDATE, 4/5/07:

Check out Audubon’s alert and sample letter, too!

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Via Working Assets:

Tell the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to Protect Polar Bears

Under pressure from a lawsuit filed by NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, the Bush administration announced in December 2006 that it was formally proposing to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act — a crucial first step toward saving the bear from the ravages of global warming. But that doesn’t mean the administration will finalize that life-saving step, much less enforce it.

In fact, the administration’s proposal fails to designate critical habitat areas for the polar bear — even though melting habitat is the whole problem. And its proposal also refuses to identify global warming as the cause of the polar bears’ disappearing habitat, as if the polar bear could be saved without reducing our nation’s global warming pollution. That’s why we need a final decision that designates “critical habitat” for the bear and addresses human-caused global warming as the main threat.

Call to action: Tell the Bush administration to protect the polar bear and its Arctic habitat.

Deadline: April 9th, 2007

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts working assets act for change polar bears bears wildlife conservation climate change global warming Arctic audubon

Via Audubon:

Protect Boreal Habitat Now - Before Development Takes Over

The Boreal Forest of North America is the summer breeding ground for over 300 species of birds we see in the U.S. and Canada, including sparrows, warblers, woodpeckers, and the endangered Whooping Crane. Now, these birds and our environment are under threat.

International oil companies are on a fast track to construct oil and gas pipelines through the Boreal Forest—the last unspoiled forest on Earth.

These pipelines will fuel the Alberta Tar Sands, the dirtiest oil extraction process on Earth, which produces 3 times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil production, accelerating global warming.

Canadian officials have proposals in front of them right now to protect the Boreal Forest. Send a letter today urging them to protect this treasure, and put a moratorium on Tar Sands expansion, before any pipeline is built!

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts Audubon birds Boreal Forest oil gas wildlife conservation endangered species

Via Audubon:

The Sagebrush Sea Needs Your Help!

Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline is one of the largest strongholds for Greater Sage-Grouse and critical winter range and migration route for thousands of mule deer and pronghorn. Now, the Bureau of Land Management has released a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) which reveals unprecedented removal of crucial wildlife habitat protections, which could eliminate the sage-grouse from this critical breeding area.

Public comments are due February 12! Speak out for sage-grouse by sending a letter expressing your concerns about the disregard for the West’s birds and wildlife.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts audubon conservation Wyoming Pinedale Anticline Sagebrush Sea

UPDATE, 1/22/07:

As many of you know, HR6 passed the House on Thursday; you can read the full text of the bill here.

Says Ayinde O. Chase of All Headline News,

On Thursday the House of Representatives passed the CLEAN Energy Act (H.R. 6), which rolls back subsidies and tax breaks for Big Oil, by a vote of 264 to 163. The bill specifically aims to close certain tax loopholes available to big oil companies, and collect royalties from oil and gas produced in public waters. The legislation when enforced will shift more than $14 billion from certain subsidies to investments in clean energy, such as energy-efficient technologies and renewable power. […]

The monies collected could be directed to:

- spur the construction of wind and solar energy power generation facilities

- provide incentives for energy-efficient appliances, buildings and equipment

- enable more people to purchase gas-saving hybrid cars and trucks […]

An Apollo Alliance study discovered that a major investment in alternative energy technologies has the potential of adding more than 3.3 million new jobs to the nation’s economy, stimulating $1.4 trillion dollars in new Gross Domestic Product, and eventually paying for itself in a 10-year time span.

Sweet.

My favorite headline come from Salon: “Big Oil gets punked” (!).

Earthjustice recommends sending your rep a thank you, that is, if she or he is deserving of one. Otherwise, ignore the twit and vote against him/her in the next election cycle.

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With Congress slated to vote on the clean energy portion of their 100 Hours agenda later this week, the action alerts are coming at my inbox, fast and furious. Rather than post each individually, here’s a roundup of those that call on Congress to end subsidies for Big Oil, support clean energy, and/or vote yes on H.R. 6. I’ll add new ones to the top of the list as they arrive.

(more…)

Via Audubon:

Thank Victoria’s Secret for Their Forest-Friendly Pledge

On December 6, Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, announced a new forest protection plan, which will eliminate its use of paper from critical habitat in the boreal forest of Canada, one of the world’s three largest intact forests.

Please join Audubon in thanking Victoria’s Secret for this commitment by sending a quick e-mail now.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalist environmentalism action+alerts audubon paper forests deforestation logging victorias+secret conservation

UPDATE, 12/5/06: One more action alert regarding S. 3711 - this one from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV).

Via True Majority:

Protect our coasts, not oil profits

This week the House is voting on a bill (S. 3711) that would benefit the oil industry by opening up more of our coastal areas to off-shore drilling — starting with Florida.

Tell your Representative to oppose this bill and protect our coasts, not Big Oil’s bottom line.

Find out more about S. 3711 here.

Audubon also has an action alert/sample letter available here.

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Tagged: environment environmentalist environmentalism action+alerts true+majority oil drilling oil+drilling offshore+drilling florida coastline lcv league+of+conservation+voters audubon

Via Audubon:

Corps Nationwide Wetlands Permit Alert

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed reissuing and modifying 44 nationwide wetlands permits and adding six new nationwide permits. Additionally, the Corps has edited 27 general conditions. The cumulative effect is a weakening of existing regulations, which could lead to loss of important wetlands and bird habitat. Your comments on these proposed changes are needed today.

The Corps’ existing 100-year floodplain general condition has been gutted, leaving only local and state requirements to restrict development in these sensitive areas. The Corps previously independently safeguarded these areas. Under the new condition, if there are no state or local requirements, development would be wholly unrestricted in these floodplains.

Additionally, a new permit would allow for discharges of dredged or fill material resulting from surface coal mining into waters of the United States. The cumulative effect of these permits could result in large-scale destruction of waters and streams in Appalachia.

Many birds on the Audubon Watchlist, such as the Swainson’s Warbler, Canada Warbler, and Kentucky Warbler, depend on small streams in the Appalachians for food and nesting. Productive streams are the primary food source for these birds. Additionally, these birds nest within the low vegetation surrounding these streams. Eliminating this food source and habitat would jeopardize these already depleted species.

Please ask the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect wetlands and associated habitat. Ask them to reconsider re-issuing and modifying these permits and general conditions. Send in your comments today.

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Tagged: environment environmentalist environmentalism action+alerts Army+Corps+of+Engineers Audubon wetlands

Via Audubon:

The U.S. Senate will vote Monday on S 3711, a bill to open eight million acres off of Florida’s west coast to offshore drilling. S 3711 threatens the longstanding tradition of protection for America’s coastal-dependent economies and most valued coastlines. Please let your Senators know today that you do not support offshore drilling.

Urge your Senators to oppose S. 3711.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Audubon - audubonaction [at] audubon.org
Date: Jul 12, 2006 3:28 PM
Subject: Audubon Alert - Keep Up Pressure For WRDA

July 12, 2006

KEEP UP THE PRESSURE
Urge Congress to Fund Restoration Projects Now

The U.S. Senate continues to stall important legislation that would authorize restoration of important ecosystems like the Everglades, the Mississippi River, Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands, and the Great Lakes. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) would authorize these ecosystem restoration projects. WRDA approval of these crucial projects is long overdue. The House has already passed its version (H.R. 2864) but the Senate is delaying action on its version of the bill (S. 728).

Take a moment to write and call your Senators and urge them to: 1) press Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to schedule WRDA and Ecosystem Restoration for floor action now; 2) ask them to include Corps modernization provisions for independent review of costly or controversial Corps projects and to ensure that mitigation for Corps projects is consistent with stricter state laws as proposed by Senators Feingold and McCain; and 3) support Senator Nelson’s Apalachicola dredging deauthorization amendment.

(more…)