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SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
http://www.sw-center.org
#173
2-18-98
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o
NATURE CONSERVANCY PROPOSES WEAKING ESA, INCREASING STATE
SUBSIDIES TO
LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY
o CNN POLL: 58% FAVOR EXPANSION OF WILDERNESS
AREAS
o ENVIROS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS SUPPORT STRIKING MINE WORKERS
o
BILL TO CONTROL SPRAWL KILLED BY DEVELOPER/REALTY
LOBBY
*****
***** ***** *****
NATURE
CONSERVANCY PROPOSES WEAKING ESA, INCREASING STATE
SUBSIDIES TO LIVESTOCK
INDUSTRY
In a 1-27-99 news release/report/poll, the Arizona Chapter of
the
Nature Conservancy, in partnership with the livestock industry,
called
for "reforming" implementation of the Endangered Species
Act and massively
increasing state subsidies to the ranching
industry. Among the proposed
subsidies: paying ranchers for the
grass eaten by wildlife on their federal
grazing allotments and
paying ranchers for "maintaining" public lands. These
proposal
were deemed necessary by the Conservancy because
environmental
laws are allegedly forcing ranchers to sell their lands
to
developers.
In a sharply worded rebuttal, however, the Southwest
Center and
17 environmental groups from Arizona and New Mexico reminded
the
Conservancy that grazing is the number threat to endangered
species in
the Southwest. We challenged the Conservancy provide
a single example of
environmental restrictions leading to
subdivisions. The rebuttal is available
at:
http://www.sw-center.org/swcbd/activist/tnc.html
In
a 2-4-98 editorial, the Arizona Daily Star approved of
coalitions between
ranchers and environmentalists, but warned:
"Some environmentalists
are right to question some of the
assumptions of the group, including
rhetoric that styles
environmental lawsuits a leading cause of ranch
breakup. That is
simply not so. Suits against federal agencies have at
times been
burdensome, and clearly outrage ranch folks. But the main
reason
rural landscapes are falling apart remains the state's
explosive
run-up of private land real estate values. To say otherwise
blurs
the issue and will lead to controversy.
By the same
token, advocating changes in the way the government
administers the
Endangered Species Act seems problematic too."
________________________________
CNN POLL: 57% FAVOR EXPANSION OF
WILDERNESS AREAS
Fifty seven percent of voters checking on CNN's web
site,
favor designating more federally protected wilderness areas.
Votes
are still being tallied though the poll has been moved
to a back page. To
vote, click on address below, scroll down
a few inches, and click on the
wilderness yes button.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9902/09/utah.wilderness.enn/
_______________________________
ENVIROS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS SUPPORT
STRIKING MINE WORKERS
Environmental and religious groups in southern Arizona
and Sonora
Mexico signed the following pledge of solidarity with Mexican
mine
workers striking against ASARCO and the Grupo Mexico over
anti-
worker, anti-environmental practices at the Cananea mine on
the
headwaters of the San Pedro River. By firing workers assigned
to
ensure that mining waste does not contaminate the San Pedro, the
Rio
Yaqui, and the wells of Cananea, Grupo Mexico is creating
a situation similar
to the 1970's when a massive waste spill
killed virtually all vertebrate
aquatic life along 70 miles of
the San Pedro River.
We stand
today united in support of the striking miners in
Cananea, Mexico, who
struggle for the basics of a dignified human
existence: a fair wage,
safe working conditions, health care, a
clean environment, and political
freedom.
We celebrate the power of organized labor to achieve these
basic
dignities.
We acknowledge that increasing corporate control
of government
and public institutions often leaves labor and community groups
as
the last defense against exploitation of workers, communities,
and
their resources.
We are alarmed that powerful corporations in
the new global
economy ignore borders, laws, and human rights in pursuit of
profit,
as the masters of capital turn neighbor against neighbor in a
global
"race to the bottom."
We believe that we must organize to
transcend political, geographic,
and cultural barriers in order to challenge
corporate power and
protect our communities, no matter what city, country, or
continent
they inhabit.
We therefore declare an alliance between
the forces of labor,
environment, community, and religious, in support of the
striking
miners in Cananea struggling to protect their community.
We stand today in front of ASARCO headquarters in order to
take
responsibility for corporations that are a part of our community.
We
call attention to ASARCO's destructive operations around the
world--
such as the criminal environmental contamination in southern
Peru--and
their relationship with Grupo Mexico.
We demand justice
for the strikers and environmental protection for
Cananea and the surrounding
countryside. We demand responsibility from
the corporations that would
exploit them, including ASARCO and Grupo
Mexico.
We demand
that Grupo Mexico negotiate a fair settlement of the strike
and invest in
environmental protection and remediation in Cananea, and
that ASARCO and
other transnational corporations that do business with
Grupo Mexico support
these demands.
We demand that the new global economy be shaped to put
the needs of
people before profit, and sustainable development before
exploitation
and environmental destruction.
SW Center for Biological
Diversity Arizona Earth First!
AFL-CIO Community Services of
S.AZ Labor Party, AZ chapter
Salt
of the Earth Labor College Sierra Club, Rincon
chapter
Save the Scenic Santa Ritas
Tucsonans for a Clean
Environment
Southern AA Central Labor
Council Derechos
Humanos
Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros,
Metalurgicos y
Similares de la Rupublica Mexicana
Religious
Task Force on Central America
Students, Actors, and Writers for Social
Justice
_______________________________
BILL
TO CONTROL SPRAWL KILLED BY DEVELOPER/REALTY LOBBY
House Speaker Jeff
Groscost (R-Mesa) is preventing an anti-sprawl
bill introduced by Carolyn
Allen (R-Scottsdale) from being heard
in Arizona's house of representatives.
The bill would stop wildcat
subdivisions by only allowing land to be
subdivided three times
in ten years. A similar bill by and Ann Day (R-Tucson)
is making
its way through the Senate, but even if it passes, must go
before
Groscost in the House where it will meet certain death.
Heavily
backed and lobbied by developers and realtors, Groscost
has made a career out
of blocking growth control
measures.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kierán
Suckling
ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive
Director
520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity 520.623.9797 fax
http://www.sw-center.org
pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710