Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#49
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SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT
#48
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SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY
ksuckling@sw-center.org
www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center
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1.
BELOW COST BLM LAND SALE BLOCKED
2. ARIZONANS OPPOSE FRAUDULENT PLAN TO
KEEP JAGUAR OFF ENDANGERED
SPECIES LIST
3. ARIZONA
BUSINESS MAGAZINE NAMES THE SOUTHWEST CENTER
"WHO TO WATCH IN
1997"
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1. BELOW COST BLM
LAND SALE BLOCKED
The BLM has ruled in favor of a Southwest Center
protest against
the sale of 460 acres of public land to mining giant Phelps
Dodge.
The land would have been sold for $500/acre even though the
market
rate is $3,000 acre- a loss of $1,150,000 to the government.
The land would
be sold with no competitive bidding.
The sale would allow Phelps
Dodge to reopen and expand its
Lavender Copper Mine which has been closed
since the 1970s. The
BLM, however, refuses to acknowledge the relationship
between the
land sale and reopening of the mine, it also refuses to
acknowledge
the effects of opening the mine on the Bisbee which has developed
a
thriving tourist economy since the 1970s. The land to be sold is
only
1.5 miles from downtown.
According to the ruling, the BLMs
revision to its Resource
Management Plan which allowed the sale is illegal
and will have to
be redone. The Southwest Center's simultaneous appeal of
the
environmental effects of the land sale is still being
considered.
2. ARIZONANS OPPOSE FRAUDULENT PLAN TO KEEP JAGUAR
OFF ENDANGERED
SPECIES LIST
100 people turned out
on February 5th at a Tucson public meeting to
discuss a proposed AZ and NM
conservation plan for the imperiled
Jaguar. The meeting was scheduled at the
request of the Southwest
Center which protested the fact that earlier meeting
were all held in
towns dominated by cattle interests. The vast majority those
attending were in support of listing the Jaguar as and
Endangered
species.
The jaguar was proposed for listing as Endangered
in 1994 due to a
lawsuit by the Southwest Center. It is currently the subject
of another
suit by the Center to finalize its status. Though the Jaguar is
listed
under the Endangered Species Act south of the border, is
was
"accidentally" not listed in the U.S. according to the Fish
and
Wildlife Service. It has since become complete extirpated
from
southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and
Louisiana.
To head off the final listing of North America's largest cat,
the states
of AZ and NM have proposed a conservation agreement which
would
supposedly protect the jaguar. Unfortunately, the conservation
agreement
contains no enforceable regulations, no habitat protection,
and no hunting
restrictions. It is merely a list of study
recommendations, panels, and other
promises. The Southwest Center
and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation won two
lawsuits in 1996
establishing that the Fish and Wildlife Service can only
consider
actual conservation plans when deciding whether to list
species
under the ESA, it can not consider mere promises.
3.
ARIZONA BUSINESS MAGAZINE NAMES THE SOUTHWEST CENTER
"WHO
TO WATCH IN 1997"
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***
ARIZONA BUSINESS MAGAZINE NAMES THE
SOUTHWEST CENTER "WHO TO WATCH
IN 1997"
>From Arizona Business Magazine, Jan/Feb 1997
With great care Arizona Business Magazine has compiled its list of
who to
watch in 1997. These are people and organizations we expect
to accomplish a
lofty feat or overcome a substantial challenge in
the coming year. We
anticipate that the actions of the people and
organizations of this list will
not only make headline news in 1997,
but will have a direct impact on the
lives of the people of
Arizona...They are people who will undoubtably
influence the
political, economical or social fabric of Arizona.
...
...
Throughout the years a number of laws have been
established intended
to protect the environment - the Clear Air Act, the
Clean Water Act,
the Endangered Species Act. But the U.S. Government hasn't
been as
effective in enforcing those laws as in creating them. Enter
the
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, a
Tucson-based
environmental activist group formed in 1990. This group has made
it
their mission to see that the government enforces its laws."
"A
lot of the environmental laws, in one way or another, come down to
saying the
Forest Service and the BLM must use the best science. And
so it's up to us to
prove that they're not. And to prove that *we*
are using the best science,"
says Kieran Suckling, executive director
and one of the group's founders.
"It's really not that hard to make a
case, once you figure it out."
Suckling and his group do seem to have figured it out. Their approach
is
science-based activism, in which they present so much
conclusive
environmental data the courts have no choice but to rule in
their
favor...they've filed petitions to list more than 20 species
of
plants and animals as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered
Species Act and have filed about 50 lawsuits against various
federal
agencies. And they've won some major battles, which have resulted
in
a one year injunction that halts all logging in national forests
until
the Forest Service completes a comprehensive study determining
the
environmental impact of such activity.
...
Developments such
as [the Salvage Rider] are guiding Suckling's group
down a more political
path in 1997. They realize that, in addition to
providing proof, they must
develop political muscle. During the past
few years, the group has focused
more on bringing large numbers of
people together to create a real political
force. For example, its
membership has increased in the last two years from
200 to 3,000.
They have canvassers going door to door in Tucson and
Flagstaff
preaching their doctrine and they have a direct mail campaign
in
progress. this year the group plans to start a 501c4 organization that
will
allow them to do political lobbying and advocacy.
"That's
really a crucial realm if we're going to preserve our laws
and preserve the
forests and rivers," says Suckling. "We need to be
able to exert political
pressure. Specifically, we're going to really
be going after (Republican
congressmen) J.D. Hayworth, Jon Kyl, and
John Shadegg, because those are the
three in Arizona that are really
way out there. I mean these guys are far
right of Gingrich and are
really pushing for some crazy
stuff."