Subject: FW: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #92


Subject: SW BIODIVERSITY ALERT #92

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              SOUTHWEST BIODIVERSITY ALERT #92
                           9/3/97          

          SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
           silver city, tucson, phoenix, san diego
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1. SYMINGTON CONVICTED ON SEVEN COUNTS! PARTY AT THE BUFFET

2. SOUTHWEST CENTER TO SUE OVER SAN DIEGO M.S.C.P.

3. APPEAL FILED IN LAKE MEAD CASE

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SYMINGTON CONVICTED ON SEVEN COUNTS! PARTY AT THE BUFFET

The Southwest Center invites all its members to the Buffet (Tucson, AZ) at
6pm on Wednesday, September 3rd to celebrate the conviction of Fife Symington,
erstwhile governor of Arizona, on federal charges. Symington, who pledged to
shoot spotted owls, and once compared the Southwest Center's efforts to save
the San Pedro River as an "environmental drive-by shooting" was convicted on
seven counts, including bank and wire fraud.

Symington resigned as governor at 5pm, happy hour begins at 6pm.
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SOUTHWEST CENTER TO SUE OVER SAN DIEGO M.S.C.P.

On August 15, 1997, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity notified
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it will sue over the agency's failure
to protect San Diego County's wildlife via the Multiple Species
Conservation Program (MSCP).  Politicians, developers, and agency officials
continue to intentionally misrepresent the MSCP, fraudulently labeling it
"a gift to species and habitat."  In reality, the underlying motivation
pushing the MSCP forward at an alarming rate, has been purposefully
downplayed:  The MSCP is a program that creates a loophole for developers
to avoid compliance with the Endangered Species Act, America's premiere
wildlife protection law.

Implementing the MSCP was not one the charges brought against Symington.
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APPEAL FILED IN LAKE MEAD CASE

The Southwest Center, on September 2, 1997, appealed a district court decision
affirming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's biological opinion on Bureau of
Reclamation operations on the Lower Colorado River. The Fish and Wildlife
Service
authorized the complete destruction of the endangered southwestern willow
flycatcher population at Lake Mead, even though it has permitted the destruction
of 25% of the entire subspecies in the last two years.

Ex-governor Symington appointed Rita Pearson to the Arizona Department of Water
Resources, which subsequently opposed efforts by the Southwest Center and
Defenders of Wildlife to save the flycatcher population at Lake Mead. Pearson
was appointed from the law firm of Snell and Wilmer, which represented
Symington
in his financial "problems" which eventually led to his conviction. Snell
and Wilmer
did not collect its full share of fees from Symington, but enjoyed $365,000
worth
of government contracts and the appointment of Pearson to Arizona's highest
water
managment post.



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Kieran Suckling                               ksuckling@sw-center.org
Executive Director                            520.623.5252 phone
Southwest Center for Biological Diversity     520.623.9797 fax
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/sw-center      pob 710, tucson, az 85702-710