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NFC: Fw: HELP STOP ANTI-CORPS REFORM RIDER -- CALL YOUR SENATORS!
Robert Rice
Save those Fishes
Join the Native Fish Conservancy
http://www.nativefish.org
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP A HARMFUL RIDER THAT WOULD
FOREVER PROHIBIT REFORM OF THE US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS!
I appoligize for sending you two emails in one day, but
your help is important.
In an effort led by Senator Domenici (R-NM), some
legislators are proposing to prohibit the Clinton
Administration from fulfilling its constitutional
obligation to provide civilian oversight of the Corps. We
need your help to stop this harmful rider.
Senator Domenici has attached an anti-reform rider to the
Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill that says:
“None of the funds made available in this or any other act
may be used to restructure, reorganize, abolish, transfer,
consolidate, or otherwise alter or modify the organization
or management oversight structure, existing delegations or
functions or activities applicable to the Army Corps of
Engineers."
If approved, the rider essentially would make it impossible
for any administration to make any managerial, oversight,
or structural changes to the Corps of Engineers now or at
any time in the future. This would effectively remove any
accountability of an agency desperately in need of reform.
Call your Senators and urge them to oppose Section 3102 of
the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill. An amendment
may be offered on the floor of the Senate to remove Section
3102, in which case urge your Senator to support removal of
this harmful rider. The Senate Agriculture funding bill
could come up for a vote as early as this week. The US
Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Or visit
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.html to
identify your Senators and get direct phone numbers.
KEY POINTS ABOUT THE RIDER:
1) It offends the constitution because president is
supposed to control agencies, especially military branches;
2) The absence of oversight allows Corps to bend the rules
to justify wasteful, environmentally destructive projects;
3) We need to reform the Corps to make projects are
economically justified and that environmental impacts are
adequately assessed and mitigated;
4) The rider violates federal statutes making Asst.
Secretary of Army the boss of Chief of Engineers; and
5) The rider goes overboard – it would block Corps reform
forever.
To see testimony offered by Scott Faber before the Senate
Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation
and Infrastructure, visit
http://www.amrivers.org/corpsreform.html
In mid-February, newspapers including the Washington Post
reported that the chief economist on the seven-year, $50
million study about whether to expand barge facilities on
the Upper Mississippi River had filed an affidavit saying
he and others had been ordered to cook the books to justify
the project. A week later, other documents came to life
showing that top officials had launched an effort to grow
the Corp budget by $2 billion by aggressively approving new
projects in a strategy that was unknown to civilian
overseers. For more information, visit
http://www.amrivers.org/corpsmisslocks.html
If you have questions or want more information on partners
involved in the effort to reform operations of the Corps,
please see http://www.amrivers.org/corpsreform.html or
contact Jeff Stein of American Rivers at 319-884-4481 or
jstein at amrivers_org
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