[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
NFC: Fw: Action Alert: Help Stop the Everglades Airport!
Reef Relief - http://www.reefrelief.org
============================================================
REEF RELIEF Electronic Action Alert!
PLEASE HELP STOP THE EVERGLADES AIRPORT ASAP
December 11, 2000
http://www.reefrelief.org
============================================================
Re: The closest major airport to a National Park in the U.S.
must be halted NOW! Ask President Clinton NOT to allow a
commercial airport on the edge of two of America's most
beloved and imperiled national parks - Everglades and
Biscayne - and the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary, containing the continental United States ONLY
Living Coral Reefs.
============================================================
TAKE ACTION NOW! Our National Parks are Under Siege!
============================================================
The final Supplemental Environment Impact Statement (SEIS)
on the development proposals for the Homestead Air Reserve
Base is now available to the public. Free copies of the SEIS
(including a CD-ROM) can be requested by calling toll free:
1(888) 842-4749
============================================================
BACKGROUND:
Politically-connected developers and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex
Penelas are pressuring the Clinton Administration to turn a
former Air Force Base at Homestead, FL into a giant
international cargo and passenger airport with 630 flights
per day on the edge of Everglades and Biscayne National Parks.
Please tell President Clinton that America's world-renowned
and exceedingly fragile environmental resources must not be
sacrificed to local profiteers.
The proposed Miami reliever airport would be the closest
major commercial airport to a national park in the United
States at 1.5 miles from Biscayne National Park, 8.5 miles
from Everglades National Park and 10 miles from the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It would host more than
230,000 flights per year (or 630 per day) in its first
phase (similar to San Diego airport). This would be a plane
every minute during daylight hours at low altitudes directly
over both parks and the Sanctuary.
The U.S. Department of Interior, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the National Marine Fisheries
Service all warn that the airport will irreparably harm
the Parks. According to their comments, park visitors
would be constantly bombarded by the high pitch blasts of
engine turbines. There could be extensive damage to the
coral reefs in Biscayne National Park and the Florida Keys
Marine Sanctuary. Fish, mammals and birds in the parks and
refuges would be threatened by airport runoff and fuel
dumping, and the secondary development that would accompany
the airport. Every major national environmental group is
opposed to the airport.
Polls show that a vast majority of Miami-Dade residents
and Floridians oppose the airport proposal. Moreover, the
Air Force reports that it received more than 7,000 comments
against the airport or supporting an alternative, while
only 200 wrote in favor of the airport.
The airport also appears to be unnecessary. Civic leaders
of Homestead and the surrounding South Dade region report
that the area is enjoying an unprecedented economic boom.
Pre-Hurricane Andrew unemployment figures have been cut in
half and the number of workers in the area has increased.
Moreover, recent data shows that Miami International Airport
alone is predicted to have excess capacity for the next three
decades and other South Florida airports have expanded their
capacity too.
Fortunately, there is an alternative plan for the air base
property backed by environmental groups, the Department of
the Interior and the US EPA. It is a tourism and office
development called the Collier-Hoover plan. With adequate
protections from the Department of Interior, it can provide
tens of thousands of jobs without destroying the nearby
national parks.
But you need to call the White House and tell President
Clinton to ditch the airport and transfer the base to the
Dept. of Interior instead of Miami-Dade County.
As Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said, "What happens in
Homestead will echo for the next 10 generations." If an
international airport is allowed to destroy Florida's parks,
no national park, from Yosemite to Acadia, is safe.
============================================================
TAKE ACTION NOW! Our National Parks are Under Siege!
============================================================
ACTION NEEDED NOW!
1. IMMEDIATELY CALL THE WHITE HOUSE at (202) 456-1111
(After following the prompts, press '0' for a White
House Comments Line Operator)
CALLING IS PREFERRED!
Or you may cut and paste the following into an e-mail
and send it to the White House along with your personal
comments to:
e-mail: president at whitehouse_gov
LEAVE A MESSAGE SIMILAR TO THE FOLLOWING:
Mr. Clinton, PLEASE halt a massive polluting airport proposed
in Homestead, Florida, on the edge of Everglades and Biscayne
National Parks and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary,
containing the continental United States ONLY Living Coral Reefs.
Your swift rejection of this polluting facility will earn you
nationwide praise and help to define your legacy. Your failure
to stop the airport, or a decision to pass this issue to the
next Administration will damage it.
============================================================
2. Call U.S. Senator Bob Graham at (202) 224-3041:
or you may send an e-mail to the Senator, along with your
personal comments to:
e-mail: bob_graham at graham_senate.gov
============================================================
3. Also, call Florida Governor Jeb Bush at (850)488-4441:
or you may send an e-mail to the Governor, along with your
personal comments to:
e-mail: jeb at jeb_org
e-mail: fl_governor at eog_state.fl.us
Ask him to come out NOW against the Everglades Airport.
FLORIDIANS AND THE REST OF NATION ARE WATCHING!
============================================================
According to the Air Force Draft study:
The Homestead airport would increase near shore deposition
of air-borne nitrates by 54 times; and increase inputs into
Biscayne Bay of both hazardous air pollutant polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which is unregulated in
aircraft emissions and of ammonia, toxic to marine life.
Air pollution would increase, resulting in the daily
emissions of seven tons of toxic air pollutants, like
nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Development
associated with the airport will result in the development
of thousands of acres of agricultural lands and wildlife
habitat.
Just last year, the Environmental Protection Agency
concluded that the Homestead Air Reserve Bases' storm
water discharge canal, which leads into Biscayne Bay,
is significantly contaminated with heavy metals and
radioactive contaminants. Environmental cleanup at the
Air Base has already cost taxpayers more than $50 million.
============================================================
For more information, contact Jonathan Ullman,
Sierra Club Everglades Field Representative
at (305) 860-9888 or e-mail at:
jonathan.ullman at sierraclub_org
There is also a grassroots website which provides
updated, useful information on the battle to stop
the Everglades Airport at:
http://www.noairport.com
And you may also go online to the Reef Relief
website and use our e-mail links to send these
messages out quickly at the following URL:
http://www.reefrelief.org/ActionAlert/HomesteadAirport.html
============================================================
============================================================
Join our grassroots efforts to save the coral reefs!
REEF RELIEF is a non-profit membership organization
dedicated to Preserve and Protect Living Coral Reef
Ecosystems through local, regional, and global efforts.
Reef Relief relies on memberships, contributions, and
volunteer efforts. Join our grassroots efforts to save the
reef! All contributions are tax deductible to the fullest
extent of the law.
The basic membership contribution of $30.00 entitles you to
a one year membership, the quarterly newsletter REEF LINE by
mail, a window decal, bumper sticker, invitations to special
events, and all membership privileges.
You may find out more and/or join online at:
http://www.reefrelief.org/membership.html
You may Contact and/or Visit us at:
Reef Relief
201 William Street
P.O. Box 430
Key West, Florida, 33041
Phone: (305) 294-3100
Fax: (305) 293-9515
email: reef at bellsouth_net
web: http://www.reefrelief.org
============================================================
============================================================
______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to reef_relief-unsubscribe at listbot_com
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb