Senator Jack Reed..Please Send Your Thanks!

Senator Jack Reed of RI : A Senator that speaks for the people.

Senator Reed is Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment.  On November 4, 2011 I had the opportunity to meet with Senator Reed at his Rhode Island office, along with Tara Thornton, Northeastern Regional Director of the Endangered Species Coalition, and  Art Handy,  R.I. Chairperson of the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

What struck me most about Senator Reed is that he listened intently to everything we had to say.  The notes of this meeting were also recorded by a member of his staff.  During these most difficult of times we live in today, a Senator’s time is highly valuable.  With the last Budget Bill being passed with riders attached to serve different purposes, one such rider was designed to delist Gray Wolves from the Endangered Species Act protection and return them to state management in Idaho and Montana, and soon to be Wyoming, when they are able to present a viable management plan for the wolf in their state. The rider provided Idaho and Montana the vehicle  needed to delist wolves and hunt them to a population well below what best science dictates.

Wolves have come under fire once again, and they have become the vehicle being used by special interest groups to dismantle the Endangered Species Act.   This past budget bill  marked the first time in history that Congress  removed a species from such protection.  We saw politics take over from what best science was intended to do. Conservationist groups such as ours were notably disappointed and have been fighting to restore the protection for America’s apex predator, the wolf.  Based on the best available science  the wolf has not fully recovered in these regions and across most of the lower 48 states.  A petition to the 9th District Court of Appeals was filed seeking a reversal of the recent Congressional rider that now has witnessed hundreds of wolves to be slaughtered during  an ongoing hunt, with several hundred more targeted.  Most Americans are simply unaware of this travesty as it was hidden in the Budget Bill.  We, along with other groups such as WildEarth Guardians, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and others , have continued along a path of activism and education to hopefully  inform America about what is happening.

Currently, Congress is back in session and once again several anti environment and anti wildlife bills were making their way into the Budget Bill as attachments once again.  A particularly damaging bill in Wyoming was submitted by U.S. Rep Cynthia Lummis.  This bill would delsit wolves from protection in Wyoming but it went one step further.  It calls for “No Judicial Review”; in essence eliminating the Constitutional right of the people to object to this action.  In what is a democratic country, such an action is unheard of.  And this was done for the purpose of killing wolves in Wyoming by measures that include shooting on sight, trapping, poisoning, and aerial shooting.  The Wyoming plan would actually allow a person to intentionally run over and kill a wolf whenever possible. 

Senator Jack Reed is credited with fighting to remove the wolf rider with no judicial review from the Interior Appropriations Bill.  Read the following paragraphs published recently on December 13, 2011 in the Wyoming Capitol Journal by Jeremy Pelzer:

“Lummis’ no-litigation clause is similar to language added to a must-pass budget bill in April by U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and John Tester, both Montana Democrats, that delisted wolves in five other Western states. Gov. Matt Mead and other state officials have repeatedly said that congressional protection against lawsuits is vital to any wolf agreement that’s reached.”

“Lummis said in an interview last week that some Senate negotiators — particularly U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. — were fighting to remove the wolf rider from the final Interior appropriations bill. Reed, she said, was acting on behalf of the Obama Administration, which has spoken out against a no-sue clause.”

Read more: http://trib.com/news/opinion/blogs/capitol/lummis-wolf-clause-still-up-in-the-air/article_452e05fa-25cf-11e1-a62d-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1gpkO5ooN

Please join with us in contacting Senator Jack Reed and thank him for all that he does.  The American people can rest assured that Senator Reed will continue to be their Voice.  Hopefully other members of Congress can take note and follow the Senator’s lead.  In these most difficult times people deserve more from their elected officials.  With Senator Reed, we got that and more.  Thank you Senator Jack Reed.

Click on the contact information for Senator Jack Reed and join us in thanking him too!

http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=RISR&site=congressmerge

With respect,

Dave Hornoff                                                                                       

Co-President

National Wolfwatcher Coaltion

Understand, Love, Protect