Reminder. Current list of signers:
- American Bird Conservancy
- Amigos Bravos
- Animal Welfare Institute
- Beyond Pesticides
- Born Free USA
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Colorado Native Plant Society
- Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families
- Earthjustice
- Endangered Species Coalition
- Environmental Protection Information Center
- Environmental Working Group
- Farmworker Association of Florida
- Food & Water Watch
- Frack Free Four Corners
- Friends of Blackwater
- Friends of the Earth
- Friends of the Sonoran Desert
- Great Old Broads for Wilderness
- GreenLatinos
- Gund Institute, University of Vermont
- International Fund for Animal Welfare
- International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute
- Klamath Forest Alliance
- League of Conservation Voters
- Maryland Pesticide Education Network
- Maxfield's Market
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Northcoast Environmental Center
- Organic Consumers Association
- Our Revolution New Mexico
- People and Pollinators Action Network
- Pollinate Minnesota
- Portland State University
- Rocky Mountain Wild
- San Juan Citizens Alliance
- Save EPA
- Save the Manatee Club
- Sierra Club
- Turtle Island Restoration Network
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Waste Farmers
- Western Watersheds Project
- Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
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Mary Beth Beetham |
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Director of Legislative Affairs Defenders of Wildlife |
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1130 17th Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20036-4604 |
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Tel: (202) 772-0231 | Fax:
(202) 682-1331 |
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Follow us on Twitter
@DefendersGovRel
for legislative updates
From: Mary Beth Beetham
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2018 11:26 AM
To: 'Green Group Legislative Directors (B-Team)' <b-team@groups.b-team.org>; 'Combined Defense Project' <cdp@groups.b-team.org>
Subject: RE: REMINDER: Pls Sign On by COB Wed 5/9 Oppose Poisoned Pollinators Provision in House Farm Bill
Importance: High
Reminder to please sign on. Pasted below are the groups that have signed so far.
We also added this as a second paragraph in the letter reflected now in the google doc:
The “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” would not only harm pollinators and other wildlife – it would harm farmers who depend upon pollination and intact natural
systems for sound food production. Native pollinators provide an estimated $3 billion in crop pollination services to farmers every year.[1]
H.R. 2 is also loaded with other provisions that undermine fundamental environmental laws.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexbykp77rNG24qIDVE6U0Kh2FhcnqF7qSaAXfyEyqEyKxJ5g/viewform
- American Bird Conservancy
- Amigos Bravos
- Animal Welfare Institute
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Colorado Native Plant Society
- Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families
- Earthjustice
- Endangered Species Coalition
- Environmental Protection Information Center
- Environmental Working Group
- Food & Water Watch
- Frack Free Four Corners
- Friends of the Earth
- Friends of the Sonoran Desert
- GreenLatinos
- International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute
- Klamath Forest Alliance
- Maryland Pesticide Education Network
- Maxfield's Market
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Northcoast Environmental Center
- Our Revolution New Mexico
- People and Pollinators Action Network
- Rocky Mountain Wild
- San Juan Citizens Alliance
- Save EPA
- Turtle Island Restoration Network
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Waste Farmers
- Western Watersheds Project
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Mary Beth Beetham |
|
Director of Legislative Affairs Defenders of Wildlife |
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|
|
|
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1130 17th Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20036-4604 |
|
|
Tel: (202) 772-0231 | Fax:
(202) 682-1331 |
|
|
|
|
Follow us on Twitter
@DefendersGovRel
for legislative updates
From: Mary Beth Beetham
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2018 9:28 AM
To: 'Green Group Legislative Directors (B-Team)' <b-team@groups.b-team.org>; 'Combined Defense Project' <cdp@groups.b-team.org>
Subject: REMINDER: Pls Sign On by COB Wed 5/9 Oppose Poisoned Pollinators Provision in House Farm Bill
Dear Colleagues -
The Farm Bill, H.R. 2, the “Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018” is expected to go to the floor of the House of Representatives the week of May 14. A “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” in Title IX of the bill includes severe overrides
of protections for endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act for pesticides registrations carried out under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Please consider signing the letter below at the google form below which asks members of the House to oppose the Poisoned Pollinators Provision and the House Farm Bill overall.
THE DEADLINE IS COB WEDNESDAY 5/9/2018. If you are a local or regional group please designate that and your state as indicated in the form as it will be helpful to members of the House to know that constituents are opposed to the provision and to the House
Farm Bill. Many groups signed onto a similar letter earlier this year that indicated opposition to nearly identical draft language that was being circulated by the pesticide industry. That letter is attached if it will make it easier for groups to sign this
letter. Please also share with your networks. Cheers, Mary Beth
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexbykp77rNG24qIDVE6U0Kh2FhcnqF7qSaAXfyEyqEyKxJ5g/viewform
May XX, 2018
RE: Please Oppose the “Poisoned Pollinator Provision” in the 2018 Farm Bill
Dear Representative,
Our organizations, along with the millions of members and supporters we represent, write to urge you to vote against H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018
(“House Farm Bill”) which includes language best described as the “Poisoned Pollinators Provision.”
This dangerous provision puts imperiled species affected by pesticides at risk by removing vital protections under the Endangered Species Act
our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. This vital law has prevented the extinction of more than 99 percent of the species under its care and
is supported by 90 percent of American voters.
The “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” would not only harm pollinators and other wildlife – it would harm farmers who depend upon pollination and intact natural
systems for sound food production. Native pollinators provide an estimated $3 billion in crop pollination services to farmers every year.[2]
H.R. 2 is also loaded with other provisions that undermine fundamental environmental laws.
Under current law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must consult with two expert agencies—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (“the wildlife agencies”)—to identify and minimize impacts to endangered
species caused by pesticide products that EPA registers for commercial use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. When necessary, these science-based interagency consultations result in commonsense protections, such as limits on spraying
pesticides in key areas where endangered species live.
The “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” would gut these longstanding requirements and
severely curtail the government’s ability to assess the effects of toxic pesticides on imperiled species. In addition, this dangerous legislation would exempt all approved pesticide use from enforcement under the Endangered
Species Act, even where it directly kills or injures endangered wildlife.
Specifically, this sweeping provision would:
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Remove the requirement under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act for the EPA to consult with the wildlife agencies on the impact of potentially dangerous pesticides on threatened
and endangered species before allowing those pesticides to be used (Section 9111), and
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Waive Endangered Species Act Section 9 “take” liability for all pesticides that have been registered according to the procedures of this bill. In other words, if the EPA has allowed a pesticide
to be marketed and used, then neither the EPA nor presumably the registrant or end user can be held liable for any harm or death of endangered species resulting from the label-approved use of the product
(Section 9114).
Congress has never waived Section 9 “take” liability for any class of actions, thus making this this provision one of the broadest
and most harmful attacks on the Endangered Species Act in its nearly 45-year history. Further, in place of the ESA’s strong, look-before-you-leap measures to protect endangered species, this damaging provision would cut expert federal wildlife agencies out
of the process and merely requires EPA to conduct a cursory review of the impacts to endangered species from pesticides, years after approving their use.
And the provision also seeks to limit the ability of citizens to go to court to protect imperiled species from pesticides.
Endangered species are often the early warning system to alert us to the unintended harms of pesticides. It was the catastrophic decline of the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and other endangered species that caused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and other agencies to sound the alarm on DDT. Thankfully, the bald eagle, our national symbol, was saved from extinction by the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act. The Act remains the “gold standard” for species protection and recovery
today, both here and around the world. We ask you to protect this vital law, not only to save our most treasured rare plants and animals, but also to protect our waters, our lands, and our health.
Please oppose the “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” and vote “No” on the 2018 House Farm Bill.
Sincerely,
GROUPS
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Mary Beth Beetham |
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Director of Legislative Affairs Defenders of Wildlife |
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1130 17th Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20036-4604 |
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|
Tel: (202) 772-0231 | Fax:
(202) 682-1331 |
|
|
|
|
Follow us on Twitter
@DefendersGovRel
for legislative updates