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Legislative Updates 2003"The life of every river sings its own song, but in most the song is long marred by the discords of misuse." — Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac, 1949 To: Conservation Friends From: Sandy Bahr, Conservation Outreach Director, Sierra Club Date: June 13, 2003 Re: Legislative Update #22 Hi everyone! Please read to the end of this update to find out how you can help the San Pedro River. I am hoping this is the last legislative update of the year and that legislators actually finish this coming week. There are a few bills left to address, including possibly three "trailer" bills to the budget, but there is no agreement between the House and Senate on these trailer bills, so it is unclear where that will go. There are also still more than 20 gubernatorial nominations waiting for action by the Senate. The House sent the Budget to the Governor on Wednesday and it looks like she will sign it. As expected, the budget still takes $8 million from Heritage Fund -- $1.8 million of this is to be used to fund the Commission on the Arts. This proposed budget also lets Parks use all of their remaining Heritage Fund money for operation and maintenance. That means Parks will not be spending any of the money as the voters intended. I think there is a chance that the Governor will use her line item veto ability and remove these Heritage Fund cuts, but she does need to hear from us again. Please make another call right away and ask Governor Napolitano to use the line-item veto to eliminate the Heritage Fund raids. To reach the Governor, call 602-542-4331 or toll free 1-800-253-0883. To email her, either click on this link or cut and paste it into your server to http://www.governor.state.az.us/post/feedback.htm On Wednesday at 10am at the Capitol, we will be releasing the Environmental Report Card for Arizona Legislators and the Governor. Please stop by if you can. We will send out copies via email, it will be available on the website (www.arizona.sierraclub.org) and we will send hard copies to those who receive this via the regular mail. On another note and moving east to Washington, DC, one of Arizona's new congressmen - Representative Rick Renzi - is threatening the San Pedro River with a congressional rider on the FY 2004 Defense Authorization Bill. The rider is in Sec. 319 (“Water Use at Ft. Huachuca") of H.R. 1588 and will excuse Fort Huachuca for any water consumption that does not occur on the post, even though the base is responsible for a substantial population in the area. Fort Huachuca has recently acknowledged its responsibility for 54% of the population in the Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca area. It is a generally accepted that if the base wasn’t there, the people wouldn’t be there either. In recent years, the actual active employee population has decreased, however civilian contractor numbers, retirees, their dependents, etc., have dramatically increased. Economic multipliers have been calculated and are used in determining the population and water consumption attributable to the Fort. The vast amount of water consumed (2,874 acre-feet/year) is a substantial portion of the current 5,144 acre-feet/year deficit groundwater pumping (an acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, or roughly the amount of water to fill a football field with one foot of water). Deficit groundwater pumping, which causes the decline in the aquifer, is responsible for reductions of flow within the San Pedro River. Last August, in response to a court’s decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. Donald Rumsfeld (CIV99-203 TUC ACM), the Fort and US Fish and Wildlife Service released a biological opinion that considered mitigation sufficient to offset this deficit water consumption. Despite this landmark agreement, political whims work against science and the courts. Representative Rick Renzi, R-Arizona District 1, added a rider to the FY 2004 Defense Authorization Bill that threatens to remove responsibility of the base for any off-post water use. The bill passed the house with the rider attached. The senate version does not include the rider, and the bill is in conference for a final version. The Department of Defense did not request the rider. Mitigation for water use does not threaten national security or military readiness. And Fort Huachuca is not under threat of being closed during the base realignment and closure process. Yet this rider was added to the Defense Authorization Bill and now threatens to kill one of the few surviving desert rivers. Please call or write Senator John McCain and ask him to protect the San Pedro and to make sure this rider is not included in the final version of the Defense Authorization Bill of FY 2004. He can be reached at (202) 224-2235, (602) 952-8702, (480) 897-8389, and (520) 670-6334. You can write to him at 241 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 or to email him a note either click on this link or cut and paste it into your browser http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Home The Flagstaff Activist Network is sponsoring an activist training, "Protecting and Respecting Arizona Wildlife" on Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22. The attitudes that led to the extermination of the wolf and grizzly are alive and well on the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. Regressive wildlife management threatens species as diverse as black-tailed prairie dogs, pronghorn, and mountain lions. To shed light on the problem and provide activists with the tools they need to make themselves heard on this issue, the Flagstaff Activist Network with partner organizations are hosting a two-day training on June 21 and 22, 2003. The two-day event includes sessions by leading scientists and activists on the management crisis, hands-on training sessions with experts in effective public involvement, media activism, organizing, and more. For more information or to register, contact the FAN office at (928) 213-9507 or Lara Schmit @ (928) 779-3186 or slara1@qwest.net. Thanks again for all you do to help protect Arizona's environment! Please remember that your calls, letters, emails, and general involvement do make a difference. To email senators go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp and for house members to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/MemberRoster.asp#house. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml or call the House or Senate information desks. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislator's office toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 542-3559 (Senate) or (602) 542-4221 (House). Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. For more information on legislation go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/. Sandy Bahr Page updated: 06/13/03 Back to 2003 Legislative Updates page Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |