This one is urgent.
The House is moving on a terrible new bill that will effectively say: No new national parks. It's being pushed by a well-known Big Oil-funded congressman, and the vote is Wednesday. If you don't raise your voice today, it could actually pass.
This latest attack on our national parks and monuments is part of an even bigger right-wing agenda to sell off our public lands -- but we've stopped threats like this before, and together, we can do it again.
Send your emergency letter to Congress today -- tell your representative to defend our parks and vote NO against this attack on public lands!
Here are the facts. This bill, H.R. 1459, would gut the historic Antiquities Act (yes, the one from that one West Wing episode), undermining the president's power to create national monuments -- but nearly half of our national parks started out as monuments. And since Congress just went through its longest stretch in over 50 years without protecting any new public lands, that means this is essentially a no new national parks policy.
The bill's author, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, is the House's point man for national parks -- yet says the very parks he oversees are unconstitutional!That's a pretty bizarre argument for anyone to make, but maybe it's because his top contributor in the last election was the oil and gas industry.
This is about so much more than Big Oil's profits -- this is about our American legacy. Without the Antiquities Act that Bishop and the tea party want to gut, we might never have had the Grand Canyon or Acadia National Parks. We certainly wouldn't have Muir Woods or President Obama's brand-new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument.
Take action to make sure your representative knows that monuments and parks are good for our environment and our economy. Send your letter today!
This bill certainly comes as no shock -- the right wing has been trying to sell our national parks for years, and this is coming from that same exact anti-environment, anti-preservation place. Former Rep. Cliff Stearns made their agenda very clear when he said, "We don't need more national parks in this country. We need to actually sell off some of our national parks." He's not alone:
It's not just Congress -- former presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul all suggested selling off our public lands, too. But in our democracy, the people get the final say. It's time to speak out once more: Hands off our public lands, especially the national parks and monuments!
Send an urgent letter to your representative before Wednesday's vote: Don't let Congress gut the Antiquities Act! Vote no on H.R. 1459!