Don’t Let the Environmental Protection Agency Abandon Manatees SPEAK OUT!

 

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More Florida manatees have already died this year than in either 2024 or 2023 as the species faces growing threats and possible extinction. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is axing programs that stop wastewater and agricultural runoff from entering Florida’s waterways and harmful algal outbreaks that kill off the seagrass manatees depend on for food. Will you tell Congress to intervene and save crucial Environmental Protection Agency programs that protect and save manatees?

I’LL TELL CONGRESS TO SAVE MANATEES

Manatees require large amounts of seagrass daily, and can starve or ingest toxins when pollution causes harmful algal blooms. The Environmental Protection Agency has been providing oversight and enforcement in Florida to reduce water pollution from sources like wastewater, agriculture, and urban runoff. These efforts are critical for protecting manatee habitats, such as the Indian River Lagoon, where toxic pollution has decimated seagrass. Don’t let the Environmental Protection Agency abandon manatees, please speak out today. Unfortunately, manatees are just one of thousands of wildlife species in our country being directly harmed by cuts to or elimination of programs and oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency. In April, more than 60 coal-fired power plants were exempted from rules requiring reductions of harmful pollutants including mercury, arsenic, and benzene—a harsh blow to kingfishers and other sensitive avian species. Foxes, owls and bald eagles across the country could be lost to rodenticide poisoning as programs and measures to protect them from these highly toxic substances are dropped. Ingestion of toxic microplastic threatens hundreds of marine species, including sea turtles, as one of the few highly specialized aquatic research centers faces closure. Hundreds and hundreds of programs and protections—in every state—are on the chopping block. Manatees need clean water, and so do we. Your senators and your member of the U.S. House of Representatives can step up now to make sure the vital programs providing the backbone for protecting wildlife and their habitats are not hollowed out or eliminated. Send a message urging Congress to take action. Thank you for all you do for wildlife and the natural world.

With Appreciation, Diane Pataki Senior Science Advisor National Wildlife Federation Action Fund

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Act for Egrets and Clean Water

The streams and rivers that provide our nation’s water and crucial wildlife habitats are under attack. Congress is about to vote on a bill that would abandon essential safeguards provided by the Clean Water Act for decades. Tell your representative to keep the Clean Water Act strong.

This bill, called the PERMIT Act, will open up our waters to large-scale pollution and leave it up to the American people to pay for the clean-up. If it becomes law, the PERMIT Act will pollute our drinking water, compromise our health, put more communities at risk of floods, and ruin many of the places where we swim and fish.

urge your representative to vote NO on the PERMIT Act.

-Karla

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America is losing wetlands at an alarming rate. Over the last decade, an area of wetlands the size of Rhode Island has been wiped from our landscape. This decline is detrimental to vulnerable wildlife, with over 50% of threatened and endangered species relying on healthy wetlands and associated aquatic habitat to survive. Now, a new bill has been introduced that would weaken the Clean Water Act, threatening further loss, degradation, and pollution of rivers and wetlands across the country. The PERMIT Act would abandon key Clean Water Act safeguards—safeguards that protect waters that provide fish and wildlife habitat, help keep dangerous pollutants out of drinking water supplies, and mitigate damage from flooding and drought.  urge your representative to vote NO on the PERMIT Act.

YES, I’LL ACT FOR EGRETS AND CLEAN WATER

The great egret feeds on fish and other small animals in a variety of wetland ecosystems. As more wetlands are drained and filled, great egrets’ nesting and foraging areas will be destroyed. The increase of pollutants flowing into small streams and waterways will be deadly for this elegant species as they are exposed to more chemicals, pesticides, and heavy metals such as mercury. Protect great egrets and all wetland wildlife by telling your representative to vote NO on the PERMIT Act. The newly introduced bill contains several dangerous provisions that would put the interests of developers and industrial dischargers above our right to clean, healthy waters, including provisions that: Prevent effective judicial review of projects that fill in and destroy wetlands and other waters; Make it easier for industrial operations to dump “forever chemicals” like PFAS and other contaminants into our waters without accountability; Eliminate protections for people and wildlife from harmful pesticide discharges into our waters; Reduce the longstanding authority of states and Tribes to protect local waters under provisions of the Clean Water Act; And drastically restrict the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to stop highly damaging projects like Pebble Mine from destroying fisheries and wetlands. Birds, fish, and so much of our nation’s wildlife depend on healthy, clean water in our rivers, wetlands, and streams. Tell your representative: do not further weaken the Clean Water Act. Vote NO on the PERMIT Act. Thank you for all you do for wildlife and our natural world.

Sincerely, Karla Raettig Executive Director National Wildlife Federation Action Fund

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Join with others, speak out & inform yourself!

This is nnot solely about a single issue, but rather undermining ALL Environmental Statutes inteded to protect our lands & environment.

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ACTION FUND offered this:

I am writing to urge you to oppose H.R. 3898, the PERMIT Act, which would weaken commonsense Clean Water Act safeguards and jeopardize the waters that I – and communities and wildlife across the country – rely on. These waters are not only essential to our drinking water supplies, they also help keep communities safe in the face of flooding and drought, and serve as fish and wildlife habitat.

This legislation abandons key Clean Water Act safeguards that aim to protect our waters – an ability that is already weakened in light of a 2023 Supreme Court decision. H.R. 3898 contains several damaging provisions that would put the interests of developers and industrial dischargers above our right to clean, healthy waters, including provisions that:

● Prevent effective judicial review of projects that fill in and destroy wetlands and other waters;

● Make it easier for industrial operations to dump “forever chemicals” like PFAS and other contaminants into our waters without accountability;

● Slow down EPA’s process for updating water quality criteria;

● Reduce the longstanding authority of states and Tribes to protect local waters under section 401 of the Clean Water Act;

● Drastically restrict the EPA’s authority to stop highly damaging projects like Pebble Mine from destroying fisheries and wetlands;

● Grant authority to the Army Corps of Engineers to create new exclusions for any kind of waterbody from being afforded Clean Water Act protections, despite this being EPA’s authority;

● Eliminate protections for people and wildlife from harmful pesticide discharges into our waters, upending the existing system in place to allow pesticide use while minimizing harm caused by pesticides entering our surface waters;

● Weaken the Army Corps of Engineers’ nationwide permitting program.

At a time when agency and budget cuts, aging water infrastructure, and changing precipitation patterns as a result of climate change threaten to worsen water quality challenges, Congress should heed the public and protect Clean Water Act safeguards, not weaken them.

Please vote no on H.R. 3898.

Act for Egrets and Clean Water

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23 Million Gallons of Oil Threaten Wood Turtles Every Day

 

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Across the northern forests of the Midwest and Northeast, little wood turtles roam near rivers and streams. Splashed with color on their neck and front legs, these turtles can live for up to 50 years! During their active months they can be found using a unique trick to get food, by rapidly stomping around on the ground in a little dance thought to mimic the vibrations of tunneling moles in an effort to entice worms out of the soil. But because wood turtle populations are in decline from habitat loss, they are considered a threatened species in some states and have even been petitioned to be listed under the Endangered Species Act in the US. The Line 5 oil pipeline runs through wood turtle habitat in northern Wisconsin, putting the species at risk.  will you speak out to help shut down America’s most dangerous pipeline that threatens the wood turtle? I WILL DEFEND WOOD TURTLES Hibernating in streams through the winter, wood turtles nest in the spring typically within 200 feet of flowing water, with hatchling turtles emerging in the fall to find food near the riverbank. The 71-year-old Line 5 crude oil pipeline runs through wetlands where wood turtles nest, and cuts through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation land—carrying up to 23 million gallons of oil a day, with a potential spill threatening the Great Lakes, wildlife and the drinking water of 40 million Americans. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Northern Wisconsin has been forced to live under the threat of this oil pipeline’s rupture on their land and waters for decades already. Take action to stop the Line 5 oil pipeline from polluting our lands and waters today! A federal court recently ruled in favor of the Tribe, ruling that the pipeline trespasses on their land and must be removed. But a newly proposed reroute to move the pipeline outside the borders of the reservation would continue to put the entire watershed and the people and wildlife that rely on its clean water at risk of a massive oil spill. The federal permitting process and comment period on the proposed reroute is moving forward. Please tell the Federal Government that a reroute of Line 5 is not the solution to prevent environmental damage and to shut down the pipeline completely. Thank you for stepping up to protect the Great Lakes, at-risk wildlife, Tribal sovereignty and clean water for our communities and our children’s future.     Sincerely, Karla Raettig Executive Director National Wildlife Federation Action Fund

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