Environment

SUCCESS!! We joined thousands of national park supporters over the past several months, to urge support of the National Park System, which received a significant increase in funding for 2010. In early November, President Obama signed a $32.2 billion Interior and Environment Appropriations bill for the 2010 fiscal year. In this bill, the National Park Service (NPS) received $2.7 billion--roughly $218 million above the 2009 funding level!

This bill demonstrates a concerted effort by Congress and the Administration to restore our national treasures in time for the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service. Here are some of the highlights from the bill:

• NPS Operations received roughly $130 million above last year's funding level, which fulfills the President's pledge to increase park operations $100 million above inflation.
• The NPS portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund--a fund used to purchase critical lands now on the market for conservation and public recreation--received $126.26 million. This is an increase of $61 million over last year's level and $28 million above the President's request.
• Public-Private Partnerships, previously known as the Centennial Challenge, was funded at $15 million.
• A potentially harmful rider that would have required a public hunt to manage the growing elk population at Theodore Roosevelt National Park was removed. The rider would have overridden a longstanding agency-wide policy.
• Most importantly, and beyond the numbers, the NPS is now better able to hire more rangers, fill out the authorized boundaries of many parks, enhance its ability to address the impacts of climate change on our national parks, and preserve America's Everglades, Great Lakes, and other nationally-significant ecosystems.

Hold Big Polluters Accountable, visit link below to advocate:
https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=3219&JServSessionIdr004=c3pywqueq3.app20a
Right now only a handful of sources, including coal power plants, are responsible for more than half of all the global warming pollution in the United States. It's time to hold these mega-polluters responsible for their share of the dirty air.

The EPA is proposing The Big Polluters Rule to crack down on the worst offenders, but they needyour help to take on Big Oil and Coal -- send a message to the Public Register today to show your support! (Source: Sierra Club)