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Massachusetts Environmental Bond Bill Pending in Legislature
Your help is needed to promote its passage
There is going to be a hearing on the Environmental Bond Bill on
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 1 p.m. This is a bill the Council
supports. It contains significant funding for coldwater fisheries
resource issues. Please contact your state reps and senators and tell
them you support this bill. Calling the day before and the morning of
the hearing would be very useful. Also, if anyone can attend, contact
Michael Hopper. He will be the spokesperson for the Council the day of
the hearing.
If approved, funds from this bill will be available for land acquisition,
water quality management, dam removal, and more. GBTU has joined 200+
organizations to urge passage of this Bond Bill, which has just come out of
the Legislature's Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and
Agriculture. This is only the first of many actions needed to put this bill
into law. It must go through several other legislative committees in both
branches of the Legislature before it reaches the Governor's desk. If
approved, it will provide needed funds for land acquisition, water quality
management, dam removal, and more.
A Coalition (http://www.envirobond.org/whynow.php) has been formed to
promote passage of this bill. Legislators need to know that GBTU members
value this bill. The Coalition has requested all of the supporting
organizations to ask our members to get behind this bill. Doing this puts
the legislature on alert that the Coalition's more than 220 organizations
are actively supporting passage of a strong Environmental Bond this
session. You can go to the following web site to find out who your State
Senator and Representative are, and how to contact them:
http://www.wheredoivotema.com You can also contact members of the Bonding
and the Ways and Means Committees to urge the bill's passage.
Following is a sample letter for your use.
Dear Senator/Representative,
I am a member of the Greater Boston Chapter of Trout Unlimited, a national
organization whose mission is to conserve, protect, and restore the Nation's
cold water fisheries and their watersheds. The Greater Boston Chapter of TU
(GBTU) has joined the Coalition for the Environmental Bond, and is working
with more than 220 other organizations across the State to pass a strong
Environmental Bond Bill this session. This bill would assure funding for
critical environmental programs across the Commonwealth, including the
repair or removal of dams that prevent access to upstream spawning waters,
promotion of water quality, and land conservation in critical watersheds.
Information on the range of projects eligible for funding under the bill is
available online at the Coalition's web site:
http://www.envirobond.org/whynow.php.
This legislation is essential to assure that pristine watershed environments
remain available for us and for our children. I urge you to vote for this
bill and to forcefully support its passage through the legislative process.
Thank you for you support.