Pre-election comparison on candidates' stance on the Environment and Protecting Public Lands

This is the last of the pre-election alerts put out by the Protecting Public Lands workgroup of EDP.  Our focus has been on the environment in general and public lands in particular.  We have shared both Jessica Morse’s and Tom McClintock’s stance on several issues in order to assist our members with their voting choices.

What we have learned is that Jessica Morse has made clear her ideas on protecting our forests, preserving our waters and keeping public lands public.  She feels that community involvement, regardless of political ideologies, is essential in this process and she has clearly shown during her campaign that she can listen to and include voices from both sides of the aisle.  

Tom McClintock, on the other hand, has consistently shown by his actions in Congress that he has little regard for the environment.  He votes regularly against preserving our cherished land.  According to the League of Conservation Voters he has a 4% record when voting on environmental issues.  He is rated #14 on the list of Public Enemies of the Environment by the Center for Biological Diversity.  He seldom holds town hall meetings, a practice most congresspeople use to hear their constituents' concerns and opinions.

Bottom line, McClintock seems to care more about his party than the people in his district.

We are blessed to live in a district with some of the most beautiful public lands in the country.  We deserve a congressperson who puts those lands ahead of his political party. We deserve someone who is willing to make decisions that enhance and preserve our lands rather than commercialize them.  We deserve a representative better than Tom McClintock.  

WATER - FIRE - PUBLIC LANDS - compare Morse and McClintock

This is the third in a series of talking points for you to share with your family and friends. The Protecting Public Lands Workgroup of EDP is sending out these informational alerts highlighting Tom McClintock’s dismal record on the environment. Most environmental issues in California cut across party lines so these are good points to bring up with your friends.

The following is a comparison how Morse and McClintock differ on 3 key environmental issues. Go to their websites for a more complete picture of where they stand.  morse4congress.com and tommcclintock.com

WATER

Morse states, “I will work to direct resources toward our communities' needs rather than big water projects that don’t benefit us. Not only do big dams serve mainly to ship water out of our district, they are a far more dangerous and less cost effective approach than investing in the health of our watersheds."

McClintock believes, "We will not solve water shortages until we build new reservoirs. And we cannot build new reservoirs until we overhaul the radical environmental laws that have made their construction endlessly time consuming and ultimately cost prohibitive."

FIRE

Regarding the current increase in catastrophic wildfires, Morse states, " We know why they rage: clear cutting at the turn of the century and decades of fire prevention policy have led to overly dense forests. Investing in fire prevention would have dramatically diminished the devastation we are experiencing this week by thinning our forests, finding uses for skinny trees and forest waste, and issuing thoughtful permits for grazing and selective logging. These solutions would not only keep our community safe, they would create local jobs that cannot be outsourced.”

McClintock believes, “.. that excess timber comes out of the forest one way or another. It is either carried out or it burns out. When we carried it out, we had resilient healthy forests and a thriving economy as excess timber was sold and harvested before it could choke our forests to death."

This issue is not quite as obvious as McClintock would imply. He supported HR 2936, The Resilient Forest Act, which would severely undermine sustainable forest management and roll back critical safeguards for our nation’s forests. This legislation would allow large-scale timber projects to skip needed environmental reviews. 

PUBLIC LANDS

Morse states, "The public lands in our district are not only treasured for their beauty and unique ecosystems but also because they are some of the greatest assets in our communities. Tom McClintock has pushed bills that would allow for the clear cutting of forests and sale of public lands across the West that-like our own- are for the enjoyment of all Americans."

McClintock voted against an amendment to HR3354, which would have forbidden the sale of public lands to private ownership. In fact, he urged Zinke to revoke the Berryessa Snow designation as a national monument and to reduce the size of all the other California monuments except the Sand to Snow National Monument. (LA Times 8/24/17)

Please keep these fundamental differences between the candidates in mind when you cast your vote.

McClintock's attacks on the environment

Tom McClintock has a failing grade for his 10 years representing us in the US House of Representatives

In order to provide talking points for you to share with your family and friends, the Protecting Public Lands Workgroup will be sending out a series of informational alerts highlighting Tom McClintock’s dismal record on environmental issues.

Did you know that our representative to Congress from Congressional District 4 earned a score of 0% in 2017 for his voting record on environmental issues from the League for Conservation Voters? That’s right, he voted the wrong way every time in 2017 on bills affecting the environment. And his record hasn’t improved much so far in 2018. Mr. McClintock has voted for the environment on two out of 22 votes in 2018. In fact, his lifetime voting record in Congress is just 4% pro-environment.

Most of us who live in California’s Congressional District 4 treasure our natural environment. Don’t we deserve a representative who does the same?

Use your vote in November to make a change.

Tell the EPA: Protect Monarchs, Ban Roundup

Please take the time to write an email or letter to the Environmental Protection Agency by April 30

A new study has shown that the monarch population declined dramatically in just the past year. There are 16 million fewer monarchs than this time last year, and it's increasingly likely that they'll go extinct unless we do something.

Monarchs won't survive without milkweed; it's the main source of food for their caterpillars, and where they lay their eggs. Roundup kills milkweed, and in recent years, the amount of Roundup we're using in the United States has skyrocketed.  

Just like bees, monarch butterflies are critical pollinators.  Their loss would have an untold impact on thousands of plant species.  Monsanto won't stop using Roundup on their own. That's why we need the EPA to ban this toxic pesticide.

Please take the time to write an email or letter to the Environmental Protection Agency by April 30, expressing your concern for the monarch butterfly and demanding that glyphosate be banned in the United States. 

Send comments online to:

www.regulations.gov  and search for this docket number:  EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361.

Or, just click here to go directly to that docket and make your comments

 

Send snail mail comments to:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Docket Center
Docket number: EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361
Mail Code 28221T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

(Information for this alert was provided by Environmental-Action.org)

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"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard." 

Gaylord Nelson, former governor of Wisconsin, founder of Earth Day