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President Obama: Give us a Working Snake River for Salmon and Communities in 2009!
Tell President Obama to solve the Columbia-Snake salmon crisis and give us a working Snake River!
With the right leadership and policies, we can craft science-based and economical solutions to help save the national treasure of wild salmon for future generations:
1) Restoring Economic Opportunities
Restoring the Snake River by removing the four costly lower Snake River dams will put the Snake River to work again as an economic engine of the Northwest by creating thousands of family-wage jobs. A working Snake River will revitalize communities and save billions of taxpayer dollars on failed federal salmon recovery efforts.
2) Building a Clean Energy Future
Removing the four lower Snake River dams will strengthen our investment in alternative and renewable energy and conservation to ensure an energy future that is truly clean, efficient and affordable.
3) Fighting Climate Change
Ensuring abundant runs of wild salmon in a changing climate means reconnecting them to key habitat strongholds. The removal of the four lower Snake River dams will help salmon return to some of the biggest, wildest, healthiest and best-protected habitat remaining in the continental United States.
Act Now! Send your letter to President Obama!
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Please Invest in the Salmon Economy, Create Jobs, Build a Clean Energy Future!
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Your first 100 days in office provide our nation with enormous opportunities to address and solve today's most challenging issues. Among the challenges and opportunities in the West, few are as pressing as the crisis facing wild Pacific salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers, and the working communities that rely on them.
Wild Pacific salmon are an awe-inspiring symbol of healthy rivers, good jobs, nutritious food, and thriving communities. The Columbia and Snake rivers were once home to the largest salmon populations on the planet. Today, however, many of these populations are facing extinction.
We need a new approach to salmon recovery that is firmly grounded in both good science and strong economics. The current federal plan for the Columbia-Snake Basin crafted by the Bush administration perpetuates decades of ineffective federal policies and billions of wasted taxpayer and ratepayer dollars that have failed to protect salmon from declining toward extinction. Americans deserve better.
I strongly urge your leadership as President to solve the Columbia and Snake River salmon crisis by removing the four out-dated lower Snake River dams and replacing them with alternative energy sources.
Follow the science.
The four dams on the lower Snake River prevent salmon from surviving to return to some of the healthiest and best-protected habitat remaining in the continental United States. This is the habitat stronghold salmon will need in a changing climate. For years, federal, tribal, and state scientists have concluded that removing the four lower Snake River dams must be at the heart of any viable recovery plan.
Invest in the salmon economy.
Salmon and steelhead have supported thousands of jobs up and down the Pacific coast and throughout the West. The Columbia-Snake Basin provides world-class fishing and recreation opportunities and commercial fishing brings nutritious food to dinner tables across the country. Both industries generate billions of dollars for the Northwest. With smart investments in restoration like the removal of the four lower Snake River dams, we can boost the regional economy and provide lasting solutions to protect the Northwest's unique way of life.
Create new jobs and economic opportunities.
Removing the four lower Snake River dams will create thousands of new, family- wage jobs, diversify regional economies and revitalize communities. It will also invite a future of more efficient, modernized transportation system that includes rail and highway improvements to farming communities for shipping and exports.
Build a clean energy future.
The removal the four lower Snake River dams can strengthen our investment in alternative and renewable energy and energy conservation. The limited electricity these dams produce can be replaced in a manner that promotes our clean energy and job creation priorities.
Save taxpayer dollars.
The federal government under the Bush Administration has wasted over $10 billion dollars on ineffective programs and spent years ignoring the science and the economics supporting lower Snake River dam removal. Without a comprehensive approach to recovery that includes dam removal, we will waste billions more while salmon go extinct.
The right thing to do, the right time to act.
We are the last generation with the power to determine the fate of wild salmon. Lower Snake River dam removal can be part of a program to reinvigorate the region's economy and return these magnificent species to abundance before its too late.
I strongly urge your leadership as President to solve the Columbia and Snake River salmon crisis by removing the four outdated lower Snake River dams so that we can recover the national treasure of wild salmon, create new family-wage jobs, and build a clean energy blueprint for future generations. Thank you.
Sincerely,
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