>Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 10:22:35 -0700 (PDT)
>From: American Rivers <action at action.amrivers.org>
>To: tvulture at vei.net
>Subject: Keep Pesticide Spraying from Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor!
>
>Help stop a permit that would spray three tons of a toxic pesticide
>into Willapa Bay!
>
>Visit http://www.watoxics.org to find out how you can participate in
>a public hearing on April 10th, or tell the Washington Department of
>Ecology to either amend the permit or deny it.
>
>BACKGROUND
>The Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Association wants to
>spray more than three tons of pesticides onto the tidelands of
>Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor in order to control native shrimp that
>are considered a problem for oyster production.
>
>The Oyster Growers have applied for a water quality permit from the
>Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to carry out the
>pesticide spray. Despite the concerns of local residents, other
>oyster growers who produce oysters without pesticides, and the
>Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Ecology has now issued a draft permit that
>violates the Clean Water Act and allows the oyster growers to pollute
>water with huge quantities of carbaryl.
>
>Carbaryl is:
>o highly toxic to many animals, including birds, amphibians, crabs,
>and fish;
>o toxic to the nervous system and suspected to disrupt hormonal
>systems; and
>o likely to pose a serious threat to salmon and trout in the bay.
>
>Alternatives to carbaryl are available and they're working.
>
>If the final permit allows the spray, Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor
>would be the only place in the country where spraying carbaryl into
>water or on tidelands is allowed.
>
>Please write the Department of Ecology and attend the hearing April
>10 to make sure the agency upholds the Clean Water Act, protects the
>public and environment from the harmful effects of carbaryl, and
>requires the oyster growers to use alternative methods to produce
>oysters.
>
>WHAT YOU CAN DO
>The public hearing is scheduled for April 10, Department of Ecology
>Headquarters Building, 300 Desmond Drive, in Lacey at 1:30PM.
>
>For more information on the hearing and how to write Ecology, visit
>http://www.watoxics.org or contact:
>
>Erika Schreder
>Washington Toxics Coalition
>4649 Sunnyside Ave N Suite 540E
>Seattle WA 98103
>206-632-1545
>eschreder at watoxics.org
>
>Comments are due by April 10.
>
>Thank you!
>
>
>*************************************
>Thank you tvulture at vei.net for helping to protect and
>restore America's rivers.
>
>Encourage friends to become online river activists by visiting
>http://www.americanrivers.org/takeaction
>
>To become a member of American Rivers, visit
>http://www.americanrivers.org/joindonate
>
>Find free online resources, toolkits, and ways to unite with other
>activists on your important issues.
>Join the nation's online river community at
>http://www.americanrivers.org
>
>AOL Keyword: American Rivers
>
>To unsubscribe from this distribution list, reply to this
>email (action at action.amrivers.org) and include "remove" in the subject
>line.
>*************************************