carenp reported

"GULFPORT, Miss. - Tucked away in the 96-page emergency military spending
bill signed by President Bush this month are four paragraphs that give
energy companies the right to explore for oil and gas inside a sprawling
national park.... As a preliminary step to drilling, the rider permits seismic testing...

According to Carl Safina in "Song of the Blue Ocean", the "rider" strategy has been very successful in allowing private industry to decimate public resources. In the Northwest, a rider has allowed them to cut vast tracts of old trees from parks, and released them from any obligation to observe environmental protections for endangered animals of any kind.

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Rebecca Galloway
Northgate, Seattle
206 543 0329