HR 669 : CONGRESSIONAL HEARING BANNING NONNATIVE SPECIES APRIL 23, 2009 ACTION NEEDED
- Thread starter neoprodigy
- Start date
the world is heading into a "great depression " and there worried about non native fish...
it makes me seriously wonder what the hell those people are doing..sitting around with there thumbs up there butts trying to figure out something to do to kill there time....fish keeping has been around for a awfully long time to just all the sudden "hurting the ecosystem" they should be taking any of the spending citizens are doing as a blessing ....not try to eliminate jobs all around when people are loosing there houses there jobs there retirements and some even becomming homeless. hurricanes are ripping down towns of people and they are left homeless..people get raped & murdered ... and there spending time and money on regulating what goes in someones fish tank.
it makes me seriously wonder what the hell those people are doing..sitting around with there thumbs up there butts trying to figure out something to do to kill there time....fish keeping has been around for a awfully long time to just all the sudden "hurting the ecosystem" they should be taking any of the spending citizens are doing as a blessing ....not try to eliminate jobs all around when people are loosing there houses there jobs there retirements and some even becomming homeless. hurricanes are ripping down towns of people and they are left homeless..people get raped & murdered ... and there spending time and money on regulating what goes in someones fish tank.
This is what i got back from my congressman
Dear Hung:
Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 669, the Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act. I appreciate your thoughts on this important issue.
As you may know, H.R. 669 would prevent the introduction and establishment of nonnative wildlife that negatively impact the economy, environment, or the health of other animal species or humans. The legislation requires the Department of Interior to create regulations establishing a process for assessing the risk of all nonnative wildlife species proposed for importation into the U.S. The bill sets forth factors that must be considered, including the identity of the organism to the species level, the native range of the species and whether the species has caused harm to the economy, environment, or the health of other species. However, the measure contains exemptions for federal and state officials to prevent the introduction or establishment of nonnative wildlife species, and the legislation would not restrict the importation or transportation between states by a federal agency for its own use.
H.R. 669 has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, of which I am not a member. However, if the House has an opportunity to consider this bill for a vote, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.
Again, I thank you for sharing your views with me. I hope you will continue to give me the benefit of your opinion in the future. In addition, I encourage you to visit my web site at http://davidscott.house.gov, where you can view the latest news and obtain information on issues and legislation that is important to you. You can also sign up for my electronic newsletter, and receive periodic updates on my activities as your representative in Washington. Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to continuing to serve you.
Sincerely,
David Scott
Member of Congress
Dear Hung:
Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 669, the Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act. I appreciate your thoughts on this important issue.
As you may know, H.R. 669 would prevent the introduction and establishment of nonnative wildlife that negatively impact the economy, environment, or the health of other animal species or humans. The legislation requires the Department of Interior to create regulations establishing a process for assessing the risk of all nonnative wildlife species proposed for importation into the U.S. The bill sets forth factors that must be considered, including the identity of the organism to the species level, the native range of the species and whether the species has caused harm to the economy, environment, or the health of other species. However, the measure contains exemptions for federal and state officials to prevent the introduction or establishment of nonnative wildlife species, and the legislation would not restrict the importation or transportation between states by a federal agency for its own use.
H.R. 669 has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, of which I am not a member. However, if the House has an opportunity to consider this bill for a vote, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.
Again, I thank you for sharing your views with me. I hope you will continue to give me the benefit of your opinion in the future. In addition, I encourage you to visit my web site at http://davidscott.house.gov, where you can view the latest news and obtain information on issues and legislation that is important to you. You can also sign up for my electronic newsletter, and receive periodic updates on my activities as your representative in Washington. Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to continuing to serve you.
Sincerely,
David Scott
Member of Congress
Yet majority of non native aquatic animals do not come from aquarists. Pacu cannot reproduce in most of United States except in Florida and Hawaii and pose little threat to the native system. Famous invasives: snakehead, tilapia, carp species, swamp eel and walking catfish escaped from fish farms or released by the market people. Ruffe, round gobies and sea lamprey do not come from aquarists, they come from ballast of ships.Acestro;2998157; said:
I was not pleased to see that reply and I hope hoping for and just amazed they are ok with banning everything just because there are irresponsible people. Isn't that the way of Washington its the exceptions that make the rules.
I hope you guys don't mind me putting this here. Feel free to change up the letter and/or write one from the heart. We all need to stand together even if we are from different hobbies.
I talked to Andrew Wyatt from USARK.org tonight about a better way to get multiply packets of letters shipped out and this is what I came up with and have ran by him to make sure it would work.
If you want to help the cause even more you need to make up packets of 22 letters each.
Let's say you have 10 family members or 25 friends? I know you guys have family, and I know that a least a few of them have to love you. So, if they do YOU NEED THEM TO SIGN 22 LETTERS EACH.
Follow these steps to make this easy on you. I figure the easier I make this the more packets of letters you can have signed. Let's make your goal this.
Repeat after me: I WILL HAVE A LEAST 10 PEOPLE SIGN 22 LETTERS EACH BY THURSDAY.
If you care about this hobby at all you need to put this at the TOP OF YOUR PRIORITY LIST RIGHT NOW!!! I'm not trying to be mean but this is serious people.
What you will for this:
- STEP 1!
Print 220 of the following letters. This is if you only want to do the bare minimum of 10 people.
CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTER FRIENDLY COPY OF THE BELOW LETTER. No PDF or WORD needed.
######################################
Subject: No on HR669
Dear Committee Member,
Please oppose HR669. It is a fundamentally flawed Bill written by a radical environmentalist group that seeks to end the ownership and trade of all non-native animals. There is not a shred of scientific evidence to justify the destruction of a Reptile Industry that leads the world in producing and exporting high quality captive bred reptiles. With the stroke of a pen thousands of small American family businesses would be bankrupted overnight. With no quantifiable benefits, what could be the justification to destroy a viable sector of the American economy in a time of hardship?
What will the additional drain on taxpayer dollars be to grow USFWS at unprecedented levels in order to destroy American small business? These are not the "Too big to fail" corporate titans, but small family businesses with their entire net worth wrapped up in their Reptile breeding projects and ancillary supporting businesses. A 3 billion dollar a year industry would be wiped out by HR669. Thousands of American families would suffer losing everything.
- Trade in Reptiles and ancillary businesses are estimated to be a 3 billion dollar a year industry.
- More than 9 million Reptiles are exported from the US annually.
- More than 11 million Reptiles are kept as pets in the US. That means 1 in 25 households have 1 or more Reptiles.
- The US accounts for 82% of the worldwide trade in Reptiles.
- At least 500,000 Americans would be negatively impacted by HR669. Thousands of small family businesses would be destroyed.
- There are approximately 4 million boas & pythons, as well as more than 7 million geckos, lizards turtles & other Reptiles in captivity in the US today.
- The United States Association of Reptile Keepers Opposes HR669.
Please oppose HR669! The costs to American Families would be enormous. The benefits are both questionable and non quantifiable. NO ON HR669.
Sincerely,
############################################
- STEP 2!
Make 10 stacks of 22 letters.
- STEP 3!
Find 10 people!
- STEP 4!
Have each of the 10 people sign one stack of 22 letters and write there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS under there signature on one piece of paper.
When you are done with this step you should have 220 letters that have been signed buy 10 different people and on the first page of each stack it should have there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS.
- STEP 5!
Now go home and write the persons FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS on each of the other 21 letters they have signed.
This is the most pain part of the whole thing. You can handle it. I know you can. Let the force be with you reptile lover. Keep telling yourself it's for the good of the hobby I LOVE!
When you are done with the step you should have 10 stacks of paper. In each stack there should be 22 letters that have been signed by your friends of family members and you should have written there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS under it on each piece of paper.
- STEP 6!
Make 22 stacks on your floor.
- STEP 7!
Take one piece of paper out of each stack of your 22 letters and put it in 1 of your 22 stacks.
When you're done with this step you should have 22 stacks of papers on your floor and in each stack there should be 10 pieces of paper and on each piece of paper you should have a different signature with that person FULL NAME AND FULL RETURN ADDRESS under the signature.
- STEP 8!
Take the 22 stacks of 10 papers and put them in the 22 manila envelopes.
When you are done with this step you should have 22 manila envelopes and in each envelope you should have 10 pieces of paper signed by 10 different people.
- STEP 9!
Write one of the following 22 names on EACH manila envelope. Each manila envelope should only have 1 name per envelope. Write the name in the middle of the envelope.
- Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Ch)(NP-Guam)
- Henry Brown (R-SC) Ranking Republican
- Lois Capps (D-CA)
- William Cassidy (R-LA)
- Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
- Donna M. Christensen (NP-Virgin Islands)
- Diana L. DeGette (D-CO)
- Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (NP ? American Samoa)
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- John Fleming (R-LA)
- Doc Hastings (R-WA)
- Dale E. Kildee (D-MI)
- Ronald James Kind (D-WI)
- Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (D-MD)
- Douglas L. Lamborn (R-CO)
- Frank J. Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
- Pedro R. Pierluisi (NP-Puerto Rico)
- Nick Joe Rahall, II (D-WV)
- Gregorio Sablan (I- Mariana Islands)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
- Robert J. Wittman (R-VA)
- Donald E. Young (R-AK)
When you are done with this step you should have 22 manila envelopes with one of the above names written in the middle of each of the envelopes.
- STEP 10!
Write your (not theres) FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS in the top left corner of each of the 22 manila envelopes.
- STEP 11!
Put all 22 manila envelopes in a box or shipping envelope.
You can go to USPS, FEDEX KINKOS, THE UPS STORE or any SHIPPING STORE and get something sturdy to put the 22 manila envelopes in.
When you are done with this step you should have all 22 manila envelops in a box or some kind of heavy duty envelope ready to ship.
- STEP 12!
Mail the box or heavy duty envelope with all 22 manila envelopes in it to the following address:
Tom Wolfe
6246 Lee Hwy
Arlington, VA 22205
- STEP 13!
Tell everyone else to make a promise to themselves to do this exact same thing.
###############################################
What you have now done is get 10 more people in on this fight that would not have had there voice heard.
You should now feel proud of yourself.
I just used 10 people as an example. If you have 100 people that will sign 22 letters for you. PLEASE GET THEM TO.
If you ship a box full of these via FedEx or UPS it will not cost you much more than you just sending a manila envelope with 22 letters in it. Plus you're saving money by not having to buy 100's of small white envelopes.
The people in the know feel that sending letters is the way to make the biggest impact. I'm not saying emails aren't good or calling is bad. I'm just saying, sending just emails or just calling will not win this fight. We need to bombard these people with letters. LOTS AND LOTS OF LETTERS PEOPLE!
13 EVEN BETTER STEPS TO STOPPING HR 669!
I talked to Andrew Wyatt from USARK.org tonight about a better way to get multiply packets of letters shipped out and this is what I came up with and have ran by him to make sure it would work.
If you want to help the cause even more you need to make up packets of 22 letters each.
Let's say you have 10 family members or 25 friends? I know you guys have family, and I know that a least a few of them have to love you. So, if they do YOU NEED THEM TO SIGN 22 LETTERS EACH.
Follow these steps to make this easy on you. I figure the easier I make this the more packets of letters you can have signed. Let's make your goal this.
Repeat after me: I WILL HAVE A LEAST 10 PEOPLE SIGN 22 LETTERS EACH BY THURSDAY.
If you care about this hobby at all you need to put this at the TOP OF YOUR PRIORITY LIST RIGHT NOW!!! I'm not trying to be mean but this is serious people.
What you will for this:
- 10 friends or family members that will sign 22 pieces of paper!
- 22 manila envelopes!
- 220 pieces of paper!
- some pens!
- a printer
- a love of this hobby
- you get the idea!!!!!!
- STEP 1!
Print 220 of the following letters. This is if you only want to do the bare minimum of 10 people.
CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTER FRIENDLY COPY OF THE BELOW LETTER. No PDF or WORD needed.
######################################
Subject: No on HR669
Dear Committee Member,
Please oppose HR669. It is a fundamentally flawed Bill written by a radical environmentalist group that seeks to end the ownership and trade of all non-native animals. There is not a shred of scientific evidence to justify the destruction of a Reptile Industry that leads the world in producing and exporting high quality captive bred reptiles. With the stroke of a pen thousands of small American family businesses would be bankrupted overnight. With no quantifiable benefits, what could be the justification to destroy a viable sector of the American economy in a time of hardship?
What will the additional drain on taxpayer dollars be to grow USFWS at unprecedented levels in order to destroy American small business? These are not the "Too big to fail" corporate titans, but small family businesses with their entire net worth wrapped up in their Reptile breeding projects and ancillary supporting businesses. A 3 billion dollar a year industry would be wiped out by HR669. Thousands of American families would suffer losing everything.
- Trade in Reptiles and ancillary businesses are estimated to be a 3 billion dollar a year industry.
- More than 9 million Reptiles are exported from the US annually.
- More than 11 million Reptiles are kept as pets in the US. That means 1 in 25 households have 1 or more Reptiles.
- The US accounts for 82% of the worldwide trade in Reptiles.
- At least 500,000 Americans would be negatively impacted by HR669. Thousands of small family businesses would be destroyed.
- There are approximately 4 million boas & pythons, as well as more than 7 million geckos, lizards turtles & other Reptiles in captivity in the US today.
- The United States Association of Reptile Keepers Opposes HR669.
Please oppose HR669! The costs to American Families would be enormous. The benefits are both questionable and non quantifiable. NO ON HR669.
Sincerely,
############################################
- STEP 2!
Make 10 stacks of 22 letters.
- STEP 3!
Find 10 people!
- STEP 4!
Have each of the 10 people sign one stack of 22 letters and write there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS under there signature on one piece of paper.
When you are done with this step you should have 220 letters that have been signed buy 10 different people and on the first page of each stack it should have there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS.
- STEP 5!
Now go home and write the persons FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS on each of the other 21 letters they have signed.
This is the most pain part of the whole thing. You can handle it. I know you can. Let the force be with you reptile lover. Keep telling yourself it's for the good of the hobby I LOVE!
When you are done with the step you should have 10 stacks of paper. In each stack there should be 22 letters that have been signed by your friends of family members and you should have written there FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS under it on each piece of paper.
- STEP 6!
Make 22 stacks on your floor.
- STEP 7!
Take one piece of paper out of each stack of your 22 letters and put it in 1 of your 22 stacks.
When you're done with this step you should have 22 stacks of papers on your floor and in each stack there should be 10 pieces of paper and on each piece of paper you should have a different signature with that person FULL NAME AND FULL RETURN ADDRESS under the signature.
- STEP 8!
Take the 22 stacks of 10 papers and put them in the 22 manila envelopes.
When you are done with this step you should have 22 manila envelopes and in each envelope you should have 10 pieces of paper signed by 10 different people.
- STEP 9!
Write one of the following 22 names on EACH manila envelope. Each manila envelope should only have 1 name per envelope. Write the name in the middle of the envelope.
- Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Ch)(NP-Guam)
- Henry Brown (R-SC) Ranking Republican
- Lois Capps (D-CA)
- William Cassidy (R-LA)
- Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
- Donna M. Christensen (NP-Virgin Islands)
- Diana L. DeGette (D-CO)
- Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (NP ? American Samoa)
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- John Fleming (R-LA)
- Doc Hastings (R-WA)
- Dale E. Kildee (D-MI)
- Ronald James Kind (D-WI)
- Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. (D-MD)
- Douglas L. Lamborn (R-CO)
- Frank J. Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
- Pedro R. Pierluisi (NP-Puerto Rico)
- Nick Joe Rahall, II (D-WV)
- Gregorio Sablan (I- Mariana Islands)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
- Robert J. Wittman (R-VA)
- Donald E. Young (R-AK)
When you are done with this step you should have 22 manila envelopes with one of the above names written in the middle of each of the envelopes.
- STEP 10!
Write your (not theres) FULL NAME and FULL RETURN ADDRESS in the top left corner of each of the 22 manila envelopes.
- STEP 11!
Put all 22 manila envelopes in a box or shipping envelope.
You can go to USPS, FEDEX KINKOS, THE UPS STORE or any SHIPPING STORE and get something sturdy to put the 22 manila envelopes in.
When you are done with this step you should have all 22 manila envelops in a box or some kind of heavy duty envelope ready to ship.
- STEP 12!
Mail the box or heavy duty envelope with all 22 manila envelopes in it to the following address:
Tom Wolfe
6246 Lee Hwy
Arlington, VA 22205
- STEP 13!
Tell everyone else to make a promise to themselves to do this exact same thing.
###############################################
What you have now done is get 10 more people in on this fight that would not have had there voice heard.
You should now feel proud of yourself.
I just used 10 people as an example. If you have 100 people that will sign 22 letters for you. PLEASE GET THEM TO.
If you ship a box full of these via FedEx or UPS it will not cost you much more than you just sending a manila envelope with 22 letters in it. Plus you're saving money by not having to buy 100's of small white envelopes.
The people in the know feel that sending letters is the way to make the biggest impact. I'm not saying emails aren't good or calling is bad. I'm just saying, sending just emails or just calling will not win this fight. We need to bombard these people with letters. LOTS AND LOTS OF LETTERS PEOPLE!
With the economy the way it is now all the pet stores out there that carry fish, small animal, bird, and reptile supplys imagine where they'll be if this gets passed. If your not alowed to have them can you buy supplies for them what about if you already have them do you have to get rid of them? this will never pass
