Former Park Service Employees Call for End to Unprecedented, Destructive Policies; Campaign Launches with Letter to Bush, Norton

5/19/2003

From: Nadia Khatchadourian, 202-478-6187 or 202-549-8367 (cell), or Lauren Prestileo, 202-478-6189

WASHINGTON, May 19 -- In a letter released today to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and President George W. Bush, nearly thirty former high-ranking National Park Service (NPS) employees called for an end to the administration's unprecedented attack on national parks.

"We simply could no longer stand by as the national parks we devoted our careers to protecting are threatened by one destructive proposal after another," said Mike Finley, former superintendent, Yellowstone National Park. "The policies of President Bush and Interior Secretary Norton towards national parks are not based on science or sound conservation principles but purely on politics and favoring special interests."

The letter highlighted the Administration's most troubling proposals, such as turning over vital park service jobs to the lowest corporate bidder, allowing oil and gas drilling in and near national parks, and permitting the construction of thousands of miles of new roads through national parks.

Former Superintendents Mike Finley, Rick Smith, and Bill Wade, collectively representing nearly a century of combined service to America's parks, spoke out at a press conference today on behalf of a growing group of former senior officials of NPS. The former NPS Superintendents urged the Administration to end its practice of turning over national treasures to private interests concerned with maximizing profit rather than preservation.

The letter signed by a large group of former NPS career employees says that the cumulative impact of the Administration's policies is illegal, in violation of the Organic Act and Redwood Act Amendment of 1978, which declared that the federal government must protect the high public value and national heritage represented by national parks.

"The President has claimed that he is committed to protecting the resources our national parks contain. I welcome this commitment, but believe that his executive branches should live up to it," said Rick Smith, former associate southwest regional director. "Instead, the Administration is making it far easier for states and local governments to acquire rights-of-way and build roads across protected federal lands, using the provisions of a law passed in the 19th century. Granting these rights-of-way could result in the creation of over a hundred miles of new roads through Grand Canyon National Park. These roads would be inimical to the purposes of national parks and of dubious legal validity."

Today's press conference also marked the launch of the Campaign to Protect America's Lands, a new campaign of the Environmental Integrity Project. The Campaign defends America's natural treasures by exposing the significant threats proposed by the Bush Administration to national parks, national monuments, forests, and other public lands.

"In response to the Bush administration's unprecedented and devastating proposals on national parks, these former senior managers of the National Park Service had the courage to speak out today," said Chris Fitzsimon, Director of the Campaign to Protect America's Lands. "They are here on behalf of a growing number of other former career employees of the National Park Service who are also appalled at this Administration's efforts to turn our most cherished national landmarks into profit centers for private special interests."

In addition to more widely-known proposals such as outsourcing many essential NPS jobs and the proposal to allow creation of thousands of new roads in national parks, the Bush administration's Clear Skies Initiative has effectively silenced the Park Service from having a say in policy affecting air quality in parks.

"During my nine years as Superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, I used the Clean Air Act many times as a means of reducing impacts from 30 to 40 coal-fired power plants proposed by the State of Virginia," said Bill Wade, Superintendent, Shenandoah National Park, and recipient of many awards including the Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award, for career-long contributions to NPS and the Department of the Interior. "Had the so-called Clear Skies initiative been in effect when I was Superintendent, my ability to reduce impacts of polluting emissions would have been practically non-existent. This is yet another example of the Bush Administration's absolute disregard for science."

The letter to President Bush and Secretary Norton was signed by nearly thirty former senior managers of the National Park Service, who have pledged to enlist many others in an ongoing effort to save national parks, coordinated with the Campaign to Protect America's Lands.

Each of today's speakers has been decorated for exceptional stewardship of national parks: Finley received the Distinguished Service Award, the Interior Department's highest honor, presented by Secretary Norton; Wade received the same high honor; and Smith received the Meritorious Service Award. All of the men's careers include many notable national parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, Everglades, Shenandoah and Grand Canyon. Both Finley and Wade entered NPS during President Johnson's administration, while Smith began his NPS tenure during President Eisenhower's administration.

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a venture of the Rockefeller Family Fund, is run by Eric V. Schaeffer, former chief of civil enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under Schaeffer's leadership, EIP uses advocacy and original research to improve the enforcement of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other important environmental and public health law across America. The organization has provided independent and objective comments on environmental enforcement issues including controversial topics such as the Bush Administration's New Source Review (NSR) rollback, the Tennessee Valley Authority court case, the funding crisis facing EPA's enforcement division and other related issues. The Campaign to Protect America's Lands, directed by Chris Fitzsimon, is a new campaign of EIP.