The Environmental Protection Agency was created to enforce critical laws that protect people and the safety of our water and air. Hindering the EPA’s ability to do this work would only line the pockets of big corporations while destroying our environment and making American families sick. That's outrageous – and it's completely unacceptable. We need Congress to stand up for us and fiercely reject any and all attempts to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. We need a strong EPA to keep polluters in check and protect our health.

I am outraged that once again Native Americans are being abused--their lands desecrated, their water contaminated, all for the short-term profits of Big Banks and Big Oil. I cherish our earth as they do, and mourn its destruction.

A wildlife refuge should be exactly that.....a refuge. No barbaric, cruel extermination methods such as aerial gunning, poison, and gassing should be allowed in these protected areas to appease game hunters.

Plastic bags constitute the majority of waste that is crowding our landfills and polluting our oceans. These bags literally can take centuries to decompose, and represent a very real threat to human and animal life. It's time that Vermont follow in the footsteps of other progressive cities and countries and ban the use of single-use plastic bags.

West Virginia standing up for their health and rivers. Over the past few years since the 2014 Water Crisis, we have lived knowing that our water is contaminated. We cannot let these delegates vote to choose industry over our health and our rivers, when we have already seen devastation with what regulations/protections we have had in place.

Rep. Keith Ellison has introduced bills attempting to ban this pesticide multiple times. He needs our support. I'm personally affected by this because my daughter was born with an abdominal wall defect where this chemical is heavily used. I want to prevent, if we can, other families from suffering.

The Petition Proposal is a proposal intended to encourage a dialogue for practical and money saving alternatives to the proposed deep wells of the Abeyta Settlement. We hope this proposal will evolve with input based on the needs of individual settlement parties and the greater good of the community. The Abeyta Settlement is the adjudication of Taos Pueblo's water rights and was finalized in October 2016. As First People of the Taos Valley, the People of Taos Pueblo have the most senior water rights, so the Settlement ensures that Taos Pueblo is entitled to around 12,000 acre feet of water. The concern is not with the adjudication of water for Taos Pueblo, but rather with the details of distribution and delivery of water in the Taos Valley. Primary concerns with the details of the settlement are 1) the extensive alteration of water in the Taos Valley that would be caused by the drilling at least 13 deep wells (1,000-3,000 feet deep) and 2) the unknown impacts to water quality, to the groundwater aquifers, rivers and soil of our Taos valley related to those deep wells and 3) the financial impacts of operating these deep wells which may overwhelm the finances of the acequias. The settlement plan specifies the drilling of 9 wells that are at least 1,000 feet deep near the mountains and across Taos Valley at the top of acequias near their diversions from rivers. One purpose of these wells is to mitigate any negative impacts from drought or heavy pumping of lower deep wells. If the water table drops or river water disappears, these mitigation wells would be turned on to restore water to surface water systems. We have serious concerns that these deep wells, when drilled, may perforate shallower ground aquifers and allow mixing of aquifer water layers that would impact the shallower sites where many people have domestic wells. This has already occurred with a Town of Taos 3,200’ deep well in Los Cordovas. Geologists such as Paul Bauer and Tony Benson and hydrologists such as Mike Darr have said that the ground aquifers are interconnected. Time after time, when deep wells are drilled, they dry up and impact shallower aquifers. This could, in the end, even dry up the Taos Pueblo Buffalo Pasture as water levels drop from the pumping of deep wells. Once these wells are drilled, the damage may not be possible to reverse. The chemical composition of deep well water is unknown until you drill. Each deep well is expected to cost approximately two million dollars. If the wells draw up water with high levels of toxic minerals such as fluoride, uranium, arsenic, or heavy calcium carbonates, they will need to be treated and the citizens of our area will bear that cost. The petition proposal suggests the installation of water guages (on a negotiated, case by case basis) to allow individual acequias and parties to provide real-time, objective data to avoid disputes between water-sharing parties. Guages are not suggested throughout individual acequia systems - only at shared diversions from major rivers. The purpose of guages is only to confirm that each party receives their confirmed share of water allotments as defined by the Abeyta Settlement. Although the Abeyta Settlement decree has been finalized, application for these deep well projects must be made on an individual basis. These deep wells have at present been mandated without genuine opportunity for prior public feedback. The settlement agreement provides (Abeyta Settlement, Article 13.3) for the parties to "reconvene and negotiate in an attempt to agree on modified or alternative projects or measures that are otherwise consistent with this settlement agreement" if the projects are infeasible or do not receive necessary permits. Further, if the mitigation well system fails or is not used, the Abeyta Settlement states "that the water rights owning parties shall reconvene and negotiate terms and provisions which will provide mutually acceptable alternative solutions". At this time our community should consider invoking Article 13.3 of the Settlement to determine if these deep wells make sense for our future water sustainability. Our survival in this desert depends on our precious natural water system. To alter this system without knowing what the long-term repercussions is dangerous.

Mountaintop removal coal mining is linked to several public health impacts, including elevated rates of cancer, heart disease, birth defects, and other deadly illnesses. A huge 2,000-acre mountaintop removal permit on Coal River Mountain in West Virginia, issued in 2008, should have terminated in 2011 in accordance with federal and state law for not starting within three years. Instead, the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) retroactively extended the permit. Now, after years of litigation by Coal River Mountain Watch, the new Cabinet Secretary of the WVDEP has the permit back on his desk with the opportunity to correct his predecessor's mistakes and declare the Eagle #2 permit terminated.

The Army Corp of Engineers have given the Water Protectors only until the morning of February 22 to clear the camp or be forcibly removed. The cleanup cannot be completed in the timeframe allowed, thereby criminalizing water protectors who are working hard to clear the land. The failure to follow the legal process requiring an Environmental Impact Statement for DAPL to build this pipeline is an anti-democratic precedent that threatens the safety of all Americans.

TV shows like Gold Rush are pissing me off and its disgusting seeing the landscape torn up and we keep ruining the ecosystem by doing these stupid things. Enouph is enough. Native American people should be the only ones allowed to gold mine, period. If we are going to use fossil fuel then we should at least give that up. We need the forests and this destruction is out of control. I personally am tired of seeing these selfish people making millions of dollars on TV and the forest suffers as a result. They basically get rewarded for bad behavior. I have had enough. They're greedy and need to be stopped.

I support solar installations on New Mexico homes & businesses. Clean energy beats oil every time. PNM is trying to make it harder and more expensive to begin a solar project. I want to expose what is going on and to stop this bill in its tracks. PNM is behind this ALEC bill. They are pretending to be looking out for consumers but are actually making it much harder and more expensive to begin a solar project. For instance the bill recommends that the home owner get a TAX ATTORNEY to review the system! Here is the text of the bill. Scroll down to page 4 to read the TWENTY steps recommended by the bill. https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/17%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0210.pdf

Fresh water is valuable and essential to all life. About 1% of freshwater IS groundwater. Does it make sense to put three 15,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks is a towns freshwater aquifer, water table, against Beaver Brook, and a few miles from the Delaware River? NO, it does not!! This is an environmentally sensitive area, known to be a habitat for threatened and endangered flora and fauna species. Location of site is I-80 West exit 12, in front of Park-and-Ride lot. Your signature today will help preserve freshwater for future generations!