1. We vehemently oppose a site that destroys our valued wetlands and some 10,000 year old fens. The Town of Mountain Village failed to disclose to the EPA and the Army Corps that there are 2 rare fens adjacent to THD's proposed site. Both the Town of Mountain Village and THD failed to disclose to the EPA and the Army Corps that THD will destroy or seriously impact wetlands that are protected under an EPA management agreement. 2. We want a location that has access to all as equally as possible-including Ophir, Norwood, Placerville, Sawpit, the Town of Mountain Village and the Town of Telluride. 3. THD has failed, and refused outright, to provide a reliable study of financial feasibility for the new medical center with projected demographics and healthcare needs, most likely because it knows that the projected demographics and healthcare needs will not support a 40,000 square foot facility. THD has failed to consider the affect a large, new, publicly funded medical center would have on the existing local, privately owned, small health oriented businesses, including pharmacies and physical therapists. 4. There are viable and practicable alternative sites to the proposed location in Mountain Village and the alternative sites will have minimal environmental impacts. We, the signatories of this petition, ask the Telluride Hospital District Board of Directors to work with San Miguel County, the Town of Telluride, the Town of Mountain Village, EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and others to find a site that meets with the above, in order to serve ALL members of our communities equally and respect our precious environmental habitat.

Louisiana is in a state of emergency, and the Red Cross is calling the recent flooding the worst U.S. natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy. Yet, on August 24, the Obama administration is planning to sell off an area the size of Virginia for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. This fossil fuel auction is set to take place in the New Orleans Superdome, just an hour's drive from Louisiana cities and towns that have just been ravaged by unprecedented floods. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground and stop treating the Gulf Coast like a sacrifice zone. In the midst of a climate-fueled disaster, which will most gravely impact those already marginalized in our society, moving forward with this auction is a terrible idea. Selling fossil fuels at the New Orleans Superdome–the site of one of the most visible and tragic instances of climate injustice in recent memory–is nothing short of insulting. In this moment, we need to stand with Gulf communities who have been resisting the fossil fuel industry for decades. President Obama can allow the fossil fuel industry to carry on with business as usual, or he can stand with Louisiana residents who are living under a state of climate emergency. He can’t do both. We are calling on President Obama to cancel the upcoming fossil fuel auction and stop new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico altogether.

The recent flooding in Louisiana is the country’s ‘worst natural disaster’ since Superstorm Sandy. Yet, in a disastrous move that will put millions of Gulf state residents at risk and threaten the fight to combat climate change even further, the Obama administration is planning to auction to the highest bidder nearly 24 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and natural gas exploration and drilling. The Obama administration calls this lease sale part of its “continued commitment to safe and responsible domestic energy production,” but there's nothing safe or responsible about opening an additional 23.8 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling. These leases will go up for sale on August 24, so we need to act now to stop any further drilling in the Gulf of Mexico once and for all.

At the October 7 California Coastal Commission (CCC) hearing in Long Beach, the CCC staff recommended that the commissioners deny the Coastal Development Permit (CDP) for the proposed massive Banning Ranch development project. The CCC staff’s recommendation was based on the developer's proposed project heavily impacting the extensive Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHAs), wetlands and Native American evidence on Banning Ranch, as well as other significant Coastal Act inconsistencies, In their report, the CCC staff described how, by reducing the development footprint to 11.5 acres, the developers could build a project that would be consistent with the Coastal Act. The CCC staff report from the October hearing can be viewed at: http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2015/10/w9b-10-2015.pdf Rather than deny the development permit, the commissioners voted in October to postpone their decision and directed the developer and the CCC staff to work together to find a project that could be approved. In the months following the October hearing, the developer has submitted a reduced version of the proposed project that revised the development footprint from 124 acres to 85 acres. This revision seems more designed to secure a vote of a majority of the commissioners rather than a genuine attempt to bring the project into compliance with the Coastal Act. This proposed project still has nearly 900 homes, requires extensive grading (2.8 million cubic yards), and continues to result in significant impacts to ESHAs, wetlands and Native American evidence, and for these reasons, the Banning Ranch Conservancy opposes the developer's revised proposed project. The project was scheduled for a vote in May (ultimately postponed at the developer's request). For the May hearing, the CCC staff prepared a report in which CCC staff reclassified some areas of ESHA as non-ESHA, significantly expanding the potential development footprint from 11.5 acres to 55 acres and recommended approval of the developer's proposed project as long as the approval was conditioned such that the project would fit into the 55-acre footprint identified by CCC staff. The Banning Ranch Conservancy has strong objections to the CCC staff's reclassification of ESHA as non-ESHA and for this reason, we remain opposed to the proposed project, even with CCC staff's recommendations.

The SWFL Clean Water Movement is a group of concerned citizens rallying to end the toxic Lake Okeechobee discharges that destroy our river, esturay, and local Gulf waters. Freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee pose major problems for our Southwest Florida ecosystem. As a result, incidents of dead oyster beds, wilted sea grasses, toxic algae blooms, and fish kills have increased in our coastal estuaries and rivers. We demand that our elected officials, legislators, and the corporate businesses responsible for this disaster support the solution: Buy the land and send the water south!

We hereby request the EPA and the Army Corps protect the remaining wetlands in Mountain Village by denying the wetlands permit requested by Telluride Hospital District.

Federal agencies have lifted the moratorium on offshore fracking in the Santa Barbara Channel, and they've approved a permit to frack off the coast of Ventura. We saw how fracking and extreme extraction can destroy coastal communities after 140,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a ruptured offshore rig off the coast of Santa Barbara last year. We cannot allow any more disasters to harm our communities! Ask Senators Boxer and Feinstein to write a letter to the Obama administration calling for a ban on offshore fracking in California.

Getting infected by Zika is scary, especially for pregnant women. But, it's even scarier that our Mayor thinks the best way to protect us is by spraying Naled, a pesticide that was banned in the European Union for its harmful effects on wildlife and which raises serious concern about its effects on people after long exposures. According to the Miami Herald, "at larger doses, Naled’s effects on people range from headaches, nausea and diarrhea to death. The insecticide, which can penetrate skin but is most harmful when breathed in, attacks the human nervous system with the potency of a chemical weapon, scientists say. Accidental exposure has led to deaths in India and other countries." (Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article95158007.html#storylink=cpy) Why would Gimenez make such an irresponsible decision? Was it because the panic about Zika could've affected his re-election? Well, Mayor Gimenez, now we don't know what is worse: the Zika virus or your solution. Stop spending our resources to create even more panic, harm our wildlife and expose our bodies to toxic pesticides.

Monarch Butterfly Populations have declined by 90% in recent years. Chiefly due to loss of habitat from development. Monarch butterfly caterpillars can only eat our native Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, and Butterfly weed-- all species of Asclepias. As I travel around our state I notice freeway medians completely mowed, roadsides on state and US highways mowed for 100 yards and more, and on and off ramps mowed entirely. These are all prime sites for milkweeds and other native wildflowers to grow. Our native bees are also in serious decline. They also depend on wildflowers, including milkweeds to survive. Please stop mowing such wide areas. One mower width on the edges of roads should be enough to provide for traffic safety. This would also save fuel, reduce air pollution, and save dollars spent on manhours to provide vehicle maintenance and mowing- all of which are paid for by taxpayers.

Dow and DuPont, two of the largest seed and chemical companies in the United States, have announced a plan to merge into a $130 billion company. This mega-merger is bad news for the food system. Just a handful of large chemical companies already control most of the seed supply used to grow crops like corn and soybeans, as well as the herbicides that genetically engineered seeds are designed to be grown with. As this merger consolidates the seed market into fewer hands, farmers will be left with fewer choices and higher prices for seeds. And it will make it harder for our agriculture system to get off the GMO-chemical treadmill that just keeps increasing in speed. Federal regulators should block this merger to prevent further corporate control of the agriculture industry. Sign the petition and tell the Department of Justice to make sure this merger does not go through!

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an extreme right-wing lobbying group that helps lawmakers pass harmful bills for the benefit of their corporate buddies. ALEC is funded by fossil fuel companies and blocks climate action, causing health impacts to seniors today and endangering our grandchildren’s future. ALEC also makes life harder for seniors by protecting price-gouging drug companies, advocating against Medicaid expansion, and more. ALEC does not represent AARP's values, and AARP must take a stand by ending their support of ALEC immediately.

Justice for Lancaster county area animals! Please prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those involved in the Libre case as well as those involved in the case of the horse which had to be euthanized in Ephrata. We will not tolerate this animal abuse and neglect and expect justice for all the animals in Lancaster county that are subjected to these atrocities.