All recognized federal and state parks including forests, and open range should be returned to the Indian Nations. The first people of this country have been waiting for 500 years to have a right to their own land that was acquired by birthright and taken away from them illegally. I have been affected personally by this issue. My family was forced out of their home land by gun point and only a small portion was returned back to the Indian People and they were forced to live in a foreign way of life in their own land. I have never felt that I was home, neither did the earlier generations of my family. Native American Indians deserve to have a portion of their land back, furthermore out of 500 nations we are ONE PEOPLE and we have a birthright given by our Creator that is being overlooked by the United States Government. We feel that the Creator ranks higher than any government because his deed has been registered far longer than any claims on this land. When the people return to their land, the land will heal, and the animals will replenish.

I am deeply concerned about the unrelenting use of pesticides on our food which now invades our water systems, including rain water. I want a planet, sky and ocean which hosts life rather than killing it for profit.

We firmly believe that access to broadband internet opens doors for individuals to be able to realize their full potential. For those with broadband access, the option to upgrade to a higher connection speed will allow for greater innovation, evidenced by cities with current Google Fiber installs. For those without broadband access, the option to acquire it at a low cost enables individuals to enhance their lives in ways such as providing students with access to online resources and connecting individuals in rural areas with the rest of the outside world.

All people, at least indirectly, are morally affected when states impose a death sentence.

New York is in the midst of a landmark Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) process, including reorientation of NYSERDA's programs. The small wind industry has been actively participating in the REV proceeding and has been impressed by its breadth and ambition. We expect that certain of the REV initiatives – such as community net metering, community choice aggregation, valuing distributed generation in new utility tariffs, and demonstration projects could provide new exciting opportunities for the small wind industry in New York. However, we need to maintain momentum until these REV initiatives are in place, and not disrupt business opportunities in New York to the point where there is no small wind industry to take advantage of the new REV framework. For this reason, we strongly urge you to support continuation of on-site wind incentives, in some form, in the near-term, to avoid a cliff in the small wind industry. A cliff for small wind will disrupt our trajectory towards grid parity, which is the goal for distributed wind, like other distributed generation technologies. DWEA had previously suggested a program modeled after NY-Sun in meetings with NYSERDA and DPS. Like solar, a system of declining incentives based on the amount of megawatts deployed would provide a long-term signal to the industry and a strong incentive to continue to reduce costs. Further, achieving scale will itself reduce costs as customer acquisition, design and construction, and permitting costs come down due to economies of scale. Note: If appropriate please include your company name in the comment or address field.

Keeping students from getting in-state tuition will keep them from being able to afford to go to college. We have many students in Texas who will be negatively affected by this mean-spirited act.

I am insulted that women's rights to privacy are being commandeered. We are not children who need to be protected by the Tennessee Legislature. Women can make choices and have the right to have a choice.

California is in a water crisis — yet recent water restrictions mandated by Governor Brown are inadequate. While we support individual efforts to conserve, it's clear that the severity of this drought calls for much more than just individual action (residential use accounts for less than 15% of water use in the state). It's time for Governor Brown to take bold action to stop wasteful and unreasonable uses by corporate agriculture, oil interests and the bottled water industry. Big Ag: Big agribusiness is over-pumping California's precious groundwater, especially the water-guzzling almond empire that has doubled in size in the driest part of the state over the last five years. But Governor Brown’s mandate places little burden and no new restrictions on agriculture. Big Oil: Not only does fracking and drilling use tens of millions of gallons of water a year, but the oil and gas industry has been dumping toxic waste water into California's aquifers. This toxic practice needs to end today. Bottled Water Companies: While restaurants will only serve drinking water upon request, water bottling giants like Nestlé continue to suck the state dry. California’s groundwater (that is, the water that exists in our natural aquifers underground) is considered private property and is not treated as the public resource it is. This means that corporations can use it up with little to no restrictions, leading to extreme over-pumping and depleting the state’s already dwindling aquifers. We need real and meaningful action to save our water now!

The Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA) is pursuing legislation in the current Iowa legislative session to provide an incentive program for small wind that mirrors the tax incentives provided for solar. Senators Rob Hogg and Joe Bolkcom continue to construct the Senate's omnibus renewable energy bill. With a finite amount of money to utilize, it is shaping up to be a fight to the finish to see who can make it into and stay in the bill. In addition to signing onto the petition, please directly email each of the Senate Ways and Means Committee members listed below (firstname.lastname @legis.iowa.gov) and ask them to please support the establishment of an Iowa small scale wind assistance program similar to the one currently in place for solar energy. Sen. Joe Bolkcom Sen. Chaz Allen Sen. Randy Feenstra Sen. Bill Anderson Sen. Jerry Behn Sen. Michael Breitbach Sen. Bill Dotzler Sen. Robb Hogg Sen. Pam Jochum Sen. Matt McCoy Sen. Janet Petersen Sen. Herman Quirmbach Sen. Jason Schultz Sen. Joe Seng Sen. Roby Smith Note: If appropriate, please include your company name in the petition sign-on's comment field.

I have no problem with responsible gun ownership. However, as a wife and mother, I cannot sit idly by and allow the state to remove the permit required to carry concealed weapons in this state. Without this permit practice, it will be legal for criminals, domestic abusers and the mentally ill to carry concealed, loaded weapons. That is a threat to everyone's safety, my family's and yours.

Many of us fear trace amounts of pesticides in our food, but sit on sofas every day that contain pounds of toxic flame retardants. These chemicals migrate out of our sofas and other household products and are released into the air in our homes. As a result, 97 percent of U.S. residents have measurable quantities of toxic flame retardants in their blood. Take action today to urge the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to protect the public from toxic flame retardants. These chemicals have been associated with reproductive impairment; neurological impacts, including learning deficits and decreased IQ in children; endocrine disruption; cancer; and immune disorders. Children’s products in particular are likely to contain flame retardant chemicals, putting kids at risk during critical periods of rapid growth and brain development. And for reasons that are not fully understood, low-income communities and communities of color bear a higher body burden of these chemicals than others. To make matters worse, household products containing toxic flame retardants can still burn, and when they do, they tend to produce more smoke, soot, toxic gases, and carcinogenic combustion products. This puts building residents, firefighters, and other first responders at greater risk of harm in the event of a fire. Earthjustice and Consumer Federation of America, representing a broad coalition of organizations, just submitted a legal petition to the CPSC, asking it to protect the public by prohibiting the sale of any children’s product, piece of furniture, or mattress if it contains a toxic flame retardant, and any electronic product with toxic flame retardants in the plastic enclosure. Please let the CPSC know that you stand with the firefighters, pediatricians, consumer advocates, and scientists in asking for household products free of toxic flame retardants!

Currently, the limits on the number of Atlantic herring that can be caught are benefiting industrial fishing operations but threatening the Northeast’s ocean ecosystem. We need you to come to the rescue by taking urgent action now. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) is in the early stages of developing a policy to change the way catch limits are set for Atlantic herring, a keystone species in the marine ecosystem and an important food source for whales, seabirds, and bigger fish, such tuna and cod. The Council needs to hear from people who care about the ocean ecosystem, not just from the herring fishing industry. Earthjustice has been fighting for more than a decade to protect our oceans from irresponsible fishing practices, pollution, and habitat destruction. Today, we need your help. Act now: Tell New England fisheries managers that Atlantic herring are critically important to the ocean, not just to the fishing industry’s bottom line. Other councils have recognized that forage fish need to be managed differently than other fish. Many marine species that depend on herring for food are struggling after long periods of overfishing and ecosystem disruption. New England managers must ensure that enough herring are left in the ocean—at the right time and in the right locations—to give these herring predators enough to eat and sustain their populations. Herring predators aren’t just ecologically important; they also have economic value. Tuna fishing, commercial and recreational fishing for cod and striped bass, whale and seabird watching—all these activities contribute to the Northeast’s economy. The NEFMC should consider this economic value and recognize that these activities depend on an abundant source of Atlantic herring. Take action: Urge the New England Council to protect herring for the long-term health of the ecosystem and the Northeast economy!