Letters needed NOW

John C. Ogden jogden at seas.marine.usf.edu
Fri Oct 22 15:13:00 EDT 1999


Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Since my message about coral reefs in the NOAA budget earlier today, I have
some specifics on what we can do, immediately and over the weekend to get
coral reefs back in the NOAA budget.  The debate and negotiations are in
progress NOW and over the weekend.  The time to write is NOW; next week
will be too late.

Key people:

Jack Lew, Director 
Office of Management and Budget
Fax: 202-395-3888
A letter to Lew is particularly important; if you can do only one do this one.

House Appropriations Committee Leadership:

Congressman Rogers (Fax: 202-225-0940)
Congressman Serano (Fax: 202-225-6001)
Congressman Young (Fax: 202-225-9764)

Senate Appropriations Committee Leadership:

Senator Greg (Fax: 202-224-4952)
Senator Hollings (Fax: 202-224-4293)

Key Points:

1. Noaa's FY 2000 budget request included $12 million for a variety of
activities urgently needed to protect, restore, and sustain U.S. coral reefs.

2. While the Senate proposed funding NOAA's request at the $6 million
level, the House included no funding.

3. The current conference budget from Congress includes ZERO funding for
NOAA's coral reef activities.

4. U.S. coral reefs are in crisis; this funding is critical.

5. A key is Jack Lew, Director of OMB; if you do only one letter do this one.

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John C. Ogden, Ph.D., Director		Tel: 727/553-1100
Florida Institute of Oceanography		Fax: 727/553-1109
830 First Street South		
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 USA	Web page: http://www.marine.usf.edu/FIO
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