CRITICAL UPDATE: At Thanksgiving I sent our petition to save the Olympic Peninsula from Warfare training to UnderSecretary Bonnie. Since then, the number of signatures has skyrocketed from 3,000 to almost 10,000 !! This is amazing for a totally grassroots effort! THANK YOU for continuing to share this petition with everyone you know. In addition to Robert Bonnie and Chief Tidwell, the petition --- with your signatures and comments---is being fowarded to Christy Goldfuss. As Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Goldfuss holds a powerful position. Because she worked for the National Park Service for many years, she will certainly understand the need to protect Olympic National Park from military abuse! I just contacted her office: Her assistant said they hadn’t heard about the issue. (!!!!) I promptly emailed her a summary of the crisis. Good News: Thanks to the strong pressure YOU have helped create, the Forest Service has postponed its decision until February. This delay works in our favor---giving us one more chance to make our voices heard. LETS SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY! Because personal emails and letters carry MUCH more weight than petitions, I am asking each one of you to take a few minutes to dash off an email (or a letter or fax )to Christy Goldfuss. Letters can be very short --- a few lines will suffice--- but we need thousands! We need to hit Goldfuss hard by the first week of January, BEFORE the Forest Service makes their decision, so please send your letter immediately, and spread this action alert with everyone you know. I say: “Lets make a BIG BOLD FUSS to Christy Goldfuss!” NOW its time for her to hear from each one of us what we think about this heinous Navy assault. Be clear in your request: NO PERMIT for an Electronic Warfare Range on the Olympic Peninsula! With a spectacular National Park as it heart, it is a totally inappropriate location. Establishing a Range here, promising to “mitigate” noise impacts later, is UNACCEPTABLE. This irreplaceable ecosystem includes the skies above the land, and We the People say: ABSOLUTELY NOT! Let Goldfuss know: The crisis unfolding on Olympic Peninsula is NOT a local or regional issue. It is a national issue, and must be addressed on a NATIONAL level. Our National Parks are ALL part of “America’s Backyard”. They were created to be protected FOREVER... including from military use. (After learning that these low-flying war jets are ALREADY terrorizing hikers and wildlife with their horrific noise, I am requesting the Olympic Peninsula be a “NO-FLY ZONE”. ) Thank you for taking this critical action. I know we can win this one... I feel it in my bones! But we need EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS to add their energy to the fight. The time is NOW. Are you with me? Lets DO it! Pat "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King THIS MATTERS. Christy Goldfuss: chair@ceq.eop.gov Christy Goldfuss Council on Environmental Quality 722 Jackson Place NW Washington DC 20503 FAX: (202) 456-6546 Important: Please send a copy of your letter to Robert Bonnie’s staff: UnderSecretary Bonnie needs to know that the people’s outcry is NOT diminishing! CC: Leslie Jones, (Executive Assistant to Robert Bonnie) leslie.jones@osec.usda.gov Leslie Jones 1400 Independence Ave NW Jamie L. Whitten Bldg Suite 240 E Washington DC 20250 PHONE: (202)720-7173 FAX (202) 720-0632