ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995                   TAG: 9511020097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PROTECT EARTH, SAY 1.2 MILLION SIGNERS

Environmental activists delivered bags full of petitions to Congress on Wednesday with what they said were the signatures of 1.2 million people opposed to Republican proposals that would weaken laws protecting the environment.

Gene Karpinski, executive director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer and environmental advocacy group, said, ``People across the country signed these petitions because this new Congress, led by [House] Speaker Newt Gingrich and [Senate] Majority Leader Bob Dole, has been engaged in a massive effort to roll back 25 years of environmental progress.''

Twenty national environmental organizations and 450 state and local groups gathered the signatures nationwide over six months.

- Associated Press 


 by CNB