THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996                 TAG: 9607120012
SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   33 lines

DISAPPOINTED IN PICKETT'S ENVIRONMENTAL VOTE

On behalf of the National Wildlife Federation and its 4 million members and supporters, I express deep disappointment in Virginia Democratic Rep. Owen B. Pickett's recent vote to give large California timber interests an exemption from the Endangered Species Act. This exemption would have allowed a few selected corporations to bypass the law, opening the way for them to cut down ancient redwood forests and potentially send a threatened sea bird known as the marbled murrelet to extinction.

Fortunately, this attack on the Endangered Species Act failed. An overwhelming majority of the U.S. House of Representatives, recognizing the American people's strong desire to protect endangered species, voted against the exemption and upheld the act's protections of habitat critical to endangered species.

The American people know that our plant and animal species are not only a source of wonder, they are also the key to our survival and quality of life. By protecting endangered species and their habitats, the Endangered Species Act protects our children's future.

I hope that the next time such a special-interest exemption from endangered-species protections is proposed, Representative Pickett will be more sensitive to the importance of a healthy environment to the American people.

MARK VAN PUTTEN

President

National Wildlife Federation

Washington, D.C., June 27, 1996 by CNB