Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own
breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an
appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is
raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom.
Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican
as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us
to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry
our successes and zest for living to future generations.
Open Letter to the United States Senate
RE: Senator Mary Landrieu’s Coastal Aid Bill
May 2005
Dear Senators:
Please be advised this letter is from SOWL comprised of over 1,200 members, who, since 1974, has been filing lawsuits documenting the destruction of Louisiana’s coastal zone. First and foremost, SOWL repeats her assertions that Mary Landrieu is no friend of Louisiana wetlands or our United States coastal zones. (See April 12, 2000 and June 24, 1999 letters below.)
Now in May of 2005, Senator Mary Landrieu wants billions of dollars to restore Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coastal zones. In the meantime,
she votes to destroy our Artic National Wildlife Refuge Center and push for destructive oil, gas, and nuclear options.
Senator Mary Landrieu is nothing but a cheap mouthpiece for her oil-gas-nuclear corporate backers. She wants to
expand nuclear power plants, but limit the nuclear industry’s liability in case of an accident.
Senators, it is time for a reality check! WAKE UP! Remember Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, the nuclear accident that almost destroyed Detroit and the nuclear accident that completely devastated large sections of Russia during the 1960’s. Ask the Atomic Veterans used as guinea pigs by the Atomic Energy Commission, marched into nuclear atomic bomb explosions in the Neveda desert. Ask now the Gulf War-Iraq-Afghanistan veterans returning home with radioactive-nuclear industry Depleted Uranium inside their bones.
Remember the reality there is no way to safely dispose of nuclear waste! In the meantime, two more nuclear plants are proposed for Louisiana and
Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans is now proposing a new airport in the Bonnet Carre Spillway, adjacent to the Waterford Nuclear Power Plant. What insanity!! The only thing the nuclear power industry has going for it is a corporate controlled media and nuclear puppets/mouthpieces like Sen. Mary Landrieu and
Sen. Pete Domeneici.
Do you really want to give Louisiana vast sums of monies to restore her coastal zone? In the meantime, the Louisiana legislature appropriates $11 million to destroy 246 wetland acres in Westwego, Louisiana to construct a private Tournament Player’s
golf club. The Louisiana State Legislature then appropriates another $1 million to
subsidize this golf course when the rounds of golf players become minimal.
Every permit requested by WalMart, Home Depot, Target and for countless apartments, housing developments etc. ad nauseam are issued by the St. Tammany Parish Council to destroy wetlands. Thousands of acres of wetlands are being permitted for destruction by Louisiana agencies in hurricane flood prone areas like the
Eden Isle-Oak Harbor Subdivision on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. These are the same politicians now demanding billions of dollars in coastal restoration.
In the meantime, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans other proposed airport site is to destroy Lake Pontchartrain by filling it in for a Hong Kong-Japanese type island airport, adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge Center.
Senator Mary Landrieu wants to expand more oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and in our coastal zones. In the meantime, the planet heats up from fossil fuel burning and
Shell Oil Company wants to build LNG Closed Loop Plants in the Gulf of Mexico backed by the fast track Bush Boys set to destroy our Gulf of Mexico fishing industry.
In the meantime, Senator Mary Landrieu votes and rubber stamps the Bush/Cheney Halliburton Rumsfeld neo con oil wars.
In the meantime more and more documented evidence is surfacing that the Cheney Rumsfeld neo cons not only had prior knowledge of 9-11 but actually instigated it to invade Afghanistan and Iraq (It’s called False Flag Oil Wars).
In the meantime, Louisiana loses over 30 square miles of her coastal zone a year. SOWL has documented that over 50% of this loss is caused by construction of
thousands of oil company canals through Louisiana wetlands. You Senators should be sponsoring a bill to force the oil companies to compensate Louisiana for the billions of dollars of erosion caused by the oil company canals. Oil-gas-nuclear is a dead end. You Senators should be pushing to make Louisiana and the U.S.A. a sunshine-solar-alternate energy state rather than a nuclear-oil-gas toxic radioactive sludge pit so adored and worshipped and pushed by Senator Mary Landrieu.
Sincerely Yours,
Save Louisiana Wetlands, Inc.
Save Our Wetlands, Inc. (SOWL)
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