•         For Immediate Release - June 26, 2001

Media Release

Representative Tim Johnson Praised by River Conservation Group for Pro-Environmental Votes

"Congressman Johnson’s recent pro-environmental votes are good examples of the kind of scope and depth needed by elected officials to make sound judgements on natural resource issues," said Robert Moore, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network.

Representative Johnson voted on amendments to a House bill that funds the Department of Interior (H.R. 2217), which provides for natural resource
agencies and programs that steward our nation’s public lands.  Johnson supported amendments that:
 

• Preserved boundaries of our Nation’s National Monuments, which were threatened by mining and oil interests seeking to drill and mine in the National Monuments;

• Protect coastal areas off of the Florida coast from oil and natural gas drilling;

• Prevented strong environmental regulations of the mining industry from being overturned; and,

• Increased funding to energy efficiency programs while cutting fossil fuel research and development programs.

"Members of Johnson’s staff also watched for an anti-environmental rider that would prohibit funding of the proposed Grand Kankakee Marsh National Wildlife Refuge," said Moore.  "The new refuge will need a champion in the House."

Senator Richard Durbin strongly supports the Refuge and has sent a letter to the Interior Appropriation Committee requesting that the Senate Interior
Appropriations Bill include $500,000 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for land acquisition to establish the Refuge.

The Wildlife Refuge would be located between the Iroquois Wildlife Conservation Area in Illinois and the Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area in
Indiana, creating a large continuous block of wildlife habitat in the Kankakee and Iroquois River watersheds.

Johnson has also listened to Prairie Rivers’ suggestions to make conservation the centerpiece of the next Farm Bill.  The 2002 Farm Bill will set the
standard for U.S. agricultural policy on Illinois’ working lands and is a tremendous opportunity to restore and maintain water quality, as well as
conserve habitat and wildlife through voluntary incentive programs, according to Prairie Rivers Network.

"Reauthorizing and expanding Farm Bill conservation programs is the best way to give Illinois farmers the tools they need to make the state’s working lands an asset for people, water quality, habitat and wildlife," stated Moore.
"Representative Johnson is in a position to do just that from his seat on the House Agriculture Committee."

Prairie Rivers Network is a statewide river conservation organization working on water quality and river conservation issues throughout Illinois.