The Nature of Conservation: Your Voice Does Matter

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Hi: This is Ingrid Biedron again.



I learned from a colleague who works on the Hill that it DOES make a difference if you contact your Senator or Congressperson! You can tweet them, call them, e-mail them, send them a letter, or visit them in person! It does matter! Even as few as 10 tweets on one issue is sometimes enough for a staffer to highlight that issue for their boss, the Senator or Congressperson. 

If you care about an issue, I encourage you to let your representatives know, in the way that is easiest for you. It is important that you contact the representatives for the STATE YOU LIVE IN! Most likely, representatives will be concerned about responding to issues that their constituents care about, so that they can count on their votes for re-election. That means that representatives will most likely listen to and address the concerns of the people they represent but may not pay as much attention to comments from people living outside the state they represent. To find out who your Senators and Representatives are and what their contact information and twitter handles are, I suggest just googling them!

Since I am an environmentalist and I am concerned about increased offshore drilling in US waters, I suggest you reach out to your representatives on this issue, letting them know if you don’t want drilling in US waters (right now, most coasts on the Continental US and Alaska, except for parts of Florida, are on the table for drilling as soon as 2019). If you would like to voice your concerns to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Federal Agency (under the Department of the Interior) regulating offshore drilling in the US. 

It is very important that as many people as possible attend the pubic listening sessions at various cities in the next few weeks and/or submit your comments online! 

Here are the New England public listening sessions:
  • February 13 – Hartford, CT
  • February 27 – Boston, MA
  • February 28 – Providence, RI
  • March 5 – Concord, NH
  • March 7 – Augusta, ME
Here are the links listing the public listening sessions and describing how to submit your comments online. 

www.boem.gov/National-Program
www.boem.gov/National-Program-Comment
www.boem.gov/National-Program-Participate

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