Sarah Matsumoto, Endangered Species Coalition

Sarah Matsumoto is the GREEN Western Organizer for the Endangered Species Coalition. Based in Albuquerque, N.M., she works to protect wildlife and wildlands across the U.S. and especially in the West.

Many people following the presidential election buzz might think that George W. Bush and Al Gore are competing for the illustrious title of "Mr. Green." You also might be led to believe that the Republican and Democratic parties have had a recent spiritual enlightenment about protecting Mother Earth. While they pat themselves on the back for their green credentials, both parties are spatting with each other over which side is holding up "the work of the people" in Congress. Truth be told, both parties are probably responsible. In the waning days of this session, Congress has already had to pass two "continuing resolutions" to keep the government running because they missed the Oct. 1 deadline to pass the bills that fund the federal government.

Why the holdup? Because our elected representatives are busy assailing our critical environmental laws by attaching anti-environmental riders to key funding bills. Riders are pieces of legislation, tacked onto unrelated appropriations bills, which attack key environmental laws, programs, or funding. They are a favorite tactic of anti-environmental congresspeople because they aren't debated in Congress or in the court of public opinion. It has been said that anti-environmental riders are like mushrooms: They grow the best with little light and lots of manure.

This year there are more than 40 such nasty little provisions stuck onto the bills that fund the federal government. For example, riders would allow grazing on public lands without environmental review, use our tax dollars to needlessly slaughter Yellowstone bison, delay reintroduction of the endangered grizzly bear into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, stop endangered gray wolves from migrating into Oregon, and limit the amount of money that can be used for two key programs for endangered species recovery. Other potential riders could block recovery programs for Stellar sea lions in Alaska, which are starving because of overfishing in their habitat, and weaken the "dolphin-safe" tuna label to allow more killing of dolphins.

These riders are not only objectionable because of their effect on environmental protection; they are also a direct attack on the democratic process. Like most Americans, I would like to believe that our democracy is working and that our congressional representatives are doing their job representing us. However, I realize that more often they are working against our best interests and purposely hiding their worst legislative handiwork from the eyes of the public. That is why these anti-environmental riders make me so angry -- because they directly subvert the public process by attaching unrelated amendments to must-pass funding bills. Our elected representatives should not be afraid of democracy and public rule. But often they act as if they are. The mindset of many of our elected officials is summed up in a quote by an Arizona state representative talking about the laws of her state. "We live in a republic, not a democracy. We have to really watch too much democracy because it's mob rule," explained Arizona state Rep. Barbara Blewster.

At the Endangered Species Coalition, we believe that what you really have to watch out for are anti-environmental and anti-democratic elected officials. And we are fighting as hard as we can to stop these undemocratic attacks on our critical environmental laws. The conservation community has already had a few victories so far against anti-environmental riders this Congress, actually one of our most successful years ever. Earlier this summer, in the middle of a drought year on the Rio Grande, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) introduced a rider that would block any emergency water from being released for the endangered silvery minnow. While Domenici's motives may have been honorable, his rider deeply interfered with local collaborative processes on the river and spelled almost certain extinction for the minnow. After much pressure from New Mexicans and people across the country, and negotiations with Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Domenici agreed to withdraw the amendment from the funding bill. A few months later, Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) added his own anti-environmental rider that would spell disaster for salmon in the Northwest. Gorton's rider attempted to block the study of the removal of dams along the Snake and Columbia rivers. It took a presidential veto threat, angry letters from his fellow congresspeople, Buster the Salmon (an activist dressed in a salmon costume) lobbying on Capitol Hill, and intense pressure from citizens across the country before Gorton agreed to modify his amendment.

Although we have had some great victories so far in shedding light on a few of the worst riders, there are many still lingering on must-pass funding bills in Congress right now. For example, a rider affecting three endangered species -- the least tern, the piping plover, and the pallid sturgeon -- has been at the center of a controversy about an energy and water funding bill. Sen. Kit Bond's (R-Mo.) rider would block efforts to restore habitat vital to the survival and recovery of the piping plover, the least tern, and the pallid sturgeon on the Missouri River. The president actually vetoed the Energy and Water Appropriations bill because of this and other anti-environmental riders. And now the bill has been sent back to Congress, which will decide whether to try to override the veto or strip the riders from the bill. This is a test for many members of Congress on whether they will continue to allow undemocratic attacks on our critical environmental laws or will stand up for endangered species and the American public.

Americans can only hope that our elected officials will have enough respect for democracy, public opinion, and our environmental laws to strip the anti-environmental riders and get on with the real "work of the people."