Urgent Action Letters Needed

Urgent Action Letters Needed

Dear Members, Friends and Colleagues,

We are currently working to preserve two sites, Newgrange, Ireland and Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts, from development and we are urging you to join us in writing letters of protest to government officials.

NEWGRANGE - Bend of the Boyne World Heritage Site

We are encouraging as many individuals as possible to participate in the planning process for the Slane bypass, which runs 500m away from the Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne World Heritage Site, known as Newgrange.

It is argued that the bypass and bridge are necessary because of deadly traffic accidents. See point #4 below.

We are offering a free download of the entire Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Slane bypass. http://www.savenewgrange.org The following files, which include archaeological reports, are available:

Non Technical Summary 6.6 mb

Environmental Impact Statement Vol 1 20.7 mb

Environmental Impact Statement Vol-2 316 mb

The public must make submissions to the Irish planning Board, An Bord Pleanala, by February 17, 2010. The cost is 50 euro per submission. Detials available at http://www.pleanala.ie

Write to: An Bord Pleanala, 64 Marborough St, Dublin 1, IRELAND

Points to Make:

1. This is a World Heritage Site (WHS) chosen because it is Europe's largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art. The monuments had social, religious and funerary significance.
2. Upon inscription as a WHS, UNESCO invited the Irish authorities to carefully control future developments in and around the site called, The Bend of the Boyne.
3. The site is currently threatened by a road bypass that involves the construction of a 20 meter high bridge that will be visible from one of the monuments at the site called Knowth. This is not consistent with the mandate to control development at the site.
4. There is a ban on HGV (large vehicles, such as commercial trucks) on the existing road that passes through the nearby village of Slane. Enforcing this ban would mitigate the need for the bypass road and bridge.

NANTUCKET SOUND, MASSACHUSETTS

Nantucket Sound is currently threatened by Wind Farm project known as Cape Wind that would install 130 wind turbines rising 440 feet above the surface of Nantucket Sound spoiling the view and disrupting the Wampanoag Burial Grounds.

Points to Make:

1. Nantucket Sound is sacred to the Wampanoag Tribe, known as The People of the First Light. They must have an unobstructed view of the Sound in order to practice their spiritual rituals of greeting the light on the solstices and upon the death of elders.

2. The Sound, in addition, is the resting place of Wampanoag burials.

3. The site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Native American Cultural Site and should be protected from development.

4. The Cape Wind Project needs to be relocated.


Please write polite letters to: Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.
Email letters to: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Telephone: 202-208-3100

Deadline for Letters: March 10, 2010

Thank you for joining us in preserving the world's sacred places,

Leonard & Nancy Becker
Co-Founders