The following is quoted with permission from the editor of the Daily
DX. By the way, he puts out an excellent newsletter daily on DX,
what's been worked, and so forth. You can get a 2 week trial copy for
free.
Also, I seem to have misplaced another special message, but VU4 is a
GO shortly. Will try to find it.
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KP1 & KP5 - NAVASSA & DESECHEO
K4RT, Brad Farrell, filed a petition in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia requesting review of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service's denial of use permits for Amateur Radio for
Desecheo (KP5) and Navassa (KP1) islands, and the agency's ban of
Amateur Radio from these islands, generally. The proceeding may take
many months to move forward. Thus, a legislative solution would be
most welcome as it would save time and money.
The core of their legal argument is that the FWS has unlawfully
interpreted the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act to
close Desecheo and Navassa. The statute does not limit refuge use to
wildlife-dependent recreational activities as the agency claims. The
language of the statute identifies such activities as priority uses,
but not exclusive uses. Furthermore, the evidence upon which the
agency relied in closing the islands is speculative at best, which
does not satisfy the evidentiary standards established by the federal
courts for agency decision-making. The FWS's own records demonstrate
that the agency has lied to Amateur Radio operators and Congressman
about the purported safety issues on Desecheo and Navassa. In fact,
the FWS has not, to date, denied this.
NA5U, Mike Thomas, put the grass roots effort together, and at least
30 other DXers and a number of DX groups are assisting to move the
legislative effort forward. We couldn't have gotten to where we are
now without him.
You can see the following documents in PDF format:
Initial Administrative Appeal:
http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/12557.pdf
Initial FWS Decision:
http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/7.06.04%20-
%20Fish%20and%20Wildlife%20ltr.pdf
Final Administrative Appeal: http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/2d-FWS-
Appeal.pdf
Final FWS Decision: http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/KP102.pdf
Brad asks that all US DXers contact their Congressmen supporting the
bipartisan H.R. 5361. A sample letter can be found at
http://www.dailydx.com/int2E.DOC. If you do not know your
Congressmen's name you can find it at http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
Once you know your Congressmen's name you can go to
http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html for his snail mail address.
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