CONGRESSMAN KOLBE TRADES INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE AIDS PREVENTION FOR
TELESCOPE!
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) successfully displaced a Rider that would help prevent
AIDS/HIV in the Native American community with a Rider to exempt a Univ.
of Arizona telescope from all environmental and cultural laws that is
proposed to be built atop Mt. Graham, a mountain that is considered Sacred
to the San Carlos Apache Nation.
On December 12, 1995, the Congressional Record (p.14309) states:
"Amendment No. 173: Deletes Senate language requiring the Indian Health
Service to prepare a report on HIV-AIDS prevention needs, and inserts in
lieu thereof a provision which allows the construction of a third
telescope on Mount Graham, in the Coronado National Forest, Arizona, to
proceed under the terms of the Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 1988,
P.L. 100 - 696." (Congressional Record - House, December 12, 1995).
The rider remains attached to the once-vetoed House Interior
Appropriations Bill. Congressman Kolbe is acting on behalf of the
University of Arizona's Mt. Graham International Observatory, a joint
project of the Arizona Board of Regents (U.of Az.), The Max Planck
Institute of Germany, The Arcetri Observatory of Florence, Italy, The
Research Corporation of Tucson, Arizona and the Vatican Observatory.