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American Garden Company Continues Destruction of UK's top Peatlands

Dated: 2nd January 1999

Friends of the Earth UK are asking for your support in their campaign to end the destruction, by a major US company, of some of the UK's best wildlife sites. They hope that your organisation will add their name to an urgent sign-on letter addressed to the Chairman, President and CEO of The Scotts Company (headquartered in Marysville, Ohio).

The UK's peatlands represent some of the most valuable wildlife habitats in our country. They are home to an amazing diversity of rare and threatened species, including the great sundew (Britain's largest carnivorous plant), and birds such as the golden plover. Peatlands also hold great cultural and archeological significance. Ancient boats, prehistoric human bodies, trees and pollen have all been found preserved in peat bogs.

But some of the best examples of these unique wildlife sites are being devastated by The Scotts Company, the world's largest lawn and garden products company. Thorne Moor, Hatfield Moor and Wedholme Flow are all suffering from industrial scale peat extraction by Scotts - this despite the repeated pleas to stop from local communities, politicians and the UK's foremost conservation organisations (such as Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, World-Wide Fund for Nature, and the Wildlife Trusts).

The Campaign Consortium (a group of UK environment and conservation organisations working on the peat issue) would like to bring this issue to the attention of an American audience.

The Scotts Company's Annual General Meeting will take place, in Marysville, Ohio on February 23, 1999. We hope to publish an Open Letter' in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper around this time. It will be addressed to Charles M. Berger, Chairman, President and CEO of The Scotts Company, and it will urge him to stop all peat extraction from environmentally sensitive sites, immediately.

We are hoping for support from as many UK, US, Canadian and international NGOs as possible.

Please find a copy of the "Open Letter" attached. I would be most grateful if you could give the matter your urgent consideration. The deadline for signatories for the Open Letter is February 19th, 1999 although support will also be welcome after this date.

If you are able to add the name of your organisation to the letter, please complete the support form below, and return it to me at Friends of the Earth (Fax: +44-171-490-0881 or E-mail: craigb@foe.co.uk).

May I thank you in advance for your time and consideration. If you have any further questions on this issue, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Craig Bennett, Wildlife Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQDirect Tel: +44-171-566-1667 Fax: +44-171-490-0881, E-mail: craigb@foe.co.uk

Dear Mr. Berger

RE: THE CONTINUED DESTRUCTION OF THE UK's TOP WILDLIFE SITES.

The undersigned individuals and organisations call on The Scotts Company to stop destroying large areas of the United Kingdom's most important peatlands.

Thorne Moor, Hatfield Moor and Wedholme Flow are among the most significant peatlands in the United Kingdom. Their designation by the UK Government as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and the proposals for their designation as European Union Natura 2000 sites indicate that these are areas of national and international conservation importance. They form a unique and fascinating home for many rare species, such as the Great Sundew (Britain's largest carnivorous plant), and impressive populations of wild birds.

These ancient habitats are also of great cultural and archaeological significance. They are highly valued by people locally and throughout the country. Locked in the peat is an irreplaceable archive dating back thousands of years. Furthermore, peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle, acting as massive carbon stores.

And yet, industrial scale peat extraction by The Scotts Company is devastating these sites. The UK's foremost conservation organisations have, on numerous occasions, joined with local communities and politicians to call on your company to stop this destruction - but your activities continue.

The Scotts Company is now the largest of its kind in the world. We would hope this will result in your company setting a high environmental standard for others to follow.

We call on you to fully grasp the importance of this issue and to end all peat extraction on environmentally important sites, immediately. Furthermore, we ask that you embrace the alternative technologies which many gardeners are already choosing, in preference to peat.

Only then will you be the true industry leader. ____________________________________________________________

Support Form for Urgent NGO Sign-On letter to The Scotts Company

Please return to Craig Bennett at Friends of the Earth by Fax or E-mail:

(Fax. #: +44-171 490-0881)

(E-mail: craigb@foe.co.uk)

I, ________________________________ (PLEASE PUT YOUR NAME) would like to add the name of

__________________________________ (PLEASE PUT THE NAME OF YOUR ORGANISATION)

to the NGO sign-on letter to The Scotts Company, calling for an end to industrial peat extraction in environmentally important sites.

My organisation has ________________ members / supporters / constituents.

(PLEASE PUT NUMBER).

Photographs copyright of Friends of the Earth UK.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 Hrs, Friday 2nd February 2001 page 1 of 2

US FIRM STILL DESTROYING TOP UK WILDLIFE SITES]
FOE calls for action on World Wetlands Day

Some of the UK's finest wildlife sites are still being seriously
damaged, despite a Government pledge to protect them. Friends of the
Earth today - World Wetlands Day - accused US horticultural company
Scotts (owners "Miracle-Gro" and "Levington") of deliberately delaying
talks on protecting the UK's best peatland sites so that it can take a
giant last-gasp grab of peat before cutting is shut down for good.

The UK's peatlands are some of the most important wetland habitats in
the UK. They are home to a vast array of wildlife species, and are also
of great cultural and archaeological interest. But some of the best
examples of this precious habitat, such as Thorne and Hatfield Moors in
South Yorkshire and Wedholme Flow in Cumbria -designated Sites of
Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) - are suffering from
industrial-scale peat extraction by the US based "Scotts Company". At
the corporation's recent Annual Shareholders Meeting, their Chief
Executive, Mr. Chuck' Berger boasted about how the company has turned
"...dirt into dollars" [2].

Last August, the Government announced their proposals to make Thorne,
Hatfield and Wedholme Flow "Special Areas of Conservation" (or SACs')
under the EU Habitats Directive. The proposals were warmly welcomed by
local people and conservation groups, because the new designation would
finally spell an end to peat cutting on the sites. But peat-cutting has
yet to stop.

This is not the first time that authorities have tried to stop peat
cutting by Scotts. The company is adept at using delaying tactics to
slow down legal proceedings. In 1990, the US Government filed a suit
against the company seeking a permanent injunction against peat
extraction at a site in New Jersey. But the company's lawyers have held
the suit in "administrative suspension" ever since. Over ten years later
the case has still not been resolved.

UK conservationists are now worried that the company is using the same
delaying tactics. The UK Government has yet to confirm the new
conservation status proposed for the three peatland sites, even though
it did confirm enhanced protection for a large number of equivalent
sites earlier this week. Further investigations have revealed that the
Government is "still in negotiations" with Scotts.

Friends of the Earth is convinced that the US multinational is stalling
progress on new designations, so that they can enjoy a final "summer of
destruction" on the three sites. But local conservationists have warned
that another season of full-scale peat cutting will spell wildlife
disaster for Thorne Moor, Hatfield Moor and Wedholme Flow.

Craig Bennett, Wildlife Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
"The UK Government has promised to stop the terrible damage to our
precious peatlands. But discussions between the Government and Scotts
are being deliberately delayed. Until the talking stops the destruction
will continue. The Government must move quickly to prevent this huge
multi-national from damaging any more of our wonderful wildlife havens.
Scotts mustn't be allowed to turn any more British dirt' into US
dollars".

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] World Wetlands Day marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the
international Convention on Wetlands (The Ramsar Convention) on 2nd
February 1971. The Convention has now been signed by 123 countries, and
its purpose is to facilitate the conservation of wetlands and their
resources. Activities are taking place today, around the world, to
celebrate the importance of wetlands for both wildlife and people. For
more information, please see www.ramsar.org

[2] Comment taken from transcript of speech made by Mr. Charles Berger,
Chief Executive and CEO of The Scotts Company, at the Annual
Shareholders Meeting, January 18th 2001, The Westin-Great Southern
Hotel, Columbus, Ohio.

Craig Bennett
Corporate Alert Campaigner

Email: craigb@foe.co.uk

Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood Street
London N1 7JQ
United Kingdom
Web site: www.foe.co.uk