Congressman Lane Evans to Retire–Leading House Supporter for Abolishing Landmines

The following letter was sent to Congressman Evans on USCBL stationery. For a copy of the actual letter, click here.

Congressman Lane Evans
2211 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1317

April 24, 2006

Dear Congressman Evans,

As you prepare to retire from office, the 500 U.S.-based organizations that make up the US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) would like to express our deep appreciation for your nearly 25 years of public service.  We would like to especially thank you for your years of leadership and steadfast support for a mine-free world. 

For more than a decade, you have been the foremost champion of landmine survivors and mine-ban supporters in the House of Representatives.  The importance of your sponsorship and work to pass the first ever legislative initiative on landmines, the Leahy-Evans Export Moratorium of 1992, is incalculable.  This ground breaking legislation placed the United States in the lead as the first country to enact domestic legislation on landmines and gave tremendous impetus to the mine ban movement internationally. 

We are especially grateful that through numerous hurdles and challenges your support for a mine-free world never wavered.  Your sponsorship of the Production and Procurement Moratorium of 1994, the one-year use moratorium of 1996, Landmine Elimination Act of 1997, and numerous letters to administration officials, among other initiatives, illustrate your unfaltering leadership.  While we have not yet reached a mine-free world, we have been able to make many important advances, and these would not have been possible without your leadership.  Thousands of lives saved and communities protected can be counted as a proud part of your legacy in Congress. 

Our wish would be for you to continue to lead in Congress, and we know that, due to serious health problems, you cannot do that.   We want you to know that your partnership with the communities of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines is a bond that will not be broken by the necessity of your leaving Congress.  You will always be our champion, and we will always be grateful that, when we needed a leader in the House, you led with courage and vision.

With gratitude,

Scott Stedjan