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June 11, 1999
Friday is the ALL ACTION edition of the SC-ACTION, including actions that you can take on each of the Sierra Club's priority campaigns. The featured campaign this week is End Commercial Logging, but be sure to check out the rest of the campaigns to find out what else you can do to defend the environment. Current action items follow on: Human Rights and the Environment, Sprawl, Wildlands, Clean Water, Global Warming, Responsible Trade and Population.
1. TAKE ACTION TO END COMMERCIAL LOGGING. Next week Sierra Club members and forest activists from across the country are coming to Washington, DC to educate their congressional representatives on the merits of the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act (HR 1396). The bill, introduced by Representatives Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Jim Leach (R-IA) would eliminate the commercial logging program on federal public lands and promote restoration. This visionary forest protection bill now has 54 cosponsors.
Please take a moment by writing a letter urging your Representative to cosponsor the bill. Or call your Representative through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Following is background information. Thank you!
BACKGROUND:
National Forests are our link with America's wild heritage. Americans love to hike, camp, fish, hunt and canoe in our National Forests. More than 3,000 species of fish and wildlife and 10,000 plant species -- including 230 endangered plant and animal species -- rely on National Forests for habitat. Healthy forests also purify drinking water, stabilize hillsides, and protect us from floods. But sadly, almost all of our old growth forests are now gone and industrial logging has turned our publicly owned National Forests into a patchwork of clearcuts and logging roads.
Many people assume our National Forests are off-limits to logging. They aren't. In fact, not only is commercial logging allowed, it's encouraged -- with taxpayers paving the way. From 1992 to 1997, the General Accounting Office said taxpayers lost $2 billion on the logging program. More than 440,000 miles of roads now scar our National Forests and the overwhelming majority of those roads were built for the logging industry and paid for by the American taxpayer.
We have a choice. Our legacy can be polluted streams and forests of stumps, or National Forests that work as nature intended -- filtering pollution out of our water, protecting us from flooding, providing wildlife habitat and a place for us to play and find a little peace. It will take generations for our National Forests to recover -- and that's if we start restoring them immediately. We cannot be timid or take half steps. We must stop logging our National Forests now.
KEEP READING FOR CRITICAL ACTION ITEMS ON OUR OTHER CAMPAIGNS
2. TAKE ACTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS & THE ENVIRONMENT. The United States government could soon endorse opening a uranium mine in Australia's Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is recognized as a World Heritage site both for its rich biological diversity and for its cultural significance to the Aboriginal people who live there. But the conservative government in Australia is proceeding with plans to open a second uranium mine in the heart of Kakadu in a place called Jabiluka. You can help stop them by calling or e-mailing US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and urging him to support designating Kakadu as "In Danger" when the World Heritage Commission meets in Paris July 12. Secretary Babbitt's phone number is (202) 208-7351, e-mail is bruce_babbitt@ios.doi.gov. For more information, visit the Sierra Club's Human Rights & the Environment Web site at www.sierraclub.org/human-rights. Or e-mail Sam Parry at sam.parry@sierraclub.org.
3. TAKE ACTION ON SPRAWL. Help put the brakes on sprawl, by asking your Senators to support the Better America Bonds. The Clinton Administration's Better America Bonds program would help communities preserve open space and clean up abandoned industrial sites. This sprawl-busting program would allow communities to get tax free, 15-year bonds for actions like land acquisition and clean-up. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has agreed to introduce the bill to make these bonds possible, but he needs help if he's going to make this great idea a reality. You can help by calling your Senators and asking them to be original cosponsors of the Baucus bill. There's no bill number yet, but it's coming, and we when it does, we want it to have strong support! (For more information contact the Environmental Quality Program 202-547-1141)
4. TAKE ACTION ON WILDLANDS. In the remote northeast corner of Alaska there lies a wilderness like no other in the United States -- but it's under constant attack from the oil industry and its allies in Congress. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge harbors an unparalleled diversity of wildlife, and its 1.5 million acre coastal plain is truly its heart of biological activity. The Morris K. Udall Wilderness Act (H.R. 1239 ), introduced in the House by Rep. Bruce Vento (D-MN), and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Act (S. 867), introduced in the Senate by Sen. William V. Roth, would designate the coastal plain as Wilderness, permanently protecting it from oil drilling. The House bill already has 140 co-sponsors and our goal is to reach 152 by August. You can help by contacting your Representative and Senators and urging them to become co-sponsors. (For more information contact the Washington Representative for Alaska Wild Lands 202-547-1141)
5. TAKE ACTION ON CLEAN WATER. Put a Lid on Giant Factory Farms. Please ask your Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 684, the Farm Sustain ability and Animal Feedlot Enforcement Act, introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA). One of the fastest growing threats to water quality are huge factory livestock operations. Federal regulations covering industrial-style livestock production operations are 25 years out of date, and factory farms are quick to jump from state to state looking for places with weak environmental protections and low operating costs. H.R. 684 would require stronger federal environmental protections for factory farms, including a phase-out of polluting manure lagoons, protection for environmentally sensitive areas from manure applications, and citizen participation in Clean Water Act permitting. (For more information contact the Senior Washington D.C Representative for Animal waste and Pollution Issues 202-547-1141)
6. TAKE ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING. Get ready for a vote this summer. We scored a major victory on global warming last month when 31 Senators signed the Feinstein/Gorton/Bryan letter to President Clinton. The bipartisan letter, urges the President to improve pollution cutting mile-per-gallon (Corporate Average Fuel Economy - CAFE) standards for cars, SUVs and other light trucks. Raising miles-per-gallon standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming. But the fight is only beginning. Friends of the auto industry have routinely attached stealth "riders" barring the Department of Transportation from even considering stronger CAFE rules. Defeating this rider is the number one global warming priority for environmental advocates this summer. Write, phone, or fax your Senators. Urge them to vote against any rider that bans improvements in the CAFE standards and lets SUV's and other light trucks pollute more than cars. (For more information contact the Associate Representative for Global Warming, Automotive Pollution, CAFE, and Energy at 202-547-1141)
7. TAKE ACTION ON RESPONSIBLE TRADE. Free trade was supposed to improve our quality of life. Instead, it is wreaking havoc with the environment and public health. Already, US sea turtle protections, food safety standards, and clean air rules have been undermined in the World Trade Organization (WTO). In November, the United States will host a Summit of the WTO in Seattle. Call your representatives and urge them to sign the "dear colleague" letter now being circulated by Representative Bernie Sanders to US Trade Representative Charlene Barshevsky. The letter calls for a thorough environmental assessment of the WTO rather than new trade agreements.(For more information contact Senior Trade Fellow for Responsible Trade Campaign at 202-547-1141)
8. TAKE ACTION ON POPULATION. The State Department reauthorization bill (H.R. 1211) will be considered by the House in the next few weeks. Please contact your Representatives and urge them to oppose any amendment to H.R. 1211 that would eliminate or restrict the US contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) or funding for family planning assistance. Providing funding to give women access to voluntary family planning, economic opportunities, and education, allows women to choose the size and spacing of their families, which helps to stabilize population growth and protects our environment. (For more information contact the Program Assistant for International and Population Programs at 202-547-1141 or look at our website www.sierraclub.org/population)
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