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June 21, 1999
"I purpose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." General Ulysses S. Grant, Dispatch to Washington, 11 May 1864
CONTENTS:
1. TAKE ACTION: Don't Trade Away Africa's Environment
2. FIGHTING FACTORY FARMS: Big River/Clean Water Week Trains Activists
3. MORE ACTIVISTS ON THE HILL: Stumping to Protect Our Forests
4. WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Oppose "NAFTA for Africa"
TAKE ACTION
1. DON'T TRADE AWAY AFRICA'S ENVIRONMENT: Oppose "NAFTA for Africa"
In a vote that could come during the week of June 28, the U.S. House of Representatives faces a choice between the failed trade policies of the past and a new, progressive alternative. Call your representative today and urge him/her to oppose H.R. 434, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, also known as "NAFTA for Africa."
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
NAFTA for Africa would open up Africa to increased foreign "investment" by transnational oil, mining and logging companies by threatening to raise tariffs on Africa's exports unless Africa accepts the bill's investor-friendly rules. But without strong environmental laws, the increased "investment" would destroy more of the natural resources -- the farmland, pure water and forests -- that the vast majority of Africans depend on for survival. Tropical deforestation in Central Africa, already worse than in Brazil, would only accelerate if H.R. 434 becomes law and opens the region to increased resource extraction.
No wonder Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa, declared, "This is not acceptable" when NAFTA for Africa was first unveiled last year.
Another provision of H.R. 434 could force African nations to comply with one of the worst features of the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). For instance, if an African nation adopted new laws to protect its forests or rivers from mining operations, a foreign mining company could sue for compensation, forcing rollback of the new safeguards.
A BETTER IDEA
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) has introduced the "HOPE for Africa" Act, which would provide generous new access to the U.S. market for African products. But by requiring a high level of African content in these goods, Jackson's bill would ensure that the benefits go to Africa's working people -- not to transnational clothing companies that want to use Africa to tranship goods made in China. The bill would also relieve Africa's crushing $230 billion in foreign debt. Debt reduction would reduce pressure to rapidly exploit the region's precious natural resources to pay off foreign creditors.
TO TAKE ACTION:
1. Call, write or e-mail your representatives today and urge him/her to oppose H.R. 434, the so-called African Growth and Opportunity Act, or "NAFTA for Africa", and to support the HOPE for Africa Act (H.R. 772) instead. 2. Also, please write a letter to the editor and place it in your local newspaper.
For more information, check out the Sierra Club's Web site at www.sierraclub.org/trade or Public Citizen's Web page at www.citizen.org (then look for Global Trade Watch).
2. FIGHTING FACTORY FARMS: Big River/Clean Water Week Trains Activists
Slopping pigs ain't what it used to be. That point was driven home to 138 people from 28 states and two Canadian provinces who took part in a four-day training program on animal waste pollution at Big River/Clean Water Week in Washington, D.C. from June 10-15. Among them was Club board member Nick Aumen, who said, "The outcomes of the conference are clearly going to move our clean water/factory farm agenda forward in very positive ways."
The training sessions focused on strategies and tactics for fighting factory farms -- or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) -- at the community and state levels through local organizing, education and regulation. Speakers included a representative from the AFL-CIO and a poultry worker who described how the corporations that run CAFOs treat their workers. A public-health expert spoke about the use of antibiotics at factory farms and the public health consequences of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and a sustainable-farm pork producer from Iowa explained how he produces high-quality meat in a smaller-scale, less polluting operation.
3. MORE ACTIVISTS ON THE HILL: Stumping to Protect Our Forests
The Club's End Commercial Logging (ECL) campaign held its first Washington, D.C., lobby week from June 13-18. Forest activists from across the nation joined together in a targeted effort to gain co-sponsors for the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act, H.R. 1396. This important bill would end the commercial logging program on all federal public lands and shift the focus of forest management from logging to restoration of damaged forest areas and stewardship of forest resources.
The week featured meetings with members of Congress and congressional staff, and a reception where, along with congressional staff from several Republican and Democratic offices, Reps. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) encouraged activists for their efforts to further forest protection.
The lobby week efforts paid off when we garnered nine new co-sponsors for H.R. 1396, bringing the current total to 59. Following up with dozens of inquiries from other congresional offices should boost co-sponsorship even higher.
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 the Sierra Club's Clean Water Campaign to Clean Up Factory Farms, 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, Ending Commercial Logging, Responsible Trade and Population.
1. TAKE ACTION TO STOP WATER POLLUTION FROM GIANT LIVESTOCK FACTORY FARMS (CAFOS ) Giant livestock operations are a looming threat on the American landscape. These corporate-controlled agribusinesses are changing rural America, and are polluting our water and air with their irresponsible waste removal techniques. Stopping the spread of pollution by "confined animal feeding operations" (CAFOs) is a top priority of the Sierra Club. There are several actions you can take to help this campaign.
The primary focus of the CAFO campaign is in state legislatures and environmental agencies, many of which are considering measures to stop or control CAFOs. Contact a local Sierra Club Chapter for more information on what is going on in your state. Some federal efforts are also underway. In March, the Clinton Administration unveiled a long-term plan to increase environmental protections from CAFOs; whether the plan will be adequate will depend upon specific regulatory proposals and permitting steps scheduled to occur during the next decade. The Food and Drug Administration is also considering a petition to prohibit the use of the most important antibiotics at CAFOs. Please write a letter to the FDA, concerning the use of antiobiotics to promote livestock growth. The address is below.
BACKGROUND
Concentrating thousands of animals for livestock production also concentrates enormous quantities of animal manure, with disastrous results for air and water quality, public health, and our rural heritage and quality of life.
CAFOs -- Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations -- have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated the groundwater of 17 states. Pathogens from livestock waste have contaminated drinking water and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, nitrates in groundwater have caused miscarriages. A new study by the University of North Carolina School of Public Health has documented increased incidence of respiratory illness among people who live near vast open-air hog manure lagoons. Toxic air emissions from these cesspools have even forced families to leave their homes to safeguard their health. The toxic microbe pfiesteria, stimulated by nutrients from livestock and other runoff, has killed billions of fish in the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina estuaries. And the 16 million pounds of antibiotics that are used each year to promote faster livestock growth and cover up unhygienic production practices threatens public health by increasing bacteria that are resistant to the drugs we need to treat tuberculosis, staph infections, pneumonia, and other infectious diseases.
CAFOs use industrial techniques to produce livestock. But most CAFOs operate without Clean Water Act or Clean Air Act permits, even though they emit the same pollutants as municipal sewage treatment plants and some manufacturing plants. They should be regulated as factories, not farms.
Write a letter to: Dr. Jane E. Henney: Commissioner Food and Drug Administration 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 14-71 Rockville, MD 20857
KEEP READING FOR CRITICAL ACTION ITEMS ON OUR OTHER CAMPAIGNS
2. TAKE ACTION ON WILDLANDS. FLASH ALERT! Rep. Don Young and Sen. Frank Murkowski have introduced a new bill to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling! Just in time for the annual migration of 130,000 caribou to the coastal plain where they will bear their young. Official Wilderness designation for the coastal plain is a major priority for the Sierra Club because it would permanently protect that spectacular and fragile area from attacks like this one. But as we've seen in the past, the public will always rise up against drilling in the Refuge -- instead of achieving the goals Young and Murkowski are shooting for, the bill will more likely garner even more support for the wilderness designation bill! You can help by calling or writing your members of congress about this new threat. Ask representatives to cosponsor H.R. 1239 and senators to cosponsor S. 867 - both bills would designate the coastal plain Wilderness, and protect it once and for all!
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 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 GLOBAL WARMING -- FIGHT AUTO POLLUTION by submitting public comment to the EPA on the proposed Tier 2 auto pollution and clean gasoline standards. If approved, these standards will clean up America's cars and heavily polluting light trucks as well as the gasoline they burn beginning in 2004. The new standards would have the same pollution-reducing effect as taking 116 million cars off the road--a vital step toward cleaner air. Your comments on the proposed standards are vital. Call the EPA toll free between now and August 2 at 1-888-TELL-EPA. Thank them for a strong proposal, and ask them to make the standards even stronger by: requiring diesels to be as clean as cars, ensuring a NATIONAL low sulfur standard, and requiring light trucks intended for passenger use to be as clean as cars by 2007 regardless of weight. For more information, visit https://www.toowarm.org/tier2/ or contact Michelle Artz at michelle.artz@sierraclub.org or 202-547-1141.)
5. 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.
6.TAKE ACTION TO END COMMERCIAL LOGGING. Commercial logging on National Forests and other federal public lands damages fish and wildlife habitat, degrades drinking water, destroys recreation opportunities and charges the cost to taxpayers. You can help protect our wild forest heritage by urging your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 1396, Rep. Cynthia McKinney's (D-GA) National Forest Protection and Restoration Act. In fact, volunteers from across the nation were in Washington, DC this week to lobby for the bill and gained 9 new co-sponsors, putting our total to 59!. (For more information contact the Associate Representative to National Forest Issues and National Parks 202-547-1141)
7. TAKE ACTION ON RESPONSIBLE TRADE. Oppose NAFTA for Africa. The House of Representatives could vote before the July 4 recess on legislation that would devastate Africa's environment. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (we call it the "NAFTA for Africa"), HR 434, would pry open Africa to increased foreign "investment" from transnational oil, mining, and logging companies by threatening to raise tariffs on Africa's exports. But without strong environmental laws, the increased "investment" would destroy more of the natural resources -- the farmland, pure water, and forests -- that the vast majority of Africans depend on for survival. Call, write, or e-mail your Representatives today and urge them to oppose the African Growth and Opportunity Act, "NAFTA for Africa", (HR 434). For more information, see our web site at www.sierraclub.org/trade.
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 Progrm Assistant for International and Population Programs at 202-547-1141 or look at our website www.sierraclub.org/population)
"You can never become a brave person if everything that happens to you is wonderful." -Mary Tyler Moore
CONTENTS:
BUG CHECK IN THE BIG SIOUX
SIERRANS SPEAK OUT ON CLEAN AIR IN PHILLY SAVE WILD LANDS, FORGE E-J PARTNERSHIPS
BUG CHECK IN THE BIG SIOUX:
Most of the time, things that have many legs and make their way from place to place by flying or crawling give most of us humans the creeps...most of the time. But when Sierra Club activist Mandy Hall went to the Big Sioux River in South Dakota, she was looking for bugs -- on purpose!
The Sioux Falls paper, Argus Leader, reported on the Bug Check in the Big Sioux, the Sierra Club's program to monitor water pollution by checking for bugs -- because water bugs don't tolerate pollution well. The more of a certain kind of bug, the cleaner the water!
The fancy word is "macro invertebrate" and their populations told Sierras that the water quality on the river should improve. "By looking at the macro invertebrates, we've got an indication that there are some problems here," said our very own Kirk Koepsel, a regional Sierra Club rep from Sheridan, Wyoming. And here's the kicker: "We don't think the state is doing an adequate job of improving water quality on the Big Sioux. The state argued about that, but Sierranss stood firm, and said that in fact they'd chosen a stretch of the river that might be better, not worse, than the rest. Hats off to the Sierrans who made this innovative program happen.
SIERRAS SPEAK OUT ABOUT CLEAN AIR IN PHILLY, ATLANTA
Sierra Club activists are making a big splash at EPA's public hearings held in Philadelphia and Atlanta on the proposed rules to clean up smog-forming pollution from cars and SUVs (called Tier 2) and clean up the gasoline they run on.
At the Philly hearings, Sierra Club members came from all over Pennsylvania and Maryland. At the Wednesday (June 9) press conference to kick off the first hearing, 9 year old Meggy Bechis (daughter of Bucks County Group member Maria Bechis) stole the show with her statement about having asthma and how bad air days keep her inside. Maria testified at the hearings and read Meggy's statement into the record -- the crowd applauded! Thanks to Nancy Parks (Air Committee), Jan Milburn, Larry Joyce (Governor Pinchot Group, Harrisburg, PA), Alexa Abercrombie who took time out of a visit all the way from Florida, and Mary Marsh and Janice Graham, who made the trip up from Maryland >From Philly, EPA headed to Atlanta, where Sierra Club was ready to welcome them!
At the Atlanta hearings, which were held June 11, Sierra Club members were out in force to demand clean air for our children. Thanks to Sierra Club members Bob Fletcher (GA chapter), Harvard Ayres (North Carolina Chapter), Margie Davis (GA Chapter), Pamela Perry (GA- Centennial Group) and Dr. Randall White and Dr. Erica Frank for testifying. Thanks, too, to members like Jorg Voss, Bettye Harris, Michael Knotts and many others who came to the hearings or devoted time and effort to support the cause. Working together, we overwhelmed the opposition and got our message out loud and clear--Clean Air Now! Look for an update on the Denver and Cleveland hearings. In the meantime, call 1-888-TELL-EPA and voice your support for these new standards, but urge EPA to clean up all SUVs by 2007! For more information visit toowarm.org.
SAVE WILD LANDS FROM MINING AND FORGE PARTNERSHIPS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS
This just in from Andy Bessler, our Arizona, EPEC organizer: I was lucky enough to spend the past weekend at the 10th annual Indigenous Environmental Network's conference on "Protecting Mother Earth." Over 400 Native American, Non-Native, and international activists spent 4 days learning about indigenous struggles against environmental injustice.
Our Sierra Club "Save the Peaks!" information table told participants about the White Vulcan Pumice Mine on the San Francisco Peaks, a sacred mountain to Native Americans throughout Arizona and New Mexico. (The mine would produce pumice, a stone used to "pre-wash" jeans for people too lazy to wear them out themselves!) As in the past, the colorful buttons and stone-washed jeans petitions were a big hit. Some people drew pictures of arrows and clan symbols on the jeans petitions.
The conference focused on mining and its affects on Indigenous Peoples. Gold, uranium, silver, and yes, pumice are all covered under the 1872 Mining Law and many Native American activists are interested in reforming the law. I met Navajo, Acoma, Anishnabe, Cherokee, Seminole, Havasupai, Yaqui, Tarahumara, Western Shoshone, Gwitch'in (Fighting to protect the caribou herds in the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge), and others all interested in protecting their homelands from bad developments.
My booth was sandwiched between a Navajo couple selling artwork and Alaskan Native activists fighting Exxon. I had fun translating for Natives from Mexico and Peru when they wanted to buy Navajo items. I hope we can all work to build trust between Sierra Club and the Native peoples with which we work.
"I didn't hear him say anything about the environment. . . " Bonnie Swedberg, Iowa voter after listening to stump speech by Republican candidate George Bush
CONTENTS:
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT CHEMICAL HAZARDS AT RISK!!!
TAKE ACTION!
NEW REPORT SHOWS INDUSTRY INACTION, PUBLIC DANGERS PRESS PICKS UP OUR MESSAGE
TAKE ACTION!!!!!!!!
Please call your Senators and tell them to oppose S 880!
The chemical industry has managed to convince some in Congress that they need to limit your right to know about potential chemical disasters. More than 85 million Americans live within five miles of a plant that handles dangerous chemicals.
The chemical industry's effort to rescind the public's right to know comes under the guise of preventing terrorist attacks. Senators Inhofe and Chafee are say their bill will protect the American public. In reality, their efforts only protect the chemical industry from public scrutiny.
HOW BIG IS THIS PROBLEM?
- More than once a day, a chemical accident results in death, injury, or evacuations.
- Each year, chemical accidents release 135 million pounds of hazardous chemicals into our environment.
- More than 250 people die every year from accidents involving toxic chemicals.
The FBI and other government agencies have determined that chemical facilities have never had a terrorist attack. Not only that, the site security is so poor at most facilities, you could walk right up to the tank of toxins and not be stopped or questioned. But proposed legislation would do nothing to address site security.
The Clean Air Act requires chemical facilities to report this information to the EPA by June 21 of this year. Congress is determined to pass a bill to protect the chemical industry before that date - less than two weeks away!
TAKE ACTION!!!!!
Please call your Senator and tell them to oppose S. 880. Tell them to oppose legislation that doesn't:
- Protect the public's right to know about chemical disasters
- Take real steps towards reducing the hazards you face every day
- Address site security in a serious manner - not just by denying the public information
NEW REPORT SHOWS INDUSTRY INACTION, PUBLIC DANGERS
Today, Sierra Club joined Public Interest Research Group and the Working Group on Community Right to Know to release a report called At Risk and In the Dark. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) spoke at the report's Washington, D.C. rollout.
The report was the result of posing a simple question to the U.S. chemical industry: what concrete goals have you set to develop any safer technologies that do not pose hazards in the first place?
The results were startling. Ninety-nine percent of facilities surveyed have no public plan and timeline to reduce the size of their worst-case chemical disaster zones. And only two -- that's right, two! --facilities of the 175 surveyed had publicly announced a measurable goal and a timeline for reducing the zone of vulnerability in which people in nearby homes, schools, hospitals, and other public areas could be hurt or killed in a worst-case chemical accident.
The report wouldn't have happened without hours of intern labor, thanks!
PRESS PICKS UP OUR MESSAGE:
The media is catching on to the right-to-know issue! Coverage in the Congressional Quarterly spread the message on Capitol Hill, and now the Associated Press is letting the public know what's at stake. The news from the report has given the story new life. Here's a short excerpt from the AP story:
"...the environmentalists, including representatives from the Sierra Club and the Working Group on Community Right to Know, said that with 85 million Americans living within five miles of a chemical facility and 250 dying from accidents every year, the real dangers from accidents outweigh the potential threat from terrorists.
Restricting information under the guise of preventing terrorist attacks, said Mike Newman of the Sierra Club, is in reality an attempt to ``protect the chemical industry from public scrutiny.'' Widespread public access to disaster scenarios would let people from one region see how other communities are confronting the safety issue, he said.
``Accidents are not theoretical,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who is seeking more public disclosure. ``They do happen and we have to minimize them.''
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