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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
February 23, 2001
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. -- Aldo Leopold, The Quiet Crisis by Stewart L. Udall, 1963
Table of Contents:
1. Featured Action: Help Free Mexican Environmentalists
2. Take Action: Protect America's Wild Forest Heritage
3. Take Action: Tell the EPA to Regulate Global Warming Emissions as Pollutants
4. Take Action: Say No to Oil and Gas Development in Bridger-Teton National Forest
5. Take Action: Fight for Responsible Trade
6. Take Action: Urge Bush to Reinstate Support for International Family Planning
1. Help Free Mexican Environmentalists
Earlier this month, Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered the President's lawyer to review the case of Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera to, in the President's words, "find out the truth." The human rights of these activists were violated when they were arrested and tortured by soldiers of the Mexican army. We must hold President Fox to his promises to work together with the defense lawyers to find a legal resolution to this case and to bring those responsible to justice.
Ask the President to direct his Attorney General to recommend that the amparo (an appeal that is filed to challenge the act of an authority that violated an individual's Constitutional guarantees) be granted. This action by the Attorney General is likely to result in the freedom of Montiel and Cabrera because the defense and the prosecution would both be recommending that the appeal on behalf of the two activists be granted.
Write to President Vicente Fox c/o Embassy of Mexico 1911 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006
For more information visit our website:
www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
2. Take Action To Protect America's Wild Forest Heritage
Write a letter to the editor of your Representative and Senators. Below is an example of how to tailor your letter to include examples from your area or local forest. Send your letter to your Member of Congress at the following address:
The Honorable Rep.____________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Sen. ___________ U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
Our National Forests we established over one hundred years ago for all Americans to enjoy. These forests provided clean drinking water for communities, outstanding recreation for families, and excellent habitat for fish and wildlife. They have also given us tremendous scientific and educational benefits. Unfortunately,for the past 50 years, the Forest Service has spent billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing the logging of public lands and building roads for logging companies.
Clearly it is time to end the Forest Service commercial logging program. Please do all that you can to protect our National Forests from logging, for our families, for our future.
3. Tell the EPA to Regulate Global Warming Emissions as Pollutants
The EPA is requesting comments on a petition to regulate the global warming pollution that spews out the tailpipes of cars. The petition, submitted by a coalition of environmental groups, requests that the agency use a provision of the Clean Air Act to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons from new cars, light trucks and other engines. The petition asserts that greenhouse gases contribute to global warming and should be regulated as pollutants that can cause significant damage to the environment and public health.
Public comments are due to EPA by May 23, 2001.
Please e-mail comments to: A-and-R-Docket@epa.gov
For more information, go to: https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/2001/January/Day-23/a1979.htm
For a sample letter, go to: www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/globalwarming/index.asp#top
4. Say No to Oil and Gas Development in Bridger-Teton National Forest
The Bridger-Teton National Forest, bordering Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, is world famous for its blue ribbon trout streams, winding through lush valleys complete with vast herds of elk. But the oil and gas industry is fighting to open up nearly 370,000 acres -- an area larger than neighboring Grand Teton National Park -- to oil and gas development. Drill rigs, accompanied by a maze of roads and power lines, already fracture many of the last best places in the Greater Yellowstone area.
The Bridger-Teton National Forest recently proposed to put this land off limits to oil and gas industrialization. The public overwhelmingly supports this proposal, known as the "No Lease" alternative in the draft environmental impact statement for oil and gas development. In fact, 98 percent of the more than 2,500 comments received supported the "No Lease" alternative. Big oil is working to reverse this proposal. Only through an emphatic show of public support for the Forest Service proposal will the "No Lease" decision hold.
This decision will set a precedent for the future management of our national forests: Will our public lands be managed mainly for industrial-scale resource extraction and production? Or are some places simply too important because of their wildlife, clean water and recreation opportunities?
Tell the Forest Service to continue its efforts to protect the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Say you support the "No Lease" alternative.
For a sample letter, see: www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/wildlands/
5. Fight for Responsible Trade The North American Free Trade Agreement was supposed to relax trade restrictions between Canada, Mexico and the United States. But some of those alleged trade restrictions are hard-won environmental laws.
But NAFTA contains dangerous provisions (similar to those in Newt Gingrich's Contract with America) that allow corporations to sue governments if environmental laws get in the way of profits. Already, a Canadian chemical company has used these NAFTA provisions to sue the United States for $1 billion because California banned a carcinogenic gasoline additive that is poisoning the state's drinking water.
The Bush administration now wants to expand these dangerous provisions though a new trade pact, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement, covering the entire Western Hemisphere.
The FTAA has been negotiated in total secrecy. Please write to your senators and representatives and urge the Bush administration to "release the text" of the FTAA so the public can understand its terms.
Write your senators at: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20515. Write your representative at: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20510.
6. Urge Bush to Reinstate Support for International Family Planning Only two days after his inaugural address, President Bush dealt a blow to international family planning programs by reinstating the global gag rule. The global gag rule bars international family planning organizations that receive a single dollar of U.S. funds from using their own money to talk about abortion with their patients, provide abortion services, or lobby to change abortion laws in their countries.
Tell President Bush you disagree and ask him to support these programs in the future. For more information, go to Global Population and the Environment: www.sierraclub/takeaction/
"We are the ones we've been waiting for." --June Jordan
Table of Contents:
1. FEATURED ACTION: Protect Our Wild Forests
2. Tell the EPA: Regulate Global Warming Gases as Pollutants
3. Tell the Forest Service: Keep Oil Rigs Out of Bridger-Teton National Forest
4. Tell Mexican President Vicente Fox: Release Jailed Environmentalists Montiel and Cabrera.
5. Write a Letter to the Editor: End Commercial Logging in our National Forests
6. Fight for Responsible Trade: Don't Let Free Trade of the Americas Agreement Undermine Environmental Protections
7. Tell President Bush: Reinstate Support for International Family Planning.
1. Protect Our Last Wild Forests: Don't Let Bush and Congress Reverse Historic Roadless Initiative
Last year, tens of thousands of Sierra Club members wrote letters, attended hearings and spoke out in favor of protecting the last remaining wild areas of our national forests. We celebrated on Jan. 5 when President Clinton issued the final decision to protect 58.5 million acres from logging and roadbuilding -- including the last wild areas in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the largest remaining temperate rainforest on Earth.
Now the timber industry and its allies in Congress and the Bush Administration are gearing up to overturn this historic conservation achievement. President Bush has already issued an order to delay its implementation until mid-May.
We need your help to keep these forests wild. Write your senators and respresentative and urge them to oppose all efforts to undermine the roadless conservation plan. Personal letters are most effective, so please take a few minutes to write a note expressing your support for protecting our wild forests. Below is a sample letter you can use as a starting point.
Write your senators at: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20515.
Write your representative at: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20510.
More than half of our national forest land has been hammered by logging and other destructive activities. The more than 440,000 miles of roads that scar our national forests have destroyed wildlife habitat, caused mudslides and polluted our water. After years of study and unprecedented public involvement, the Forest Service completed a roadless area policy to protect the last remaining unspoiled wild areas in our national forests.
Unfortunately, the timber industry and its allies in Congress are gearing up to overturn this historic rule. As your constituent, I urge you to protect all of our national forests and OPPOSE all legislation that aims to weaken or overturn the roadless conservation rule.
2. Tell the EPA to Regulate Global Warming Emissions as Pollutants
The EPA is requesting comments on a petition to regulate the global warming pollution that spews out the tailpipes of cars. The petition, submitted by a coalition of environmental groups, requests that the agency use a provision of the Clean Air Act to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons from new cars, light trucks and other engines.
The petition asserts that greenhouse gases contribute to global warming and should be regulated as pollutants that can cause significant damage to the environment and public health.
Public comments are due to EPA by May 23, 2001.
Please e-mail comments to: A-and-R-Docket@epa.gov
For more information, go to:
https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/2001/January/Day-23/a1979.htm
For a sample letter, go to:
www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/globalwarming/index.asp#top
3. Say No to Oil and Gas Development in Bridger-Teton National Forest
The Bridger-Teton National Forest, bordering Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, is world famous for its blue ribbon trout streams, winding through lush valleys complete with vast herds of elk. But the oil and gas industry is fighting to open up nearly 370,000 acres -- an area larger than neighboring Grand Teton National Park -- to oil and gas development. Drill rigs, accompanied by a maze of roads and power lines, already fracture many of the last best places in the Greater Yellowstone area.
The Bridger-Teton National Forest recently proposed to put this land off limits to oil and gas industrialization. The public overwhelmingly supports this proposal, known as the "No Lease" alternative in the draft environmental impact statement for oil and gas development. In fact, 98 percent of the more than 2,500 comments received supported the "No Lease" alternative.
Big oil is working to reverse this proposal. Only through an emphatic show of public support for the Forest Service proposal will the "No Lease" decision hold.
This decision will set a precedent for the future management of our national forests: Will our public lands be managed mainly for industrial-scale resource extraction and production? Or are some places simply too important because of their wildlife, clean water and recreation opportunities?
Tell the Forest Service to continue its efforts to protect the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Say you support the "No Lease" alternative.
For a sample letter, see: www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/wildlands/index1.asp
4. Free Jailed Mexican Environmentalists
President Bush's trip to Mexico provides an excellent opportunity to advocate for the immediate release of jailed Mexican environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia.
Please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper encouraging President Bush to bring up the case with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
For more information and a sample letter, see: www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
5. End Commercial Logging in National Forests
Help protect our national forests from the destructive and money losing practice of commercial logging. Please write a letter to your local newspaper and urge your friends and neighbors to do the same.
You can find a sample letter at: www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/logging
6. Fight for Responsible Trade
The North American Free Trade Agreement was supposed to relax trade restrictions between Canada, Mexico and the United States. But some of those alleged trade restrictions are hard-won environmental laws.
But NAFTA contains dangerous provisions (similar to those in Newt Gingrich's Contract with America) that allow corporations to sue governments if environmental laws get in the way of profits. Already, a Canadian chemical company has used these NAFTA provisions to sue the United States for $1 billion because California banned a carcinogenic gasoline additive that is poisoning the state's drinking water.
The Bush administration now wants to expand these dangerous provisions though a new trade pact, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement, covering the entire Western Hemisphere.
The FTAA has been negotiated in total secrecy. Please write to your senators and representatives and urge the Bush administration to "release the text" of the FTAA so the public can understand its terms.
Write your senators at: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20515.
Write your representative at: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20510.
7. Urge Bush to Reinstate Support for International Family Planning
Only two days after his inaugural address, President Bush dealt a blow to international family planning programs by reinstating the global gag rule. The global gag rule bars international family planning organizations that receive a single dollar of U.S. funds from using their own money to talk about abortion with their patients, provide abortion services, or lobby to change abortion laws in their countries.
Tell President Bush you disagree and ask him to support these programs in the future. For more information, go to: www.sierraclub/takeaction/population/index.asp
"Neither jail, nor any other obstacle, will keep me from defending the forests. I'll keeping fighting from inside prison, or outside of it." -- Rodolfo Montiel Flores, jailed Mexican environmentalist and recipient of Sierra Club's Chico Mendes Award
Tell the EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Motor Vehicles
I. Take Action -- NAFTA=Newt and What You Can Do About It
II. Take Action -- Homestead Air Force Base Victory and URGENT CALL TO ACTION!
III. Take Action -- Mexico's President Fox Promises Review of Montiel/Cabrera Case
IV. Take Action -- Protect Our Wildlands & National Forests
V. Take Action -- Stop President Bush's Attacks on Family Planning
FEATURED TAKE ACTION -- Tell the EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Motor Vehicles
The EPA is requesting comments on a petition to regulate the global warming pollution that spews out the tailpipes of cars. The petition, submitted by a coalition of environmental groups, requests that the agency use a provision of the Clean Air Act to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons from new cars,light trucks, and other engines.
The petition asserts that greenhouse gases contribute to global warming, and should be regulated as a pollutant that will cause significant damage to the environment and public health. Several industry front groups, including the American Petroleum Institute and the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, have already rallied their forces to fight the petition. Other public comments on the petition are due to EPA by May 23, 2001. Now is our chance to let the EPA know that greenhouse gases will cause severe damage to our planet, and must be regulated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Please email comments to: A-and-R-Docket@epa.gov For more information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/2001/January/Day-23/a1979.htm or contact Alex Veitch at 202-547-1141, or alex.veitch@sierraclub.org
I. Take Action -- NAFTA=Newt and What You Can Do About It
Responsible Trade: How NAFTA = Newt and What You Can do About It
Nothing is more vital to a healthy life than clean air and safe water. Yet to benefit global corporations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) contains provisions that jeopardize our hard-won environmental safety laws. NAFTA actually contains provisions similar to those in Newt Gingrich's Contract with America that would allow corporations to sue governments if environmental laws get in the way of profits. Under these NAFTA rules, governments could be intimidated out of adopting important environmental laws and taxpayers could be forced to pay billions of dollars to corporate polluters to keep our air and water clean.
Already, a Canadian chemical company has used these NAFTA provisions to sue the United States for $1 billion because California banned a carcinogenic gasoline additive made by the company that is leaking from gasoline storage tanks and poisoning the state's drinking water.
The Bush administration now wants to expand NAFTA's environmental peril by creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas, covering the entire Western Hemisphere. Yet the FTAA has been negotiated in total secrecy. Please write to your congressional representatives to urge the Bush administration to "release the text" of the FTAA so the public can understand its terms.
Addressing Correspondence:
To a Senator: To a Representative: The Honorable (full name) The Honorable (full name) United States Senate United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515
For more information, write to dan.seligman@sierraclub.org
II. Take Action -- Homestead Air Force Base Victory and URGENT CALL TO ACTION!
On January 16, the U.S. Air Force sided with the environmental community by deciding that the former Air Force Base at Homestead can never be used as a commercial airport. In its decision, the Air Force offered 700 acres of surplus property at Homestead AFB to Miami-Dade County, for mixed-use development. But there is still some concern that Florida politicians are not supporting this decision.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush needs to publicly support the recent Air Force decision prohibiting commercial aviation at the former Homestead Air Force Base. The proposed airport would have hosted more than 630 flights per day at low altitudes over Everglades and Biscayne National Parks and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Ask Governor Bush to now publicly support the Air Force decision which provides economic benefits and protects the Everglades, subject of a $7.8 billion restoration.
THIS CALL is CRITICAL! HABDI, the company seeking to build an airport, has filed a lawsuit, and Miami-Dade County, led by Mayor Alex Penelas is considering legal actions against the Air Force.
How to reach the Governor: Governor Jeb Bush, 850-488-4441 ph. (M-F, 9 am - 5 pm EST) You can also fax him a letter, especially important from organizations, to 850-487-0801 (fax) or e-mail to: jeb@jeb.org (there's no need to cc: us)
III. Take Action -- Mexico's President Vicente Fox Promises Review of Montiel/Cabrera Case
This week, the Sierra Club presented Mr. Montiel with the Chico Mendes Award, our highest international honor given to individuals and nongovernmental organizations for extraordinary courage and leadership in defending the environment. We were honored to have noted human rights advocate Ethel Kennedy join Stephen Mills and Alejandro Queral of the Sierra Club's International Program in Mexico to present the award to Mr. Montiel in Mexico. The trip and award generated a great deal of press including stories in the New York Times, LA Times, Houston Chronicle, AP, Reuters, and numerous other press hits in Mexico.
During the trip, Mrs. Kennedy and the Sierra Club were successful in scheduling a face to face meeting with Mexico's new president Vicente Fox. President Fox promised to launch a new investigation into Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera's case and to take appropriate steps to find justice. We are grateful to President Fox for making time to meet with us and for making his public commitments to this matter.
Take Action for Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera:
We think that this is a very critical time and would like to encourage all interested parties to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper encouraging US President George Bush to bring up the case with Mexico's President Fox when he visits Mexico late next week. Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera are innocent of all crimes except the "crime" of caring about the environment. Please emphasize our continued view that Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera should be released immediately and unconditionally. (Visit our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/human-rights for more information)
IV . Take Action -- Protect Our Wildlands & National Forests
A. Help Protect Our Wild Forests -- Write your Representative
Last year thousands of Sierra Club members wrote letters, attended hearings and spoke out to protect our Wild Forests. Because of your good work the Wild Forest Protection Plan was signed and will protect 60 million acres from road construction and commercial logging. Now we need your help to defend Wild Forests from attacks by the Bush administration. Please take a moment to write your Senators and Representatives and urge them to stand up to attacks on our Wild Forests. You can call your Members of Congress through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Urge them to oppose all efforts to derail the Wild Forest Protection Plan!
B. Protect and Restore Our National Forests Commercial logging destroys wildlife habitat, degrades recreation opportunities, impacts our clean water sources and wastes taxpayer money. It is time to stop the subsidies of forest destruction and invest in forest restoration. Please write a letter to your local newspaper and urge your friends and neighbors to do the same. You can find a sample letter on the Sierra Club website at www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/logging For more information call Mitzi Emrich at (202) 547-1141.
V. Take Action -- Stop President Bush's Attacks on Family Planning
Only two days his inaugural address, President George W. Bush reinstated the global gag rule on international family planning. The global gag rule bars international family planning organizations that receive a single dollar of U.S. funds from using their own money to talk about abortion with their patients, provide abortion services, or lobby to change abortion laws in their countries. Under this rule, overseas organizations cannot use their own revenue for these purposes. If they do, they may be barred from receiving U.S. humanitarian aid that goes to help maternal mortality and child survival programs. In reality, U.S. law has prevented U.S. taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions overseas since 1973.
Reinstating the global gag rule will hurt women and the environment. This policy will ultimately impact all efforts to protect the environment. Because rapid population growth exacerbates every environmental problem, it is intimately linked to all our efforts to protect the environment. By limiting access to information and services that help families to decide the timing and spacing of their children, President Bush is making it more difficult to protect the natural resources that are under pressure from the demands of rapidly increasing population.
TAKE ACTION: Let President Bush know that you disagree with the reinstatement of the global gag rule and that you disapprove of this blatant attack on women and the environment. This should not be one of Bush's first acts as President. Contact the White House, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, your Senators and Representative to state your disapproval of this action.
President George W. Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20500 202-456-1414 comment line 202-456-2461 fax president@whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Colin Powell 202-647-4000, 202-261-8577 fax National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice 202-456-9481 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
For further information: Contact Laurie Mignone, Global Population & Environment Program, laurie.mignone@sierraclub.org.
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| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
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