NEXT PAGE -->
|
| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
Updated Daily!
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|
DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
March 12, 2001
"The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask." -Nancy Newhall
Table of Contents:
1. It is time to Clean Up Dirty Power Plants
1. It is time to Clean Up Dirty Power Plants
Cleaning up old, dirty, coal-fired power plants - the largest industrial source of air pollution in the U.S. - is an integral step toward improving public health and the environment. On Thursday, March 15th, Representative Waxman (D-CA) and Boehlert (R-NY) in the House, and Senators Jeffords (R-VT) and Lieberman (D-CT) in the Senate, will introduce the "Clean Power Act of 2001," to address air pollution from power plants. Urge your Representative and two Senators to be an original cosponsor of the "Clean Power Act of 2001."
Power plant pollutants are destroying our health and environment by causing acid rain, damage to trees and crops, contaminating our streams and lakes with mercury, and inducing global warming. Power plants contribute two-thirds of all acid rain-forming sulfur dioxide emissions, more than a third of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, forty percent of the U.S.'s carbon dioxide global warming emissions, and thirty-four percent of all deadly mercury emissions. Pollutants from old, dirty coal-fired power plants are responsible for more than 30,000 premature deaths each year in the United States, according to recent studies.
The "Clean Power Act of 2001" will dramatically cut power plant emissions for four major pollutants by 2007. Smog-forming nitrogen oxides would be cut by 75 percent from 1997 levels, acid rain-forming sulfur dioxide would be cut by 75% below Phase II of the Acid Rain Program, mercury emissions would be cut by 90 percent from 1999 levels, and carbon dioxide emissions would return to 1990 levels. In addition, the Clean Power Act would require every power plant to meet the most recent pollution controls required for new sources by the plants 30th birthday or five years after enactment of the Act, whichever is later.
Act today. Call, email, or write your Representative and two Senators asking them to cosponsor the "Clean Power Act of 2001." For more information contact dirk.manskopf@sierraclub.org.
The average human being breathes 3,400 gallons of air each and every day. -Source: U.S. EPA
Table of Contents:
1. Feature: Protect the Clean Air Act From "Clean Coal" Ruse
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: Fight for Responsible Trade
5. Take Action: Urge Bush to Reinstate Support for International Family Planning 6. Keep Deadly Arsenic Out of Drinking Water
1. Protect the Clean Air Act From "Clean Coal" Ruse
S.60, The National Electricity and Environmental Technology Act recently introduced by Senator Byrd (D-WV) poses a threat to the Clean Air Act. S. 60 purports to simply be about providing financial incentives to encourage the development of "clean coal technologies." However, the bill represents a wholesale assault on the Clean Air Act's pollution controls on coal-fired power plants. Through a series of exemptions, the bill would allow every large coal-fired power plant in the country to dramatically increase pollution without installing modern pollution controls and would exempt these plants from additional controls for the next ten years. The same exemptions are provided for new coal-fired plants.
S. 60 effectively repeals the Clean Air Act programs designed to prevent large coal-fired power projects from harming public health and the environment. The Act requires new and modified coal-fired power plants to meet the most up-to-date pollution control measures and avoid threats to health and special lands like national parks. S. 60 would repeal all of these important protections for coal plants. The bill would have the perverse effect of offering incentives to convert a clean, natural gas plant to a far dirtier coal system and incentives to build a new dirtier coal plant rather than cleaner natural gas plant.
Coal-fired power plants represent the largest sector of uncontrolled and under-controlled air pollution from stationary sources in the country. Older power plants to continue to operate for decades past their expected life without installing modern air pollution control equipment. About 1,000 power plants operate today and 600 of them were built before modern pollution abatement requirements went into effect. A recent report found that dirty power plants shorten the lives of more than 30,000 Americans each year. Furthermore, electric utilities release more than one billion pounds of toxic pollution in 1998, including more into the air than chemical, paper, plastics, and refining industries combined.
Get involved today. Call, write, or email your Senator and ask them to oppose S. 60, The National Electricity and Environmental Technology Act.
To see a sample message and find out more about this legislation visit https://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/action/s60.asp
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. 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.
5. 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/
6. Keep Deadly Arsenic Out of Drinking Water
Please call or write your Senators and urge them to oppose S. 223. This legislation, introduced by Senator Domenici (R-NM), would revoke the Environmental Protection Agency's recently adopted standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in drinking water to protect public health. If enacted, S. 223 would turn back a critical science-based health protection measure for millions of Americans.
EPA established an arsenic standard of 50 ppb in 1975, based on a Public Health Service standard originally established in 1942, and before arsenic was known to cause cancer. In January, 2001, after 25 years of public comment and debate, millions of dollars in research, and at least three missed statutory deadlines, the EPA updated the standard to 10 parts per billion.
The National Academy of Sciences found in its 1999 report, Arsenic in Drinking Water, that the 1942 arsenic standard, which was in place at the time, "does not achieve EPA's goal for public health protection." Studies have linked long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate. Non-cancer effects of ingesting arsenic include cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunological, neurological, and endocrine (e.g., diabetes) effects.
To contact your senators, please visit https://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm, or call the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. For more information contact amy.maron@sierraclub.org.
Table of Contents:
1. ALASKA WILDLIFE REFUGE EDITORIAL by Sara Callaghan
2. KENTUCKY CAFO CAMPAIGN GETS THE MESSAGE OUT , by Aloma Dew
3. SAVE THE PEAKS, STOP THE MINE! AN UPDATE ON THE SIERRA CLUB'S EFFORTS TO SHUT DOWN THE WHITE VULCAN PUMICE MINE ON THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS, by Andy Bessler
1. ALASKA WILDLIFE REFUGE EDITORIAL by Sara Callaghan
Sara Callaghan, Sierra Club's Alaska Representative, wrote the following editorial that appeared in Sunday's Tacoma News Tribune.
Alaska oil fuels a debate Drilling on Wildlife Refuge inspires impassioned pleas from both sides
03/04/2001
Sara Callaghan Chapell con: It's only a six-month supply, a drop in the bucket compared with what we could easily conserve
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an amazing and inspiring place. Visitors tell of its stunning vistas, unique wildlife and untouched landscape. Scientists note the importance of the refuge as habitat for hundreds of species and the crucial role it plays in Alaska's web of life.
The Gwich'in - native Alaskans who live nearby - depend on the caribou that give birth in the refuge for food, clothing and spiritual sustenance. And the refuge is also an important part of America's heritage. But despite the value of the arctic refuge - to people, wildlife and posterity - President Bush has announced that he intends to open the area to oil drilling.
Doing so would be an unconscionable mistake: Just as we would not flood the Grand Canyon for hydropower or cap Old Faithful for steam, we must not drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The first reason is the simplest: There's not very much oil in the refuge. Estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey find that there is only a six-month supply of economically recoverable oil. Opening the refuge will have no effect on oil prices because the supply is too small and Persian Gulf oil too cheap.
In fact, because the United States has only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, opening all of our coasts, forests and wild places to drilling would barely nudge world oil prices.
Many proponents of drilling have pointed to recent price spikes as a reason to drill. But any oil discovered in the refuge would not be available for at least a decade. And getting this oil down to the lower 48 states will be no small feat either. It will require environmentally destructive pipelines, pumping stations and sprawling industrial infrastructure.
When Congress protected the arctic refuge from exploitation, the oil industry blocked efforts to safeguard a crescent of land called the coastal plain. The problem is that this sliver of coastline is the biological heart of the refuge - it's where polar bears have their dens, where massive herds of caribou come to give birth to their calves and where migratory birds from every state flock in the summer. Drilling for oil will destroy the unique plants on which caribou, musk oxen, wolves, polar bears and other animals depend for survival.
Of course, those who are in favor claim that new "environmentally friendly" techniques will reduce the impact. But in Alaska we've learned that you cannot drill for oil without spilling oil. And if nearby Prudhoe Bay is any indication, drilling for oil in the refuge will surely destroy it.
Prudhoe Bay oil fields generate twice as much air pollution as Washington, D.C., and the area suffers more than 400 spills a year of oil or oil-related pollution. In February, a BP Amoco facility dumped thousands of gallons of oil into the environment. In January, 20,000 gallons of drilling "mud" - a petroleum-based lubricant used for drilling - spilled from one of Prudhoe Bay's newest facilities.
The upshot is that there are far better, easier and cheaper places to drill for oil - not to mention a host of ways to make better use of the oil and gas we already have. Requiring SUVs and light trucks to get the same mileage per gallon as cars would save more oil within 10 years than would ever be produced from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Because there is little oil in the arctic refuge, a host of alternatives to drilling there and great value in keeping the refuge unspoiled, we must preserve this awe-inspiring and unique place - for our families and for future generations.
2. KENTUCKY CAFO CAMPAIGN GETS THE MESSAGE OUT , by Aloma Dew
Last night the KY CAFO Campaign officially began the new phase of it's campaign before a crowd of almost 100 in Louisville, thanks to the hard work of group chair John Hartman, cosponsored with The Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development. The program was taped by public radio station WFPL for broadcast on March 26 at 1 p.m.(eastern time). The panel was composed of author, poet and farmer Wendell Berry, Sierra Club attorney and chair of the CAFO-Clean Water Campaign Hank Graddy, physician Michelle Moran and farmer/coalminer/western Kentucky victim Charles Bates. It was great! The panelist were able to give a new dimension and an urban-appeal to the campaign. The program lasted for almost two hours and people seemed interested throughout. I (Aloma Dew) served as the moderator and enjoyed it completely.
Charles Bates was the real star of the show. He was there to give a first hand account of what CAFOs are like and the effects that CAFOs have had on his family and others in McLean County. He elaborated on the fact that there are 6 chicken houses right next to his home and to a family cemetery dating to the 18th century where Bates and his family had always planned to be buried. He says they will probably build a chicken house on top of his grave! Bates gave a face to a campaign which does not always connect with urban consumers.
Dr. Moran gave a credibility to our program. As a health care professional and a scientist, she brought an important part to the discussion and answered a lot of questions that folks had.
The Sierra Club should be very proud of the work of Hank Graddy. He did a great job of explaining the national campaign and how we reached this point, while pulling the remarks of the other panelists together. Hank continues to work tirelessly on the CAFO-clean water issue and made the Sierra Club look great last night!
John Hartman really worked to get this together and provide a good audience. There was a table with handouts and a lovely wine and cheese reception after the forum. This was a great example of how EPEC, groups and chapter are working together in Kentucky.
3. SAVE THE PEAKS, STOP THE MINE! AN UPDATE ON THE SIERRA CLUB'S EFFORTS TO SHUT DOWN THE WHITE VULCAN PUMICE MINE ON THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS, by Andy Bessler
Summary of our Save the Peaks, "Restoration will Begin" concert held last night (March 1, 2001) in Flagstaff: This was the final EPEC event meant to bring closure to the Save the Peaks Campaign that shut down the White Vulcan Pumice Mine on the San Francisco Peaks. It was a day that I will remember for the rest of my life....Full of heart and inspiration that will hopefully bring activists out on many other issues.
I must put a big thank you out to the young Navajo interns who put these events together; Hunter RedDay and Kelvin Long. While their funding has ended with this event, I hope that they will continue to find opportunities to learn about organizing.....They are off to a great start. I will be working on trying to find funding to keep these guys and other interns going and learning about organizing.
On Thursday, March 1st, Kelvin Long organized a press conference within the White Vulcan Mine to help announce the official closure of the mine and the start of the reclamation process. Forest Service officials were on hand as well as a few of the miners.
While the agreement fostered by former Sec. Babbitt is not perfect (it allows the miners to sell stockpiled pumice for up to 10 years), it is cause for celebration because the miners will take responsibility for the restoration process that will last for the next 5 years.
Kelvin invited Frank Mapatis from Hualapai and Bucky Preston from Hopi to symbolically start the restoration process with prayers and songs. 10 Navajo and Hopi students from Winslow High School's American Indians Science and Engineering Society (ASIES) were on hand to witness this event. Kelvin wanted young and old to be on hand to come together across generations just as different cultures came together to fight for the Peaks.
In between music, Frank Mapatis and Bucky Preston came out and told the crowd about their trip to Washington DC to convince govt. officials to shut down the mine. They sang traditional songs that brought everyone's hearts together. The crowd had such a positive feeling after their songs that I think they touched all people and hopefully will result in greater activism for all people in Northern Arizona.
After Casper played, I got my chance at the mic and urged folks to get involved in protecting Mother Earth. I told them to heed one of my favorite quotes: "If you don't like the news, go out and make your own." After thanking Hunter and Kelvin, Hunter spoke about the deeper meaning of the fight to close down the mine on the Peaks. I don't remember the exact quote, but he said something like, "now that shut down the mine on the peaks, we need to face the mine in me and the mine in you. That mine represented greed and intolerance for people's belief. We need to face that."
Kelvin mentioned that he felt that we won one battle in a war that is 500 years old. Native people, he said, have been fighting to protect their lands and culture since Anglos first arrived here.
Everyone mentioned the power of unification and standing together with one voice to protect the Peaks. I will never forget the feeling in that room!
I would like to thank all those within the Sierra club who contributed to make this a successful campaign. I only hope that the new work we will be taking on under the Environmental Justice Program will meet with the same success and concrete victories experienced on the Peaks.
In closing, I would like to share an email I got this morning. Never underestimate who you will touch with each LTE, press clipping, or each organizing event. I am proud to work for Sierra Club....I think we are making a big difference for Mother Earth......
Andy Bessler
Mr. Bessler,
Hello, I live here in Flagstaff but am really from Leupp.
In all honesty, I was not aware of the ongoing issue with the Peaks until very recently. When out of town on travel and am nearing home -- I always visually look forward to seeing the San Francisco Peaks. Once I see it, I am calmed by its magnificent beauty. I wanted to make sure you knew that I am one person who is very thankful for the free, alcohol/drug free entertainment last night and for the inspiration that has transpired within me. The celebration seemed to have a good turnout with a lot of positive energy. After hearing Burning Skys' beautiful music for the first time last night, I find myself thinking that I have finally found music I've been searching for. I'm proud today of what you and the many volunteers and native people have accomplished. In the future, I hope to be a more active participant in these serious issues that are facing the land we live on. Again, Thank you
Charlene Thompson
NEXT PAGE -->
|
| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|