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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
June 26, 2001
"Following the James Watt philosophy, we will enter a new era (maybe the last) of forest management. Our new state mottos and seals will be "Stumps-R-Us"; then we'll finally have a region to be proud of." - from Sierra Club member William Montgomery's satirical letter to the editor printed in the Seattle Times at https://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=tuelets03&date=20010403&query=Gale+Norton+our+resourceful+new+Interior+secretary
[1] SWITCH HITTER: Bush to Reverse Snowmobile Ban?
The Bush administration is considering revoking a ban on snowmobiles in national parks. Snowmobile manufacturers have been trying to sway the new administration to see their side of things (like their bottom line), while park rangers and environmentalists point out that snowmobiles cause air and noise pollution, and can harm wildlife.
Read more about it at: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/politics/24SNOW.html?todaysheadlines
[2] Stop the Government from Rewarding Polluters!
Companies that routinely violate laws designed to protect the environment, consumers, workers and other important rights are routinely awarded federal contracts and are profiting from our tax dollars. Send your official public comment to support a rule that requires the government to take into account whether the companies are federal law-breakers before rewarding them with federal contracts. Send your comments by July 6th!
Please visit https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/fedcontracting/index.jsp#background
[3] ROCK ART REPRIEVE: Drilling in Weatherman Draw On Hold
Native Americans and environmentalists are working toward an alternative to drilling for oil and gas in one of America's most treasured ancient rock art sites. Anschutz Exploration, an oil and gas development company, and Native American tribe representatives met last week to discuss alternative sites for drilling. Anschutz was granted a permit to drill in Weatherman Draw in February by the Bureau of Land Management, just days after Bush took office.
Find out more about it in the following two articles.
https://www.billingsgazette.com/archive.php?section=local&display=rednews/2001/06/23/build/local/1draw.inc
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/national/22DRIL.html
[4] CINCINNATI: Working to Stop Sprawl!
Will our cities become like Los Angeles, with bad air quality and untrammeled development gobbling up green space and wildlands, or more like Portland, with its tree-lined communities and transportation choices? Glen Brand, of Ohio's Sierra Club, is working to educate Cincinnati about the options. Throughout the country, sprawling development into open land far outpaces population growth. So what? Scattered development increases traffic congestion, pollutes our air, and destroys open space. But we can choose to design livable communities instead of sprawling developments that take a serious toll on the environment, our health and our quality of life.
Read Glen Brand's editorial in the Cincinnati Business Courier at https://cincinnati.bcentral.com/cincinnati/stories/2001/06/18/editorial2.html
Find out more about our Stop Sprawl Campaign at https://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/
[5] BOOS AND THANK-YOU'S: How Did Your Representative Vote?
Last Thursday, Congress voted to protect our National Monuments from new oil and mineral development leases, stop drilling off Florida's coast and protect communities and the environment from hardrock mining. Why not call your representative's office, and thank him/her for voting for the environment? Or express your disappointment about a "no" vote. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask for your representative's office.
You can also spread the word about these measures by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. The letters to the editor section is widely read and often serves as a benchmark of public opinion.
Get additional information for your letter and see how your representative voted at: https://www.sierraclub.org/victory/congress_vote.asp
"We have no chance of the international community believing our commitment to environmental protection] as long as those men remain imprisoned." - Mexican Environment Secretary Víctor Lichtenger regarding Mexican environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera who were imprisoned on trumped-up charges
[1] TONGASS ACTION: Act Now to Stop Logging in Alaska's Tongass
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is the largest remaining temperate rainforest on earth. But 700 square miles of the Tongass have already been clearcut, and logging continues to threaten the last pristine areas. Now that the wild forest protection Plan is on hold, plans are moving forward to log a pristine roadless area in the heart of the Tongass. Right now, the Forest Service is planning to log thousands of acres on Gravina Island just west of Ketchikan. You can help by e-mailing your comments opposing the Gravina Island Timber Sale before Tuesday, June 26!
Help save the Tongass by going to https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/wildlands/index3.jsp
[2] FITTING SUIT: Attorneys General Sue U.S. Department of Energy
In response to the Bush Administration's delay in enforcing new residential air conditioning system efficiency standards, Attorneys General Bill Lockyer (CA), Eliot Spitzer (NY) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Energy for failing to implement the regulations. The new standards, which have been delayed twice since February, would make air conditioning systems 30 percent more efficient, conserve energy and save consumers money.
Read Attorney General Bill Lockyer's press release at https://caag.state.ca.us/press/
[3] WOW MISSISSIPPI! 600 Volunteers Attend Hog Hearing
Mississippi organizers rallied 600 volunteers to attend a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) hearing last month. The MDEQ was considering providing a permit for 15 incinerators that burn diseased dead hogs and release pollutants into the air. As you might imagine, neighboring communities are not too thrilled about breathing dead animal fumes. The hearing lasted approximately four hours, as one person after another told MDEQ that allowing permits for these incinerators would further deteriorate the air they breathe. Two nights later, over 350 volunteers attended yet another hearing about clean air protections.
Find out what's going on in your community by going to "My Backyard" at https://www.sierraclub.org
[4] IN THE POLLS: Bush Ratings Slip Again
Just about every major plan that President Bush has forwarded has been met with slipping approval ratings in the United States. According to the New York Times, only 39 percent of Americans approve of Bush's track record on the environment, and he garnered only 33 percent for his handling of the nation's energy problems. Close to two-thirds of those surveyed fear that Bush is beholden to the oil companies that padded Republican campaign coffers.
Read more about it at https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/politics/21POLL.html
[5] BILL UPDATE: Interior Department Spending Bill on Floor NOW!
The House of Representatives is voting today on the Interior Department Appropriations Spending bill for fiscal year 2002. Representatives will be voting on six critical pro-environment amendments (see below) offered by Representatives Rahall (D-WV), Defazio (D-OR), Maloney (D-NY), Inslee (D-WA), Sanders (I-VT) and Davis (D-FL).
Rahall: protects National Monuments from energy and mineral development.
Defazio: removes anti-environmental rider expanding and extending the recreational fee-demonstration program. The controversial fee-demo program charges visitors for simply entering our National Forests and other public lands that our tax dollars already pay for.
Maloney: revokes program that allows oil companies to pay the government in barrels of oil rather than money, which lets them escape from paying fair market value for leasing public land.
Inslee: protects communities from the environmental threats posed by hardrock mining
Sanders: transfers money from polluting fossil fuel programs into energy efficiency programs
Davis: protects Florida's coasts from oil drilling.
****FOR UPDATES, check out the "Current Floor Activities" web page at https://clerkweb.house.gov/floor/current.htm
Keep checking our Vote Watch site for updates https://www.sierraclub.org/votewatch
[6] CORRECTION: The quote from the June 14 issue of the Currents was in error: President Bush did not sign an Everglades bill. Rather it was Bill Clinton who authorized $7.8 billion for a thirty-year restoration project.
"[Nuclear energy] is the most expensive way ever devised to boil water."- Debbie Boger of Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program on the exorbitant costs of nuclear energy
[1] CAR CLEAN-UP: Ask Your Representative to Sign the Clean Car Letter
Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists are releasing a report, "Drilling in Detroit," detailing how cars and light trucks can have improved fuel economy to 40 miles per gallon. Now is the perfect time to ask your representative to sign the Clean Car Letter, which calls on President Bush to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Higher fuel economy standards can save three million barrels of oil per day -- more oil than is economically recoverable from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Persian Gulf and offshore California combined. Raising CAFE standards will also increase consumer savings at the gas pump and keep nearly 600 million tons of global warming carbon dioxide pollution out of the atmosphere.
Send a letter to your representative by going to https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/globalwarming/index.jsp
[2] MONUMENTAL PROTECTION: Arizona Activists for Ironwood
Nearly 300 volunteers turned out at the Tucson Botanical Gardens to celebrate the first anniversary of the Ironwood Forest National Monument, one of the most threatened national monuments designated in recent years. The latest and most immediate threat comes from ASARCO, a Mexican-owned mining company which wants 400 acres carved out of the Ironwood Forest National Monument to create a "buffer" between the company's existing copper mine and the rest of the area. But this area is key lambing grounds for the last viable population of desert bighorn sheep in Pima County. Organizers in Arizona collected hundreds of postcards asking Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) to defend the national monument.
Find out about your Chapter's activities by going to "My Backyard" on the Sierra Club Web site at https://www.sierraclub.org/
[3] TAKE ACTION: Stop Wetland Destruction!
The Bush Administration will soon finalize revisions to guidelines for permits for building on wetlands. These "nationwide permits," used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, make it much easier for developers to build projects that threaten or destroy wetlands. Preliminary indications are that the revised permit rules would open the door to even more wetland destruction. Tell President Bush that his administration should be doing everything in its power to reduce the rate of wetlands destruction, while encouraging wetlands restoration.
Find out more and take action at https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/cleanwater/index5.jsp
[4] OUR ALLIES: American Bishops Adopt Principles on Climate Change
At the National Conference of Catholic Bishops last week, U.S. bishops called for swift efforts to stop further climate change. While avoiding political statements, the bishops agreed that the United States, as the largest producer of global warming gases, must take the lead in curbing emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. The bishops also supported an increase in renewable energy sources and energy conservation.
Check out the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/16/national/16BISH.html?searchpv=day02
[5] RALLY-READY: Alabama Sierrans Prepare for Bush Visit
As President Bush gears up for a $1000 per-plate fundraising event in Alabama, Sierra Club organizers are rallying members to protest Bush's energy plan, which includes drilling for oil off Alabama's coast. Bush's energy plan focuses on increasing domestic energy supplies, mostly through fossil fuels, and rejects the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. In an attempt to burnish his environmental credentials, Bush is also expected to speak about increasing funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which helps pay for wildland conservation and acquisition. While Bush's budget does increase the LWCF, it takes money away from other conservation programs, such as wildlife and wetland protection.
Find out more about the rally by scrolling to the second article on the following web site: https://www.postherald.com/me061901.shtml
"The President is to be commended for signing the Everglades bill into law. But let's not get silly about it: deciding to lead a parade hardly makes him green." - David A. Scott, Regional Vice President of the Sierra Club
[1] PROTECT OUR WILD FORESTS: Send Your Comments to the Forest Service
The Wild Forest Protection plan could protect nearly 60 million acres of the last wild areas in our National Forests, but the Bush administration intends to rewrite this historic plan. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth announced last week that individual forest supervisors can decide whether or not to log and build roads in our last wild forests as they revise their forest plans. With these decisions back in the hands of individual forest supervisors, our last wild forests are vulnerable to destruction -- timber sale by timber sale. You can help by weighing in on a key forest plan in Idaho, and set the tone for future forest plan revisions.
Please help protect our wild forests by taking action at https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/wildlands/index3.jsp
[2] WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO: Sierra Magazine Shares Our Stories
This month's Sierra Magazine asks of its readers, "What Inspires You?" Environmentally-minded folks are motivated for reasons that run the gamut. Whether by provocative professors or John Denver songs, we're inspired to act on behalf of the planet. What makes you tick?
Check out the story at https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200107/inspire.asp
[3] TV SPECIAL: Bill Moyers' PBS Special Program "Earth on Edge"
Bill Moyers and the World Resources Institute have teamed up to produce a television program that will air on Tuesday, June 19, on PBS. The program, "Earth on Edge," will explore what is happening to the Earth's capacity to support nature and civilization. Moyers also describes what we can still do to reverse the tide of environmental destruction. Tune in on Tuesday, June 19, at 8pm. Tell a friend!
Find out more about the program and local showing times at https://www.pbs.org/earthonedge/
[4] PROTECT ALASKA WILDERNESS! Take Action Today
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking comments on proposals to build roads, ferry landings and possibly even an aviation center in or adjacent to Izembek Wilderness, a remote corner of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The Izembek Wilderness provides important seasonal habitat to the entire Pacific coast population of Black Brant, threatened Steller's Eiders, Emperor Geese, Tundra Swans, and Harlequin Ducks. It also prime habitat for brown bears and salmon. Please help stop roads and other development that would destroy this national treasure.
Send your comments by going to our Take Action center at https://whistler.sierraclub.org:8080/takeaction/wildlands/index4.jsp
[5] WHAT'S UP? New Hampshire, Arizona and Washington Updates
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Organizers are relieved that the University of New Hampshire dropped its plans to develop an agricultural and wetland area and create a complex of soccer fields. The area, known as Moore Field, is seasonal habitat for a variety of migratory birds, including the endangered Upland Sandpiper. Along with Sierra Club activists, citizens and students packed public meetings and forums, generated letters to the editor, and made yard signs, bumper stickers and buttons to protest the project. As Jon Barrows, a NH organizer, writes, "Just one Moore field that will stay undeveloped!"
ARIZONA: Because the Bush administration is revisiting new mining regulations introduced in January, hard-rock mining near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is a worrisome possibility. The new mining rules would require the Bureau of Land Management and the federal government to consider environmental, cultural and public health impacts of proposed mining operations, but Interior Secretary Gale Norton could revoke the rules until July 19, the day they go into effect.
Read more about it at https://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0610canyonmining10.html
WASHINGTON: Access to family planning services is key to protecting the environment from natural resource depletion and wasteful consumption. Fortunately, we are now one step closer to insuring that women across America have access to these services. A federal district court judge in Seattle ruled on Tuesday that exclusion of prescription contraception from an employer's health plan is sex discrimination, and ordered Bartell Drugs, the plaintiff's employer, to include prescription contraceptive coverage in its medical coverage.
Check out the article at https://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/12/contraceptive.lawsuit/index.html
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