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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
September 26
"All my life, I've taken good care of my health. I'd like to know what caused my cancer. Is it because of where I live, within one-half mile of AK Steel? I would like some answers." Firefighter Cliff Sherer of Middletown, OH, in a letter to the EPA, four months before he died of cancer
(1)ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: Leaving Our Communities at Risk
(2)CLEAN AIR: Sierra Club Boldly Goes Where EPA Won't
(3)WILDLANDS: Moment Of Truth is Near for Arctic Refuge (4)TAKE ACTION: For a Clean, Safe, and Affordable Energy Future
1. Leaving Our Communities at Risk
A nurse in Omaha grows vegetables in her backyard to make baby food for her young children. But the soil is poisoned with lead from a nearby refinery. An Alabama man routinely feels burning in his skin and eyes. He lives next door to a pulp and paper mill. A Sierra Club report released today shows how Bush administration environmental policies are endangering the health - and even the lives - of ordinary Americans across the country.
"Leaving Our Communities at Risk" profiles twenty-five communities, from Washington State to Florida. All are jeopardized by the Bush administration's plan to gut key protections that have been responsible for thirty years of environmental progress. By weakening the Clean Air Act and the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program, the administration threatens to return us to the bad old days of asthma-triggering soot, growth-retarding lead, and cancer-causing arsenic right in our back yards.
For more information and a copy of the report, go to https://www.sierraclub.com/communities/
2. Sierra Club Boldly Goes Where EPA Won't
If things worked as they should, the EPA would fine polluters for breaking the law. But when the Bush administration found out that a large number of ethanol plants were spewing much more toxic waste into the air than the Clean Air Act allows, it took a different approach. It notified the industry in a letter that "most, if not all" ethanol facilities were breaking the law, then offered to meet with the polluters to resolve the problem "on terms most favorable to industry."
That's why Sierra Club announced today that it's suing two Midwestern ethanol producers. Lawsuits against others may follow. Many are releasing gases that help create ozone, which causes serious breathing problems, including asthma. Others are spewing carbon monoxide, a poison which causes visual impairment and a host of other health problems. Pollution from ethanol producers is coming to light just as Congress stands poised to produce an energy bill that would give the ethanol industry $5 billion in giveaways. Some might call that ironic. We call it a disgrace.
For more information on this story, go to https://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0209&L=ce-scnews-releases&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F &S=&P=2203
3. Moment Of Truth is Near for Arctic Refuge
We knew that advocates of drilling the Arctic Refuge wouldn't give up. Despite their clear defeat in the Senate earlier this year, they're still trying their best to slip drilling into the energy bill. They're using the infamous "2000 acre footprint" amendment, which is designed to make drilling seem a little greener. But drilling would destroy the entire 1.5 million acres and allow development to sprawl across the entire coastal plain, considered the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge.
The committee will be addressing the Arctic this Tuesday. So call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224 3121. Ask for your senators, and urge them to reject any attempts to slip Arctic drilling into the energy bill through the back door. Lawmakers stood up to this dangerous and unnecessary plan once. They should do so again.
For more information on protecting the Arctic, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/arctic/peril.asp
4. Take Action for a Clean, Safe, Affordable Energy Future
Sierra Club activists have sent the message to Congress that Americans deserve a clean, safe, and affordable energy future, and we have the technologies to get us there. We told lawmakers we need to make our cars go further on a gallon of gas, increase our use of clean, renewable energy sources, and protect our special places from oil drilling.
Now, after over two years of debate, Congress stands poised to vote on an energy bill that does nothing to bring about this future. Instead, it increases our dependence on oil, is loaded with giveaways to corporate polluters, and threatens our land, air and water. Contact your senators right now and urge them not to railroad through an energy bill that does much more harm than good. Tell them that Americans deserve better.
Click below to send a fax directly to your Senator. There's a draft provided! https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=188&st=curr
To learn more about the corporate giveaways in the energy bill, go to https://sierraclub.org/politics/lobbying/index.asp
"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." President Bush mis-speaking (or not?) yesterday
(1)POLITICS: Getting the Word Out
(2)FACTORY FARMS: Idaho Radio Can't Handle the Truth
(3)CLEAN AIR: Smoke Gets in Their Eyes
(4)TAKE ACTION: As Fire Season Wanes, Destructive Legislation Heats Up
1. Getting the Word Out
With just six weeks to go before mid-term elections, Sierra Club kicked its voter education campaign into high gear today. The Club unveiled a new wave of TV ads, mail pieces, and voter guides, all designed to let voters know where their candidates stand on environmental issues like clean air, clean water, and holding corporate polluters accountable.
New TV ads - featuring local citizens explaining why they are concerned about key environmental issues - will hit the airwaves in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The ads ask voters to contact their public officials and urge them to vote for the environment. Volunteers will also be hitting the streets with the new voter guides, which compare and contrast candidates' environmental voting records. Come November, voters will understand who's been naughty and who's been nice to the environment.
For more information on the voter education campaign, including an online video of Sierra Club ads, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/voter_education
2. Idaho Radio Can't Handle the Truth
We thought blatant censorship was a thing of the past in this country. But it looks like it's alive and well in Idaho. Sierra Club ads that inform listeners about the harmful environmental effects of massive factory farms were taken off the air by three Twin Falls radio stations. The ads were "causing too many problems", according to a local manager for the stations, which are all owned by Clear Channel, the largest operator of radio stations in the country.
It's important that rural communities know the facts about factory farms, since they're springing up in more and more communities. Folks who live near these huge livestock operations have to deal with a constant foul stench in the air, animal manure being dumped in local waterways, and decreased property values. Whatever certain large radio stations may say, we think it's important that people know.
For more information on these "problematic" ads, go to https://www.magicvalley.com/tn/news/index.asp?StoryID=1285
3. Smoke Gets in Their Eyes
Do you think people deserve air that's clean enough to see through? Some government agencies don't. The Sierra Club and allies are suing the Tennessee Valley Authority, charging that one of its plants in Alabama violated the Clean Air Act 8,933 times since 1997! The power agency claims the air is healthy, and cloudy emissions from the plant that obscure visibility aren't an issue.
But these "harmless" plumes of foggy air are carried by wind for several miles, coating cars and lungs in a soot that can trigger asthma and cause other respiratory problems, especially in kids. It's one thing when irresponsible corporations pollute our air. It's quite another when it's a government agency that's putting the health of our communities at risk!
For more information on clean air, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/
4. As Fire Season Wanes, Destructive Legislation Heats Up
First we saw President Bush's misleadingly-titled "Healthy Forest Initiative,". Now the House Republicans have joined the show. Representatives Scott McInnis (R-CO) and Larry Combest (R-TX) have both introduced bills based on the President's dangerous plan to increase logging and reduce environmental protections. These measures exploit this summer's forest fires by increasing destructive commercial logging without protecting communities from fires.
The McInnis bill would also gut crucial environmental laws, including the landmark National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA ensures that people have the right to comment on federal projects that affect the environment. The House leadership is trying to rush a pro-logging bill to a vote before the November election. Contact your Member of Congress and ask them to oppose the McInnis bill (HR 5319), the Combest bill (HR 5376) and any efforts to reduce or eliminate forest protections.
Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for your representative. Deliver the message. Help protect our forests.
"This decision...tells other multi-national corporations that go into business with repressive dictatorships that they are responsible if they assist their partners' abuses." -Paul Hoffman, an attorney representing Burmese villagers who are suing the U.S. oil company Unocal for complicity in human rights abuses
(1)ENERGY: Bill Could Increase America's Oil Consumption
(2)HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: Burmese Villagers Will Get Their Day in Court
(3)CLEANER CARS: A Car Show with a Difference
(4)TAKE ACTION: Protect Forests and Communities
1. Energy Bill Could Increase America's Oil Consumption
When Congress caved to automakers and refused to raise fuel economy standards earlier this year, it blew a golden opportunity to reduce our dangerous dependence on oil. But few expected that the energy bill it would produce would actually increase the amount of oil we use. That's the case after a deeply disappointing energy conference vote today.
Conferees agreed to cut gasoline consumption by just 5 billion gallons - a tiny amount - over the next ten years. But they added a loophole in which automakers get credit for building cars that can theoretically run on alternative fuels, but in reality rarely do. That ends up costing us more than the original 5 billion gallons saved. So amazingly, at a time when we're considering risking the lives of our soldiers in the Middle East, Congress has moved us backward on oil consumption. Today's vote just made a bad energy bill even worse.
For more information on the dirty, dangerous energy bill, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/energy/murkowski.asp
2. Burmese Villagers Will Get Their Day in Court
When Unocal, a California-based oil company, began a pipeline project in Burma, the Burmese military dictatorship rolled out the red carpet. In fact, the government was so eager for the project to succeed that it went too far, committing serious human rights abuses - forced labor, rape, and even murder - against its own citizens.
Now a U.S. federal appeals court, in a landmark decision, has ruled that Unocal can be held complicit in these crimes, after lawyers for environmental and human rights groups filed suit on behalf of 11 Burmese villagers. According to the ruling, Unocal may not have directly perpetrated the crimes, but it knew or should have known that they were taking place, and looked the other way. The ruling will send a message to other bad corporate actors that U.S. corporations can't violate international human rights with impunity. And eleven Burmese villagers are one step closer to finding justice.
To sign up to the e-mail listserv for the Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment campaign, go to https://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?SUBED1=cons-spst-human-rights-and-env&A=1
Or contact Sam Parry at sam.parry@sierraclub.org
3. A Car Show with a Difference
Sierra Club joined Toyota and Honda dealers yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin for a car show that showcased a new breed of car. The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic, both hybrids, get more than 50 miles per gallon, and can travel 600 miles on a single tank of gas, in town. By switching to one of these cars from a typical SUV, a driver can save over $4000 in gas over five years.
The event was part of the Sierra Club's campaign to urge American automakers to build cars and trucks that go further on a gallon of gas. In addition to saving drivers money, more fuel-efficient vehicles help cut pollution and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. If Toyota and Honda can do it, why not everyone?
For more information on the campaign for cleaner cars, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/freedompackage/
4. Take Action to Protect Forests and Communities
The vote on the future of America's forests could happen at any second, so we need to be ready. We all know the story by now: Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) is pushing a dangerous measure that would increase destructive commercial logging, gut crucial environmental protections, and shut ordinary people out of the process of managing our own public lands. It does nothing to reduce the risk of forest fires, or to protect communities from fires.
If you haven't called your senators and told them to reject this corporate giveaway (also known as the Craig amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill), pick up the phone now. If you have, please do it again!
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for your senators. Deliver the message. Help save America's forests.
"Sadly, madam president, this is a smoke-screen for another corporate handout." - Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) addressing the Senate on the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative
(1)CHALLENGE TO SPRAWL: A Better Legacy
(2)POLITICS: A Super Tuesday for the Environment
(3)POPULATION: Taking Family Planning into Their Own Hands
(4)TAKE ACTION: Protect Forests and Communities
1. A Better Legacy than Sprawl
That's what Utahns have reason to hope for now, thanks to a major court decision yesterday. A Circuit Court of Appeals ruling ensured that Utah's Legacy Highway, which would have destroyed valuable wetlands, exacerbated sprawl, worsened Salt Lake City's air quality, and done nothing to relieve traffic congestion, won't get built any time soon.
The decision upheld a legal challenge to the project brought by the Sierra Club and Utahns for Better Transportation. It faulted the state of Utah on three major counts: not looking into narrower highway alternatives; ignoring mass transit options; and not considering a different location for the highway that would have done less environmental damage. The Legacy fight isn't over by a long shot, but the project's backers will have to go back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, Sierra Club and its allies will be celebrating a huge and well-earned victory.
To see the front page story in today's Salt Lake Tribune, go to https://www.sltrib.com/
2. A Super Tuesday for the Environment
The environment is one step closer to securing new friends in Congress after last week's primary elections. In Arizona's 7th district, Raśl Grijalva, who successfully fought for the passage of two major open space and conservation initiatives in Pima County, prevailed with Sierra Club support. Meanwhile North Carolinians went for two Club-endorsed environmental champions running for Congress from the state's General Assembly: Frank Balance, who had a perfect environmental voting record, and Brad Miller, who was a leader on cleaning up dirty power plants and cutting auto emissions.
But perhaps the most noteworthy victory belonged to Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New York, who won his Republican primary by just 1500 votes. Rep. Boehlert's reputation as a champion of clean air and farm conservation helped make the difference against his conservative challenger. Looks like a strong environmental record and Sierra Club backing can go a long way!
For more information on the Sierra Club's endorsements, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/endorsements/
3. Taking Family Planning into Their Own Hands
When President Bush pandered to religious conservatives in June by cutting $34 million in U.S. funds for a crucial United Nations family planning program, most of us were disgusted. But Lois Abraham of Taos, NM, and Jane Roberts of Redlands, CA, got busy. Both separately started campaigns to raise the $34 million by urging Americans to contribute $1 each.
That led to the creation of the "34 Million Friends" campaign. Already, the dollar bills are pouring in. The funds will help the U.N. provide desperately needed voluntary family planning and reproductive health services, which ultimately help slow population growth. That helps protect natural resources and the environment for future generations. It might also help show that ordinary Americans have a little more compassion than their President.
Send $1 to the United Nations Population Fund at the following address: Chief, Resource Mobilization Branch, UNFPA, 220 East 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10017
For more information on global population and the environment, go to https://www.sierraclub.org/population/
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