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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
July 22, 2003
"Perry Farrell is quite simply, one of the most important and original musical figures of the '90s." -Allmusic.com on Perry Farrell, lead singer of Jane's Addiction and founder of Lollapalooza
(1) ENERGY: Hitting Lollapalooza in a Hybrid
(2) NATIONAL FORESTS: Save Roadless Areas EVERYWHERE
(3) TOXICS: All-Out Effort
(4) TAKE ACTION: Don't Let Congress Take Away Public Transportation Funding
1. Hitting Lollapalooza in a Hybrid
Last Thursday, a couple of Sierra Club activists hit the road in a hybrid-car to go on tour with Lollapalooza. This year the tour includes more than a dozen bands, festive activities, and opportunities to learn about alternative energy solutions. According to Sierra Club's Lollapalooza roadies, the tour has been a great time to educate concertgoers about the destructive Bush energy bill and ways to raise fuel economy standards - and to hear some great music.
Check out pictures and reports from the Sierra Club's road trip with Lollapalooza: https://www.sierraclub.org/roadtrip/lollapalooza/
2. Save Roadless Areas EVERYWHERE
Last week the Bush Administration announced that it was going to rewrite the immensely popular National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule that would have spared 58 million acres of National Forest from destructive road building for commercial activities. Now, the Administration is seeking to allow Governors to opt out of the roadless rule for National Forests within their state. Every American owns these lands and millions have already spoken out to keep these remaining areas as they are - natural and wild. Under the existing rule, roads could already be built for safety and firefighting purposes, but now the Administration wants to open all these lands to commercial logging. And if that is not bad enough, the Bush Administration is seeking to exempt completely the Tongass and Chugach National Forests of Alaska from all protections. Over 50 timber sales are planned in both areas, which are the two largest of America's National Forests.
Visit this link to learn more and send a comment to the Forest Service telling them NOT to change to historic roadless rule and to protect 58 million acres of your National Forests: https://www.sierraclub.org/logging/wildforest/
3. All-Out Effort
In Anniston, Alabama, 35,000 people live within a 9-mile radius and more than 250,000 people are within a 30-mile radius of a chemical weapons incinerator where the Army plans to burn the largest amount of nerve and mustard gas ever. The Sierra Club and other local groups are rallying loudly that the weapon facility should use a safer liquid method known as neutralization to destroy the Army's chemical agents. The neutralization method is being used at four of the eight chemical weapons storage sites in the U.S.: Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland.
Read more from Alabama: https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030719/APN/307190653&cachetime=5
4. TAKE ACTION: Don't Let Congress Take Away Public Transportation Funding
This week, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider a bill that would cripple the nation's public transportation system. The bill proposes a Fiscal Year 2004 spending plan that would cut funding for new transit projects, low income transportation programs, bike and pedestrian path enhancements, and Amtrak.
TAKE ACTION HERE: https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=276&st=curr
"There are 18,000 people who come in each day and sort of advance the ball." -Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Marianne L. Horinko comments on the difficulties of her temporary job (see Current #2 below).
(1) NATIONAL FORESTS: Appeal on Its Way
(2) TOXICS: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
(3) NATIONAL PARKS: Fact Check (4) TAKE ACTION: Celebrate a Family Planning Victory!
1. Appeal on Its Way
Earlier this week, a federal judge in Wyoming declared the roadless rule illegal. The Sierra Club is planning an appeal to the decision, much like our successful appeal to a similar case in Idaho. National Forests are a vital part of our country and Americans want to keep what they still can roadless. When the roadless rule was first enacted, the US Forest Service had received over 2 million comments urging protection for these wild forests.
Read more from Alaska: https://www.msnbc.com/local/ktuu/m311263.asp?0ct=-302
2. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Yesterday, the EPA held a press briefing touting the accomplishments of its enforcement program, while at the same time the House complied with the Bush Administration request to cut the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement budget. The Bush Administration's proposed budget now in Congress would cut 54 enforcement positions from the EPA's budget compared to last year and 126 positions from 2001 levels. Now ask yourself: Why is it hard for the acting EPA Administrator to "advance the ball"?
3. Fact Check
It's a good thing Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA) isn't thinking of moonlighting as a presidential speechwriter. After introducing legislation in the House of Representatives to destroy the century old LeConte Memorial Lodge, a National Historic Landmark located in Yosemite Valley, the Congressman told the Contra Costa Times: "There's no use for this thing [the lodge] here [in Yosemite]. I think John Muir would be rolling over in his grave if he knew this thing had been built in the valley." There's just one little problem. John Muir was the Sierra Club President when the LeConte Memorial Lodge was built by the Sierra Club as a memorial to Muir's close friend and colleague, Joseph LeConte.
Read the story in the Contra Costa Times: https://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/content_syndication/local_news/6321929.htm
4. TAKE ACTION: Celebrate a Family Planning Victory!
By a vote of 53-43 the Senate voted to uphold Senator Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) amendment to overturn the Global Gag Rule. The repeal of the Global Gag Rule would restore crucial family planning funding that President Bush blocked on his first day in office. Although an important victory for family planning advocates, we still have quite a bit of work to do.
Go to the Global Population and Environment Program Website to thank Senators who voted in support of overturning the Global Gag Rule at: https://www.sierraclub.org/population/
Or call your Senator on Capitol Hill, the switchboard is (202) 224-3121.
"How can we justify Clear Skies if this gets out?" -Jeffrey Holmstead, the Assistant Administrator for Air Programs at the Environmental Protection Agency, questions the Bush Administration's air policies after the being told not to analyze or release information about mercury, carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. Read the article here (registration req'd): https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/politics/14EPA.html
(1) ENERGY: Court Is Still in Session
(2) FOREST FIRES: Fighting Fires with Mitigation
(3) POLLUTION: New Hampshire at Risk
(4) TAKE ACTION: Protect America's Parks, Forests, and Wildlife
1. Court Is Still in Session
The Sierra Club and the American people are one step closer to learning how much polluters influenced the Administration's energy policy. In a victory for the rule of law and the public's right to know, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Bush Administration's request to overturn a lower court ruling that required the Administration to produce documents from the Vice President's Energy Task Force meetings. The recommendations from the Task Force serve as the blueprint for federal energy legislation now before Congress. Find out more here: https://www.sierraclub.org/scoop/071003.asp
2. Fighting Fires with Mitigation
A few weeks ago, Currents reported on a fire mitigation project the Sierra Club led in Colorado. Last week, the New York Times featured the project in its weekly Home section as an example for other communities and homeowners. The Times reported on western home-owners clearing brush around their house (known as fire mitigation) in order to safeguard against seasonal wildfires. Just more evidence that Currents is a step ahead of the competition.
Read the story here (registration req'd): https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/10/garden/10FIRE.html
3. New Hampshire at Risk
The New Hampshire Sierra Club just released a report identifying places in the Granite State which are negatively affected by the Bush Administration's environmental policies. According to the report, the Administration has been complicating efforts to reduce mercury contamination, slowing the cleanup of a nationally recognized toxic waste site, and postponing reductions in power plant pollution. Imagine what is happening in the other 49 states!
Get local here: https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=378&ArticleID=84419
4. TAKE ACTION: Protect America's Parks, Forests, and Wildlife
Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, July 16, and continuing through the end of the week, passage of several amendments to the FY2004 Department of Interior Appropriations Bill will be crucial given the many threats to existing protections and funding for National Parks, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, wilderness quality lands and wildlife. Three amendments of particular importance are the Udall-Gilchrest amendment to protect massive giveaways of our public lands; the Inslee-Boehlert amendment to protect the Roadless Rule and 58 million acres of our last wild forests; and the Holt-Rahall-Shays-T.Johnson Amendment to protect Yellowstone National Park. Please support America's natural heritage by telling your Representative to vote for amendments to the FY2004 Department of Interior Appropriations Bill that protect our parks and public lands.
Click here to send a message to your Representative: https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=275&st=curr
"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. - Ada Louise Huxtable
Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, Currents is going on a weeklong hike to explore and enjoy the planet. Currents will be back next week and leaves you with two ways to help protect the planet.
(1) TAKE ACTION: Protect the Planet by Promoting Family Planning
(2) TAKE ACTION: Save precious wildlands and wildlife.
1) TAKE ACTION: Protect the Planet by Promoting Family Planning
In less than 50 years, world population is expected to rise from 6 to 9 billion, pushing some of the most basic needs such as clean air and water beyond the grasp of one third of the world's people and further jeopardizing the health of the planet. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works in almost 150 countries to ensure that women have access to voluntary family planning, economic opportunities and education - building the foundation for a more environmentally sustainable future. President Bush's decision to withhold UNFPA funding endangers the lives and health of women around the world. Our commitment to women's rights and the environment must go beyond words and beyond our own borders. Urge your Representative to support the Crowley provision to reinstate funding for UNFPA in H.R. 1950, the State Department Authorization Bill. For more information go to https://www.sierraclub.org/population/reports/spring03/feature.asp
** You can reach your Representative through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.**
2. TAKE ACTION: Save precious wildlands and wildlife.
America's cherished wild lands are under assault as never before. As you know the Bush Administration has overturned policies and adopted positions that threaten wildplaces including National Parks, National Forest, and National Monuments. Next week the House of Representative will be voting on the Department of Interior spending bill for 2004. Pro-environmental members of Congress are working hard to fight off the Bush Administrations damaging policies through offering pro-active environmental amendments. Please tell your representative to protect our parks, forest, refuges, and wildlife by voting "YES" on pro-environment amendments to the Interior Appropriations bill. Go to
https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=275&st=curr and send a fax to your member NOW. ----
"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women." Henry David Thoreau
Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, Currents is going on a weeklong hike. Currents will be back in full force next week but will provide important Take Action today and Thursday.
(1) TAKE ACTION: Help the Senate Decide on Responsible Forest Fire Legislation
1. TAKE ACTION: Urge Senators to Protect Communities; Oppose Bush Logging Plan
The Bush Administration's ill-named "Healthy Forests Initiative" passed through the House of Representatives as HR 1904 and now the Senate is considering several bills. The Bush logging plan does nothing to honestly protect lives and communities from forest fires and is more of a vehicle to increase commercial logging. The Bush plan seeks to cut out the public from public forest management and would give unprecedented latitude to agency managers to promote harmful logging projects across the federal public forests.
The Bush logging plan misses on all of the major components that a responsible, science-based, community protection plan should have. The US Forest Service Fire Research lab has found that the best method to protect homes from a forest fire is by creating defensible space 100 feet around a home and 500 meters around communities. Certainly, the administration can do better than this! For information on real home safety and responsible fire management see www.sierraclub.org/logging and www.firewise.org
Please urge your Senators to OPPOSE the Bush "Healthy Forests Initiative" and HR 1904.
** You can reach Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.**
Also, attached is a sample letter that you can use to write to your Senators or local newspaper:
Dear Senator,
I urge you to oppose the ill-conceived Bush administration's "Healthy Forests Initiative." This plan seeks to waive environmental review, undermine meaningful public participation and interfere with our courts in order to favor big timber companies over community protection. The Bush logging plan also attempts to change the standard of judicial review to prevent courts from stopping harmful projects on lands managed by the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The administration wants to use last year's dramatic fire season to ask you to advance timber industry proposals. Instead, the Senate should require the Forest Service and BLM to help at-risk communities thin small diameter trees and brush in the 500-meter Community Protection Zone. Private landowners should get assistance in reducing hazardous fuels on their property within this crucial defensible zone. This approach is a proven method to protect lives and homes and is the best use of taxpayer resources.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name] [Address] [City], [State] [Zip]
For more information on National Forests and responsible community protection see www.sierraclub.org/logging
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