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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
August 21, 2004
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." - John Muir
(1) CLEAN AIR: Deception at Ground Zero
(2) TOXICS: Go Fish?
(3) TAKE ACTION: The Clean Water Act Should Protect All Waters
1. CLEAN AIR: Deception at Ground Zero
Many hundreds of people in New York City are sick today because of exposure to pollution from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Much of the exposure, sadly, could have been avoided if our federal government had responded to the crisis with proper concern for the people exposed. Bush administration officials instructed the EPA to downplay the dangers of air pollution and changed key language in EPA press releases to cover up or minimize the dangers to workers and residents. The Sierra Club's new report "Air Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero" takes a comprehensive look at health impacts of the attacks on 9/11 and how the administration's mistakes in the aftermath are in danger of being institutionalized as policy for the handling of any future attacks on Americans.
Learn more and read the report: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7zm5,km3,icqs,990p,irqz,5w4u
2. TOXICS: Go Fish?
The American Sportfishing Association estimates there are 34 million sportfishers nationwide, who collectively cast out over $1.8 billion annually on the sport. Midwestern states reel in hundreds of millions of dollars annually from water-based wildlife recreation: Minnesota alone boasts a $2.8 billion industry! Due to mercury pollution in the water, a growing number of these states have issued fish consumption advisories which lead to sportfishing declines, lower state revenues and threaten jobs. Bait shop owners, environmental activists, and public officials are joining the crusade to call on the Bush administration to tighten pollution controls on coal- fired power plants that cause mercury pollution.
Read "Mercury Weighing Heavily on Lake Lovers" in the Toledo Blade: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7zm5,km3,kgt5,kvsw,irqz,5w4u 20040818/NEWS06/40818019/-1/NEWS
3. TAKE ACTION: The Clean Water Act Should Protect All Waters
The Bush administration has said that it will no
longer enforce the Clean Water Act to protect many small streams, wetlands and other waters. This doesn't make sense. All waters should be covered by the Clean Water Act. The job of the EPA should be to protect America's waters from pollution not to abandon a significant portion of the nation's waters. The EPA's rulemaking process ignores the fact that small streams, vernal pools, prairie potholes and supposedly isolated wetlands flow into our groundwater, rivers and lakes. The EPA's rulemaking process also threatens the Clean Water Act's goals of restoring and protecting America's waterways.
Click here to send a message to your Representative to urge the administration to protect all our waters: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7zm5,km3,cwm1,jipv,irqz,5w4u
"President Bush set a goal to increase wetlands in America by three million acres over the next five years, relying largely on voluntary incentive programs which, ironically, the administration has actually targeted for funding cuts." - Ed Hopkins, Sierra Club Environmental Quality Director, in an op-ed entitled "Muddying the Waters"
(1) OUTDOORS: On the Fly
(2) GLOBAL WARMING: Hot Under the Cali
(3) TAKE ACTION: Stop the Attack on the Roadless Conservation Rule
1. OUTDOORS: On the Fly
This week the Sierra Club joins millions of anglers in celebrating National Flyfishing Week. Flyfishers have been among the nation's most committed conservationists, giving time to projects that protect water quality. Flyfishing brings people into the great outdoors and must remain a treasured part of America's outdoor heritage. The Bush administration has the power to create a better future for flyfishing and the families that enjoy the sport. Click on today's Take Action to urge the Forest Service to keep the remaining roadless areas wild so they may continue to house many of the headwater streams and spawning habitat that are necessary to conserve and restore the nation's sportfisheries.
Read more about National Flyfishing Week: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7yx7,km3,awr6,9d8a,irqz,5w4u 08-13.asp
2. GLOBAL WARMING: Hot Under the Cali
>From skiing to wine making, California's climate- dependent industries will see a significant impact as global warming takes hold, according to a new study released by a group of nineteen scientists. An increase in summer heat and a decrease in winter snow will strongly effect the state's water and power supplies. Conservation efforts today will set the stage for climate conditions in 50 or 100 years, according to the study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article says researchers agree that refusing to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions will cloud both the atmosphere and California's economic future.
Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7yx7,km3,ep25,hkdi,irqz,5w4u bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/17/WARMING.TMP
3. TAKE ACTION: Stop the Attack on the Roadless Conservation Rule
The Bush administration's latest effort to reduce or eliminate decades of National Forest protection and increase spending to benefit timber companies must be stopped. Already, 440,000 miles of roads are carved into America's National Forests. The wildly popular Roadless Rule helps protect our remaining wild forests and the clean water, wildlife habitat and outstanding backcountry recreation opportunities from more taxpayer-subsidized commercial logging. The Bush administration's proposal is misguided and should be abandoned.
Tell the Forest Service to keep the Roadless Area Conservation Rule intact: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7yx7,km3,2tpe,2jgt,irqz,5w4u
"...George W. Bush's policy advisers somehow don't see the benefits we've received from our investments in America's environmental infrastructure. All they see is the cost of compliance to their campaign contributors -- a group that is led by the nation's most egregious polluters. This myopic vision has led the White House to abandon its responsibility to protect the public trust." - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Alameda Times Star op-ed entitled "Forest for the Trees" (8/1/04)
(1) National Forests: Scout's Honor
(2) Read: Lentil Soup for the Progressive Soul
(3) Take Action: Clean up our Nation's Oldest, Dirtiest Factories
1. National Forests: Scout's Honor
Energy producer El Paso Corp. wants to explore for gas in a 40,000 acre piece of land in New Mexico's Carson National Forest despite its close proximity to a Boy Scout camp where, for 65 years, scouts have worked on conservation projects. The Forest Service says gas exploration on the land is bad for wildlife and could pollute water. The Bureau of Land Management, usually on the same side with oil and gas interests, also conceded that drilling was a bad idea. Despite this, the Bush administration told forestry officials to reconsider, once again ignoring advice based on the science of its own experts and now the Forest Service has suddenly come out with a more favorable report for drilling in the forest.
Read the Los Angeles Times editorial "Two-Faced Forest Policy:"
https://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-drill11aug11,1,5904242.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
2. Read: Lentil Soup for the Progressive Soul
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And the book "The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear" brings together a collection of inspiring essays and stories to help you get going. From Nelson Mandela to Cornel West to Howard Zinn, book editor Paul Loeb pulls together stories that remind us of the undeniable power individuals have when we come together to fight for a common cause.
Read the book's introduction: https://www.soulofacitizen.org/IMPOSSIBLE/Introduction.htm
3. Take Action: Clean up our Nation's Oldest, Dirtiest Factories
The Bush administration is trying to weaken a portion of the Clean Air Act which has proven to be an effective tool for forcing power plants, refineries, and factories to install modern pollution equipment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 159 million Americans still live in communities with unhealthy air. Why should we stop making sure that the best modern technology is used to protect public health? Americans should not stand by and give the administration a free pass.
Tell the administration that you are firmly behind strong enforcement of the Clean Air Act and practical use of existing technologies to clean up persistent sources of pollution: https://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=338&st=curr
"Europe has its great castles and works of art. Africa has its ancient pyramids and cultures. Here in America, we have our wild places." - Mike Dombeck, Former Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, explaining why America needs to protect its remaining roadless areas.
(1) WASTE: Risky Business
(2) NATIONAL FORESTS: This Land is Your Land
(3) TAKE ACTION: Protect Western Arctic Wildlife from Oil Drilling
1. WASTE: Risky Business
The Sierra Club this week launched a campaign to educate Nevada voters about a proposal to transport as much as 70,000 tons of nuclear waste - an amount that would fill a football field 19 feet deep - through 43 states. The waste would end up buried in containers under Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles outside Vegas. The Bush administration has been a strong proponent of the Yucca Mountain project despite the fact that its own scientific advisors say the designs are unsafe. Senator Kerry has firmly opposed a national nuclear repository at Yucca, vowing to bring the project to a end if elected President.
Read "Sierra Club Hoping Yucca Issue Will Draw Voters" in the Las Vegas Sun: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7umm,km3,9oz0,byhb,irqz,5w4u
2. NATIONAL FORESTS: This Land is Your Land
New policies promoted by the Bush administration over the last three years seriously threaten our nation's forest legacy. Today, the Sierra Club and other conservationists released a report written by the American Lands Alliance that documents regional examples of damaging proposals moving forward under new forest policies. Highlighted in the report are the administration's efforts to increase commercial logging in wild, roadless forests such as the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, ancient old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest and forests across the country.
Read the report entitled "This Land is Your Land:" https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7umm,km3,1zdw,9ihp,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect Western Arctic Wildlife from Oil Drilling
The Bush administration has unveiled a shocking new plan to open critical bird and wildlife habitat in America's Western Arctic to accelerated oil and gas development. The places at risk are contained in the ill-named National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska. These lands are exceedingly remote, breathtakingly wild, and harbor an abundance of wildlife. Previously protected from development, Teshekpuk Lake is just the latest of America's public lands that the administration has stripped of its scientifically based protections. As development proceeds, the administration should balance resource development with protecting the most sensitive areas of the Western Arctic. The administration is accepting comments from the public on its plan until August 23.
Click the link below and in the comments portion of the online form, urge the administration to adopt Alternative A, the "No Action" alternative, to maintain protection for the entire Teshekpuk Lake Surface Protection Area. This extraordinary ecosystem provides critical habitat for molting geese and nesting habitat for Steller's eiders, northern pintails, yellow-billed loons and other species. It also supports a vitally important caribou herd that Alaska natives depend on for their subsistence.
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7umm,km3,9csk,9ib4,irqz,5w4u
"For the generation of people today in their 20s, if there are more people like Mary Wiper among them, then people like me in their 50s can see a lot of hope in the future." - Lawson Legate, Sierra Club's Southwest Regional Representative, remembers Sierra Club coworker Mary Wiper, 28, who passed away this week. Mary was widely respected in the environmental community and worked as an Associate Field Representative in New Mexico, playing a key role in campaigns against oil and gas drilling at Otero Mesa and coal mining at the Zuni Salt Lake.
(1) WILDLANDS: The Great Escape
(2) GLOBAL WARMING: Georgia On My Mind
(3) TAKE ACTION: National Environmental Policy Act Needs Changes
1. WILDLANDS: The Great Escape
It's that time of year when Americans pack up the family trucksters with camping gear and car games to visit some of their favorite parks and wild places. The Great Smoky Mountains tops the list as the most frequently visited National Park with more than 9 million visitors each year. Arizona's Grand Canyon is second on the list with over 4 million visitors annually. National Parks offer an escape from the frenzy of modern life, not to mention unparalleled recreational opportunities.
Take a summer vacation and visit some of these wild places with the Sierra Club: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7qq3,km3,kekm,iyvc,irqz,5w4u
Top ten most visited National Parks: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7qq3,km3,jwbc,4yzw,irqz,5w4u
2. GLOBAL WARMING: Georgia On My Mind
One in every ten Georgians owns a Sport Utility Vehicle. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, SUV ownership in the state has more than doubled from 1997-2002. Georgians think these gas guzzlers are a peach despite environmental and safety concerns about them. Even though the technology already exists to improve the fuel efficiency of SUVs like the best- selling Ford Explorer, which gets only 16 miles per gallon in city driving, SUVs and other light trucks are still held to low environmental standards, roll over more than cars and pose greater danger to other vehicles than cars do.
Read "SUV Ownership Doubles in Georgia" in the Savannah Morning News: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7qq3,km3,xph,9vzv,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: National Environmental Policy Act Needs Changes
The Department of Homeland Security's proposed plan regarding implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) would erode the environmental protection policies as well as curtail public participation and disclosure provisions currently required by NEPA. Changes to the plan are needed to ensure citizens and policymakers are fully informed of potential health and safety issues that could affect their quality of life as well as viability of wildlife habitat.
Urge the Department of Homeland Security to strike language that allowing broad use of categorical exclusions and eliminate the provision allowing the withholding of NEPA documents as classified or protected information: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7qq3,km3,iceh,h5mx,irqz,5w4u
"... the Bush administration, determined to ransack public lands for the last meager pockets of petroleum, has turned my old department into a servile, single- minded adjunct of the Energy Department. It is intent on opening Otero Mesa and other wild lands to oil and gas exploration under the guise of reducing our ever- growing dependency on imported oil." - Stewart Udall, former Congressman and Secretary of the Interior, in a July 26 Los Angeles Times op-ed entitled "Bush's Dark Pages in Conservation History."
(1) SPRAWL: Driving Miss Hazy
(2) POLITICS: Juice from Boston
(3) TAKE ACTION: Help Save Amtrak
1. SPRAWL: Driving Miss Hazy
A new Sierra Club report "Highway Health Hazards" shows increasing evidence that air pollution from vehicles increases a wide range of health risks. The report summarizes more than 24 peer-reviewed studies that document health hazards caused by pollution from cars, trucks, and other vehicles and describes current debates over major highway projects occurring in more than ten communities around the country. By designing communities to reduce reliance on vehicles and giving people more transportation choices like trains and clean buses, we can diminish these health risks.
Read the Highway Health Hazards report: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7ojw,km3,73z8,e1vx,irqz,5w4u
2. POLITICS: Juice from Boston
Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, is feeding our website his personal notes from the Democratic Convention this week in Boston. Here's a snippet from one of his blogs:
"An Independent politician was this morning's main attraction at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee breakfast. Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republican Party three years ago, served up some keen and funny observations at breakfast. Jeffords pleaded with the guests to 'not make my switch in vain.' And added that he 'regretted he had but one switch to give for my country.' He called the Bush administration 'ideology over substance.' And commenting on Michael Moore's comment in Fahrenheit 911 that 'Jim Jeffords made George Bush look like a lame duck president,' Jeffords called on the crowd 'to really make him a lame duck president. Now and forever.'
Get more of Carl Pope's field notes: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7ojw,km3,ini0,4lon,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Help Save Amtrak
Each year, our passenger rail system, Amtrak, struggles with insufficient funding even though passenger rail provides a clean and efficient intercity transportation choice. This year, like last year, Amtrak requested a budget of $1.8 billion, in part to address critical infrastructure needs. The Bush administration and the House Appropriations Committee have each proposed an appropriation that is only half of Amtrak's request, or $900 million. This is $300 million less than Amtrak received last year.
Tell your members of Congress that they should allocate the full $1.8 billion to support Amtrak: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,7ojw,km3,ev6,fk1r,irqz,5w4u
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