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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
October 19, 2004
"I don't know one environmentalist who's not an optimist. Because if they weren't an optimist, they would be drunk or dead." - Teresa Heinz Kerry discussed the environment at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, NY yesterday.
(1) ELECTION: Knock Knock Knocking on Buckeye Doors
(2) POLITICS: Broken Record
(3) TAKE ACTION: Declare Independence from Dirty Energy
1. ELECTION: Knock Knock Knocking on Buckeye Doors
>From loveable pooches to less friendly receptions, Chris Johnson never knows what to expect when he knocks on a door. A postal worker by day, he is one of the Sierra Club volunteers in Ohio talking to voters who are interested in clean air and clean water issues but didn't vote in the last presidential election. Organizers have already contacted over 100,000 voters in Columbus so far. Research shows that for each face-to-face contact that voters get, the likelihood of them showing up at the polls goes up 11 percent.
NPR's Weekend Edition recently profiled the Sierra Club's door-to-door campaign. Listen here: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,92gp,km3,c9va,epao,irqz,5w4u
2. POLITICS: Broken Record
Knight Ridder Newspaper recently used government and university statistics to assess how the environment has fared under the Bush administration. Its research discovered that Superfund cleanups of toxic waste fell by 52%; fish-consumption warnings for rivers doubled and advisories for lakes went up 30%; criminal pollution prosecutions dropped 17%; and asthma attacks increased by 6%.
Read the Knight Ridder story "Environment Worsened Under Bush in Many Key Areas, Data Show:" https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,92gp,km3,8rkh,bzjf,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Declare Independence from Dirty Energy
The Sierra Club has teamed up with Energy Action, a new youth-led coalition fighting for a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future. Thousands of people around the country have signed Energy Action's Declaration of Independence from Dirty Energy, which challenges public officials to lay out their plans for getting the U.S. off of fossil fuels and nuclear power. It's time to move forward with a cleaner, safer, and more affordable energy future free from dirty power.
Sign the declaration: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,92gp,km3,2tj0,490p,irqz,5w4u
"The record is not good. The word is going out to go easy [on polluters]." - Russell Train, who ran the EPA under former Presidents Nixon and Ford, commenting on the Bush administration's environmental record. Train was also co-chairman of Conservationists for Bush in 1980.
(1) SPRAWL: Mighty Mouse
(2) NUCLEAR WASTE: Nevada in Numbers
(3) TAKE ACTION: Protect the Duck Creek Roadless Area
1. SPRAWL: Mighty Mouse
Six years ago, developers along Alabama's gulf coast were forced to set their luxury condos farther back from the surf in order to protect the dune habitat of the endangered Alabama beach mouse. They fought a legal challenge mounted on behalf of the mouse by the Sierra Club's Alabama Chapter -- but lost. But when Hurricane Ivan tore ashore in late September, the wider beach front kept the developers from losing everything. "Thank God for the beach mouse," civil engineering professor Scott Douglass told the Birmingham News. "The developers hate that thing, but it saved their developments."
Get the whole story in the Birmingham News: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8zdp,km3,hmdx,ixox,irqz,5w4u
2. NUCLEAR WASTE: Nevada in Numbers
President Bush and Senator John Kerry are both heading to Nevada for some post-debate campaigning and it's likely both candidates will address the Bush administration's proposed effort to bury high-level nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. We thought it might be fun to show the facts in a Harper's Index-style snapshot. Take a look:
* Distance from Yucca Mountain to Las Vegas: 100 miles
* Number of earthquake faults in and around Yucca Mountain: 33
* Estimated amount of nuclear waste to be disposed at Yucca Mountain: 70,000 metric tons
* Distance and size of nearest population from Yucca Mountain: 18 miles, population 1,400
* Number of states nuclear waste will travel through en route to Yucca Mountain: 43
* Date that the Bush administration approved Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump: February 2002
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect the Duck Creek Roadless Area
Roadless areas are no place to build an oil field. Yet the Forest Service is considering a proposal to drill an oil well inside Duck Creek Roadless Area, one of only six officially recognized roadless areas on the Thunder Basin National Grassland. The Duck Creek Roadless Area encompasses pristine grasslands and groves of ponderosa pine, some of the finest wildlife habitat in northeast Wyoming. Yates Petroleum wants to move into the roadless area with bulldozers and drilling rigs, employing the highest-impact drilling techniques known to man.
Ask the Forest Service to choose a low-impact alternative instead: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8zdp,km3,hze6,eg3c,irqz,5w4u
"You go down the street and people stare. At the gas station, everyone asks about it. They want you to show them under the hood. They still think you have to plug it in somewhere." - Gail Rich talks about her Toyota Prius hybrid, the car everyone's checking out these days, in today's Sacramento Bee article "High-Mileage Hybrids Change Driving Environment."
(1) TUNE IN: Talking Justice
(2) CLEAN AIR: Leavitt to Hopkins
(3) TAKE ACTION: A Clean Energy Policy that Creates Jobs
1. TUNE IN: Talking Justice
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope certainly hasn't been in Ohio as many times as John Kerry or George W. Bush, but he made the most of a recent visit. While he was on the Ohio University campus in Athens rallying volunteers before they headed out to do door-to-door voter education, he was interviewed for the National Public Radio program "Justice Talking" for a segment this week on environmental law and policy. The show begins airing tonight, October 12.
Check the "Justice Talking" Web site for broadcast times in your area: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8xo7,km3,14as,kfna,irqz,5w4u
2. CLEAN AIR: Leavitt to Hopkins
When EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt visited Iowa last week to pat the Bush administration on the back for an environmental job well done, he didn't expect to cross paths with Ed Hopkins, Sierra Club's Director of Environmental Quality. Nor did he expect to have to answer for the administration's record on mercury pollution. Hopkins reminded reporters that the administration's plan will allow three times as much mercury from power plants as the federal Clean Air Act allows. "If the Bush administration was really serious about limiting our children's exposure to this poison," said Hopkins in an article in the Des Moines Register, "they would start enforcing the laws on the books that will reduce mercury pollution instead of letting polluters off the hook."
Read "EPA Defends Mercury Position" in the Des Moines Register: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8xo7,km3,95dj,6suk,irqz,5w4u D=/20041008/NEWS03/410080346/1001/NEWS
3. TAKE ACTION: A Clean Energy Policy that Creates Jobs
A new report released today by the Sierra Club, the United Steel Workers, UNITE/HERE, and SEIU shows that a clean energy policy would create 1.4 million new American jobs while saving consumers an average of $1,275 on their energy bills in 2025. The report, "Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger: Secure Jobs, a Clean Environment, and Less Foreign Oil," demonstrates that economic and environmental progress go hand in hand.
Tell Congress to scrap the polluting Bush energy bill and start over with a clean energy policy that creates new good jobs: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8xo7,km3,6yjc,9k0u,irqz,5w4u
A copy of the new report is available at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8xo7,km3,wjh,lwt0,irqz,5w4u
"We want you to look at us. We are the people at risk. We are real people. The problem must be fixed so that my children won't have to live with the danger of lead." - Third-grader Samantha Bradley speaks to reporters about cleaning up lead pollution in Omaha during her first press conference. EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt was in town to discuss funding the cleanup. Omaha's possible $200 million cleanup is the largest such residential project in the nation.
(1) GLOBAL WARMING: A Misguided Guide
(2) POLITICS: A Great Divide
(3) TAKE ACTION: Senator Tries to Scuttle Wind Energy
1. GLOBAL WARMING: A Misguided Guide
What was once a tool to help consumers make educated decisions when buying a new car is now another way for the Bush administration to downplay information that it doesn't want American consumers to see - that some of the most common and "popular" vehicles are the worst gas-guzzlers on the road. Published by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fuel Economy Guide provides consumers with fuel economy information on every 2005 model vehicle. But instead of highlighting the inefficient, gas- guzzlers many Americans drive - like the Dodge Ram, Range Rover and the GMC Yukon - it highlights cars few Americans can afford - like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Bentley.
See a more useful list created from the EPA data that lists the least fuel-efficient vehicles with sales over 15,000 vehicles a year: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8utv,km3,gs0f,2g1e,irqz,5w4u a.html
2. POLITICS: A Great Divide
George W. Bush and John Kerry are as different as night and day on a number of issues but the environment is one area where the differences are drastic. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article points out that Bush has proposed letting power plants and oil refineries conduct expansions without having to seek new permits that would require costly new pollution controls while Kerry led the fight against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and wants to work to strengthen our nation's environmental laws.
Read "Environment clearly divides Bush and Kerry" in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8utv,km3,dflb,8jux,irqz,5w4u bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/07/MNG31950V01.DTL
3. TAKE ACTION: Senator Tries to Scuttle Wind Energy
Senator Warner (R-VA) has introduced an amendment to the Defense Department spending bill that would effectively block America's development of offshore wind energy for years, if not decades. This effort is taking place behind closed doors as Congress prepares to adjourn in order to avoid public outrage over this provision. It is important that we do not stop efforts to build clean, renewable energy projects in appropriate locations. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are key to curbing global warming and cutting air pollution.
CALL YOUR SENATORS through the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask them to urge Sen. Warner to withdraw his amendment.
Find your Senators at https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8utv,km3,d3bx,ls9r,irqz,5w4u
"Almost everyone has appreciated the information I've given them, and I've talked to everyone: from middle- aged ladies in bathrobes to a room full of Native Americans to a visiting grandmother from Arizona who practically sprinted over from the playground where she was watching her grandson. Nobody – at least, once they found out I wasn't asking for money – has complained about my interrupting their afternoon." - Christopher Childs in the AlterNet story entitled "I'm Coming to Your Door."
(1) ELECTION: Behind the Green Door to Door
(2) CLEAN WATER: Failing Florida
(3) TAKE ACTION: Reinstate Polluter-Pays Taxes
1. ELECTION: Behind the Green Door to Door
Christopher Childs admits he can get a little shy when he talks to potential voters in his home state of Minnesota about the differences between Bush and Kerry on the environment. But he's set aside his fears because the stakes are so high in the upcoming election. As he explains in a first-person account of his experiences with Sierra Club Votes published on AlterNet this week, "I've found that what feels uncomfortable at first is often the most rewarding in the long run." Christopher has talked to people from all walks of life at their doorstep and has found widespread appreciation for the information he's providing and the personal touch. Inspired by his experiences so far, he warns his neighbors: "So please: get your bathrobes on, folks. I'm coming through again."
Find out how you can get involved in Sierra Club Votes: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8t0f,km3,9ln9,8wzy,irqz,5w4u
2. CLEAN WATER: Failing Florida
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the Bush administration did not meet its obligations to protect Florida waters from pollution. In April 2001, Florida passed a regulation, known as the "impaired waters rule," reducing the number of polluted waters in the state that would be cleaned up. Under the Clean Water Act, the Bush administration had a duty to ensure that the new rule did not put Florida's water quality at risk. Following suit by environmental groups, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that the Bush administration failed to protect Florida's water quality.
Read the press release: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8t0f,km3,awr6,9d8a,irqz,5w4u 10-05.asp
3. TAKE ACTION: Reinstate Polluter-Pays Taxes
One in four Americans lives within four miles of a toxic waste site. The Bush administration has slowed the rate of cleanups of Superfund sites and shifted the costs for the program from the polluters who created the messes to the taxpayers' shoulders. Senators Barbara Boxer (CA-D) and Lincoln Chafee (RI- R) have cosponsored S.173 which would reinstate the polluter-pays taxes that once funded the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program. The proposed legislation puts the health of American communities before corporate profits.
Tell your Senators to protect America's health and force polluters to foot the bill for toxic waste cleanups: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,8t0f,km3,8i0j,2n7t,irqz,5w4u
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