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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
March 29, 2005
"I'm sure you might expect us to duck this issue.... We are one of the largest burners of coal in the U.S. power industry, and coal, like all fossil fuels, has been linked to global warming." -James E. Rogers, CEO of Cinergy Corporation, one of the United States' largest energy producers, in the introduction to his company's 2004 annual report, devoted entirely to the issue of global warming (see below).
1. GLOBAL WARMING: It's Getting Hot in Here
2. WATER: Taking and Giving
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park
4. TAKE ACTION: Adopt a Ford Dealer!
1. GLOBAL WARMING: It's Getting Hot in Here
Cinergy, one of the United States' largest energy producers, released its 2004 annual report today, which was entirely devoted to the problem of global warming. Cinergy had made a habit of denying that global warming is a problem, but its turn around fits with a current trend of auto manufacturers, state governments, and industrial leaders acknowledging the seriousness of the issue. Now it's time for our federal government to get its head out of the sand and do something to curb greenhouse gas pollution.
Read more about global warming: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bux1,km3,8b6c,bmvw,irqz,5w4u
2. WATER: Taking and Giving
What the Bush administration takes away, Congress can give right back. That's the logic behind a new bill to restore protections to thousands of acres of wetlands and hundreds of miles of small streams across the U.S. The Bush administration had unilaterally removed these protections despite strong objections from state governments, sportsmen, and many in Congress. Now 127 Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives are taking matters into their own hands by introducing the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.
Read "Definition of 'Ditch' is Muddy at Best" in the Washington Post: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bux1,km3,6d8i,6upi,irqz,5w4u 2005Mar28.html
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is considering a proposal to build a 40-mile road through the heart of the largest tract of wild mountain land on the east coast. Building a 40-mile road through the heart of the Smokies would forever alter the Appalachian backcountry and greatly impair water quality, air quality and wildlife in the area. Moreover, the road would cost upwards of $500 million to build!
Tell the National Park Service to put an end to the North Shore Road proposal once and for all: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bux1,km3,46k6,dr4i,irqz,5w4u
4. TAKE ACTION: Adopt a Ford Dealer!
Sierra Club is kicking off its new 'Adopt a Ford Dealer' campaign on April 1st. Sierra Club members around the country will be meeting with local Ford dealers to encourage them to sign a letter to Bill Ford, Jr. urging him to raise the fuel economy of his company's vehicles. We can influence Ford Motor Company by letting them know that dealerships around the country want to sell cars, trucks, and SUVs that go farther on a gallon of gas.
Email us at global.warming@sierraclub.org to get involved with the Adopt a Dealer effort. We will provide you with all the materials and support you need to meet with a local Ford dealer and make a difference in the fight to curb global warming.
"I know you think it's gonna be hard --like herding cats. But anyone who's ever had trouble herding cats must not know how to operate a can opener." - Jim Hightower, radio commentator and writer, talks about broadening the base of support for the environment at a Sierra Club fundraiser in Little Rock, Arkansas.
(1) LANDS: A Neat-O Veto
(2) EVENTS: Environmentalists Gone Wild
(3) TAKE ACTION: Innovate, Don't Litigate!
(4) TAKE ACTION: Arctic Refuge Battle Not Over Yet
1. Lands: A Neat-O Veto
Last week we told you about a recent move in the Virginia State Legislature that would ask the federal government to open Virginia's coasts to oil and gas development. Not only is this bad for Virginia, but it would be the first step toward potential drilling off the coast of other states as well. The Sierra Club is working with concerned citizens to urge Virginia Governor Warner to avoid setting this dangerous precedent and veto this bad legislation. Help us fight this threat to our beaches and coastlines.
Read Virginia Chapter Director Mike Town's opinion editorial from today's Daily Press: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,csu1,ht1s,irqz,5w4u 85653sy0mar22,0,4492003.story?coll=dp-opinion- editorials
Read more about the threats to America's coasts, listen to our radio ad or tell Governor Warner to veto: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,gcyd,2ykw,irqz,5w4u
2. EVENTS: Environmentalists Gone Wild
While some students are spending this Spring Break getting trashed on the beach, others are spending it cleaning up trash on the beach. The Sierra Club and Sierra Student Coalition have teamed up to cosponsor a beach clean-up as a part of Alternative Spring Break 2005 on Padre Island National Seashore. The event highlights the need to stop drilling for oil at the Seashore while it trains young activists and builds the grassroots movement to protect the pristine island paradise.
Read about the 2005 Alternative Spring Break and protecting Padre Island National Seashore: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,3trp,fmui,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Innovate, Don't Litigate!
The state of California and seven other states are getting ready to implement new greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles. These standards would cut global warming pollution by 30 percent from SUVs, cars, pickups, and minivans, which are one of the biggest sources of global warming pollution. Unfortunately, some of the largest automakers in the world are ganging up and going to court to stop the regulations from taking place. Send an e-mail to the heads of the automobile companies and urge them to stop their lawsuit and concentrate their efforts into making cleaner cars.
Tell automakers: Innovate, Don't Litigate! https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,j3kn,99ia,irqz,5w4u ep=2&item=13055
4. TAKE ACTION: Arctic Refuge Battle Not Over Yet
On March 16, the U.S. Senate voted by a razor-thin margin to include a controversial provision in the Budget Resolution that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. A critical vote to safeguard the Arctic Refuge failed by a margin of 51- 49 and represents the first step toward opening this natural treasure to destructive oil development. Fortunately, this fight is far from over and it's not too late to weigh in with your Member of Congress. Call the Arctic Action Hotline at 1-888-8-WILDAK (1- 888-894-5325) to express your sincere appreciation or extreme disappointment over their vote. Tell your members of Congress to protect the Arctic Refuge by keeping it wild and free, and out of the Federal Budget!
See how your Senators voted: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,j2of,ene2,irqz,5w4u
Write a letter to the editor: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bqo9,km3,i2yb,hp6z,irqz,5w4u er.asp
1. Arctic: House Party!
2. Lands: Off the Deep End
3. Take Action: Urge Your Senators to Support the Cantwell/Kerry Amendment to Keep Arctic Refuge Drilling Out of the Budget!
"I'm really depressed, as a matter of fact, I'm seriously - I'm seriously depressed. Unfortunately, clinically depressed. I've been told that, because I've just been at this too long, 24 years arguing to get Congress to keep its word...Now we have a Republican president and Republican Congress that's for it. If we can't get it through, in my lifetime I don't think we'll see it again."
-Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on the personal effects of his career-long attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. If the Arctic is removed from the budget, Stevens said he would consider retiring when his term ends in 2008.
1. Arctic: House Party!
This week, as the Senate was getting ready to debate removing Arctic drilling from the budget, thousands of Americans across the country gathered in homes, community centers, and churches to watch the award-winning documentary "Oil on Ice." More than 1,500 of these house parties were organized, demonstrating the fervent public support for protecting the Arctic. The film, presented by Sierra Club Productions, discusses the threat drilling for oil would have on the environment as well as the Gwich'in, the native people who inhabit parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The film also explores our energy policy and offers real solutions to curb our oil consumption, like using current technology to make our cars, SUVs, and pickups go farther on a gallon of gas.
Click here to read more about the house parties, Arctic Action Day, and the grassroots effort surrounding the fight to protect the Arctic - https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,blpx,km3,8cjz,1qx6,irqz,5w4u 05-03-10.asp
Visit the Oil on Ice webpage - https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,blpx,km3,l14j,kgc0,irqz,5w4u
2. Lands: Off the Deep End
A recent move in the Virginia State Legislature would ask the federal government to open Virginia's coasts to oil and gas development. This action would threaten the coastal environment and communities of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. It would also set a dangerous precedent that would allow other states to be removed from the existing coastal drilling moratorium, putting all of America's shorelines at risk.
Read the Virginian Pilot editorial, "Silent Comeback of Offshore Drilling." - https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,blpx,km3,z8c,1srd,irqz,5w4u ory=83130&ran=219169
Read the letter from environmental leaders urging Virginia Governor Mark Warner to veto the bill - https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,blpx,km3,57qw,2qmk,irqz,5w4u o_Warner.pdf
3. Take Action: Congress to Vote Wednesday ***TOMORROW*** on Opening the Arctic Refuge to Drilling: Call Your Senators and Urge Them to Support the Cantwell/Kerry Amendment to Keep Arctic Refuge Drilling Out of the Budget!
The fight over the future of the Arctic Refuge will hit the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, March 16 and despite overwhelming public support for protecting this national treasure, oil corporations and their friends in Congress are back to their same old dirty tricks. In an attempt to limit public debate and circumvent normal Congressional procedure, pro- drilling advocates plan to add leasing revenues from opening the Arctic drilling to the upcoming Federal Budget Resolution.
But the facts remain the same- drilling would permanently despoil this national treasure and speculative revenues from Arctic drilling have no place in the Federal Budget. Call the ARCTIC ACTION HOTLINE at 1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894- 5325). Tell your Senator to protect America's natural heritage - Support the Cantwell/Kerry amendment to keep Arctic drilling out of the budget!
Want to do more? Call your Senator's in-district office and leave a message there as well.
"The Interestingly Colored Skies Initiative of 2003." - One of the entries in The Onion magazine's spoof
list entitled "New Bush Science Policies." Other entries included the "Make Coal Look Cleaner project of 2002" and "Financial and policy support for Industrial Pioneers for a Nice Warm Globe."
(1) MERCURY: Survey Says...
(2) SPECIES: Big Money, No Whammies
(3) TAKE ACTION: Protect and Grow the Transit Program
(4) TAKE ACTION: Arctic Refuge Fight Coming Down To the Wire
1. MERCURY: Survey Says...
Sometime between now and March 15, the Bush administration will finalize its rule on mercury emissions from power plants. As it stands, the rule will triple the amount of mercury pollution emitted into our air, yield a reduction of only 43 percent by 2026, and delay full reductions in emissions for decades longer than is possible. We want to know what you think about the administration's attempt at ridding mercury pollution from our air and water. Take our new survey and instantly view the results from other readers.
Take the mercury survey: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bgxd,km3,hx2p,6tgv,irqz,5w4u
2. SPECIES: Big Money, No Whammies
Northwest states have a chance to realize an economic boom by fully restoring fisheries, according to a recently released study by Ben Johnson Associates. The study says a fully restored salmon and steelhead fishery could have made Idaho's $90 million 2001 season into a $550 million season. Small rural towns in Idaho, now dealing with waning economies from the mining and timber industries, would have seen the biggest benefits from abundant populations of salmon and steelhead. This increase extrapolated to the rest of the Northwest could mean an annual $5.5 billion from sportfishing alone.
Check out an animated cartoon on saving our wild salmon: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bgxd,km3,ax8z,k1l0,irqz,5w4u bin/cartoonlets?ctnid=59
Read highlights from the Ben Johnson Associates economic study: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bgxd,km3,7kgk,5nrz,irqz,5w4u
3. TAKE ACTION: Protect and Grow the Transit Program
Transportation is intimately linked to air and water quality, land use, and our quality of life. As Congress prepares to authorize nearly $300 billion in the transportation bill, the stakes are high for communities across the country. Current proposals would weaken the environmental review process for new highways, reduce the frequency and scope of air quality check-ups, remove protections for parks, wetlands, and historic sites, and steal funds from the national transit program in a mad grab for even more highway dollars.
Urge your Senators and Representative to oppose these damaging proposals: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,bgxd,km3,iygm,dnxm,irqz,5w4u
4. TAKE ACTION: Arctic Refuge Fight Coming Down To the Wire
The fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will hit the floor of the U.S. Senate next week. Despite overwhelming public support for protecting this national treasure, oil corporations and their friends in Congress are back to their old tricks. In an attempt to limit public debate and circumvent normal Congressional procedure, pro- drilling advocates plan to add leasing revenues from opening the Arctic to drilling in the upcoming Federal Budget Resolution. Drilling would permanently despoil this national treasure and speculative Arctic revenue projections have no place in the Federal Budget.
Call the ARCTIC ACTION HOTLINE at 1-888-8-WILDAK (1- 888-894-5325). Tell your Senator to protect America's national heritage - keep the Arctic Refuge out of the budget!
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