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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
August 9, 2005
"It brings a moment of pleasure and happiness to know that there are people committed to the environment. I say don't do it for me, but for the environment, for those that will come and for those that have been here before." - Felipe Arreaga Sanchez, imprisoned Mexican environmentalist, on the international movement on his behalf. Arreaga received the Sierra Club's prestigious Chico Mendes Award today for his courage in defending the forests of Mexico's Sierra de Petatlán from illegal deforestation by multinational timber companies, powerful landowners and drug traffickers. He was arrested on unsubstantiated charges of murder widely accepted to have been in retaliation for his leadership in protecting the forests.
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,fioo,74d0,dazy,eylb
1. SPECIES: Bear With the Grizzlies
2. VICTORIES: Kentuckians Are Breathing Easier
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA to Protect Minority and Low-Income Communities
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Members of Congress to Oppose Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
1. SPECIES: Bear With the Grizzlies
For thirty years under the Endangered Species Act, conservationists, government officials and community members have worked hard to restore grizzly bears, a majestic symbol of America's wild heritage, to their current population levels. Now the Bush administration is expected to propose removing federal protections for the Yellowstone grizzly in the coming weeks. Doing so right now would threaten the progress America has made in restoring the grizzly bear. A clear, enforceable, and funded plan to protect the grizzly bears and conserve the lands they need to fully recover and raise their young must be in place before Endangered Species Act protections are removed.
Read about the threat of grizzly delisting in the Washington Post. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,l67r,11vf,dazy,eylb
Learn how you can protect the grizzlies and their habitat. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,ga1q,ce85,dazy,eylb
2. VICTORY: Kentuckians Are Breathing Easier
The Sierra Club and Valley Watch won an important victory for air quality in Kentucky today when a State Hearing Officer recommended that the air quality permit issued to Peabody Coal's Thoroughbred coal-burning power plant be revoked - putting a huge crimp in their plans to build yet one more coal- fired power plant. As a result of this recommendation, Peabody will need to upgrade their proposed coal plant to better protect public health and the environment. The Sierra Club and its allies have been urging Peabody to propose a cleaner coal plant with state-of-the-art pollution control technology since 2001.
Read "Contaminated BATS?" in the Louisville Courier-Journal. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,g4l9,gm79,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA to Protect Minority and Low-Income Communities
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to make an unbelievable change in the definition of "environmental justice" -- one that no longer considers race and income level. Across our country, people of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income neighborhoods face disproportionately high levels of air and water pollution and exposure to toxic waste and other health hazards because federal environmental laws are not always fairly implemented or enforced. It is well documented that minority and low-income neighborhoods are more likely than more affluent, predominately white communities to have environmental health hazards in their midst, including landfills, petrochemical plants, waste incinerators, and contaminated sites. Changing the terminology won't change this truth.
Tell the EPA talk straight and to rewrite the proposed Strategic Plan in a manner consistent with the Environmental Justice Executive Order and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,hkqh,4c04,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Members of Congress to Oppose Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Though provisions to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were left out of the disastrous energy bill that President Bush signed this week, that does NOT mean this pristine wild place is safe. In fact, drilling proponents have included these drilling provisions in the FY 2006 budget on which Congress is expected to vote in late September.
Tell your members of Congress that you support protecting, not plundering, the Arctic Refuge and to vote against any budget reconciliation bill that includes Arctic drilling. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,ehxz,o7l,2ah4,ipym,dazy,eylb
"Our technological goal is quite simple. We seek a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world; with clean air, soil, water, and power; economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed. Period. Now, what part don't you like?" - William McDonough, renowned architect and designer, whose projects are aimed at promoting ecological intelligence and eliminating the concept of waste. McDonough is a featured speaker at this September's Sierra Summit.
(1) LEGISLATION: Rays of Hope in a Dark Time
(2) PARTICIPATE: What Are You Doing on August 6?
(3) TAKE ACTION: ExxposeExxon
(4) TAKE ACTION: How Do You Feel About Congress' CAFTA Vote?
1. LEGISLATION: Rays of Hope in a Dark Time
If you care about an innovative energy future, responsible trade and protecting your childrens' environmental legacy, this past week was rough. Both the polluter's Energy Bill and the Central America Free Trade Act passed in Congress. But don't despair - there are a few bright spots amidst all this gloom. In a victory for public health, the Environmental Protection Agency has been stopped from finalizing its proposed policy to allow sewage treatment operators to dump barely treated sewage anytime it rains, which would have meant more health-threatening viruses in our water. And in Montana, a bill was signed into law that will require 15% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2015. A broad coalition of conservation, agricultural and alternative energy interests teamed up to make this bill a reality.
Need more good environmental news and inspiration? Subscribe to our new Daily Ray of Hope: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,eddu,o7l,962y,lmya,dazy,eylb
2. PARTICIPATE: What Are You Doing on August 6?
You're invited to be part of an exciting Sierra Club project called "Every Day Matters: A Day in the Life of the Sierra Club." We're asking folks from around the country to let us know on August 6 what they were doing or thinking or dreaming about that day and how it relates to their environmental activism or ethic. Hiking? Reading a Forest Service document? Pondering the future of the planet? We want to hear your story! And we want a digital photo to go with it.
Visit the Every Day Matters website so you can find out how to submit your story and photo on August 6, and let us know you plan to participate: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,eddu,o7l,ctaa,hcut,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: ExxposeExxon
The Sierra Club and over a dozen of the nation's largest environmental and public advocacy groups have joined together to ExxposeExxon in a campaign to reveal and change Exxon's appalling environmental policies. ExxonMobil is making record-breaking profits because of record high gasoline prices but refuses to invest that windfall in renewable energy to ease America's oil dependence; in fact, ExxonMobil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to fund junk science to hide the facts about global warming and is the only major oil company still pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Tell ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond that you pledge not to buy ExxonMobil's gas, not to invest in ExxonMobil's stock, and not to take a new job with the company: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,eddu,o7l,aou5,cbjf,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: How Do You Feel About Congress' CAFTA Vote?
CAFTA passed in the House in a razor-tight vote (217-215). The corporate interests won out after arm twisting, deal making, and sending most of the Bush cabinet (including the President, Vice- president and Secretary of State) to lobby members of Congress. Several Representatives took principled positions against CAFTA and we urge you to thank them for defending our environment here and abroad. If your Representative voted for CAFTA, let him or her know how disappointed you are and that you support trade agreements that contain strong environmental provisions.
Step 1: Find out how your Member of Congress voted: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,eddu,o7l,6mwh,d627,dazy,eylb
Step 2: Send a message to your Member of Congress thanking them for voting against CAFTA or letting them know how disappointed you are that they voted for CAFTA: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,eddu,o7l,impj,how0,dazy,eylb
Step 3: Depending on how your Member voted, delete the appropriate paragraph from the customizable region on the Take Action page.
"It is truly shameful that the biggest industrialized nation on Earth is leaving it up to individuals, cities and states to take action on global warming. Their efforts are truly commendable, but in this case the United States needs concerted federal action to make real and significant progress to curb greenhouse gas emissions and preserve our planet for future generations." -U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in a recent Los Angeles Times op-ed.
(1) ENERGY: Oil Industry Outnumbered
(2) GLOBAL WARMING: Survey Says
(3) TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Reject the Polluting Energy Bill
(4) TAKE ACTION: Vote NO on CAFTA
1. ENERGY: Oil Industry Outnumbered
This week Congress prepares for its final vote on the energy bill. With record gas prices, record oil dependence, and record oil industry profits, perhaps Congress should reconsider the proposed bill in light of these telling numbers:
$2.32: Average retail price for regular gasoline, up 39 cents over the last year.
$2,873: Amount an average family of four will spend on gasoline this year.
58%: Total U.S. dependence on net imports of foreign oil in 2005. Up from 44.5% in 1995.
130,000: Additional oil barrels consumed per day by the U.S. as a result of the energy bill extending loopholes for the auto industry that weaken federal fuel economy standards.
218%: Exxon Mobil profit increase last year.
For more on the Energy Bill, by the numbers, visit: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e837,o7l,dqye,e3qn,dazy,eylb
2. GLOBAL WARMING: Survey Says
Californians say global warming is a real phenomenon despite Bush administration assertions to the contrary, according to a new survey conducted by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). Eighty-six percent of people in the state believe global warming will affect current or future generations and 57% think the effects are already being felt. "Several things jumped out at me," said Mark Baldassare, PPIC's director of research. "The first was the high level of concern about global warming, and secondly the desire to have the state take an active role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And third, the willingness of the public to make lifestyle and financial sacrifices for the sake of improving air quality."
Read more about the survey results in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e837,o7l,k61,fwdb,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Reject the Polluting Energy Bill
In the next two days, Congress will take its final vote on a polluting energy bill. Instead of putting proven clean energy solutions to work, this destructive bill weakens key environmental safeguards, puts America's coastlines and other public lands at risk, and funnels billions of dollars to the energy industry. It's time for Congress to start over with a forward looking energy policy that actually solves America's energy problems.
Send a message to your members of Congress telling them to reject this polluting energy bill! https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e837,o7l,ej6q,9psk,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Vote NO on CAFTA
The expansion of NAFTA to Central America - an agreement called CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) - WILL BE VOTED ON THIS WEEK. CAFTA threatens the ability of our communities in the United States and communities throughout Central America to enforce environmental laws, promote sustainable agriculture, and conserve ecologically sensitive land, like Costa Rica's rainforests. Tell your representatives to protect communities by voting NO on the Central America Free Trade Agreement. Your action today could make a world of difference.
Tell your Senators and Representatives to protect communities by voting NO on the Central America Free Trade Agreement: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e837,o7l,jz9n,dk2c,dazy,eylb
**Breaking News**
This evening, President Bush nominated federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The Sierra Club is reviewing Roberts' record on the environment. Never before has the role of the courts in protecting the environment been more important. The Sierra Club expects the Senate to follow tradition and fully evaluate the nominee's credentials and qualifications. Check our website for updates. www.sierraclub.org
"These 10 newborn babies ... were born polluted. If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb." - Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), discusses the findings of a study released last week by the Environmental Working Group. It tested blood from 10 umbilical-cords and found an average of 287 contaminants, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides, and the Teflon chemical PFOA.
(1) TOXICS: Up a Creek with a Paddle (2) POLITICS: Warming Words
(3) TAKE ACTION: Keep the Valle Vidal Free From Drilling
(4) TAKE ACTION: Vote NO on CAFTA
1. TOXICS: Up a Creek with a Paddle
It's been an upstream battle - literally - getting Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski to address polluted water caused by toxic mixing zones in the Willamette River. That's why about 140 Oregonians who care about their river paddled upstream from Portland to Salem in a three-day river relay drawing attention to their fight to keep local sewage plants and businesses from releasing high concentrations of toxic waste into the state's rivers. Activists delivered 1,000 postcards via kayaks and canoes to the Governor, urging him to phase out these toxic mixing zones.
Read "Activists take aim at river waste zones" in the Oregonian: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e3do,o7l,2fpm,6011,dazy,eylb
2. POLITICS: Warming Words
The issue of global warming is becoming so heated that two GOP lawmakers are turning against each other. House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (NY) has told fellow Republican, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (TX) to back off his investigation of a group of scientists who've been documenting the Earth's warming in recent years. Barton opposes curbing greenhouse gas emissions while Boehlert thinks the U.S. should limit the pollution that triggers global warming. Boehlert has publicly stated that Barton is only targeting the scientists because he disagrees with their conclusions.
Read "GOP Chairmen Face Off on Global Warming" in the Washington Post: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e3do,o7l,kydl,cv3u,dazy,eylb dyn/content/article/2005/07/17/AR2005071701056.html
3. TAKE ACTION: Keep the Valle Vidal Free From Drilling
Some of the most beautiful and ecologically sensitive public lands in America are under siege from our national energy policy, which currently offers the false promises of lowered energy costs and increased national energy independence through indiscriminate drilling. One of these lands is the Valle Vidal - the "Valley of Life" - in northern New Mexico. The Carson National Forest is accepting public comments on this Forest Plan Amendment now through September 14, 2005.
Tell the Forest Service to protect the entire Valle Vidal from energy leasing and development: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e3do,o7l,ht04,m2xs,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Vote NO on CAFTA
The expansion of NAFTA to Central America - an agreement called CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) - is expected to be voted on in Congress by the end of July! CAFTA threatens the ability of communities in the United States and throughout Central America to enforce environmental protections and conserve their people and environments.
Tell your Senators and Representatives to protect communities by voting NO on the Central America Free Trade Agreement: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,e3do,o7l,jz9n,dk2c,dazy,eylb
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