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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
October 4, 2005
"Frankly, with all due respect to [House Transportation and Infrastructure] Chairman Young, his bridge has gotta go. I mean, it's gotta go. I don't think he realizes...it's become a cause celebre. More people know about that bridge today than even know who Don Young is." - Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., commenting on a $223 million bridge to lightly populated Gravina Island obtained by Young in the recently enacted transportation reauthorization law. Many are pressuring Young to give the bridge up as a hurricane-relief offset. Young also secured $229 million for a bridge in Anchorage and renamed it "Don Young's Way."
(1) GULF COAST: Environmental Justice for All
(2) ENDANGERED SPECIES: House Approves Extinction Act
(3) TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Reject the Barton Bill
(4) TAKE ACTION: Tell the Mineral Management Service to Protect Moratorium Areas from Oil and Gas Drilling
1. GULF COAST: Environmental Justice for All
Senators James Inhofe (R-OK) and David Vitter (R- LA) are kicking New Orleans residents while they're down. They are proposing legislation that would give the Administrator of the EPA the authority to waive or change any law under EPA's jurisdiction or that applies to any activity in the nation carried out by the agency for up to 18 months. The bill is an outrageous attempt to exploit the tragedy of Katrina to justify unrestricted waivers of public health, safety, and environmental laws. New Orleans residents are facing threats from contaminated drinking water supplies, polluted floodwaters, broken sewage treatment systems, oil and chemical exposures, and toxic sediments and sludge; they need public health and environmental protections now more than ever.
Read the San Antonio Express-News column "In New Orleans, Don't Go Back to Normal:" https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,9dli,i6im,dazy,eylb
Read "Groups Rap Vitter Waiver Bill" in the Baton Rouge Advocate: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,h55t,2sp6,dazy,eylb
2. ENDANGERED SPECIES: House Approves Extinction Act
Last Thursday, Congress took the first step toward gutting the 30-year-old Endangered Species Act, America's safety net for fish and wildlife at the edge of extinction, voting 229 to 193 for legislation crafted by House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA). The bill eliminates habitat protection measures for fish and wildlife facing extinction, creates an exemption for the approval of potentially dangerous pesticides, and establishes a new entitlement program for developers and polluters. According to the Congressional Budget Office, implementation of the Pombo legislation will cost the U.S. taxpayer $2.7 billion over the next five years. The Senate is expected to consider similar legislation in the coming months.
Read "House Votes Major Changes to Endangered Species Act" in the San Francisco Chronicle: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,dflb,8jux,dazy,eylb bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/30/MNGHSF04EO1.DTL&hw=Endangered+Species+Act&sn=003&sc=638
Read the Sierra Club's press release: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,4ka0,7lov,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Reject the Barton Bill
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Republican leadership in Congress has introduced new energy legislation that fails to solve our nation's energy problems. Instead of taking the country forward with real solutions, the House of Representatives will vote this Friday on the Barton "No Relief" bill which will eliminate environmental protections on new oil refineries and funnel even more taxpayer dollars to the oil industry. The bill also exploits the tragedy of Katrina to advance completely unrelated policies, such as repealing the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program, allowing more than 20,000 industrial facilities to expand or upgrade in ways that increase pollution without installing modern pollution controls and allowing cities around the country to delay improving air quality.
Tell Congress that it is time to protect Americans with real energy solutions: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,f7jt,8en2,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell the Mineral Management Service to Protect Moratorium Areas from Oil and Gas Drilling
America's shorelines are a national treasure, providing sanctuary for wildlife, destinations for vacationing families, and the economic lifeblood for thousands of tourism and fishing communities. But our long-protected coastlines and oceans are under threat from oil and gas industries. A provision of the polluting energy bill passed by Congress and signed by the Bush administration calls for the inventory of oil and natural gas reserves off America's coasts - a destructive process that would severely damage our fragile shores and ocean wildlife. Now, the Interior Department has announced that it is soliciting public comment on oil and gas resources off of California, the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas south "for the development of its 2007-2012 five-year leasing plan for energy development."
Tell the Mineral Management Service to exclude all moratorium areas in the next oil and gas leasing plan: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fmy3,o7l,3fqn,15qa,dazy,eylb
"In fact, yesterday, NASA announced that we are going to send a man to the moon again by 2018, but President Bush won't support a substantial increase in the fuel economy of our nation's cars and SUVs by that same year. What's the problem? It's not rocket science - it is auto mechanics!" - Congressman Ed Markey on Arctic Refuge Action Day. Rep. Markey and other leaders addressed a crowd of thousands of Americans who believe the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is too special to be sacrificed to feed the United States' oil addiction.
(1) ARCTIC: Rally for the Refuge
(2) KATRINA: How Toxic is Too Toxic?
(3) TAKE ACTION: Oppose the Pombo Bill to Gut the Endangered Species Act
(4) TAKE ACTION: Protect Moratorium Areas from Oil and Gas Drilling
1. ARCTIC: Rally for the Refuge
Today, thousands of Americans from across the country gathered in front of the United States Capitol to urge lawmakers to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. This unprecedented event united activists, families, religious leaders, Native American leaders, drummers and musicians from as far away as Oregon and Alaska. Both the House and Senate are expected to vote this fall on a budget reconciliation bill that would open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling, but citizens have sent millions of messages to Congress making it clear that they want to protect, not drill, the Refuge. Today they took that message directly to Congress' front door.
Learn what you can do to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in these last few weeks before the vote: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fc1x,o7l,kvxe,doab,dazy,eylb
2. KATRINA: How Toxic is Too Toxic?
Less than a week ago, the Environmental Protection Agency found bacteria, fuel oils and E. coli in the floodwaters covering New Orleans, and advised in a press release that people "avoid all contact with sediment deposited by the flood water, where possible." Now they're telling the public that preliminary tests don't justify labeling New Orleans' floodwaters "toxic" yet. The situation is an eerie reminder of the EPA's premature "all-clear" on Manhattan's air quality after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Two years later, the EPA inspector general found that political pressure, not solid evidence, had led EPA to wrongly reassure the public. This time, the EPA needs to resist that pressure until New Orleans is truly safe.
Read the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial "Don't wade in the water:" https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fc1x,o7l,aso5,dt61,dazy,eylb
Read "Experts size up contaminants" in the Baton Rouge Advocate: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fc1x,o7l,le4s,hwe,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Oppose the Pombo Bill to Gut the Endangered Species Act
Opponents of traditional fish and wildlife conservation are trying to ram legislation through Congress that would gut the Endangered Species Act, America's safety net for its natural heritage. Congressman Richard Pombo has introduced a bill, H.R. 3824, that would eliminate habitat protections on tens of millions of acres, allow for the injuring and killing of threatened species such as the bald eagle, and require the federal government to pay developers and other special interests to avoid negatively impacting publicly owned fish and wildlife. The House may vote on the Pombo bill as early as next week, September 28.
Tell your member of Congress to reject these efforts to pull the rug out from under over 30 years of successful stewardship under the Endangered Species Act: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fc1x,o7l,ddmq,644x,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Protect Moratorium Areas from Oil and Gas Drilling
America's shorelines are a national treasure, providing sanctuary for wildlife, destinations for vacationing families, and the economic lifeblood for tourism and fishing communities. But our long- protected coastlines and oceans are under threat from oil and gas industries. A provision of the polluting energy bill passed by Congress and signed by the Bush administration calls for the inventory of oil and natural gas reserves off America's coasts - a destructive process that would severely damage our fragile shores and ocean wildlife. Now, the Interior Department is soliciting public comment on oil and gas resources off of California, the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas south "for the development of its 2007-2012 five-year leasing plan for energy development."
Tell the Mineral Management Service to exclude all moratorium areas in the next oil and gas leasing plan: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,fc1x,o7l,3fqn,15qa,dazy,eylb
"The good news is, we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. We have all the technologies we need, more are being developed, and as they become available and become more affordable when produced in scale, they will make it easier to respond. But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait, we have every thing we need - save perhaps political will. And in our democracy, political will is a renewable resource." - Former Vice President Al Gore, excerpted from a speech given at the Sierra Club Summit last weekend addressing the challenges and moral imperatives posed by Hurricane Katrina and global warming. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,asoe,cu8r,dazy,eylb
(1) NEWS: Toxic Soup
(2) EVENT: Summit Snipping
(3) TAKE ACTION: Fuel Economy Proposal Fails to Address High Gas Prices
(4) TAKE ACTION: Supreme Court at Stake
1. NEWS: Toxic Soup
In addition to being a human and economic tragedy, Hurricane Katrina is an unprecedented environmental disaster, the extent of which is still unknown. The first government tests conducted and released by the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control show that floodwaters in New Orleans contain bacteria associated with sewage at levels at least ten times higher than acceptable, making direct contact by rescue workers and remaining residents dangerous. Katrina also flushed fluids from two Superfund sites, oil and gas facilities, refineries, and chemical plants operating in the region. Add everyday household cleaners, automotive fluids and other chemicals to the mix and the resulting floodwaters are an environmental nightmare.
See the "Living on Earth" transcript of Darryl Malek-Wiley, Sierra Club's Environmental Justice Organizer, talking about the area's toxic hotspots. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,9yu8,uhe,dazy,eylb
2. EVENT: Summit Snipping
Nearly 300 attendees at last weekend's Sierra Summit lined up to get their hair snipped at the Mercury Testing Booth, where hair stylists from San Francisco's Utopia Salon (www.utopiasalonsf.com) volunteered their time to take samples. The booth was part of a larger Mercury Testing Project, cosponsored by the Sierra Club, where hair samples are sent to a lab at the University of North Carolina where participant results are added anonymously to the biggest study ever done on the effects of toxic mercury in the U.S. population.
Find out how to order your own testing kit at: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,dt8n,3gpu,dazy,eylb
Get an on-the-ground observation of the Mercury Testing Booth and other Sierra Summit activities: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,k68a,6pfh,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Fuel Economy Proposal Fails to Address High Gas Prices
The Bush administration has announced plans that would fundamentally weaken the nation's most successful oil- savings law. Instead of setting meaningful improvements in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, the proposal creates new loopholes that will erode the fuel economy of America's pickup trucks, SUVs, and more. This will force Americans to pay more at the gas pump, deepen the country's oil dependence and increase global warming pollution.
Sign a petition urging the administration to set strong fuel economy standards that make America safer and more secure. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,iijy,f011,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Supreme Court at Stake
Last Friday, the Sierra Club sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee outlining four key issues raised by John Roberts' record which are critical to our nation's environmental protections. These issues range from recognizing Congress's authority to make environmental laws to environmental justice. Now the hearings for the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court have started, and we need to know more about his record before the Senate votes on his confirmation to a lifetime appointment in our nation's highest court.
Read our letter of concern: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,l6vi,9u2v,dazy,eylb
Call your Senators and tell them to ask the tough questions we need to know and demand the answers we deserve: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,f6ad,o7l,k33y,qkj,dazy,eylb
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