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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
April 5, 2006
"No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth. Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow- motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us." - TIME magazine's April 3 cover story on global warming, which reports that the earth is at its global warming "tipping point," and that we should "be worried, be very worried."
(1) CONGRESS: The Pombo Posse
(2) OFFSHORE DRILLING: Sluggish, Dirty and Expensive
(3) TAKE ACTION: Save our Beaches from becoming Slippery Slopes
(4) TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA to Adopt Tough Standards Against Soot in Our Air
1. CONGRESS: The Pombo Posse
Americans care about protecting our National Parks and Monuments, coasts, forests, and other special places, and they certainly don't want to see them auctioned off to the highest bidder. But Congressman Pombo has been actively promoting legislation that would expose and even sell vital parts of our natural heritage to oil, mining, and real estate companies and remove protections for endangered wildlife.
Check out "The Pombo Posse," a short flash-animation movie highlighting Congressman Pombo's most destructive policies. Once you're done watching, don't forget to sign our petition to Congressman Pombo. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,janp,o7l,6lk0,cp37,dazy,eylb
2. OFFSHORE DRILLING: Sluggish, Dirty and Expensive
The oil and gas industry is hard at work trying to dismantle decades of bipartisan coastal protections. They argue that offshore drilling is the panacea for everything from high heating costs to American industrial competitiveness. But a close look at the numbers shows that energy solutions like efficiency and renewables will save far more energy and money in much less time -- and wouldn't harm our fragile shores or tourism and fishing economies.
Check out the latest on cleaner, cheaper and faster energy solutions. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,janp,o7l,hsip,gvyf,dazy,eylb
As a bill to open up Virginia's coast to offshore drilling sits on Governor Kaine's desk (you can take action below), Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot came out against offshore drilling today. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,janp,o7l,4c8x,fi0e,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: Save our Beaches from becoming Slippery Slopes
The oil and gas industries are bidding for unchecked access to some of America's most treasured places -- including our coasts -- even as they rake in billions of dollars in record profits. They are working at the state level to chip away at the existing offshore drilling moratorium, pushing drilling proposals in states like Virginia and Georgia in hopes of moving on to neighboring states. The Virginia General Assembly recently passed energy legislation that promotes opening up Virginia's coasts to offshore natural gas drilling.
Tell Govenor Kaine of Virginia to veto this offshore drilling bill, as it sets a dangerous precedent for all of America's coasts. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,janp,o7l,l8ps,mc70,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA to Adopt Tough Standards Against Soot in Our Air
The EPA's new proposal to limit soot pollution has disappointed the environmental, medical, and scientific communities. Since the EPA last updated its standard in 1997, more than 2,000 scientific studies have shown that exposure to even small amounts of soot cause serious health damage. Scientists urged EPA to create a standard in keeping with the deluge of scientific findings detailing the damaging health impacts of soot pollution on the respiratory and circulatory systems and the increased risks for illness and death. But EPA ignored the scientific advisors and carved out weak standards riddled with loopholes.
Tell the EPA to set standards for soot that will protect people's health. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,janp,o7l,hrvr,kity,dazy,eylb
(1) Cool Cities: Seattle, Lead Again
(2) Superfund: Trash to Treasure
(3) Take Action: Tell the Minerals Management Service to Protect our Shores
(4) Take Action: The MRGO Has Gotta Go
1. COOL CITIES: SEATTLE, LEAD AGAIN
Last week, Seattle's Mayor Nickels launched his plan to bring Seattle into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global-warming emissions. Over the past year, Nickels has led a campaign to get U.S. cities to pledge to meet or beat the goals set in the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement rejected by the Bush administration. Already, 219 cities have joined the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Through its Cool Cities program (www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/coolcities/), the Sierra Club is committed to doubling the number of cities signed up and to work with mayors to follow through on their pledges.
Read "Climate change is in the air" in the Seattle Post- Intelligencer. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,j4wo,o7l,6515,hnxl,dazy,eylb
Read Carl Pope's blog on the launch. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,j4wo,o7l,ernj,4nzm,dazy,eylb
2. SUPERFUND: TRASH TO TREASURE
Children growing up in the Fifth Ward of Houston, TX come of age amidst toxic waste, Superfund and illegal dump sites. But thanks to Rhonda Adams and her husband Reginald, a Sierra Club staff person, these kids have a productive and rewarding outlet- one that is helping them to creatively document and change their own lives and their community. Ronda and Reginald founded the Museum of Cultural Arts, Houston, through which they give neighborhood kids cameras, art supplies, and lessons in everything from photography to lead pollution, and send them out to document the environmental hazards of the Fifth Ward.
View the kids' artwork: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,j4wo,o7l,917c,pmo,dazy,eylb
3. TAKE ACTION: TELL THE MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE TO PROTECT OUR SHORES
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency that oversees oil and gas drilling in federal offshore waters, released a new Five-Year Leasing Plan that would open vast areas off our coasts to oil and gas drilling. This plan would open up about two million acres in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for the first time, and prepare areas off Virginia's coast and in Alaska's famous salmon fishing grounds in Bristol Bay for leasing. For 25 years, drilling in these areas has been banned by both Congressional moratoria and Presidential deferral orders.
Tell the MMS to protect our marine waters, shorelines, and coastal economies by withdrawing their proposal to open up these new areas to drilling. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,j4wo,o7l,exi8,gij0,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: THE MRGO HAS GOTTA GO
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents, the storm did not act alone. The destruction was intensified by a number of failed projects developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including the levees and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). For years, local advocates and hurricane experts had pleaded with the Corps to close this little used and destructive navigation channel, arguing that the MRGO would amplify and concentrate storm surges into the city. This was exactly what happened during Hurricane Katrina, and it will happen again if the MRGO remains open.
Ask the White House and Congress to take a critical step to protect the citizens of Southern Louisiana. Remind them of their pledge to see our area made whole - and tell them the MRGO has gotta go! https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,j4wo,o7l,3eym,74m8,dazy,eylb
(1) Straight to the Source
(2) What Would Noah Do?
(3) Google to the Rescue
(4) Black Thursday for Wildlife
(5) Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Stand Up for Endangered Species
1. Straight to the Source
Of all the species ever conserved under the Endangered Species Act, 99 percent of them, including the bald eagle, have been save from extinction. But don't take our word for it. More than 5,700 scientists with biological expertise from across the country recently signed a letter highlighting the importance of independent scientific principles that are critical to species conservation. The letter comes after the House passed legislation that undermines the science behind the Endangered Species Act and as some Senators are threatening to do the same.
Read the letter and find scientist signers from your state: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,izn8,o7l,96dx,1u6u,dazy,eylb
2. What Would Noah Do?
Religious community organizations are asking the evocative question, "What Would Noah Do?" Harkening back to the story of Noah's Ark, the Noah Alliance, a collaboration of faith traditions concerned about the protection of endangered species and biological diversity, is taking its commitment to caring for creation to the airwaves and newspaper. Their ads ask Congress not to sink the Endangered Species Act.
To see the ads, visit www.noahalliance.org.
3. Google to the Rescue
Wildlife need wild places, and for many wildlife species those places are national forests. But the Bush administration recently proposed selling off hundreds of thousands of acres of national forest land. Now you can use Google Earth to explore the parcels on the auction block and see for yourself the full scope of what the administration has proposed. https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,izn8,o7l,lbxa,33u7,dazy,eylb
4. Black Thursday for Wildlife
Last Thursday was not a good day for America's wildlife. First, President Bush nominated Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne to replace Gale Norton as Interior Secretary. While Kempthorne has been lauded by some as a charming guy, no one is calling him a fan of the Endangered Species Act. Also on Thursday, the Senate passed a budget resolution that includes Arctic Refuge drilling, ignoring the risks that oil spills -- like the one currently at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska -- would pose for caribou, musk ox, polar bears and other wildlife.
Read more about the nominee for Interior Secretary in the Los Angeles Times article, "Pick for Interior Said to Show More Charm Than Substance." https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,izn8,o7l,fakf,a6o3,dazy,eylb
5. Take Action: Tell Your Senators to Stand Up for Endangered Species
For 30 years the Endangered Species Act has provided the safety net for fish, wildlife and plants at the edge of extinction. Thanks to the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act, bald eagles grace our skies, grizzly bears are making a comeback in Yellowstone, and wild salmon still spawn in our waters. But Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) is rushing forward with his effort to gut the Endangered Species Act. The Pombo bill was voted out of the House of Representatives late last year, and developers and other special interests are now looking to pass a similar bill in the Senate.
Tell Your Senators to Fight to Maintain a Strong Endangered Species Act: https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,izn8,o7l,jr54,kguf,dazy,eylb
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2006
"To me, there's a lot of politics being played and a lot of people trying to put people in bad positions in order to further their agendas. When you have people dying because they're poor and black or poor and white, or because of whatever they are -- if that's a number on a political scale- then that is the most wrong thing. That erases everything that's great about our country." - Country music star Tim McGraw, a native of Delhi, Louisiana, expressing his anger over the Hurricane Katrina cleanup effort.
1. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: The Fox Has Left the Henhouse
2. SIERRA CLUB CHRONICLES: Dioxin, Duplicity & DuPont
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Avoid the Slippery Slope of Arctic Drilling
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Representative That Aggressive Logging Will Not Restore Forests
1. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: The Fox Has Left the Henhouse
After five years of steering the Bush administration's policies of opening public lands to oil and gas drilling, logging and development, Interior Secretary Gale Norton has resigned. Norton was an unpopular symbol of unpopular policies that were opposed by ranchers, hunters, anglers and other conservationists. Now President Bush has an opportunity to appoint someone who actually values our natural heritage -- someone who will promote safe energy policies that protect sensitive lands and wildlife habitat instead of giving our public lands to special interests.
Read the New York Times editorial:
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,iu76,o7l,j3dy,ek0p,dazy,eylb
Read the AP story:
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,iu76,o7l,7f71,iy4i,dazy,eylb
2. SIERRA CLUB CHRONICLES: Dioxin, Duplicity & DuPont
Need free, inspirational content for your video iPod? Download the newest 30-minute episode of Sierra Club Chronicles https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,iu76,o7l,kcm2,k8d0,dazy,eylb , which tells the stories of people exposed to toxic dioxin released into the air and water by the DuPont plant in DeLisle, Mississippi, who are suffering severe health effects. We follow as they bravely cope with their own terminal illnesses and those of their family members, and as they testify in a massive lawsuit against DuPont -- so that their children and grandchildren can live healthy, toxin-free lives.
3. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Avoid the Slippery Slope of Arctic Drilling
Once again, we have been reminded that oil drilling is a dirty business and has no place in a world-class wildlife refuge. After two weeks, crews are still cleaning up what is now known to be the largest oil spill in the history of Alaska's North Slope. The crude oil spill of approximately 267,000 gallons occurred just west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at Prudhoe Bay.
Meanwhile, pro-drilling advocates in the Senate have again attached Arctic Refuge drilling to the Senate Budget Resolution being voted on this week. Forcing Arctic drilling into the budget bill is an irresponsible abuse of the budget process - and a waste of time for the Senate, which rejected Arctic drilling as recently as December.
Urge your Senators to protect the Arctic Refuge and vote against the Budget Resolution. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202 224-2131 and ask to be connected to your Senators' offices. For tips on what to say, check out our press statement.
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,iu76,o7l,e5e2,3y50,dazy,eylb
4. TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Representative That Aggressive Logging Will Not Restore Forests
In a move that would target ancient and wild forests for increased logging, Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) has introduced legislation to drastically reduce public involvement and environmental oversight for timber cuts on public lands after forest fires, windstorms, and other natural events. This bill is based on the flawed idea that logging restores forests -- and is just another trick to advance the timber industry's agenda. The Forest Service needs to focus instead on protecting homes from fire and safeguarding our wild forests, fish and wildlife and clean water supplies.
Tell your Representative to oppose the Walden logging bill.
https://info.sierraclub.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=arz,iu76,o7l,jisu,lum3,dazy,eylb
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