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March 1, 1999
"From my perspective, NAFTA and other trade agreements present the greatest challenge to state sovereignty that we have." Heidi Heitkamp Attorney General of North Dakota
"The unexpected volume of legal tumult inspired by the tearing down of trade barriers has given fresh ammunition to critics who have long portrayed international trade deals as sacrificing local political control on the altar of unbridled capitalism."
LA Times, 2/28/98
TAKE ACTION: Urge Reps to Co-Sponsor Forest Protection and Restoration Act
NEW NAFTA VICTIM: State Environmental Sovereignty
LOUSIANA TOXIC TOUR: Sierrans Help Diamond Subdivision Residents Take on Shell Oil
TAKE ACTION!
PROTECT OUR NATIONAL FORESTS: URGE YOUR REP TO CO-SPONSOR THE NATIONAL FOREST PROTECTION AND RESTORATION ACT
Take action today to protect our National Forests! Please urge your Representative to be an original co-sponsor of the "National Forest Protection and Restoration Act" to be introduced by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA). This visionary forest protection bill will:
1) Protect our National Forests and other federal public lands by ending the ecologically destructive timber sales program;
2) Redirect timber subsidies into worker retraining and ecological restoration of our damaged forests; and
3) Save taxpayers at least $300 million annually.
You may write to your Representative at: The Honorable [Name of Your Representative] U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515
To call your Representative's office, dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for their office. Say that you would like to leave a message for the Representative, and ask for a response (leave your address).
Check out the bottom of today's SC-ACTION for a brief list of talking points and key facts for use in your letter. Another great way to get your message out to influence your member of Congress is by sending a letter-to-the-editor to your local paper. This is the paper he/she is most likely to read.
NEW NAFTA VICTIM: STATE ENVIRONMENTAL SOVEREIGNTY
Free trade pacts are subverting state-level public policies, according to a headline in Sunday's Los Angeles Times. (LA Times, February 28, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition) Reporter Eveyln Iritani catalogues a chilling array of laws now under attack in order to speed flows of goods and investment between countries.
"Under the umbrella of international trade pacts, a spate of recent lawsuits by outsiders has toppled environmental laws in Canada and so-called selective purchasing laws in Massachusetts. In Mississippi, a Canadian funeral home operator is using NAFTA to challenge an unfavorable court verdict," Iritani writes. "The unexpected volume of legal tumult inspired by the tearing down of trade barriers has given fresh ammunition to critics who have long portrayed international trade deals as sacrificing local political control on the altar of unbridled capitalism."
Especially worrisome is a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, that "gives foreign investors a powerful weapon to attack laws they deem discriminatory, particularly in the environmental and health safety arenas," she observes.
"Last fall, the U.S.-based Ethyl Corp. successfully used NAFTA to overturn a Canadian ban on the import of a controversial Ethyl gasoline additive, MMT, on grounds that the ban discriminated against a foreign company," writes Iritani. "Funeral home operators, hazardous-waste management firms and others have filed similar complaints challenging Canadian and Mexican environmental regulations and even the courts of Mississippi,"
Is This the First NAFTA Rollback?
"Canada, since hit with three more NAFTA cases, decries the complaints as an attack on its sovereign rights. It has now asked the U.S. and Mexican governments to reconsider the part of NAFTA that caused the problem--an investor protection provision known as Chapter 11. That review is now underway," writes Iritani.
The US Trade Representative and Mexico are vigorously fighting Canada's call to fix NAFTA. If Canada succeeds, it could set a precedent for rolling back other, key NAFTA provisions.
NAFTA's Not the Only Worry...
The Times notes that the US "used the WTO dispute settlement system to attack the European Union's ban on hormone-treated beef and Japan's onerous fumigation process for imported fruit..." And adds, "The U.S. has also been on the receiving end of a few successful WTO complaints, including challenges to a toughened U.S. environmental standard for gasoline and a ban on tuna imported from countries that fail to use dolphin-safe fishing techniques."
"As such challenges gain momentum, the United States increasingly finds itself on the defensive, caught between obligations to its trading partners and corporations and the concerns of state and local authorities and citizen groups," says the Times.
I'm Glad You Asked That
"Thus, even trade advocates are now taking these concerns more seriously. After all, shouldn't the democratically elected leaders of Canada--or Mexico or the United States or anywhere else--be free to ban gasoline additives they consider harmful?" the LA Times wonders.
"Or,"going out on a limb, Iritani asks, "shouldn't the Commonwealth of Massachusetts be free to decide whose products to buy with taxpayers' money? Not according to a federal judge, who just overturned the state's ban on buying goods from companies that do business in the military-controlled nation of Myanmar, formerly Burma.
Say What?
Yes, that's right. Iritani reports that "In October, a federal judge in Boston overturned a Massachusetts law that restricted the state's business dealings with companies involved in Myanmar....The judge found that the law was unconstitutional because it interfered with the federal government's right to regulate foreign commerce" and because the law violated US obligations under the World Trade Organization.
Legal experts such as Bob Stumberg at Georgetown University say the ruling could imperil any selective purchasing law - including recycled content laws and other green procurement laws, such as preferences of sustainably harvested wood.
"These trade agreements can offer a platform from which claimants can attack state laws that are protective of our health, safety and our environment," Tom Gede, California state assistant attorney general, reports the Times.
SIERRA CLUB JOINS TOXIC TOUR AT SHELL PLANT IN NORCO, LOUISIANA
Excerpts from story by LEONARD GRAY (Louisiana) L'Observateur February 24, 1999
"NORCO - Nearly 100 people showed up at the "Toxic Tour" start Friday near Shell Chemical to hear local environmental activist Margie Richard declare her opposition to Shell's alleged treatment of Diamond Subdivision residents."
"'We were unfairly treated,' Richard told a group of Sierra Club members visiting Norco. 'We deserve to live longer than our ancestors.' Richard added, 'I want to enjoy a picnic in my yard without worrying about the chemicals falling in my food. We're here to ask Shell to act intelligently.' The tour event was held Friday afternoon at Bethune Playground on Washington Street, facing Shell Chemical." ....
"Timmons Roberts, a sociology professor at Tulane University, observed that Shell/Norco ranks third in the nation in releasing cancer-causing agents to the air, fifth in the nation for total production-related waste, ninth in the nation in releasing reproductive-toxics to the air, 10th in the nation for suspected cancer-causing agents to the air and 14th in the nation in pounds of waste per unit of production capacity in barrels."
"'By almost all the evidence you can find, Shell/Norco plant is failing,' Roberts said."
"'We are disappointed that the Sierra Club and other groups have elected to make false and unfounded accusations about our operations without giving us the opportunity to participate in an open and constructive dialogue,' said Shell Chemical Manager J.L. Kimes and Shell Refinery Manager T. Allen Kirkley in a letter delivered to Diamond Subdivision neighbors."
"During Friday's rally, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope addressed the group and called on Gov. Mike Foster to stand up to industry, while holding up a sign showing a man bent over backward, his hands to the floor."
"'Nobody ever interviewed for a job in this position,' Pope said, to general laughter."
"According to a newsletter released by the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Xavier University.... In 1955, Shell opened the chemical plant known as the West Site, facing Washington Street, displaced old-time residents to Diamond Subdivision and, the newsletter claimed, crippled the local African-American economy."
"After the rally, the "Toxic Tour" headed to Pilgrim Baptist Church, Convent, and joined St. James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment for further activities, including a press briefing and a panel discussion."
PROTECT OUR NATIONAL FORESTS:TAKE ACTION TALKING POINTS
· Our National Forests are far more valuable for their natural heritage of clear lakes and streams, habitat for fish and wildlife, and great natural beauty than they are for use by private industry as commercial wood lots. Commercial timber production is not the best use of National Forest land, especially when over 95% of our country's original ancient forests have been logged already -- and what remains is almost entirely found on federal lands.
· We simply don't need to log National Forests for our timber supply. Timber from National Forests provide less than 4% of the United States' annual wood consumption. We can replace that small amount by increasing recycling, using alternative materials, and by stopping the export of raw logs and wood chips from the U.S.
· The General Accounting Office, an independent federal auditing agency, says that the Forest Service timber program lost more than $2 BILLION in the last six years. Almost every National Forest in the nation is now operating at a net loss to taxpayers.
· Ending the timber sale program will allow Congress to re-direct some of the current annual timber subsidy into ecological restoration of our nation's forest ecosystems which have been damaged by commercial logging. It will also allow Congress to fund worker retraining.
· The American people want their National Forests protected, and special interest handouts eliminated. The people's forests should be managed for their benefit, not for the timber industry.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
"The nation is ready to make the environment the key issue for 2000. Recent evidence of climate change is too drastic for anyone to ignore. From the fires in Florida to the flood in Texas, the mudslides in California, the drought in the Midwest and the extreme hurricanes in Central America, who can doubt that our climate is changing severely? "If articulated properly, the environment can be the central issue of the next decade." --Dick Morris, former political consultant to President Clinton, The Hill, 2-24-99
CONTENTS
TAKE ACTION: HELP SPREAD THE WORD! FORD'S NEW GAS-GUZZLING SUV A "ROLLING MONUMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION"
FOUL FOOD: What's in that chicken?
PORKY PIG: Factory Farms Fatten Up
TAKE ACTION!
HELP SPREAD THE WORD! FORD'S NEW GAS-GUZZLING SUV A "ROLLING MONUMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION"
Today, Ford gave automotive reporters a sneak preview of their newest Sport Utility Vehicle, the Excursion, better known in environmental circles as the "Ford Valdez." (have you driven a tanker lately?!) Although reporters attending the preview are embargoed from talking about it until Sunday, Ford's new monster polluter has gotten some press already, and it hasn't all been friendly. For Example...
From the Associated Press (2/25), "Ford Launches Biggest SUV Ever" "The Excursion is conspicuously absent from this year's auto show circuit. Ford executives generally have declined to talk about it publicly. On Friday, Ford plans a low-key unveiling of the truck to journalists at its Dearborn headquarters. "
The criticism from major environmental groups has been stinging.
"It's basically a garbage truck that dumps into the sky," Dan Becker, who directs the Sierra Club's global warming program, said Wednesday. "For Ford to build a massive, gas-guzzling, polluting vehicle like this shows how big a job Ford has to make Ford into a green company."
Ford has been trying hard to be understated about the Excursion. But we want to make sure that it gets all the attention it deserves. We'd like you to help us add fuel to the fire by writing a letter to the editor of your local paper. Help us spread the word that this behemoth is an insult to our planet and all of us that breathe.
Some talking points to consider:
* The Excursion, stretches over 19 feet in length and slurps one gallon of gasoline for every 12 miles it travels.
* At a time of mounting concern over global warming, air pollution, and oil exploration in fragile wilderness areas, this gas-guzzling SUV is a rolling monument to environmental destruction.
* Each Excursion will emit an estimated 130 tons of carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant, over its lifetime.
* At a time when Ford Motor Company is proclaiming a newfound commitment to the environment, this massive gas-guzzler projects the wrong image. It will however, rake in the profits, an estimated $12,000-$20,000 per vehicle.
Thank You!
FOUL FOOD: What's in that chicken?
In a Reuters story today, Dr. Glen Morris of the University of Maryland in Baltimore announced the discovery of bacteria in chicken feed that are resistant to the most powerful antibiotics and could pose a health threat to humans. Scientists blame the increase in superbugs on the overuse of antibiotics in people and animals.
"The identification of a highly resistant enterococal strain in feed raises disturbing questions about the potential for penetration of VRE strains into farms and food animal populations in the USA and subsequent risk of transfer into human populations," he said in a letter to The Lancet medical journal.
Vancomycin is the last line of resistance to so-called superbugs that have built up a resistance to most conventional drugs. Enterococci, which causes intestinal problems, is a common source of infection in hospitals and usually treated with antibiotics.
PORKY PIG: Factory Farms Fatten Up
Smithfield Foods, the nation's leading pork processor, is acquiring Carroll's Foods in a deal that also will make the company the nation's largest hog producer. The combination will create the largest hog production company in the country, an agricultural behemoth raising and processing millions of pigs a year at farms and slaughterhouses scattered from North Carolina to Utah.
As SC-ACTION readers know, the hog industry has been building huge pig factories around the country, driving family farmers out of business and polluting our environment with tons and tons of pig manure. The bigger these corporations grow, the more our environment seems to suffer.
CONTENTS
TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT PERMANENT PROTECTION FOR AMERICA'S RESOURCES
LEGAL LOWDOWN: FROM RIVERS TO SPRAWL
TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT PERMANENT PROTECTION FOR AMERICA'S RESOURCES Tell Your Representative and Senators to Co-Sponsor the Boxer/Miller Bill
On Tuesday, Rep. George Miller and Sen. Barbara Boxer (both D-Calif.) introduced the House and Senate versions of a bill to protect America's natural resources (H.R. 798 and S. 446). The bill will provide full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and will also support other critical land-protection and restoration programs.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been short-changed since its creation. Now, more than ever, we need to ensure full and permanent funding for this program and save America's last wild places before they are lost forever. There are urgent land-acquisitions needs in states all across the country, including inholdings in the Mojave and Joshua Tree national parks which would help fulfill the promise of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994, and lands critical to the successful restoration of Everglades National Park. The funding can also be used to protect the last open places in your community.
The Boxer/Miller bills are particularly welcome as a positive alternative to bills recently introduced by Sens. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), S. 25, and by Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and John Dingell (D-Mich), H.R. 701. Although these bills share the goal of funding important natural-resource-protection and wildlife programs, they do so at the expense of our coastal environment. The Sierra Club is strongly opposed to these bills in their current form because they would encourage increased oil drilling by providing financial payments to states based in part on the amount of drilling off their coasts.
Please take a moment to call your representative and senators and ask him/her to cosponsor Rep. Miller's and Sen. Boxer's "Permanent Protection for America's Resources 2000 Act." Tell them to support full and permanent protection of America's last wild places. While you're at it, tell them that this bill is a good alternative to H.R. 701 and S. 25 because it funds wildlife and natural-resource programs without increasing local demand for off-shore oil drilling. Thank you!
THANK YOU!!!
LEGAL LOWDOWN: Club Files Two California Suits
YOSEMITE: On Feb. 17, the Sierra Club filed a suit to stop a National Park Service/Federal Highway Administration road-widening project that is severely damaging the Merced River Canyon in Yosemite National Park. The massive construction project, which will widen and straighten 7 1/2 miles of the El Portal Road, is reconfiguring Canyon slopes that run above and below the road and down to the river. The suit requested a temporary restraining order to halt the project.
While legal action is pending, you can help prevent further damage. Fax or write Superintendent Stanley Albright, Yosemite National Park. Ask him to stop or slow down the construction/destruction now. Ask him in particular to stop the dynamiting and bulldozing while the legal case proceeds. You may wish to cc your message to Secretary Babbitt to let him know that this issue is of serious consequence.
Superintendent Stanley Albright Fax: 209 372 0456 Yosemite National Park Box 577 Yosemite CA 95389
Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt Fax 202 219 1220 Office of Sec, Dept. of the Interior 1849 C St. NW Rm. 6116 Washington DC 20240.
SACRAMENTO: A coalition of local, state and national conservation groups -- including the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation and others -- filed a suit on Feb. 10 challenging the validity of the 53,000-acre Natomas Basin habitat development plan approved by the U.S. Department of Interior. The suit is a precedent-setting action that could strengthen wildlife safeguards nationwide.
The plan authorizes development of habitat for the threatened Swainson's hawk and giant garter snake in exchange for conservation measures for those species. However, the suit charges that the plan "allows tens of thousands of acres of development to go forward with highly speculative and inadequate wildlife conservation measures" in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other laws.
"The Natomas plan is a classic case of all the guarantees going in favor of development, leaving wildlife survival dependent on a hope and a prayer," said Vicki Lee of the Sierra Club's Mother Lode Chapter. "By approving this plan, the Interior Department failed to uphold its responsibility to protect our wildlife from the serious threat of extinction."
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