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March 19, 1999
"No country can be well governed unless its CITIZENS as a body keep religiously before thir minds that they are the GUARDIANS of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more." Mark Twain, The Guilded Age
Contents:
1) TAKE ACTION: WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S NEW ANIMAL FACTORY POLLUTION STRATEGY
2) TIER 2 UPDATE AND A GREAT LETTER TO THE EDITOR
TAKE ACTION - WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S NEW ANIMAL FACTORY POLLUTION STRATEGY
On March 9, EPA and USDA released their long-awaited joint strategy for addressing pollution from livestock feeding operations. This strategy, which will guide future administrative policy and regulatory proposals, falls far short of what the Sierra Club and other environmental and family farm groups had wanted. It fails to put in place a moratorium on new animal factories until stronger environmental rules are in place; it does nothing to replace the lagoons and aerial spraying of waste as the technology of choice for large hog factories; it completely ignores air pollution problems; it does not guarantee the environmental protections and citizen input that individual Clean Water Act permits would provide (only general permits would be required for most large livestock operations); and it takes no tangible action to protect groundwater.
The strategy's most important positive element is a requirement that the huge corporations that own the animals share with their contractors a responsibility for controlling the pollution from the waste. For all too long, livestock corporations have not paid their fair share of the pollution controls. This concept is a long overdue polluter pays requirement that will help ensure that factory farms clean up their act.
The strategy will unfold over the next six years as EPA develops effluent guidelines (new technology requirements for large hog and poultry operations), issues guidance for writing permits for these facilities, and hammers out the contents of the nutrient management plans that will be at the core of the permits. The strategy leaves much flexibility to states, so continuing to work for better state protections will be essential.
Help educate people about the limits of the federal strategy by writing a letter to the editor.
TIER 2 UPDATE AND A GREAT LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Ever wonder if the car you buy in 2007 and will still be belching out too much smog-forming pollution? Well, the White House is now reviewing new auto pollution and clean gasoline standards -- Tier 2 -- that will determine just that. This is our last chance to set new air pollution standards for cars and light trucks for years to come, so we have to get it right. Our children's health is at stake.
Last month Sierra Club gave the EPA 2 1/2 cheers for the proposal it sent to the White House. EPA did somethings right, but left some gapping loopholes. Now, our eyes are on the White House to see how much meddling it will do with the Tier 2 standards. While EPA is slashing smog-forming pollution, it let the heaviest and dirtiest SUVs off the hook until 2009. And, EPA left the door open for diesel engines which will pollute more than gasoline ones. The White House is under auto industry pressure to ease up timing and weaken the standards. EPA's proposed standards already give the auto industry flexibility to make dirty cars and SUVs. The White House should be closing the SUV and diesel loopholes not giving the autos a break for their mega-pollutors.
EPA also set a national standard for how much dirty sulfur can be in gasoline. EPA's standard would reduce auto pollution as much as removing 54 million cars from the road. The oil industry is pushing to get more and more time to clean up gasoline. Again, the White House should stand firm and stick with EPA's proposal.
Thanks to all of you who are helping to get out the word about auto pollution and the importance of Tier 2 standards. Here is an accomplishment -- a letter in the Indianapolis Star Tribune. Please share your successes with us. (For more information on Tier 2, to get Tier 2 cards to send to the Vice President, or help on writing your own letter contact michelle.artz@sierraclub.org).
03/15/99 The Indianapolis Star CITY FINAL Page A07 (Copyright 1999)
Sport-utility vehicles are big polluters
This is in response to the Feb. 23 letter from Ron Breymeir, contending that sport-utility vehicles are not big polluters. He is absolutely wrong.
SUVs cause a tremendous amount of lung-damaging air pollution and have been targeted by the American Lung Association and the Sierra Club to make them clean up their act.
They slip through a loophole that does not require them to abide by the same air quality standards as a passenger car. A typical SUV can emit three times as much nitrogen oxides, 56 percent more hydrocarbons and 47 percent more carbon monoxide than even the heaviest passenger cars.
Since the Clean Air Act, automakers have had to improve car emissions, and the average car now drives cleaner than its counterpart from the '70s. Unfortunately, there are more cars on the roads and each car is driving more miles, so our air is continuing to get dirtier.
The rate of asthma in our children has increased tremendously as we have continued to pollute with large, inefficient vehicles.
Last summer Indianapolis had 39 "bad air days" when smog pollution reached unhealthy levels.
Our roads would be safer and air cleaner without SUVs. At the very least, let's require them to meet the same pollution standards as passenger cars.
NANCY WILSON New Castle
"In particular, I hope you will travel to the northern forest of Maine, upstate New York, New Hampshire and Vermont, which are now under assault by the preservationists...."
Former Senator Malcolm Wallop, who now heads the private property rights organization Frontiers of Freedom, in testimony before the House Resources Committee, expressing his opposition to legislation to revitalize the LWCF.
Contents:
1) TAKE ACTION: Help end the persecution of whistle blower Alexandr Nikitin
2) Hands Off Arctic Refuge: Your letter to the editor can win you a t-shirt
3) Sierra Club REALLY in the news
TAKE ACTION!
Russia Continues Persecution of Whistle Blower After Admitting Nuclear Threat CONTACT PRIME MINISTER PRIMAKOV AND TELL HIM IT MUST STOP!
Earlier this month Russian officials acknowledged that more than 100 decommissioned nuclear submarines rusting in Arctic ports threaten to leak radioactive waste because they cannot afford to unload their spent nuclear fuel. Alexandr Nikitin came to the same conclusion in his 1996 report. "Without international cooperation and financing," his report warns, "a grave situation could arise which can be pictured as a Chernobyl in slow motion." Despite comparable findings, the Russian government continues to persecute Nikitin.
Nikitin, a retired submarine captain in the Russian Northern Fleet, has been charged with espionage. Nikitin's "crime" was co-authoring a report with the Bellona Foundation about nuclear waste disposal in Russia's far north. The government has accused Nikitin of exposing state secrets even though Russian books and newspapers had previously published the information -- a fact confirmed by the State Department and Amnesty International. The investigation is continuing despite the recent acknowledgments by Russian officials of the nuclear problem in their Arctic ports.
Next week in Washington DC, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov will meet with Vice President Al Gore. The Sierra Club believes this meeting presents an ideal occasion for the Russian government to announce an end to the embarrassing persecution of Alexander Nikitin.
Please take a few minutes to contact Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov to urge him to end the persecution of environmental activist Alexandr Nikitin.
Call the Russian Embassy at 202-298-5700 or fax a letter to 202-298-5753 or e-mail webmaster@russianembassy.org Please take a minute to forward your comments to Vice President Al Gore: fax (202)-456-7044; phone (202) 456- 2326; e-mail vice.president@whitehouse.gov
For more information visit our website: www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
SAVE the REFUGE -- GET a T-SHIRT!
In SC-ACTION #47 (Monday, March 15), we asked you to write a letter to the editor linking the Arctic Refuge to the tenth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. If you write a letter to the editor calling for your Member of Congress to take action on this issue -- and it's published -- the Alaska Wilderness League will send you a free "Remember the Valdez Spill - Save the Arctic Refuge" t-shirt.
Several activists' letters have already been published, including: "Hands off Arctic Wildlife Refuge," Ronald Brown, in the Southern Illinoisan; "Let [Rep.] Smith Know You Care," Nancy W. Conklin, in The Times (Trenton, N.J.); "Nix Arctic Drilling," Lori Rumpf, in Langsing State Journal; and "ANWR Wilderness," Julie Raymond, Fairbanks Daily News Miner (Fairbanks, Alaska!!).
If your letter is published, send a copy of the clip (including the name of the paper, where it's located, and the date) and your shirt size (L/XL) to:
Jeremy Sheaffer Alaska Wilderness League 320 4th St., N.E. Washington, DC 20002
SIERRA CLUB IN THE NEWS
Sierra Club activists across the country make sure the important issues get lots of press! The Sierra Club was mentioned three times in Greenwire (an environmental daily news service that compiles stories from across the country) yesterday, and four times today. Here's a quick sample:
3-16: "Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club and the Frontera Audubon Society yesterday announced they will launch a legal challenge against the Immigration and Naturalization Service over potential habitat damage ...."
3-17: "The National Marine Fisheris Service's decision yesterday to list seven salmon and two steelhead populations under the Endangered Species Act has so far stirred little contorversy....Bill Arthur, Northwest director of the Sierra Club, echoed Gorton's statement, saying the listing gives Pres. Clinton, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) and Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) the opportunity to "set the goals and deadlines for salmon recovery, and secure the funds to implement the programs which will bring the fish back from extinction."
3-17: "Two Los Angeles lawyers with "strong environmental credentials" yesterday were named to the California Coastal Commission, giving the panel what environmentalists call a "solid majority in favor of preserving open space....Mark Massara, Sierra Club Coastal Program Coordinator said the group was pleased that Villaraigosa's picks have a `strong commitment to the coast.'"
"The old joke that Tucson will be a suburb of Phoenix can very well come true [without strong action to curb sprawl]." Renee Guillory, Sierra Club's Southwest office.
Contents:
1) TAKE ACTION: URGE YOUR SENATORS TO SIGN ON TO THE FEINSTEIN/BRYAN/GORTON LETTER ON SUVS!!!
2) FORMER ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL TO LEAD ANTI-SPRAWL CAMPAIGN
3) ENDANGERED SALMON LISTING IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST IS BOTH A WARNING AND AN OPPORTUNITY
TAKE ACTION!
TAKE ACTION: URGE YOUR SENATORS TO SIGN ON TO THE FEINSTEIN/BRYAN/GORTON LETTER ON SUVS!!!
Should sport utility vehicles and other light trucks be allowed to pollute more than cars? The Sierra Club doesn't think so, and neither do US Senator's Diane Feinstein, Richard Bryan, Slade Gorton.
These Senators have crafted a letter to President Clinton urging him to close the loophole in federal miles per gallon standards that allows light trucks to pollute more than cars. They realize that gas-guzzling SUVs, mini-vans, and pickups are worsening the threat of global warming, strengthening our addiction to fossil fuels, and increasing pressure to drill for oil in sensitive wilderness areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This letter shows that Senators with a range of political views all support the goals of curbing global warming and protecting our environment (this is one of the few environmental issues on which the Sierra Club and Sen. Gorton see eye to eye!)
Raising miles per gallon standards for cars and trucks is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming. But since 1995, friends of the auto and oil industries in Congress have attached stealth "riders" to Department of Transportation's budget that have blocked the Administration from improving the standards.
The Feinstein/Bryan/Gorton letter urges the President to support higher fuel efficiency standards, and specifically to work with concerned Members of Congress to close the SUV loophole. As the letter points out, a 14 mile per gallon sport utility vehicle will emit 70 tons of carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant, over it's lifetime. That's nearly twice what the average passenger car will emit. With more and more sport-utes on rolling out of showrooms, its imperative that we close the SUV loophole!
ACT: URGE YOUR SENATORS TO SIGN ON! Write, fax, or phone your Senators TODAY and urge them to sign on to the Feinstein/Bryan/Gorton letter on miles per gallon standards! Remind them that raising miles per gallon standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming! Tell your Senators to contact Sen. Feinsein's office and sign on today!
Former Arizona Attorney General to Lead Anti-Sprawl Campaign
The Sierra Club's efforts to put a growth management initiative on the Arizona state ballot in 2000 gained a powerful ally last week when former state Attorney General Grant Woods signed on to help lead the charge. The Sierra Club will have to earn more than 101,000 signatures by July 6, 2000 in order to get its Citizens Growth Management Initiative on the November ballot.
Woods cited a "moral and ethical responsibility" to lead the petition drive, and said he considers this issue key to Arizona's quality of life.
"Without dramatic measures to control growth, Arizona will not be a nice place to live," Woods said.
Last year, the state legislature passed a "Growing Smarter" anti-sprawl proposal. But backers of the ballot initiative believe that the state's answer to sprawl falls short of what is needed and criticized the plan as a "developer protection act."
Attorney General Woods agreed with this assessment. "I don't think we can wait on the Legislature," he said. "I don't have a lot of confidence in them, given their record on environmental protection."
The Sierra Club's initiative:
* Requires cities and towns to adopt growth boundaries; * Charges builders the full cost of roads and other facilities; * Requires residents to vote on their city or town's growth management plans and any major amendments; * Restricts rezoning and extension of public services until a plan is adopted; * Grants powers to cities and counties to control "wildcat" subdivisions that result when landowners split their property; and * Assures growth plans take into account air and water-quality standards.
ENDANGERED SALMON LISTING IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST IS BOTH A WARNING AND AN OPPORTUNITY
The Sierra Club today hailed the decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to list at least 9 additional stocks of salmon and steelhead in Oregon and Washington State for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
"While these listings of the Northwest's big fish represent a wake-up call to the Clinton administration and the governors of Oregon and Washington that leadership and action are needed to save these magnificent creatures," said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, "This decision today also marks a golden opportunity to make livable communities and protect the Northwest environment - for our families, for our future."
"What you do to restore viable salmon and steelhead runs isn't rocket science," said Bill Arthur, Northwest Director for the Sierra Club. "Saving this icon of the Pacific Northwest means protecting water quality, stopping urban sprawl, restoring healthy streams and forests."
"In other words, what's good for salmon is good for people," noted Jim Baker, Northwest Salmon Campaign Coordinator for the Sierra Club.
"Tragically salmon and steelhead have declined in so many of our Northwest watershed that these Endangered Species Act listing became inevitable," Arthur said. "Now instead of compounding the tragedy by inaction, President Clinton, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, and Washington Gov. Gary Locke must roll up their shirt sleeves, set the goals and deadlines for salmon recovery, and secure the funds to implement the programs which will bring the fish back from the brink of extinction, and forward to preservation for posterity."
The Northwest salmon and steelhead stocks proposed last year for listing under the Endangered Species Act are:
Chinook - Puget Sound (WA) Chinook - Upper Columbia River Basin (WA) Chinook - Lower Columbia River Basin (WA) Chinook - Upper Willamette River Basin (OR) Chinook - Southern Oregon and Northern California Coast (OR/CA) Chinook (fall-run) - Snake River Basin (WA/OR/ID) Sockeye - Ozette Lake (WA) Chum - Lower Columbia River Basin (WA/OR) Chum (summer-run) - Hood Canal (WA) Steelhead - Middle Columbia River Basin (WA/OR) Steelhead - Upper Willamette River Basin (OR)
Already listed as "threatened" or "endangered" in the Pacific Northwest are:
Chinook (spring/summer-run) - Snake River Basin (WA/OR/ID) Chinook (fall-run) - Snake River Basin (WA/OR/ID) Coho - Oregon Coast (OR) Coho - Southern Oregon and Northern California Coast (OR/CA) Sockeye - Snake River Basin (ID/OR) Steelhead - Snake River Basin (WA/OR/ID) Steelhead - Upper Columbia River Basin (WA) Steelhead - Lower Columbia River Basin (WA/OR)
The National Marine Fisheries Service also decided to delay for six months a decision on whether or not to list spring and fall Chinook in the Central Valley of California.
"I never would have left the bridge (of the tanker) if I had any idea about what was going to happen." Exxon Valdez skipper, Joseph Hazelwood, on Sixty Minutes-3/14.
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: SAVE THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMPION SENATOR CHAFEE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
TAKE ACTION!
SAVE THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Exxon Valdez - few words evoke the image of environmental destruction that these two words bring to mind. Ten years after the devastating spill that spewed 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, Exxon claims that the sound has recovered. Exxon is wrong. Only two wildlife species have fully recovered, and balls of oil can still be found on the shores of the Prince William Sound. March 24 marks the ten-year anniversary of the infamous spill. We have to get the message out that the Sound is not recovered, and that the same fate awaits the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if oil development there is ever given the go-ahead.
The Valdez anniversary will undoubtedly receive a lot of press coverage in the coming weeks. It's crucial that we take the time now to get the message out. Please write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about the need to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the same devastation suffered in Prince William Sound.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMPION SENATOR CHAFEE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
Senator Chafee, a true champion for clean air and water, endangered species, wetlands and open space, announced plans today to retire when his term ends in 2001. His environmental leadership will definitely be missed! Following are excerpts from the Sierra Club press response to Chafee's announcement.
"For nearly a quarter-century, Senator Chafee has stood as one of the environmental giants in the Senate," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "All across America today, people who care about clean air and clean water regret the coming loss of such a strong environmental leader. During his next two years of service, we look forward to the privilege of continuing to work with Senator Chafee to make our land, air and water cleaner and healthier for our children."
As a Senator and as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Chafee has been an able champion of the environment. Since joining the Senate in 1977, he worked to improve every piece of environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act of 1990, the Clean Water Act of 1987, Superfund, and protections for wetlands and endangered species. In Rhode Island, environmentalists are particularly proud of Chafee's work to secure funding for Rhode Island Greenways, establish the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, and restore the Lonsdale Drive-In site as part of the Lonsdale Marsh Wetlands Complex. "One of the preeminent environmental legislators of the last 25 years, Senator Chafee has left a lasting and very positive mark on our world," Pope said. "Like the lands he fought to protect, Senator Chafee is widely admired and completely irreplaceable," Pope added.
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