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Contents:
ACTION ALERT: Urge the White House to Veto the Interior Bill
THE MAIN RING: Deja Vu -- Congress Attacks Our Public Lands!
IN THE AIR: Action Alert -- Anti-Clean Air Amendment Possible on Senate ISTEA
TAKE ACTION
URGENT CALLS ARE NEEDED TO URGE THE WHITE HOUSE TO VETO THE INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL IF IT CONTAINS ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS!
Friday the House passed the 1998 Interior Appropriations bill stacked with more than a dozen anti-environmental riders which threaten our National Parks, public lands, and National Forests. The White House still has not sent a clear message to Congress that the President will veto this bill if it contains anti-environmental riders!
ACTION NEEDED: Please call and leave messages for the following high level White House officials and ask them to recommend that the President veto the Interior Appropriations bill (HR 2107) if it contains any of the anti-environmental provisions:
Director: Office of Management and Budget, Franklin Raines, 202-395-4840 Director of Legislative Affairs, John Hilley, 202-456-2230 Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles, 202-456-6798 Director: Council on Environmental Quality, Kathleen McGinty, 202-395-5750
THE MAIN RING: Deja Vu -- Congress Attacks Public Lands In Interior Appropriations Bill
Friday, in what represents the latest congressional assault on America's National Parks, wildlife refuges, forests and other public lands, the House of Representatives voted to approve the conference report to the 'FY '98 Interior appropriations legislation -- a bill loaded with anti-environmental riders.
The controversial riders in the bill passed Friday would: expand federal subsidies for the timber industry; override court-ordered grazing reforms on national forests; block priority land acquisition projects; set the terrible precedent of using the Land & Water Conservation Fund for non-land acquisition purposes; prevent the Forest Service from updating its forest management plans and thus better managing forests for conservation and other uses; override court-ordered grazing reforms; and gut the effectiveness of the law that bans exports of raw logs from federal forests in the Northwest.
Unfortunately, the Clinton Administration failed to send a clear signal to the House of Representatives that the President is prepared to use his veto power. Next week the Senate will take up the bill, although which day the vote will occur has not yet been announced. The Sierra Club is now urging Administration officials to immediately send a strong, clear message to members of the Senate that President Clinton will veto this bill because of its numerous environmentally damaging provisions.
With the notable exception of the Clearcut Rider, the President has largely stood firm against anti-environmental riders attached to appropriations bills. When the President has taken a strong stance he has received the support of the American public and, in nearly every case, forced Congress to drop their anti-environmental riders.
Hopefully, with a little help from you and me (ie, constant phone calls between now and the Senate vote!), we will convince the Administration that this bill represents a renewed attack on the environment by Congress and yet another opportunity for the Administration to demonstrate its commitment to America's natural heritage.
Thanks again for your help in making calls! With your help we will be able to convince the White House that they need to stand firm and protect our environment!
IN THE AIR: Action Alert -- Anti-Clean Air Amendment Possible on Senate ISTEA Bill
Please call your Senator today -- capitol switchboard: 800-962-3524
Rumor has it that Senator Inhofe (R-OK) is going to introduce an anti-clean air amendment to the Senate's ISTEA bill.
This may happen any day, so CALL YOUR SENATOR TODAY AND URGE THEM TO VOTE AGAINST ANY AMENDMENT THAT WILL BLOCK THE NEW SOOT AND SMOG STANDARDS.
The amendment, which has already been introduced as Senate bill 1084, would place a 4-year ban on the new standards. Since the bill doesn't have enough votes to override a presidential veto, his fallback strategy is to tack it onto ISTEA.
What did the Zen Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? "Make me one with everything."
Contents:
ACTION ALERT 1: Interior Bill Full of Anti-Environmental Riders
ACTION ALERT 2: Dangerous "Takings" Bill Passes House; Senate Next
GLOBAL WARMING: A Day Later, Clinton's Plan Still Too Weak
LEGAL LOWDOWN: Right to Challenge Forest Management Plans at Stake
CLEAN WATER: Vice President Celebrates Clean Water Act Birthday
STOPPING "SPRAWL MART": Citizens of "Lethargy" Get Creative
TAKE ACTION
ACTION ALERT 1: CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES
Interior Bill Stacked with Anti-Environmental Riders -- Tell Your Senators and Representative to Vote No
The House and Senate Conference Committee on the 1998 Interior Appropriations bill reported the Interior Bill Wednesday and we are expecting the House and Senate to vote on the measure on Friday, Oct. 24. The Conference Report contains a number of anti-environmental riders that threaten our national parks, national forests and other public lands.
President Clinton has not pledged to veto this bill so we must show him that he has support in both the House and the Senate.
ACTION NEEDED: Please call your representative and senators and urge them to vote against the Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 2107) because it contains the following anti- environmental riders:
*an expanded taxpayer subsidy to the timber industry, despite the fact that both the House and Senate were just one vote shy of cutting that subsidy earlier this session. The so-called Purchaser Roads Credit Program expanded in this bill allows timber companies to get "free trees" in exchange for paying their own road construction costs.
This subsidy encourages excessive roadbuilding in our national forests and allows timber companies to log in remote areas with steep, unstable terrain where they wouldn't normally be able to afford to build roads without taxpayer subsidies. This will result in more erosion and mudslides, polluted rivers and drinking water, and expensive cleanup.
*a major strike against the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which would tie the LWCF up in political red tape. The LWCF, funded by a fee on oil companies that drill off our coasts, has been used to purchase and protect millions of acres of critical and threatened land and water resources over the years.
The bill would allow these funds to be siphoned off to cover routine operations and maintenance and existing properties, rather than to purchase new acreage. The issue of funding operations and maintenance of our national parks, forests and recreation areas needs to be addressed, but this is not an acceptable solution. This rider would also require Congress to vote on the merits of some specific projects, rather than to allow scientists, local communities and professional land managers to decide on an area's importance. This is unnecessary, precedent-setting language which would further politicize the process and hamper efforts to protect critical areas.
Not to be outdone, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) slipped in his own rider to override court decisions on national forest management and grazing in New Mexico and Arizona. A federal judge recently took action to enforce federal environmental laws on these lands, but Domenici's rider would put a hold on the necessary management reforms called for by the court.
Thanks again for your help in making these calls!
ACTION ALERT 2: WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dangerous Takings Bill Passes House, Moves to Senate
This year, the number one goal of the National Association of Home Builders is to enact into law a "takings" bill that would give property owners the right to sue for compensation if environmental standards designed to protect our communities in some way reduce the value of their land.
Yesterday, the House passed such a bill -- Rep. Elton Gallegly's (R-Calif.) H.R. 1534 on a vote of 248 to 178. The Senate is expected to vote soon on the companion bill, Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) S. 1256, misnamed "Citizens Access to Justice."
S. 1256 and H.R. 1534 would:
*Override local zoning laws that balance everyone's property rights;
*Harm homeowners and undermine environmental, health, and safety protections;
*Expand opportunities to sue local governments; and
*Expand federal court authority over local issues and increase the workload of an already overburdened Federal judiciary.
TAKE ACTION: Please write your senators and tell them to vote against this bill because it would undermine environmental protection laws.
Write a letter to the editor either thanking your representative for voting against this dangerous bill or blasting him or her for voting for it.
See the message that follows (HR1534 vote) to find out how your representative voted.
GLOBAL WARMING:
After a Good Night's Sleep, Clinton's Global Warming Proposal Still Looks Too Weak to Protect Our Children
Thursday President Clinton turned his attention from global warming to child care policy, but the repercussions of his proposal Wednesday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions continues to be debated. His plan calls for $5 billion in tax breaks and an emission-trading scheme that would make carbon dioxide emissions a marketable commodity.
Clinton proposed that developed countries be required to reduce emissions to 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. He also said that the United States will not sign a legally binding climate-change treaty unless major developing nations also are required to reduce emissions. Final negotiations for this treaty will be in Kyoto in December.
Response from the environmental community was generally that the plan was far too weak, while business groups said it would hurt the economy.
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, appearing Wednesday night on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, praised the president for taking out "an insurance policy," but said this policy was not strong enough to protect our children. Pope was part of a discussion with Katie McGinty of the Clinton administration, who backed the president's plan as a strong first step; and Bill O'Keefe of the oil-industry backed Global Climate Coalition, who called Clinton's proposal "reckless."
Pope emphasized that available technology could produce huge reductions in emissions. He cited replacing coal-burning power plants with ones fueled by natural gas and increasing automobile efficiency.
Against the backdrop of the global warming debate, the Tokyo Motor Show this week provided an interesting contrast between the low-pollution vehicles the Japanese manufacturers are promoting and the big luxury cars being pushed by U.S. and European automakers. Toyota's "Prius," a gasoline-electric hybrid car, emits about 10 percent of the pollution of conventional cars, and Honda is pushing its "near-zero-pollution" gasoline-powered engine.
USA Today reported that the Japanese automakers, "mindful to the point of obsession" of the upcoming Kyoto climate change conference in December, are emphasizing "low-pollution vehicles capable of unusual fuel economy."
LEGAL LOWDOWN:
Right to Challenge Forest Management Plans at Stake as Supreme Court Reviews Club Victory in Ohio
The Sierra Club and other environmentalists challenged a forest management plan for Ohio's Wayne National Forest back in 1992 and after losing the first round, won the case on appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The court agreed with the Sierra Club that the plan -- which would allow timber production on 126,000 of the 176,000 acres in the forest -- was slanted toward clearcutting.
Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, responding to a petition from the Ohio Forestry Association. The OFA argued that environmentalists should be allowed to sue only over specific projects implementing the plan -- such as timber sales -- and not over the plan itself.
If the Supreme Court accepts the timber industry's argument, then citizens will have to wait until individual projects are approved before they can argue in court that both the project and overall plan do not adequately protect the forest.
"This case is ultimately about who owns our national forests -- citizens or the timber industry," said Sierra Club staff attorney v Rebecca Bernard. "If citizens can't get into court to challenge forest management plans, then our voice in the management of public forest resources will be cut to a whisper."
CLEAN WATER:
Vice President Celebrates Clean Water Act Birthday
In the last week, Vice President Gore has been focusing his attention on cleaning up our waterways.
Last week, at a cite along the Potomac River, he joined the Clean Water Network (of which the Sierra Club is a member) in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Gore cited the successes of the act, but acknowledged that the job is far from finished.
The strategy he presented to clean up those rivers and lakes still unfit for fishing and swimming includes strengthening public health protection and preventing non-point source pollution runoff. He requested federal departments and agencies to develop an action plan within 90 days.
Gore challenged Congress to improve the Clean Water Act by both devising non-point source pollution controls and discarding property rights bills (like H.R. 1534, which passed the House yesterday, story above) that would impede local and state efforts to protect water quality.
But as is the case with the Clinton administration's global warming position, acknowledging there's a problem is not the same as taking strong and concrete action. We'll be watching.
Gore was also on hand earlier this week on Chesapeake Bay to tout a joint federal and state program to plant trees to help control agricultural runoff.
If trees and shrubs are planted in buffer zones between cropland and streams, scientists say, it will reduce the amount of runoff that finds its way into the river by up to 90 percent.
STOPPING "SPRAWL MART"
Citizens of "Lethargy" Mobilize to Stop Development
More than 40 Sierra Club activists gathered last weekend in New Hampshire to develop a campaign to stop "Sprawl Mart" from building a new store on the outskirts of their town of "Lethargy."
The store and the town were fictional, but the activists were real -- they were participants in the Sierra Club Training Academy's first simulated campaign scenario, whereby the campaign to stop Sprawl Mart was used to teach a variety of organizing skills, like how to develop a strategic media plan.
The training combined presentations with a hands-on campaign simulation. Participants broke into small groups, each of which came up with strategies to stop the development. Their ideas ranged from getting dressed in costumes and taking the fight to the local Halloween parade, to writing radio ads and an anthem sung to the tune of an old Beatles' song.
The training team launched its own campaign in favor of sprawl -- only to be out-leafleted and out-postered at the lunchtime rally by Sierra Club activists.
Participant/trainer Bob Bingaman called it "the single best grassroots organizing campaign planning training I have ever been part of."
A big thanks goes to the fabulous participants who attended this event; Emily McFarland, who coordinated the training; Alita Wilson, who pushed for continual improving of the trainings; and the training team that included Emily, Bruce Hamilton, Kristin Hyde and Mark Bettinger.
"The Clinton Administration plan fights a five-alarm blaze with a garden hose." -- Carl Pope, 10/22
Contents:
ACTION ALERT: CALL THE WHITE HOUSE ON GLOBAL WARMING
GLOBAL WARMING I: CLINTON ANNOUNCES ANEMIC POLICY
GLOBAL WARMING II: SIERRA CLUB CRITICIZES PLAN
GLOBAL WARMING III: GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL! (glad THAT'S settled!)
ON THE HILL: SON OF TAKINGS
ACTION ALERT
*** CLINTON ANNOUNCES GLOBAL WARMING PLAN ***
Weak goals, weak targets won't protect our kids.
Well folks, he's finally done it -- the President has announced the formal US position for the upcoming global warming treaty negotiations. THANKS TO EFFORTS FROM ACTIVISTS LIKE YOU CLINTON HAS REJECTED THE WEAKEST PROPOSALS FROM HIS ADVISORS!
Instead Clinton proposed a modest plan to "stabilize emissions at 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 time period and over the following five years make further reductions."
*** PLEASE CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND SEND IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR TO YOUR LOCAL PAPER!!! ***
PLEASE CALL: Vice-President Al Gore at (202)456-2326! PLEASE CALL NOW! Todd Stern, Assistant to the President, (202) 456-2702 - IF YOU ARE CONNECTED TO THE WHITE HOUSE COMMENT LINE, PRESS 0 FOR AN OPERATOR
Tell the White House:
* We must have substantial reductions below 1990 levels BEFORE 2010!
* This plan will not protect our kids!
Thank you!
GLOBAL WARMING I: CLINTON ANNOUNCES ANEMIC POLICY
President Comes Out With Low Numbers, Weak Dates
At a press event at the National Geographic Society on Wednesday, the President formally announced the US position on what to do about global warming. Clinton ignored pressure from his "do nothing" economic advisors (thanks in part to pressure from activists like you!), but his plan is still far too weak.
As in weeks passed, Clinton's rhetoric was strong: "The problem is real, and if we do not change our course now, the consequences -- sooner or later -- will be destructive." This SC-ACTION writer was struck by how Clinton's powerful statements did not match his weak plan of action.
Clinton's proposal, which will serve as the U.S. position at negotiations in Kyoto this December, calls for industrial nations to stabilize emissions at 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 time period and over the following five years make further reductions. It relies heavily on a risky international pollution trading scheme that would allow more pollution here in the US in exchange for reduction projects in developing countries.
It also would:
* Create a $5 billion package of tax breaks to spur energy efficiency and development of new energy technologies.
* Provide "pollution credits" for industries that make early emission reductions.
* Calls for an agreement among industrial nations to stabilize greenhouse gases over five years beginning in 2008 followed by unspecified reductions between 2012 and 2017. Countries would be able to average annual emissions within the five-year periods, allowing them to postpone reductions in some cases ("borrowing from the future").
Sierra Club criticized the plan (see below) as not doing enough and starting too late. It is far weaker than the European Union's proposal of a 15 % cut in emissions below 1990 levels by the year 2010, and a 7.5% cut in 2005.
GLOBAL WARMING II: SIERRA CLUB CRITICIZES PLAN
Statement by Carl Pope:
Sierra Club is particularly disappointed that the Administration has dropped its planned commitment to reduce global warming pollution by 5% or more below 1990 levels. President Clinton has issued grave warnings about the threats global warming poses to our children. But while the President rejected the advice of the do nothing camp among polluters and bean counters, the plan he announced today fails to protect our children.
The Clinton Administration plan fights a five-alarm blaze with a garden hose. To confront global warming, the President must require the auto and oil industries to take real steps to reduce pollution starting now. Putting companies like Exxon and General Motors on an honor system to cut global warming pollution won't protect our kids.
A properly implemented early reductions plan with strong regulatory, financial and voluntary components could yield reductions significantly below 1990 levels before 2010. This is the kind of step we want the President to commit to now. We will work vigorously with the Administration to reach early reductions through regulatory and legislative action next year.
With just four percent of the world's population, the US emits a quarter of the world's global warming pollution. America clearly has a responsibility to take a leadership role. We can do so by taking strong actions here at home to reduce emissions -- actions that can also strengthen our economy and create jobs. The President can take steps to increase our reliance on clean renewable energy, increase efficiency standards for home appliances, and strengthen fuel economy standards for cars and trucks -- the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming.
The plan announced [Wednesday] must be a first step, not a last step. If we are to protect future generations, the global warming treaty signed in Kyoto must go further. The treaty must commit to substantial reductions before 2010. Our children deserve no less.
GLOBAL WARMING III: GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL! (glad THAT'S settled!)
General Motor's Concedes that Global Warming Exists
"Breaking with other auto industry leaders", top executives at General Motors Corp. Tuesday "acknowledged that growing carbon-dioxide emissions pose a problem" for our climate. (USA Today, 10/22)
Speaking prior to the Tokyo Motor Show GM Chair Jack Smith said that the industry is working on new technologies to reduce emissions. Smith: "We feel very strongly that there needs to be a significant effort to improve the technology that will reduce CO2 emissions." (USA TODAY, 10/22)
Smith's answer to global warming was not improved fuel efficiency from the auto industry, but rather gasoline taxes (which are environmentally beneficial but dead-on-arrival in the current Congress.) Mr. Smith did not announce a new position on CAFE standards, the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming.
ON THE HILL: SON OF TAKINGS
House Passes Destructive Takings Bill
Oct. 22 the House of Representatives voted to take away the rights of state & local governments to conduct local zoning and protect communities from harmful development. On a vote of 248 yeas and 178 neas, the House passed the Gallegly (R-CA) takings bill, H.R. 1534. For the first time, local land use planning would be impacted through a takings bill. H.R. 1534 would bypass state courts and local elected officials by funneling all land use disputes directly to the federal courts. Local officials genuinely trying to protect their communities from harm, such as toxic waste dumps, would find themselves drowning in lawsuits from those seeking to profit at the expense of neighboring communities and homeowners. We will include the vote chart on this bill in a future SC-ACTION.
Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Sen. Hatch's takings bill, S. 1256. The Hatch bill incorporates H.R. 1534 and would, among other things, allow federal courts to invalidate environmental and other protections. Watch this space for details on this vote.
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