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April 20, 1999
"The idea of ending logging on national forests has been gaining steam in recent years." Duluth News, April 20, 1999
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: URGE YOUR SENATORS TO CLEAN UP POLLUTING SUVS!!!
Right To Know: What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!
From The Field: Reports from California, Montana, Minnesota and Rhode Island
TAKE ACTION
TAKE ACTION: URGE YOUR SENATORS TO SIGN ON TO THE FEINSTEIN/BRYAN/GORTON LETTER TO CLEAN UP POLLUTING SUVS!!!
Calls and letters keep pouring in to US Senate offices urging them to sign on the Feinstein, Bryan, Gorton letter on miles per gallon standards! For those of you who've called or wrote thank you! Please check the list below and see if your Senators are on... if so, thank them! If not, give them another call!
If you haven't called yet -- here's another chance!
US Senators Diane Feinstein, Richard Bryan, and Slade Gorton 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. 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 work with concerned members of Congress to close the loophole that allows SUVs to pollute more than cars. 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!)
So far 20 Senators have signed the letter. These Senators are:
Sen. Diane Feinstein, Sen. Richard Bryan, Sen. Slade Gorton, Sen. Robert Toricelli, Sen. Paul Wellstone, Sen. Patrick Moynihan, Sen. Joeseph Lieberman, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Harry Reed, Sen. Fritz Hollings, Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Sen. Tom Harkin, Sen. Max Cleland, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Gordon Smith, Sen. Jim Jeffords, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Bob Graham
ACT: CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY!!
***If your Senators have not signed the letter, urge them to do so.
***If your Senator(s) has already signed, please thank them for taking this important step in the fight to improve miles per gallon standards.
***Write a letter to the editor of your local paper thanking your Senator(s) or urging them to get on board.
Remind your Senators that raising miles per gallon standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming! Call the US Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and urge your Senators to sign on today!
THANK YOU
What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!
Did you know that nearly 66,000 facilities around the country use chemicals which could pose a threat to you and your family if they have an accident?
Did you know that just today, two workers died when an explosion tore through a chemical plant in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania? Or that chemical accidents in the U.S. kill the equivalent of two fully loaded 737 passenger jets - every year?
In 1990, Congress thought that this was information that the public deserved to know. That is why they put a provision in the Clean Air Act requiring these facilities to determine their Worst Case Scenario - what would happen if their tank of chlorine gas released into the air, for instance.
EPA is supposed to get this information on June 21, and then start getting it out to the public. But House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, R-Va., and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., are expected to introduce legislation shortly that would gut the public's right to know about toxic chemicals.
The reason? A study which claims that making this information would increase the threat of terrorism at these sites. There has never been a known terrorist incident at a chemical facility. There were more than 600,000 accidents at chemical facilities in the past ten years.
In February, five people died at a chemical manufacturing facility in an industrial park in Allentown, PA. The late hour of the explosion stopped further tragedy - the force of the explosion caused ceiling tiles to fall down and crush some baby cribs at a nearby day care center. One parent was left asking "How does it get into an industrial park next to a day care center? If I had know, I could have made an informed decision whether to enroll my son there."
Stay tuned to learn about how you can fight roll-backs to our right to know. For more information, contact Mike Newman mike.newman@sierraclub.org
CALIFORNIA: Riverside Report from Terry Wold, Sierra Club organizer
The Sierra Club participated in the annual Orange Blossom Festival in Riverside over the weekend. The event drew more people than in 1998, when Riverside police estimated the two-day crowd at 150,000 to 300,000. The new San Gorgonio Chapter office is located on the walking route from the parking areas to the festival. It was very, very, very hot, so we offered shade and water as well as information!
People seemed to like the SPARE America's National and Neighborhood Wildlands postcards, and I ran out of the Spanish language lead poisoning brochure. (Many Latinos living in the downtown area live in turn-of-the-century houses.) Buttons and bumper stickers were popular both with the kids and grownups.
DULUTH NEWS: On the attack to end logging in our national forests
Excerpts from a Duluth News story: "The ads start with a soft loon call and end with a hard-nosed attack on logging in the Superior National Forest, an effort by the Sierra Club to bolster its campaign against logging in all national forests. Radio ads on KDAL-AM 610 in Duluth and four stations in the Twin Cities began Monday to try to spur Minnesotans to rise up and stop logging on the Superior."
Intensive logging is damaging the Superior National Forest environment and affecting fish, wildlife habitat and aesthetic beauty of the woods. Timber industry clear cutting is devastating the Superior's white pine forests; destroying the habitat for black bear and moose; and damaging our lakes and streams, endangering waterfowl and hurting our trout and walleye fisheries.
"`People are noticing the rate at which our trees are being cut,' Yingling said. `We want them to know it doesn't have to be this way and we want them to wake up and do something about it.'"
MONTANA UPDATE: Protecting Wildlands!
Billings area activists took to the streets on a windy Saturday to spread the word about protecting the beloved Pryor Mountain area, an island mountain range that is home to sensitive and rare plant and bat species, as well as numerous archeological sites. Forty people braved the chilly morning kick off with national board members Jennifer Ferenstein and Betsy Gaines, then spread out across the so-called "Magic City" with information about the threats to wildlands of eastern Montana and the Northern Rockies, especially the destruction caused by off-road vehicles.
Board member Jennifer Ferenstein was busy while in Billings, giving a live TV interview, and meeting with editorial boards of both newspapers and working with a reporter to develop an Earth Day feature story focused on the Pryor Mountains, due out later this week.
One volunteer, Jim Lebar, was followed down the street by a woman who walked up to every house and removed the Sierra Club flyer left on the door. Jim stopped and asked the woman what she was doing; she loudly explained that she didn't think this kind of ---- was necessary in their neighborhood. Meanwhile, a guy with a snowmobile in the back of his monster sized 4 wheel-drive pick-up truck came to his door to check out the commotion, and told the woman, his neighbor, to let people decide for themselves!
Earth Week continues in Billings as the local group prepares to hang their banner atop the rimrocks overlooking the city on Thursday during "rush hour" and to host an evening informational program about the loss of fish and wildlife habitat caused by the channelization of the Yellowstone River.
Its a little to early to fully gauge the response to the lit drop, but if the letter received Monday is any indication, we may have struck a nerve: "Today, to my surprise, I found a pamphlet on my doorstep regarding the protection of the Pryor Mountains. This really meant something to me, because in the summer I spend many of my weekends in the Pryors. I feel that the effort you are putting into this cause is more than heroic.: -Joe Degel
RHODE ISLAND MEGAPORT: from Karina Lutz Rhode Island Chapter Director
An energized and determined crowd rallied in Providence, RI, to send a message to Governor Lincoln Almond to "stop the megaport!" and responsibly redevelop the former Navy bases at Quonset/Davisville in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Placard-waving citizens, including fishermen, shellfishermen, community activists, environmentalists, recreational boaters, and good government advocates turned out in spite of pouring rain.
Dan Seligman, director of Sierra Club's Responsible Trade program, warned the crowd of the "race to the bottom" posed by accelerated trade with sweatshop economies. He heartened activists with stories of other grassroots efforts around the country to stop mega-cargo projects such as the so-called "NAFTA corridor" highways. The 300-350 activists left the rally with over 5000 postcards, to begin doorhanging, tabling, and office distribution efforts throughout Earth Week. The week will culminate in release of Sierra Club's SPARE report at the statewide Earth Day Festival next Saturday.
The rally received terrific TV coverage, with "Live at 5" and 6 PM top stories by ABC's reporter in front of the governor's balcony at the State House. NBC, CBS and Fox also ran great coverage. Radio news announced the rally for two days beforehand, and state and local papers and college radio sent reporters. The Providence Journal-Bulletin ran a photo of activists holding "Keep our Bay Blue, Stop the Megaport" and "Sierra Club" placards in Sunday's paper and quoted RI Shellfisherman's Association representative Bob DiSanto saying "this whole port is about money, not about the quality of life."
"You and I share a common goal, protecting future generations from the grave risk of global warming." President Bill Clinton in a letter to Carl Pope, April 16, 1999
Contents:
GLOBAL WARMING: PRESIDENT CLINTON RESPONDS TO OUR CRITICISM
FIGHTING SPRAWL I: NORTH CAROLINA
FIGHTING SPRAWL II: CALIFORNIA
You've read the press reports, now here's the rest of the story:
"CLINTON DEFENDS GORE'S ENVIRONMENT RECORD In a "personal and unusually swift" move, Pres. Clinton sent a letter on 4/16 to nine environmental groups defending VP Al Gore's environmental record. The groups had criticized Gore earlier in the week for failing to push for "meaningful" cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases from automobiles and coal-burning power plants (Greenwire, 4/14)."
The story behind this letter really began last year. Leading national environmental groups sent a letter to President Clinton and Vice President Gore in 1998 urging them to take action on the two largest US sources of global warming pollution - autos and electric utilities.
The letter was in response to very strong statements about the global warming problem from the Administration -- and very little in the way of action -- before the introduction of Clinton's plan to de-regulate electric utilities.
Clinton's utility plan, unfortunately, did not address global warming. It was also very weak on a number of other environmental issues, including mercury and acid rain. In renewable energy it set goals far lower than Republican Senator Jim Jeffords' (VT) plan that was already in circulation on the Hill.
Over the course of 1998 and first half of 1999, the Administration proposed no other policy initiatives to reduce global warming, other than a modest package of tax incentives and continued vocal support of a risky and unproven global pollution trading scheme.
Several weeks ago, with the Administration planning to re-introduce it's utility restructuring plan, a number of environmental groups decided it was time to knock again on the White House door. This was the letter covered in the New York Times and Washington Post. The idea behind it was to again highlight the need for strong domestic action to reduce global warming pollution, and point out that the Clinton Administration had missed several key opportunities to reduce emissions, but still has time to act.
The CEO's of over a half dozen groups signed on to the letter, including Carl Pope for the Sierra Club. It thanked President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their open discussion of the issue, but criticized their not having followed through with concrete proposals to reduce global warming pollution from cars or power plants. It began: "We are writing to voice deep disappointment with the lack of an Administration proposal to require significant reductions in global warming pollution. We are particularly frustrated that the Administration has not sought meaningful emission reductions from either power plants or passenger vehicles. "
This letter was sent to the Administration and made public, which generated some substantial media coverage. It also generated a surprisingly quick and lengthy response letter from President Clinton to Carl. In it he defended the Administration's record on the environment, and Al Gore's in particular. Clinton argued that attacking global warming pollution from electric utilities through the likely passage of utility deregulation legislation was unworkable. He said nothing about efforts to reduce global warming pollution from cars or SUVs.
The President wrote that Gore helped salvage the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty Protocol and led the fight against congressional attacks on environmental protections. "No one has done more over the past decade to mobilize action against climate change than Gore," Clinton wrote. "We have worked together over the past 6 years to ensure a safer, healthier environment for future generations. It is my hope we can continue in that spirit as we confront the challenge of global warming."
SPRAWL I: NORTH CAROLINIANS AGAINST SPRAWL Food, Music, and Smart Growth: A Winning Combination!
Hundreds of people - and more than 25 Sierra Club volunteers - turned out Saturday to Umstead state park in North Carolina for a march and festival. The day began with a six kilometer "musical march" to raise money for the Umstead Coalition, an organization dedicated to preserving this "neighborhood gem." Participants gathered pledges for the hike, and listened to musicians strategically placed throughout the route to keep their energy up. They then stayed all afternoon to listen to live music, eat free food, celebrate Umstead park, and sign postcards to the governor, calling on him to develop a plan for preserving important open spaces throughout the state.
Umstead State Park is a local treasure threatened by increasing sprawl in the Triangle region of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Ongoing development along two major highways bordering the park, expansion of RDU airport, and sediment runoff into creeks which flow through the park all threaten the parks integrity.
Sprawl is all over the place in the local media. Three television networks ran stories on the evening news highlighting the event, and the Sierra Club's Challenge to Sprawl campaign. The Raleigh News and Observer on Friday ran a front page Metro section story, "Triangle sprawl threatens Umstead," with a quote we couldn't have written better: "Although not known for its dramatic vistas, Umstead is on the same list as Nevada's Red Rock Canyon and the national grasslands of North Dakota."
That same day, the paper ran a lead editorial on smart growth. "`Smart growth,' as it is popularly called, is not the same as `no growth.' Rather, it is an effort to reduce the economic, cultural, quality of life, and environmental impact caused by rapid development and the massive infrastructure - such things as schools, highways and sewers - needed to accommodate it."
Great job to all the super Sierra Club volunteers, and Mary Kiesau, our local Sierra Club organizer!
SPRAWL II: CLUB TARGETS SPRAWL IN CALIFORNIA (excerpted from The Tracy (Calif.) Press, 4/16/99
The Sierra Club is taking its anti-sprawl message to cities across the United States - and Tracy is one of them. Tracy, which has seen its own increased interest in growth issues, is one of 14 areas identified by the Sierra Club as being on the forefront of urban sprawl. "Urban sprawl is one of the biggest issues for the Club this year," said Jackie McCort, a regional representative from Sierra Club's San Francisco office. "We're just trying to get the volume turned up on these issues."
The club's local efforts will focus on the Tri-Valley and Tracy area. Local spokesman Eric Parfrey said Tracy is on the border of two regions - the Central Valley and the Bay Area - so Tracy's growth is an extension of growth in eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Other areas targeted by the Sierra Club are Orange County; Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hills, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas; Cincinnati; Providence, R.I.; Salt Lake City; Richmond, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Detroit; St. Louis; Oahu and Maui, Hawaii.
Excerpt from Livermore Independent, 4/14/99 County C.A.P.P. Could Have Biggest Impact
....The most dramatic initiative proposals have been the CAPP initiatives. They would require voter approval for certain kinds of development in cities or adjacent lands that will be annexed to cities.
But promising even more control over development is the county version of CAPP, which would prevent any urban development in the unincorporated areas of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Steve Bloom, a Sierra Club member serving on the club's anti-sprawl task force, said his group hopes to start circulating petitions in a few weeks to collect signatures for the Alameda County version of the initiative. The club is further along on the Alameda County version, and is aiming at an election in March 2000.
If the county CAPP is approved by voters, "There would be no north Livermore," said Bloom. No urban development would be allowed outside cities. That could be changed, though, if voters amended the county CAPP initiative with another one, he said.
Sierra Club staff and volunteers will be issuing position papers between now and November about various aspects of growth, said McCort. The idea is to notify office holders "about how people feel about growth," she said. It's part of a national Sierra Club campaign focused on many metropolitan areas in the United States, including Riverside and Orange County in California.
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