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April 29, 1999
"I simply felt clean air, clean water and wildlands were worth protecting, and that fighting those battles was far more enjoyable than the prospect of practicing law. Looking back, I can't imagine a more rewarding career." --Sierra Club Chairman Mike McCloskey, who will retire April 30 after four decades of protecting the environment
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: SUPPORT BETTER AMERICA BONDS
MORE EARTH DAY REPORTS:Hawaii and North Dakota
PLEASE TAKE ACTION
SUPPORT 'BETTER AMERICA BONDS'
Protect Open Space, Restore Water Resources, Restore City Centers
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
That's how we have to fight our battle to put the brakes on sprawl -- one step at a time. It's going to be a big job, but we can take steps, starting now.
One step is the Better America Bonds program, a voluntary tax-free bond program that will allow communities to grow on their own terms -- not at the expense of our environment.
Bond programs are commonly used to pay infrastructure costs for projects like bridges, roads and water-treatment plants -- the kind of programs that encourage sprawl. The Better America Bonds program will provide $700 million in new tax credits to leverage, over five years, almost $10 billion worth of state and local bonds. But instead of creating more clogged roadways, these new dollars will preserve open space; protect rivers, lakes and streams; and help communities redevelop abandoned industrial sites in city centers. That means they'll help curb sprawl.
The new bonds will help communities carry out their own conservation priorities. In some regions, open-space acquisition is a top priority, but in older suburbs, industrial site clean-up is a key concern. This bond program encourages regional cooperation and planning, so that one region's gains aren't another's losses.
You can help by calling your senators and asking them to cosponsor the bill sponsored by Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Baucus has has agreed to introduce this legislation, but he needs friends if it's going to pass. We'll have more information in an upcoming edition of the SC-ACTION, but for now you can help by calling your senators and alerting them to this innovative way of putting the brakes on sprawl!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTION!
EARTH DAY EVENT DRAWS MAUI CROWDS
In Maui, Sierra Club staff and volunteers grabbed front-page headlines when hundreds of activists attended a public hearing on Earth Day to oppose the expansion and internationalization of the island's Kahului Airport. The hearing, hosted by the state Land Use Commission, reopened a long controversy over the state's proposed 700-acre airport urbanization plan. Public testimony ran 3-to-1 against the project, even though expansion is supported by the state, local Chamber of Commerce, visitor bureau, unions and Maui's huge tourism industry.
Airport opponents waved signs, and held up oversized pinwheels festooned with "creepy crawly" rubber snakes and bugs. They hoisted a bright cartoon-style banner proclaiming "Big City Airport -- Big City Problems" for the press' cameras to capture.
The National Parks and Conservation Association sent an Earth Day press release to media nationwide naming Maui's Haleakala National Park as one of the nation's "10 most endangered" parks -- due to airport expansion plans! Haleakala is a United Nations World Biosphere Site. The park's rare native species would be threatened when exposed to invasive pests from unmonitored international flights.
Maui Group Chair Bill Watson was quoted in local papers calling the airport plan "one of Maui's most discussed and least understood issues."
As a result of the tremendous public turnout, the Land Use Commission scheduled two more days of public testimony. The publicity has inspired even more residents to testify. The Sierra Club will be there!
NORTH DAKOTANS STUMP FOR GRASSLANDS
North Dakota's Grassland wildlands got a boost this week. Wayde Schafer, North Dakota EPEC organizer, and Kirk Koepsel, Northern Plains regional representative, kicked things off with an Earth Day press conference in Bismarck. They released the Sierra Club's SPARE wildlands report, which features North Dakota's National Grasslands as the nation's last, best chance for grasslands wilderness -- the only major ecosystem not represented in the National Wilderness Preservation System.
In town for the event was Debbie Sease, the Club's national legislative director, who spoke at a local high school in an effort to get students involved in local environmental issues. (She also paid a courtesy visit to grasslands supervisor, Larry Dawson, the target of North Dakota's postcard campaign.)
At the Earth Day rally, Sease spoke eloquently about the importance of preserving the remnants of the landscape that Lewis and Clark saw when they passed through North Dakota 200 years ago. The weather cooperated beautifully that day, and the Teddy Roosevelt Group was able to recruit 65 participants, making it truly a community event.
The new recruits went into the neighborhoods and passed out over 11,000 postcards for people to send to President Clinton and the grasslands supervisor.
"We hear a lot about overcrowding in parks, but the problem isn't people. It's what they drive to get to the park. As we go into the next century, if the popularity of the automobile continues to grow, it's just going to get worse and worse." Russ Dickenson, Former National Parks Service Director -- Salt Lake Tribune, April 27, 1999.
Contents:
I. TAKE ACTION: GLOBAL WARMING -- Call your Senators to urge stronger fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks.
II. FIRST VICTORY FOR SPARE REPORT WON IN PA.
III. ADDITIONAL EARTH DAY ACHIEVEMENTS: Washington, South Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, Idaho, and Wisconsin
I. PLEASE TAKE ACTION
Feinstein, Bryan and Gorton letter to President Clinton have been swamping Senate offices and getting results!!! Twenty-five Senators signed the letter addressed to President Clinton urging him to work with them implement the fuel economy standards law.
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.
This letter shows that Senators with a range of political views all support the goals of curbing global warming and protecting our environment. Please help us in our final push to urge more Senators to sign this important letter
The following Senators need to hear from you! Please call today and urge them to sign the Feinstein, Bryan and Gorton letter to the President today!
Baucus (D-MT) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Chafee (R-RI) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND Coverdell (R-GA) Daschle (D-SD) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Grassley (R- IA) Gregg (R-NH) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kerrey (D-NE) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lincoln (D AR) Mack (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) Reid (D-NV) Robb (D-VA) Rockefeller (D-WV) Roth (R-DE) Sarbanes (D-MD) Snowe (R-ME) Stevens (R-AK)
Here are the 25 Senators signed on the Feinstein, Bryan and Gorton letter:
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, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. Daniel Akaka.
Please call these Senators to thank them for signing the letter!!
II. PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN USES SPARE AMERICA'S WILDLANDS REPORT TO WIN EARLY VICTORY
Led by volunteer Ben Harper, the Pennsylvania chapter won an early victory in their campaign to stop development in the Moosic Mountain Barrens, persuading Gov. Tom Ridge to support their campaign!
On April 20, the group held a pre-Earth Day press conference to release the Sierra Club's Earth Day report, "SPARE America's Wildlands," which features Pennsylvania's Moosic Mountain Barrens as a local treasure threatened by development. Using a well-executed media plan, the group garnered considerable positive coverage, including a giant, full-color photo of a volunteer holding the "SPARE America's Wildlands" report with the mountains in the background.
Within a week, the pressure generated by the Sierra Club's campaign convinced Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to consider protecting the Moosic Mountain Barrens.
The Scranton Times reported: "In response to a press conference held last week by two environmental groups, Ridge spokesman Jerry Feaser said, 'The governor has significant concerns about the project and is looking closely at this issue.'"
III. MORE EARTH DAY REPORTS!
Earth day success stories keep rolling in! Today's reports are from Washington, South Dakota, Michigan, Iowa and Idaho. Great work and great coverage!
Washington: The Ironing Board Brigade and NW Salmon
The Cascade Chapter hosted another of their famous Ironing Board Brigades, when 170 volunteers set up shop at 10 locations in the Seattle area during the past two weekends and on Earth Day. The public's response was great, with approximately 7,500 people grabbing pens to sign 15,000 postcards.
Volunteers ranged from 7 to 70 years in age and braved the risk of sunburn this past Saturday afternoon and hypothermia from a driving rain on Sunday morning. Congressman Jay Inslee stopped by and expressed his support for the effort.
Karen Fant, who has helped spearhead a number of these outreach events, said it was one of the best ever, with an incredible set of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers. Coming as the state and Seattle-area counties work to develop a salmon recovery plan, the timing of this outreach effort could not have been better.
South Dakota: Big Sioux River
The Sierra Club used Earth Day to focus media attention on South Dakota's need to improve water quality on the Big Sioux River, which supplies drinking water to area residents.
Sierra Club generated numerous radio and television interviews and met with the local newspaper editorial board.
Sunny skies greeted Sierra Club volunteers for the outreach activity on Saturday. The day kicked off with a rally covered by area TV stations. Afterwards, approximately 40 volunteers distributed 7,000 postcards across Sioux Falls.
Michigan: Humbug Marsh
Throughout Earth Week, activists and volunteers from approximately 30 churches across Michigan hosted postcard signing and distribution events with their congregations. Over 4,000 cards were distributed, urging Clinton, the Governor and the Army Corps to halt the proposed luxury-home/golf-course development on Humbug Marsh, the last remaining undisturbed wetland on the American side of the Detroit River.
Mackinac Chapter's Alison Horton will be presenting all of the signed localized cards for Humbug Marsh protection, along with Chapter testimony, at the joint State/Army Corps public hearing Wednesday, May 5th in the downriver Detroit community of Wyandotte.
Iowa: Eddyville Dunes
The wind and the rain didn't deter Iowa club members from showing up to celebrate Earth Day. The Sierra Club joined with the Hawkeye Fly Fisherman's Association and students from Drake University's Environmental Club to rally support for the Eddyville Dunes. Two TV cameras reported the event, which included speeches from coalition members, state representatives and a liaison from the Governor's office.
Idaho: Owyhee Canyonlands
In Boise, hundreds of people turned out for an Earth Day concert and rally to protect salmon and save the Owyhee Canyonlands. Prior to the partying, more than 100 volunteers spent the morning knocking on doors and talking with neighbors about their conservation campaign. They passed out 5,000 Sierra Club postcards for residents to mail to President Clinton and Interior Department Secretary Bruce Babbitt asking for help protecting public lands.
April 27, 1999
"If the Army Corps of Engineers thinks the destruction of 21,000 acres of wetlands next to Everglades National Park and the Everglades Protection Area is OK, we'll be seeing them in federal court." Barbara Lange, Sierra Club, quoted in the Miami Herald, April 26, 1999.
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: NEW MEXICO'S BISTI/DE-NA-ZIN WILDERNESS AT RISK!! Please submit comments to Protect the Bisti Wilderness
SUCCESS STORY: Letters to the Editor do get published
MORE EARTH DAY REPORTS: Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, California and Nevada
PLEASE TAKE ACTION
NEW MEXICO'S BISTI/DE-NA-ZIN WILDERNESS AT RISK!! Please submit comments to Protect the Bisti Wilderness
Three hours from the buzz of Albuquerque and Santa Fe lies the beautiful Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area. Its surface is lunar and magical, with hoodoos, spires, and painted buttes. The bones of dinosaurs are perpetually eroding to the surface out of Bisti's colorful, but fragile soils. It is home to at least one species that lives no where else on earth. The Bisti was the first BLM wilderness area and represents a landmark in New Mexico landscape protection.
Unfortunately, an oil company called Speerex is attempting to force the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to let it drill for oil and gas in the Bisti Wilderness. We can't allow this most enchanting of New Mexico's landscapes to be defiled with roads, pipelines, and drill rigs.
You can help stop the unnecessary destruction of the Bisti Wilderness. The BLM still has to approve the drill permits and rights of way for Speerex to move forward. With enough public pressure they could deny the permits and easements. Please take a few minutes and write the BLM to let them know that you support the "No Action" alternative in their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (see below for address). No Action means no drill rigs in the wilderness. Tell the BLM -- NO DRILLING IN THE BISTI! The comment period ends April 30, so please write today! Thank you!
Please send your comments to:
Lee C. Otteni, Field Office Manager BLM, Farmington Field Office 1235 La Plate Highway, Suite A Farmington, NM 87401
THANK YOU !
Letters to the Editor Do Get Published!
SC-ACTION reader Vivian Davis successfully placed a letter to the Editor in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The letter tied the 10th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill to the importance of protecting the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from similar disasters. An excerpt of the letter reads, "Without a doubt, oil development activities would forever change the face of this fragile wilderness and seriously threaten the healthy existence of a whole range of wildlife. Let's tell the oil companies and Congress that the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge must be made off-limits to oil drilling forever. "
The letter was one of many media hits across the country linking the anniversary of the spill with efforts to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil development. Letters to the Editor like this one are a great way to get the word out and educate your community about an issue. Special thanks to Vivian Davis for taking the time to send this letter and educate Arkansas about saving the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
And here's another one for you, Vivian -- and for the rest of you who want to help out the Sierra Club Wildlands Campaign and its efforts to protect millions of acres of America's wild places!
Support for "Resources 2000," the bill by Rep. George Miller and Sen. Barbara Boxer to revitalize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and fund an array of conservation programs, continues to gain support. But similar legislation that could have harmful effects on our coastal environment and cripple the LWCF is still out there. If we want to see a good compromise come out of the committees handling this legislation, it is essential that our elected officials put their weight behind the Miller-Boxer proposal. write to your local paper, urging your local elected officials to get signed on to this crucial legislation. For more background information on this issue, see SC-ACTION Vol. II, #59, 4-5-99. Thanks for your help!
MORE EARTH DAY REPORTS!
Earth day success stories keep rolling in! Today's reports are from Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, California, and Nevada. Great work and great coverage!
UTAH: red rock canyons
Phew! What a wild ride it was. About 100 Utah volunteers conducted 16 Sierra Club booths over Earth Week including 10 at the same time to sign Earth Day postcards. More than 5,000 postcards to Babbit urging him to protect
wilderness were signed! In addition to the tabling, Sierra Club hit took to the airwaves with two different Wilderness Radio ads featuring heart felt testimonials of a southern Utah native's love of Utah Wilderness -- thanks to long time Club volunteer, UWC co-chair, and owner of Ed Abbey's truck, Gayle Hoskission.
Finally, Utah Sierra Club's Earth Day Event was a great success, with the announcement that Utah's red rock canyons are among the six top national treasures. Conservation Director Bruce Hamilton was on hand to help release the Club's SPARE America's Wildlands report. Utah Chapter member, Nina Dougherty, was also on hand, speaking about the threat to the Great Salt Lake wetlands, which is also featured in the report. The wetlands is threatened by the Legacy Highway project.
Lots of great stuff going on in UTAH!!!!
LOUSIANA: Bayou at risk
Sierra Club was on hand at Bayou Trepagnier for Earth Day, exposing the toxis threat to the area. Sarah Craven, from the New Orleans field office, pointed out that contamination from the Bayou is migrating, and could ultimately threaten wildlife in Lake Ponchatrain. The "Spare America's Wildlands" report includes coverage of Bayou Tregpagnier's plight -- polluted by a petrochemical plant, the Shell Norco plant now called Motiva Morco Refining Company.
The Times-Picayune story feature a photo of Craven paddling on the Bayou.
COLORADO: Rainy river float
Colorado Field Staffer Tina Arapkiles reports in that despite pouring rain, 18 hardy folks showed up to float the Colorado river to demonstrate support for Colorado Wild Places. We had 55 signed up but the weather was grim. It has been storming in the mountains and front range for days and therefore cold air was coming down the river, the wind was up and the temperature hovered around 40 degrees. Still, spirits were high, people were wet and the river was higher than expected because of recent storms.
CALIFORNIA: Sprawl
On Saturday, April 24th, the Sierra Club officially kicked off its Tri-Valley Environmental Public Education Campaign (EPEC) at Carnegie Park in downtown Livermore. Folks of all ages from the Tri-Valley area, concerned about the harmful effects of unchecked sprawl on their quality of life, gathered for an Earth Day rally at the park. After the rally, teams of volunteers distributed educational postcards in local neighborhoods.
Livermore native and chair of the Sierra Club's Tri-Valley Group, Cynthia Patton participated in the rally, saying: "The Tri-Valley does not have to become another sea of suburban sprawl. . . . It's time to get a grip on our growth."
Contra Costa Times, in a story, entitled, "Successful Earth Day", reported that "In the East Bay this year, Earth Day has taken on a renewed political significance. The Sierra Club targeted the Tri-Valley and Tracy last weekend for demonstrations that point out the harmful effects of growth: air and water pollution, traffic and the like."
SPECIAL THANKS TO MARGARET TRACY, CYNTHIA PATTON, PAULETTE SALISBURY, MIKE DALEY, AND OTHERS WHO HELPED TO PULL THIS GREAT EVENT TOGETHER AT THE LAST MINUTE!
NEVADA: radio ads and more
In Las Vegas the SPARE report was released with the help of Group Chair Marcia Forkos and Wilderness Chair (and radio voice man) Howard Booth, who did a great job with the media . The event got great TV and print coverage. The radio ads run during the week got a fantastic response. People heard them and actually called up and want to know how they can help!! about.
Our Earthweek concluded on April 22 with a special showing of "Wilderness... Nevada's Hidden Treasure", a slideshow put together by the Friends of Nevada Wilderness with the support of the Sierra Club. We had a great turnout and there were a lot of new faces in the crowd. People were eager to sign the postcards and get involved after seeing all of the amazing things we have to protect. Many took extra cards with them to have friends sign. Afterward, everyone got a big piece of John Muir's birthday cake.
NEXT PAGE -->
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