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July 16, 1999
The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life. --Henry Ford
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. --Ronald Reagan
Friday is the ALL ACTION edition of the SC-ACTION, including actions that you can take on each of the Sierra Club's priority campaigns. The featured campaign this week is the Sierra Club's Campaign Finance Reform Campaign. But please be sure to check out the rest of the campaigns to find out what else you can do to defend the environment. Current action items follow on: Global Warming, Sprawl, Clean Water, Ending Commercial Logging, Responsible Trade and Population.
HEAVY WEATHER, LIGHT TRUCKS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Each year that the United States fails to take action to reduce its production of greenhouse gases that produce global warming, we come closer to driving over an environmental cliff.
The single biggest step we could take to reduce the threat of global warming would be to increase the fuel efficiency of the 125 million cars and 65 million light trucks and vans on our roads.
But we can't do that unless Congress passes laws that mandate higher fuel- efficiency standards . . . and that's where campaign finance reform comes in.
Upping the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 45 mpg for cars and 34 mpg for light trucks would lead to a 140-million ton reduction in annual greenhouse-gas emissions in 10 years and a half-million ton reduction of gasoline-related hydrocarbon emissions. Consumers would also save $71 billion at the gas pump.
But Congress seems strangely reluctant to raise CAFE standards and back away from the cliff, and away from a global-warming disaster.
Every year since 1995, Congress has barred the Environmental Protection Agency from even studying the feasibility of such steps. And it has gone especially soft on sport-utility vehicles and minivans, allowing them to be treated as "light trucks" -- a category originally meant for pickups used mostly on farms and construction sites -- even though most of them are driven by suburbanites heading to work and the mall.
Is Congress slow? Forgetful? Maybe. But Congress is also loyal. Since 1995, General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and the United Auto Workers -- the chief opponents of any change in CAFE standards -- have given more than $8.8 million to federal candidates and parties, outspending environmental PACs nearly 6 to 1.
The Senate is now on the verge of a debate and vote that would allow the EPA to begin the process of raising fuel-efficiency standards for cars and closing the light-truck loophole. Despite the looming crisis, the odds of a policy shift are slim; automakers have paid good money to make sure they stay that way.
At least we'll all be driving sport-utility vehicles as we go over that cliff.
If you're interested in breaking the link between money and politics and environmental policy, please contact Public Campaign at (888) 293-5755. Also, please visit www.publicampaign.org for the latest breaking news on how people around the country are working to create an alternative financing system.
1. TAKE ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING. Raising miles-per-gallon standards for cars and trucks would slash global warming and help protect our environment. It would also reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, reduce pressure to drill for oil in sensitive wilderness areas, and strengthen our economy. After years of ducking the issue through anti-environmental riders in the Transportation Appropriations bills, the U.S. Senate will soon vote on a Clean Car Resolution. Sens. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Richard Bryan (D-Nev.) will be offering a resolution urging that the anti-environmental CAFE- freeze rider be dropped from the Transportation Appropriations bill. Calls are pouring in to Senate offices, but there is more to be done! Please write, phone, or fax your senators and urge them to support the upcoming Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution! Tell them that sport-utility vehicles and other gas guzzlers should meet the same fuel-efficiency standards as cars. Remind them that raising miles-per-gallon standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming!
2. TAKE ACTION ON FAMILY PLANNING. Funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is being voted after 5 p.m. this Monday, July 19. If you have not already, please call your representative through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge him or her to support full funding of the UNFPA. Part of the reason for the delay is that Republican leaders wish to have more time over the weekend to allow their troops to lobby the swing votes. So NOW is the time to call.
UNFPA works to ensure that women have access to voluntary family planning, economic opportunities and education -- all of which allow women to choose the size and spacing of their families. Providing access to safe and affordable family-planning services -- and empowering women and girls -- helps to stabilize population growth and protect our environment.
For more information contact Jennifer Kurz at (202) 547-1141 or at jennifer.kurz@sierraclub.org or look at our Web page at https://www.sierraclub.org/population/unfpa.htm.
3. TAKE ACTION ON SPRAWL. The Clinton administration's Better America Bonds program would help communities preserve open space and clean up abandoned industrial sites. This sprawl-busting program would allow communities to get tax-free, 15-year bonds for actions like land acquisition and clean up. Recently, key Democrats in the House, including Robert Matsui (D-Calif.) and Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) introduced legislation to fund the Better America Bonds! They're looking for other representatives to join them, and this is the time to call yours. Ask him or her to co-sponsor this important legislation. For more information contact the Environmental Quality Program (202) 547-1141.
4. TAKE ACTION ON CLEAN WATER: Within the next week, the EPA may issue a draft guidance for issuing Clean Water Act permits to factory farms. This is the first detailed action the Clinton administration is taking under the new plan to protect health and the environment from these facilities. This draft guidance should require permits to include strong, enforceable, measurable and nationally consistent conditions to protect our rivers, lakes and streams. Measures to ensure that animal factories more carefully store their waste, apply the manure onto the land properly, locate animal factories away from places that are ecologically sensitive, and measure and report their water quality are all essential features needed in every Clean Water Act permit. Instead, EPA appears to be prepared to allow states to have variable standards (undermining the concept of a national baseline of protection), based on loose and unenforceable "considerations," and include little public comment and accountability. Call the White House comment line and leave a message in support of strong permitting guidance, using the information above. For more information, contact Ed Hopkins at ed.hopkins@sierraclub.org or (202) 547-1141.
5. TAKE ACTION TO END COMMERCIAL LOGGING. Commercial logging on National Forests and other federal public lands damages fish and wildlife habitat, degrades drinking water, destroys recreation opportunities and charges the cost to taxpayers. Now pro-logging forces threaten to dismantle forest protection laws with a rider on the Senate Interior Appropriations bill. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to protect our forests and remove all anti-environmental riders from spending bills! For more information contact Sean Cosgrove at sean.cosgrove@sierraclub.org
6. TAKE ACTION ON RESPONSIBLE TRADE. The House of Representatives will vote soon on legislation that would devastate Africa's environment. H.R. 434, the African Growth and Opportunity Act -- we call it "NAFTA for Africa" -- would pry open Africa to increased foreign "investment" from transnational oil, mining and logging companies by threatening to raise tariffs on Africa's exports. But without strong environmental laws, the increased "investment" would destroy more of the natural resources -- the farmland, pure water and forests -- that the vast majority of Africans depend on for survival. It's little wonder that Nelson Mandela has called this legislation "unacceptable." Call, write or e-mail your representative today and urge opposition to the African Growth and Opportunity Act, "NAFTA for Africa," H.R. 434. For more information, see our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/trade.
SPECIAL GLOBAL WARMING ALERT!
** TAKE ACTION
Critical vote on global warming, gas guzzlers continues to loom!
Regular SC Action readers will recall that for the last several weeks we have asked you to call your US Senators and urge them to support efforts to combat global warming by requiring cleaner, more fuel efficient cars and trucks.
Your response has been FANTASTIC! Calls have been pouring in to Senate offices, demanding action. The efforts of grassroots environmental activists around the country has auto industry in a panic, and their lobbyists pounding the halls of Congress. But don't just take our word for it... here are a few recent newspaper quotes on YOUR efforts:
"There's no question that there is an extremely well-organized campaign by select interest groups on the (fuel economy) issue," said Susan Skerker, senior director of global public policy at Ford. -- Detroit News page 1, "War on Trucks Escalates" July 9, 1999
"It's an issue that's going to be ripe sooner rather than later", said Janet Mullins, Ford Motor Co.'s vice president for Washington affairs. She noted that the freeze opponents gathered the senators' names for a letter on fuel economy in a relatively short time and got a couple of fence-siting freshman to commit to higher standards. -- Automotive News, "31 Senators Back Higher Cafe" June 7, 1999
"When you get 31 senators to sign onto a letter, that's uncomfortably close to the number of votes that would be needed to make changes in the program," said Mark Kemmer, senior Washington representative at General Motors Corp. -- Detroit News page 1, "Tougher Fuel Rules Loom" June 23, 1999
"We at Ford are seriously concerned about a possible Senate floor debate or vote on automotive fuel economy (CAFE) standards. We know you have signed a letter supporting higher CAFE standards and are asking you to reconsider this support." -- Letter from Ford to all 31 Senators who signed the Feinstein, Bryan, Gorton letter to the President on CAFE standards.
Your efforts have been fantastic, but the fight is not over yet! Please take a few moments to call your Senators!!!
Raising miles-per-gallon standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming. It would also slash America's dependence on foreign oil, reduce pressure to drill for oil in sensitive wilderness areas, and strengthen our economy. After years of ducking the issue through anti-environmental riders in the Transportation Appropriations bills, the US Senate will soon vote on a CLEAN CAR RESOLUTION. Senators Gorton, Feinstein, and Bryan will be offering a resolution urging that the anti-environmental CAFE freeze rider be dropped from the Transportation Appropriations bill.
TAKE ACTION: Write, phone, or fax your Senators and urge them to support the upcoming Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan CLEAN CAR RESOLUTION! Remind your Senators that global warming is one environmental threat we cannot afford to ignore!
House Interior
Appropriations Special Thursday, July 15, 1999
1) House Interior Appropriations - A shift of the political winds?
2) What's Up with the Senate?
3) TAKE ACTION: List O' Champions - Read 'Em and Thank 'Em
1) INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS: NOT NEW BUT (SLIGHTLY) IMPROVED
The House of Representatives completed work and passed the Fiscal Year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill last night. This bill funds federal land management agencies and many important environmental programs such as the National Parks, recreation, fish and wildlife and endangered species protection. Conversely, the bill also subsidizes many environmentally destructive programs such as the commercial logging program, fossil fuel research and mining.
This bill, as with most spending bills in recent years, was burdened with anti-environmental riders that diverted forest trails funds to salvage logging, prohibited funding for protection of the Kankakee River Wildlife Refuge and increased grazing, among other provisions. To add insult to environmental injury, most progressive environmental programs were woefully underfunded.
In short, this bill doesn't deserve to be made into law. It takes shots at environmental quality while continuing to subsidize destructive programs at the expense of the programs that Americans support. However, in a surprising shift of the political winds, two very positive amendments passed that showed how conservation-minded Representatives and activists were able to frame the debate and take delivery under the nose of a hostile anti-environmental Congressional leadership.
Reps. Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV), Chris Shays (R-CT), and freshman Rep. Jay Inslee joined forces to prohibit funding for mining activities that violate Dept. of Interior waste dumping standards. This amendment, passed in fine fashion by a count of 273 to 151, shows overwhelming Congressional opposition to a countering Senate rider offered by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID). Passage of this amendment in the House, along with strong support by the Clinton Administration and opposition by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), is vital to stripping the heinous Craig rider from the Senate bill.
Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA), along with the able work of Joe Hoeffel (D-PA) and Rush Holt (D-NJ), were able to secure $30 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund stateside program by a vote of 213-202. This program provides matching grants to states for land acquisition and recreational facilities and has received $0 for the last several years.
Unfortunately, a last minute attempt by the noble duo of Reps. David Wu (D-OR) and Darlene Hooley (D-OR) to shift $23 million from the timber sales program into fish and wildlife habitat programs was defeated by a vote of 174-250. In a disappointing move leading to the amendment's defeat, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) led a block of moderate Republicans away from supporting the amendment when he spoke out in opposition to it on the floor. Forest and wildlife advocates are greatly encouraged by the leadership of the Wu-Hooley duo, however, who deserve thanks for their efforts.
In the most pleasantly surprising way, the amendment sponsored by Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Steve Horn (R-CA) to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for the construction of logging roads was accepted by Republican leaders and passed on a voice vote when logging proponents realized they couldn't muster enough votes to put up a fight. In three years of exceptional work, forest and taxpayer advocates have been able to whittle away almost $100 million in subsidized logging road construction to the point where Congress now won't even try to fund this destructive program. Hard work and persistence definitely pays off. Congrats to all who have been a part of this effort!!
Another amendment, by Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Mary Bono (R-CA), to prohibit the implementation of the recreation fee demonstration program on National Forest lands was defeated on a voice vote.
THANKS to all who worked on this important effort. Please see the take action and list of Interior Appropriations Perfect Scores to see if your Representative voted correctly on all three amendments.
2) SENATE BILL LOOMS ON THE HORIZON
The House version of Interior Appropriations is bound to leave a bad odor, but it's just a warm-up for the more egregious Senate bill. This bill is laden with some of the worst environmental assaults since the Congress started these backdoor attempts back in the 104th.
Heinous riders include:
- Sen. Larry Craig's (R-ID) effort to overturn mining waste dumping regulations
- Sen. Craig's convoluted rider to overturn positive court decisions on forest management and push federal agencies to ignore scientific data
- Sen. Slade Gorton's attempt to extend livestock grazing into Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
- A prohibition on the reintroduction of grizzly bears into the Northern Rockies
- A provision that sets precedents to require state control of endangered species recovery actions
- A provision that blocks federal agency energy efficiency programs
..and nine others!
The general funding levels of environmental programs take just as big a hit in the Senate bill as in the House. Clearly, this bill falls into the category of "VETO BAIT" and needs a major re-write.
Your Senator should know that backdoor attempts to gut environmental laws are simply not the way to do business. The Senate bill could be set for debate as early as next week, so now is the time to write your cards and letters and make your phone calls. Stay tuned here for further developments.
3) HOUSE LIST OF CHAMPIONS -- THEY DESERVE YOUR THANKS!
Many Representatives voted to pass these three Sierra Club amendments:
- McGovern/Campbell amendment to restore $30 million to Land and Water Conservation Fund stateside programs.
- Rahall/Shays/Inslee amendment to prohibit funding for mining activities that violate Dept. of Interior waste dumping standards.
- Wu/Hooley amendment to shift $23 million from timber sales to watershed improvement and fish and wildlife habitat.
TAKE ACTION
These members of Congress deserve a pat on the back for their strong and consistent stance to stop riders and increase funding for vital programs on the Fiscal Year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill. You can reach them through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask the operator for the Representative's office and leave a laurel and hearty message of thanks!
LIST O' CHAMPIONS - FIND YOURS AND CALL TODAY!
ABERCROMBIE (D-HI) ACKERMAN (D-NY) ANDREWS (D-NJ) BARRETT, THOMAS (D-WI) BECERRA (D-CA) BERMAN (D-CA) BLAGOJEVICH (D-IL) BLUMENAUER (D-OR) BONIOR (D-MI) BROWN, CORRINE (D-FL) CAMPBELL (R-CA) CAPPS, LOIS (D-CA) CAPUANO (D-MA) CARDIN (D-MD) CARSON (D-IN) CASTLE (R-DE) CLAY (D-MO) CLYBURN (D-SC) CONYERS (D-MI) CROWLEY (D-NY) CUMMINGS (D-MD) DAVIS, DANNY (D-IL) DEGETTE (D-CO) DELAHUNT (D-MA) DELAURO (D-CT) DEUTSCH (D-FL) DINGELL (D-MI) DIXON (D-CA) DOGGETT (D-TX) ENGEL (D-NY) ESHOO (D-CA) ETHERIDGE (D-NC) FARR (D-CA) FILNER (D-CA) FOLEY (R-FL) FORBES (R-NY) FORD (D-TN) FOSSELLA (R-NY) FRANK, BARNEY (D-MA) FRANKS, BOB (R-NJ) GEJDENSON (D-CT) GEPHARDT (D-MO) GILMAN (R-NY) GONZALEZ (D-TX) GORDON (D-TN) GUTIERREZ (D-IL) HALL, TONY (D-OH) HINCHEY (D-NY) HOEFFEL (D-PA) HOLT (D-NJ) HOOLEY (D-OR) HULSHOF (R-MO) INSLEE (D-WA) JACKSON (D-IL) JACKSON-LEE (D-TX) JOHNSON, EDDIE (D-TX) JONES, STEPHANIE TUBBS (D-OH) KAPTUR (D-OH) KELLY (R-NY) KENNEDY, PATRICK (D-RI) KILDEE (D-MI) KILPATRICK (D-MI) KIND (D-WI) KLECZKA (D-WI) KUCINICH (D-OH) LAFALCE (D-NY) LAMPSON (D-TX) LANTOS (D-CA) LARSON (D-CT) LAZIO (R-NY) LEACH (R-IA) LEE (D-CA) LEVIN, SANDER (D-MI) LEWIS, JOHN (D-GA) LOBIONDO (R-NJ) LOFGREN (D-CA) LOWEY (D-NY) LUTHER (D-MN) MALONEY, CAROLYN (D-NY) MARKEY (D-MA) MATSUI (D-CA) MCCARTHY, KAREN (D-MO) MCCARTHY, CAROLYN (D-NY) MCGOVERN (D-MA) MCKINNEY (D-GA) MEEHAN (D-MA) MEEKS, GREGORY (D-NY) MENENDEZ (D-NJ) MILLENDER-MCDONALD (D-CA) MILLER, GEORGE (D-CA) MINK (D-HI) MOAKLEY (D-MA) MOORE (D-KS) MORELLA (R-MD) NADLER (D-NY) NAPOLITANO (D-CA) NEAL (D-MA) OLVER (D-MA) OWENS (D-NY) PALLONE (D-NJ) PASCRELL (D-NJ) PAYNE (D-NJ) PELOSI (D-CA) PORTER (R-IL) PRICE, DAVID (D-NC) RAHALL (D-WV) RAMSTAD (R-MN) RANGEL (D-NY) RODRIGUEZ (D-TX) ROEMER (D-IN) ROTHMAN (D-NJ) ROYBAL-ALLARD (D-CA) RUSH (D-IL) SABO (D-MN) SANCHEZ (D-CA) SANDERS (I-VT) SAWYER (D-OH) SAXTON (R-NJ) SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL) SERRANO (D-NY) SHAYS (R-CT) SHERMAN (D-CA) SLAUGHTER (D-NY) SMITH, ADAM (D-WA) SMITH, CHRISTOPHER (R-NJ) SNYDER (D-AR) SPRATT (D-SC) STABENOW (D-MI) STARK (D-CA) TAUSCHER (D-CA) TIERNEY (D-MA) TOWNS (D-NY) UDALL, MARK (D-CO) UDALL, TOM (D-NM) VELAZQUEZ (D-NY) VENTO (D-MN) WALSH (R-NY) WATERS (D-CA) WATT, MELVIN (D-NC) WAXMAN (D-CA) WEINER (D-NY) WEXLER (D-FL) WEYGAND (D-RI) WOOLSEY (D-CA) WU (D-OR)
"We have all this experience over the last 20 years, from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Phoenix, that shows that building and widening freeways do not solve our traffic problems..."
-- Keith Bartholomew, professor at the Wallace Stegner Center for Land Resources and the Environment at the University of Utah, as quoted in the New York Times, July 14, 1999
Contents:
1. IN THE AIR: Cascade Chapter Provides a Bird's-Eye Look at Sprawl
2. ON THE ROAD: A Tale of Two Cities -- And Their Freeways
3. IN THE WOODS I: Conservationists Hack Away at Lumbermill Expansion Plan
4. IN THE WOODS II: Memphis Newspaper Touts End to Logging National Forests
1. IN THE AIR: Cascade Chapter Provides a Bird's-Eye Look at Sprawl
Think about the best sprawl photographs you've ever seen. They tend to be aerial shots, dramatically depicting how subdivisions creep out into undeveloped land, right? So what better way to educate reporters than to get them into the sky for a personal look-see? That's what environmental groups in Washington did last Thursday. The Cascade Chapter's EPEC program sponsored two Lighthawk airflights to highlight the effects of sprawl on the rapidly growing Snohomish County, which forms the northern boundary of the Seattle Metropolitan area.
The passengers on the two 45-minute flights included activists and staff from Snohomish County environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and Audubon Society, and reporters for the Seattle Times, Everett Herald and Lake Stevens Journal. The flights highlighted upcoming growth decisions that the Snohomish County Council will soon vote on. Passengers also checked out ongoing problems, including runoff, street designs that exacerbate congestion and vehicle use, the results of ineffective wetlands mitigation and buildings whose cumulative effects are not being considered cumulatively.
The bird's-eye view helped everyone connect the dots that on-site visits can only suggest.
2. ON THE ROAD: A Tale of Two Cities -- And Their Freeways
An eye-opening page one story in today's New York Times compares and contrasts two cities and their approach to freeway planning. One of them, Salt Lake City, is currently $1.6 billion to expand Interstate 15 from six lanes to 12 lanes of traffic, and is proposing to build another freeway -- the Legacy Highway -- parallel to it. The other city, Milwaukee, is spending $20 million to tear down a segment of freeway, expecting it to save neighborhoods.
The Times article says subsidies for the road projects come from "the largest public works bill ever made law, last year's $217 billion transporation bill." Some will be used for commuter rail projects and bike paths, but most will be used to serve cars. "Sprawl is the direct result of accommodating the automobile," says Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist, who is also quoted in the article as saying that "The urban superhighway should be relegated to the scrap heap of history."
But Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt doesn't seem to get it. Even though there's evidence that expanding highways doesn't reduce traffic, he says people have to get around somehow. and that the overwheming majority of people (the Times says some surveys indicate 97 percent) won't use mass transit.
"What we have done over the last 50 years with the federal highway system is subsidize the worst kind of sprawl," says University of Utah law professor Robert Adler in the article. "In building these roads, you skew people's choices."
3. IN THE WOODS I: Conservationists Hack Away at Lumbermill Expansion Plan
It may be the first time that environmentalists outnumbered timber-industry allies in the logging stronghold of Bemidji, Minn. On July 6, about 100 concerned citizens and conservation activists crowded a standing-room-only hearing room as Potlatch Corporation espoused the practicality of expanding its lumbermill operations. person after person opposed it.
The Sierra Club North Star Chapter worked with Headwaters Green Party and Indigenous Environmental Network, both of whom are based in Bemidji, to inform our members and the public about the expansion and turn them out for the hearing. There was a petition drive, letters to the editor of the local paper, and a mailing and telephone-tree to members.
People expressed concerns about air quality (this mill is adjacent to another Potlatch mill that operates under a separate permit -- meaning nearby communities must endure double toxic emissions), forest ecology, community health and environmental justice. Native American tribal councils have not been properly consulted for the expansion (or any other logging activity in the region, for that matter) and cultural impacts have yet to be addressed. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is currently reviewing the permit application.
4. IN THE WOODS II: Memphis Newspaper Touts End to Logging National Forests
In an editorial headlined "Spare Those Trees," the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., this week urged support of H.R. 1396, the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act, which would end commercial logging in national forests.
"The U.S. Forest Service seeks $3.4 billion from Congress to manage national forests next year. A third of the money would support the agency's outdated, environmentally destructive timber sales program. The bulk of the agency's funding instead should be diverted from logging and applied to forest restoration, as a step toward ultimately ending commercial logging on public lands," the editorial stated.
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