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August 6, 1999
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers
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 Wildlands Campaign, highlighting the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 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.
TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT WILDLANDS
Please send a letter to the editor urging support for comprehensive conservation funding.
Vacation time is upon us! Between now and Labor Day, millions of American families will head to the great outdoors. Many will head to local state parks and forests, others to our "crown jewel" National Parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone. Some will have adventures in our most remote and pristine wilderness areas, while others will head for our lakes and seashores. What they all have in common is a desire to ensure these national and local treasures are preserved for future generations. Now is a great time to send off a "Letter to the Editor" of your local paper to help build support for ground breaking conservation funding initiatives currently before Congress. Please read on for background information and send a letter.
Background:
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been a critical tool in wildlands preservation efforts for almost 35 years. Funded from royalties paid by oil companies when they drill off our fragile coasts, the LWCF helps us acquire valuable wildlands to enhance our National Parks, Forests and Refuges. In addition, it provides funding to states and local governments for local land acquisition and outdoor recreation facilities. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the annual $900 million promised to the LWCF has ever made it into the Fund's yearly budget.
This year, several initiatives to revitalize the LWCF are being considered in Congress, including "Resources 2000," introduced by Rep. George Miller (H.R. 798) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (S. 446). This landmark legislation would provide full and permanent funding for the LWCF, and empower states and local governments to protect open spaces and develop outdoor recreation opportunities. In addition, the bill provides $1.4 billion in permanent funding for seven other vital environmental and preservation programs, including: coastal restoration, wildlife conservation, endangered species recovery, federal lands restoration, historic preservation, urban park development, and farm and rangeland conservation.
Similar legislation by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Frank Murkowski (R-AK), called the "Conservation and Reinvestment Act" (CARA), would fund important conservation programs as well, but could create incentives for increased offshore oil and gas development. Funding for so-called "coastal impact assistance" in their legislation has no guidelines for its use, and would provide billions of dollars for projects that could potentially harm the environment. In addition, their legislation would impose new harmful restrictions on the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Because CARA provides funding for LWCF and wildlife protection programs, a lot of folks are not aware of its potentially harmful provisions. Fortunately, co-sponsors of all the bills are working together to iron out differences. In the meantime, it's important that your Congressional representatives and other people in your community know about the broad support for comprehensive conservation funding, and about the downside of CARA. Your letter to the editor can help get that message out. And don't forget, send us a copy if your letter is published.
TAKE ACTION ON RESPONSIBLE TRADE
Stop the Beetle Invaders. Order your copy of the Responsible Trade Program's new action kit to stop the invasive tree pests that threaten America's forests, parks, and neighborhoods. As imports grows, so do the number of beetles, fungi, and other imported pathogens that threaten America's natural heritage. For instance, the Asian long-horned beetle has destroyed thousands of trees in New York City and Chicago. If it spreads, it could destroy more hardwood forests across the country than Dutch Elm disease, gypsy moth, and chestnut blight combined. To stop more such dangerous critters from entering the country, we must change international trade rules that block strong preventive action. The kit contains everything you will need to stage a "Last Great Maple Syrup Pancake Breakfast" to draw attention to the Asian beetle's special love for Sugar Maple trees and to draw media attention to the urgent need for a new, clean, and green approach to trade. Contact Dan Seligman at (202) 547-1141 or dan.seligman@sierraclub.org
TAKE ACTION TO END COMMERCIAL LOGGING
Commercial logging damages our National Forests and forces taxpayers to pay the cost of the logging program. Now, pro-logging forces in Congress have not only added a rider on the Senate Interior Appropriations bill that will increase logging, they've left vital fish and wildlife programs underfunded. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to support two amendments to the Senate Interior Appropriations bill -- BOTH the Robb amendment to remove a pro-logging rider AND the Bryan amendment to shift money from timber sales and into programs that benefit fish and wildlife! For more information contact Sean Cosgrove at sean.cosgrove@sierraclub.org
TAKE ACTION ON CLEAN WATER
Factory farms use 16 million pounds of antibiotics each year to promote faster livestock growth and cover up unhygienic production practices. This unnecessary drug use threatens public health; through food and water it exposes people to bacteria that are resistant to the drugs used to treat tuberculosis, staph infections, pneumonia and other infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and prominent public health organizations have expressed great concern about the massive use of antibiotics to increase livestock weight in light of the growing evidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The United States should follow the example of the European Union, which banned adding human-use antibiotics to animal feed last year. Ask Dr. Jane E. Henney, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to ban the use of antibiotics to promote livestock growth when those drugs are used to treat humans. The FDA's address is 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 14-71, Rockville, MD 20857. For more information, contact Ed Hopkins at ed.hopkins@sierraclub.org or (202) 547-1141.
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!
TAKE ACTION ON FAMILY PLANNING
Please call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to co-sponsor the Equity in Prescription Insurance Contraceptive Coverage Act (EPICC). This bill requires health insurance plans that cover prescription drugs to also cover the five FDA-approved methods of prescription contraceptives. Giving women access to voluntary family planning and empowering women and girls stabilizes population and protects the environment. Fore more information contact Jennifer Kurz at jennifer.kurz@sierraclub.org or 202.547.1141 or visit our website at www.sierraclub.org/population.
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 Kathryn Hohmann (202) 547-1141.
"It is ridiculous to send petitions on pairs of jeans, but we feel it is even more ridiculous to desecrate a sacred mountain just to make these jeans." Arizona EPEC Organizer Andy Bessler
CONTENTS
1. SIERRA CLUB JEAN PETITIONS SWAY FOREST SERVICE
2. GLOBAL POPULATION POSTCARDS A HIT AT LILITH FAIR IN TEXAS
3. BIRDS TAKE OVER CHESAPEAKE BAY'S EASTERN SHORE
1. SIERRA CLUB JEAN PETITIONS SWAY FOREST SERVICE FROM AZ EPEC ORGANIZER, ANDY BESSLER FLAGSTAFF, AZ
Ahhh, the media has been kind to us here in Flagstaff. Within the past three weeks, we have gotten on the local paper's front page twice, and on the local tv news station twice as well. Why the stink?
We forced the Forest Service to take action against the White Vulcan Pumice Mine's fence surrounding the mine. The mine owners were killing two birds with one stone when they thought they could erect a fence for both public safety and to enclose the public lands they are proposing to expand upon. In order to get the pumice 70 feet below the surface of the sacred San Francisco Peaks, the mine owners have created a high-cliff wall that the Forest Service says creates a public safety hazard.
The mine balked at first with orders to move their fence back to the actual cliff face. They liked it where they put it: Up to a 1/4 mile away from the actual mine. The press ate the controversy up and presented it as the evil mine going against the Forest Service and "us," the environmental community.
A few days ago, the mine actually took the fence down and the land is once again free! The press was getting tired of the fence issue, but still highlighted the fence coming down.
In conjunction with the hype, I took the stone-washed jeans petitions we have been collecting to the Forest Service to be added to the official public record. The Forest Service bigwigs actually took the time to decide that the jeans are best suited (sorry) for storage with the White Vulcan Mine's public file back in Flagstaff.
So this is what they got...... Six pairs of jeans with 484 signatures including those of Steward Udall, former Secretary of Interior, David Brower, former Sierra Club president and life-long agitator, and Robert Tree Cody, famous Native American Flutist. These six pairs are in addition to the 11 pairs the Forest Service already has on record. I estimate the total names added to the public record at 1200 names.
Channel 2 news was there to watch the transfer of jeans. The District Ranger Gene Waldrip was visibly agitated having to look official carrying those jeans. I handed the jeans neatly folded to him and shook his hand. Very official. I loved it. The cameras got the soundbyte I had practiced. "It is ridiculous to send petitions on pairs of jeans, but we feel it is even more ridiculous to desecrate a sacred mountain just to make these jeans."
2. GLOBAL POPULATION POSTCARDS A HIT AT LILITH FAIR IN TEXAS
The Global Population Stabilization Program is tabling at many of this summer's Lilith Fair concerts. Armed with postcards, factsheets, temporary tattoos, and posters, activists are educating concert-goers about the importance of women's empowerment and access to voluntary family planning in stabilizing population growth. This is what Molly Bean of Austin, TX wrote about her experience: v Lilith Fair was a big success in Austin, Texas. Twelve thousand tickets were sold. Virginia Schilz, population chair for the Austin Group, Karin Ascot, conservation chair for the Austin Group, and me, Molly Bean were manning the Sierra Club booth for the national Sierra Club population program.
Austin is normally hot and dry in the middle of July, but the fair was blessed with clouds, breezes, temperatures in the 80s, and an hour-long sprinkle. Lots of umbrellas came out, but the light rain did not dampen the spirits of any of the revelers.
Lilith Fair attracted an interesting group of people. There were many activists who felt strongly enough about feminist issues to support it financially. There were many more women than men, but there were lots of men in attendance also. And everybody seemed to be having a wonderful time. It was lots of fun to ask people to sign the postcards and to explain (over and over again) what each card meant. Actually, very few people said they were not interested in signing. And even fewer just turned down the opportunity to sign one of them. All together more than 400 people signed postcards to our Senators during the afternoon.
3. BIRDS TAKE OVER CHESAPEAKE BAY'S EASTERN SHORE
The Washington Post just concluded a three-day series of articles on the problems the poultry industry has created on the Eastern Shore of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Here are a few highlights from the article:
- Number of chickens produced on the Eastern Shore in 1998: 602 million
- Number of chickens produced two decades ago: 380 million
- Number of poultry houses: 5,670
- Pounds of chicken produced in 1998: 3.14 billion
- Weight of chicken manure produced each year: 750,000 tons (equivalent to a city of 4 million people)
- Percentage of Eastern Shore wells that exceed EPA's drinking water standard for nitrate: 1/3
- Average oxygen content of Eastern Shore waters: 6.1 parts per million
- Average oxygen content of Mid-Atlantic waters: 10.1 parts per million
- Number of Notices of Violation Perdue Farms' processing plant in Salisbury, Md, received from the city for violations of city wastewater treatment standards from February 1995-April 1999: 157
- Number of times the city followed through on its threats: 0
- Gallons of wastewater created per day by 12 chicken slaughterhouses on the Eastern Shore: 12,240,000
Best quotation of the series: In response to the US Geological Survey's discovery of traces of arsenic in the Pocomoke River: "'It's not an alarming finding,'" a chicken industry spokesman told the Post. (Arsenic is added to chicken feed to kill parasites and promote faster growth.)
"We seemed loony when we said NAFTA allowed companies to sue countries over legitimate environmental regulation." Dan Seligman, Director of Sierra Club Responsible Trade Program quoted in San Francisco Daily Journal, July 22, 1999 (see related article)
CONTENTS
1. TAKE ACTION #1 Don't Trade Away our Clean Water. Support the Kucinich/Ros-Lehtinen Amendment
2. TAKE ACTION #2 Tell Congress to Fully Fund Environmental Programs, Strip Anti-Environmental Riders!
3. Poll: Westerners want more wilderness
In the closing days before Congress goes on August recess, today's SC-ACTION has two Take Action items:
1. TAKE ACTION #1 Don't Trade Away our Clean Water Support the Kucinich/Ros-Lehtinen Amendment
If you think your state has the right to keep cancer-causing chemicals out of your drinking water, think again. A Canadian company called Methanex has just announced that it will file a $1 billion suit because California banned MTBE, a gasoline additive made by the company that's now leaking into the state's groundwater.
After Gov. Gray Davis banned MTBE last March, the company's stock took a dip. So, Methanex has decided that it will take advantage of a little-known provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue the United States for damages before a secretive, international investors tribunal in Paris. If Methanex wins, the federal government could turn around and force California to roll back the MTBE ban or to pay compensation.
Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen think that's just about as outrageous as we do. Next week, they will offer an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and State Department Appropriations Act that would prevent the Federal government from using taxpayer dollars to force states to comply with trade agreements.
TAKE URGENT ACTION
Call your Representatives today. Urge them to support the Kucinich/Ros-Lehtinen Amendment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Call Dan Seligman at 202-547-1141 or e-mail dan.seligman@sierraclub.org, or see our web page at www.sierraclub.org/trade
2. TAKE ACTION #2 Tell Congress to Fully Fund Environmental Programs, Strip Anti-Environmental Riders!
The House of Representatives is getting ready to vote on the appropriations bill that funds the Environmental Protection Agency. Unfortunately, House leadership has decided to use it as another venue for attacking the environment. The bill will:
* Cut EPA funding by $280 million dollars! That is less money for cleaning our air, cleaning our water, cleaning up toxic waste...
* Strangle programs that address Global Warming (See "Global Warming Rider" below)
Global Warming Rider:
An anti-environmental rider attached by Rep. Knollenberg (R-MI) will roll back voluntary programs to reduce energy waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and give equal footing to those few global warming nay-sayers still out there. - Knollenberg is looking to vastly expand the prohibition on Kyoto-related activities. This threatens voluntary programs such as Green Lights and Energy Star, and would block legitimate climate research and policy analysis. - Knollenberg is also requiring that a small minority of critics be given equal standing with mainstream scientists in educational seminars or activities -- even on questions about which there is broad scientific consensus.
Clean Air Rider May be Back:
Rep. Knollenberg had been expected to offer a rider that would stop EPA from implementing strong rules to crack down on polluters that are responsible for some of this summer's most dangerous air quality days. The rider isn't in the bill now, but could be added on the House floor.
Air pollution is causing a national public health crisis, sending tens of thousands of Americans to emergency rooms each summer. There are approximately 117 million Americans who live in areas that do not meet basic smog health standards. Particularly at risk are children, the elderly and the growing number of asthmatic Americans.
The electric power industry is the largest industrial source of the nitrogen oxide pollution that causes smog formation, and sulfur dioxide, which causes deadly fine particulate matter, or "soot." A loophole in the Clean Air Act allows older power plants to emit as much as 10 times the amount of pollution than new plants emit today.
Knollenberg's rider would stop the EPA from moving forward on a rule to cut smog pollution from its largest industrial sources: electric power plants in the Eastern United States.
What You Can Do:
Call your Representative and tell them to oppose all anti-environmental riders in the EPA funding bill! Ask them to strip the Knollenberg Global Warming rider, and to oppose the Knollenberg Dirty Air rider should he try to attach it on the House floor. Finally, ask them to fully fund ALL environmental programs!
For more information, contact Mike Newman at [mike.newman@sierraclub.org].
3. Poll: Westerners want more wilderness July 28, 1999 Associated Press in the San Jose Mercury News
Most people living in the West believe not enough national forest land has been designated as wilderness, according to a poll commissioned by three conservation organizations.
The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group Inc. and released Tuesday, found 57 percent of those surveyed in the West and 63 percent of those questioned nationwide believe not enough of the nation's forests were protected from commercial development.
Seven percent of those in the West and 6 percent nationwide said too much land already is designated as wilderness. The rest believed the right amount of forest land was protected.
Those surveyed were told that currently, 18 percent of the land in national forests is permanently protected from logging and other development, and were asked whether they believed that was too much, not enough or the right amount. The U.S. Forest Service in February imposed an 18-month moratorium on new road-building in some roadless areas, although the policy does not apply to 25 national forests in eight states. The Clinton administration will decide what direction to take on a new policy for road construction and protecting roadless areas.
The poll, which questioned 800 likely voters between June 9-14, found support for protecting roadless areas in national forests cut across gender, political party and regional lines. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
It was commissioned by The Wilderness Society, the National Audubon Society and the Heritage Forests Campaign.
"Seventy-five years ago, New Mexico became the focal point of a growing understanding of how important it is to protect wild places with the designation of our nation's first wilderness area, the Gila Wilderness," said David Henderson, executive director of National Audubon Society-New Mexico. "This poll serves to strengthen the belief that the public continues to appreciate the protection of our national forests."
The Heritage Forests Campaign, a coalition of conservationists, scientists, educators, clergy and members of the public, said it delivered more than 250,000 postcards and e-mail messages from the public to the Clinton administration last month urging protection for 60 million acres of roadless areas in national forests.
The poll found:
* 62 percent of Americans surveyed favored a proposal to protect all roadless areas of at least 1,000 acres in national forests.
* 75 percent supported a plan that would not exempt any national forests from protecting roadless areas.
* More than 70 percent favored banning oil drilling, logging and mining in such roadless areas.
* Women gave the most support for protecting the roadless areas, with 68 percent overall supporting the proposal, 64 percent of those identified as Republican women supporting the proposal and 75 percent of Democratic women supporting it.
* 68 percent of those questioned favored protecting more national forest land than is currently protected.
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