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September 15, 1999
"Was it possible to enjoy the great outdoors, to go camping or fishing, before the auto industry invented the SUV?"
"Yes, I believe it was."-- gist of a conversation on the Senate floor between Richard Bryan (D-NV) and Slade Gorton (R-WA), poking fun at an auto industry ad which implied higher miles per gallon rules would prevent Americans from going camping or fishing.
1) Senate Vote Signals Support for Cleaner Cars and Trucks
2) Push for Public Lands: Geography of Hope Report Released
3) Music with a Message: Lilith Fair Success
1) Senate Vote Signals Support for Cleaner Cars and Trucks
You did it!!! Environmental activists scored a major victory on global warming in the US Senate today (Sept 15th). In a vote on the Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution, 40 Senators -- 6 more than needed to sustain a Presidential veto -- stood up to the auto industry and demanded an end to the anti-environmental rider that has blocked higher miles per gallon rules for cars and trucks!
The Sierra Club issued the following press advisory on the vote on Wednesday night:
WASHINGTON -- The Sierra Club applauded the 40 Senators who voted in favor of the Clean Car Resolution today, a move that could improve gas mileage for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), minivans and pick-up trucks. The move shows strong opposition in the Senate to a rider which for the last four years has barred the Clinton Administration from even studying the possibility of raising miles-per-gallon standards.
By voting to consider closing the loophole that allows so-called light trucks to guzzle more gas and churn out more pollution than cars, the 40 Senators demonstrated to President Clinton that they will stand with him if he acts to curb global warming.
"The Senate's vote signals that it's time for automakers to shift gears -- the days of the gas guzzler are numbered," said Daniel Becker, Director of Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program. "Now all eyes turn to the White House, to see if President Clinton will rise to the challenge of curbing global warming. We call on President Clinton to veto this Transportation Appropriations bill if it prohibits his Administration from studying whether to raise America's miles-per-gallon standard."
In 1975, Congress passed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law to conserve oil and improve the nation's gas mileage. From 1975 to 1989, CAFE doubled the nation's fuel economy. Since then, fuel economy has remained stagnant. Every year since 1995, a rider has been attached to the Transportation Appropriations bill to prevent the Department of Transportation from examining the need to improve CAFE standards. In their vote today, 40 Senators voiced opposition to that rider that freezes CAFE standards at their decade-old level.
"These 40 Senators heard the demand from Americans who want to save money at the gas pump, cut our addiction to foreign oil and reduce global warming pollution," said Ann Mesnikoff, Washington Representative of Sierra Club. "Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans want to improve miles per gallon standards for SUVs -- including SUV owners themselves. No one can argue against saving oil, saving money and saving our environment."
When CAFE passed in 1975, light trucks were used primarily for agriculture and construction work, so they were not required to meet as high a standard as cars. Today, however, most SUVs, minivans and light trucks are used as family cars, dropping kids off at school and picking up groceries. Light trucks make up nearly half of all passenger vehicles sold today. While cars must achieve a standard of 27.5 miles per gallon, light trucks are allowed to lag behind at just 20.7 miles per gallon. Closing the loophole that allows light trucks to guzzle more gas than cars will save 1 million barrels of oil per day and cut 240 million tons of carbon dioxide (the primary global warming pollutant) per year.
"The technologies needed to make sport-utility vehicles as clean as cars have been around for years, but automakers are allowing them to collect dust on shelves in Detroit. Simply putting the best existing technology on SUVs would drastically improve their fuel economy, protect our environment, reduce our dependence on oil, and allow consumers to cash in at the gas pump," said Steve Pedery, Associate Representative at Sierra Club. "Technology that will add about $900 to the price of a light truck will save its owner $3000 at the fuel pump. But automakers won't install that technology and let consumers reap the benefits unless miles per gallon standards are raised."
2) Push for Public Lands: Geography of Hope Report Released
A joint report released by the Sierra Club, U.S. PIRG and other environmental groups last week provided an opportunity to highlight the importance of protecting our vanishing wildlands. The report, titled "Saving America's Geography of Hope: Why Congress Must Protect Our Land and Ocean Legacy," profiled special places across the country that could benefit from several comprehensive conservation funding packages currently under consideration in Congress.
The Newark N.J. Star-Ledger covered a Sierra Club/Highlands Coalition press conference in the New Jersey Highlands, where U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.) called for passage of federal legislation to fund conservation programs. "Preservation of open space is not just for aesthetic reasons," Holt said. "Places like this are how nature cleanses itself." The Sierra Club's Susan Holmes drove home the importance of providing permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, adding that such funding must not result in incentives for more offshore drilling. "We take this opportunity today to send a simple message to Congress. Negotiate a bill with these provisions and pass it. The time is now."
And in Florida, the press was just as good. The Tampa Tribune reported on the release of the report, tying in the importance of protecting valuable but threatened places like the Pinhook Swamp. The swamp, which provides drinking water to 2 million Floridians and habitat for black bears, wood storks and bald eagles, faces a threat from developers and phosphate mining. "A feeding frenzy is going on in Florida, especially in North Florida," said Florida Sierra Club's Judy Hancock.
Sierra Club's Ohio representative Glen Brand participated in a press conference that got coverage in the AP newswire. And Iowa Chapter Conservation Chair Jane Clark was quoted in the Des Moines Register, stressing the importance of funding the LWCF and the excellent opportunity currently before Congress.
3) Music with a Message: Lilith Fair Success
The Sierra Club's Global Population Stabilization Program's participation in the Lilith Fair this summer was a great success. Activists across the country educated concert-goers about the importance of women's empowerment and access to voluntary family planning in stabilizing population growth. Volunteers educated the public by distributing postcards, factsheets, and temporary tattoos. Thanks to everyone who made our participation in the last year of the Lilith Fair so successful! For more information contact Jennifer Kurz at jennifer.kurz@sierraclub.org.
The following is an excerpt from an article written by Audrey Halverson of River Falls, WI about her experience entitled "Grandma Goes to the Lilith Fair."
I offered to take care of the Sierra Club booth at the Lilith Fair, held at the Canterbury race-track on the west side of the Twin Cities. I didn't even know who Lilith was until it was explained to me that according to the Jewish faith, she was the first woman God made for Adam. But she took one look at him and decided she didn't want any part of it so God was forced to make Eve who was more docile. Lilith has become a heroine for women's lib and the Fair had lots of women's lib booths plus many famous female musical entertainers.
At 2:45 a flood of people at least fifty feet wide started running onto the grass expanse. There must have been thousands of them. After they had staked out their spot with blankets or chairs they circulated around the "Village," where we were tabling. We were displaying postcards in support of funding for international family planning and women's empowerment programs addressed to US Senators. Less people means less stress on the environment.
The concert-goers were young. I bet there weren't three of them older than me. They were polite and cheerful, and for the most part dressed rather funny. A few had odd colored hair but they were well educated and knew the environment needs help. Almost 200 signed postcards. It's wonderful to see young people concerned about population.
The music was awful, but this is the "out of it" grandmother talking. Ann and Brett Smith, the other two volunteers working with me, who I thought were old enough to know the music was awful liked it and were familiar with the entertainers names! When we were done tabling, I was glad to get home to my sweet husband and to listen to a nice polka.
"The ad shows a couple of fishermen walking toward an SUV, which is carrying - in good Maine tradition - a canoe on its roof. A canoe? An Escort in need of a valve job can haul a canoe. Bicycles can haul canoes." -- Pro-Clean Car Resolution editorial criticizing misleading ads by the auto industry, Bangor Daily News, 9/9/99
Contents:
TAKE ACTION #1: Help Get The Money Out of Politics!
TAKE ACTION #2: Clean Car Vote Set... Call Your Senators Today!
1. Causing a Stink: Activists Rally At Smithfield Foods Headquarters
2. Taking it to the Streets in the Emerald City
3. Clinton Responds to Citizen Pressure on the WTO
TAKE ACTION
#1 -- TAKE ACTION ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Our U.S. Senators and Representatives are again considering taking up bills to clean up politics and ban soft money from political campaigns. Soft money contributions are donations made to political parties and then sent off to specific campaigns. Such an unregulated system allows big businesses and unions to exert their tremendous political influence and to sway the outcome of certain elections and votes. We must stand firm in our support of the Shays(R-CT) - Meehan(D-MA) bill, HR 417, and the McCain(R-AZ) - Feingold(D-WI) bill, S. 26. These bills will help to correct a broken campaign finance system and they would reduce the power of polluter interest groups.
Unfortunately, there are over 8 riders and amendments which our leaders are debating over the next two days. We need to actively oppose these amendments that would water-down the reform legislation. TELL your Senators and Representatives NOT to accept any compromises. Campaign finance reform legislation cannot withstand further weakening. We urge you to call your Senators and Representatives to ask them to oppose any riders or amendments.
#2 -- Clean Car Resolution Vote Set for Wednesday the 15th!
*** Please call your Senators TODAY - urge them to vote for the Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution and against any amendments! ***
The Senate is set to vote on Sept. 15th on the Clean Car Resolution and pollution spewing from gas guzzling SUVS and other light trucks. The Clean Car Resolution seeks to end the "stealth" anti-environmental rider that bars the Clinton Administration from even studying whether to raise miles per gallon standards. The auto industry is waging a multi-million dollar ad blitz in states with swing Senators, arguing that they just can't build cleaner vehicles.
TAKE ACTION: Help stop the big polluters in the auto industry! Please phone or fax your Senators TODAY! Urge them to support the upcoming Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution, and closing the loophole that lets SUVs and other light trucks pollute more than cars! Remind your Senators that raising miles per gallon standards for cars and trucks is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming!
1) Causing a Stink: Activists Rally At Smithfield Foods Headquarters
Activists from Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland came to Smithfield, VA this past Saturday (Sept 11) to rally in front of the Corporate Offices of Smithfield Foods, Inc., the largest pork producer in the world. Their message was clear: The Hog Industry Stinks.
Don Webb of the NC Alliance for a Responsible Swine Industry, Linda Hagenou with the Brunswick County Citizens Alliance, Jack Dunavant with Southside Concerned Citizens and Chris Bedford from Sierra Club-Maryland joined Virginian Sierrans in calling on an end to cesspools for waste storage, abuse of antibiotics, and requiring modern waste treatment of waste, humane treatment of animals and fairness for family farmers.
Virginia Sierra Club and Southside Concerned Citizens, a regional environmental group in southern Virginia took the occasion to call on Governor Gilmore to impose a moratorium on permits for new and expanded CAFO facilities in the state.
Joining local activists was a delegation of Polish farmers, farmers' union representatives and environmentalists touring Smithfield operations in the US as the guests of the Animal Welfare Institute, a Washington, D.C. based non-profit concerned with the humane treatment of farm animals. The Poles are concerned with Smithfield Foods' plans to "Americanize" their hog production with Smithfield's purchase of Animex, Poland's largest pork producer earlier this year.
The demonstration drew television coverage from three Norfolk Stations and local press coverage.
2) Taking it to the Streets in the Emerald City
Summer weather finally came to Seattle this past Sunday - when under clear blue skies, high 80 degree temperatures and Mount Rainier looming in the background the WA EPEC kicked off it's fall EPEC program. In conjunction with the Cascade Chapter's first Autumn Walkathon the WA EPEC passed out 4,000 cards to activists concerning sprawl/salmon to distribute to their neighborhoods. The cards have a tear off post card to send to the King County and Snohomish County Executives. Another 8,000 cards will be distributed in the next month in conjunction with the release of the National Sprawl Report and various fall festivals.
3) Clinton Responds to Citizen Pressure on the WTO
Pres. Clinton yesterday warned business and political leaders that they need to address the environmental and social concerns of average citizens as they pursue a more open trading system, reports today's Los Angeles Times. The call comes as environmentalists and labor unions make plans to demonstrate against the World Trade Organization during its upcoming meeting set to begin in Seattle on Nov. 30.
Speaking in New Zealand at the annual Asia-Pacific trade summit, Clinton also called on the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund to drop their veils of secrecy. Commerce Secretary William Daley commented, "It's pretty obvious there's been a breakdown in [U.S.] political support. People see layoffs, not payoffs, when it comes to trade."
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. Just because Congress is on recess doesn't mean we are! When Congress returns after Labor Day, they have many important votes to make -- so, please check out the action items below: Global Warming, Human Rights, Wildlands, Sprawl, Family Planning, Ending Commercial Logging, Responsible Trade, and Clean Water.
TAKE ACTION ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE
At long last, the U.S. House is scheduled to take up campaign finance reform this Tuesday (September 14, 1999). Despite efforts by the Congressional leadership to put off consideration of campaign finance legislation, reformers have forced the issue onto the agenda. The House is scheduled to debate and vote on the Reps. Shays (R-CT) - Meehan (D-MA) bill, HR 417, during the week of Sept. 13. The Senate plans to review the companion Sens. McCain (R-AZ) - Feingold (D-WI) bill, S 26, by Oct. 12.
These bills would place limits on campaign spending and ELIMINATE soft money contributions to political parties. Passage of the bills would make a real contribution to environmental protection by reducing the political power of campaign funds from polluter interests. Soft money accounts for about 30% of major campaigns, and is unregulated and uncontrollable. This allows mining, oil and chemical companies to make unlimited cash donations to political parties. By closing this loophole with the reform bills, polluting companies and other interests will not have such disproportionate influence on our Congress. A strong new House vote for Shays-Meehan and against all amendments designed to weaken the measure will give the nation it's first step forward on this issue in 25 years.
Please contact your Representative and urge him or her to vote for the Shays-Meehan bill and against all of the proposed amendments.
*****MAJOR SENATE GLOBAL WARMING VOTE ONLY DAYS AWAY!*******
*** Please call your Senators TODAY - urge them to vote for the Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution and against any amendments! ***
THIS WEEK the Senate will vote on whether to clean up gas guzzling SUVS and other light trucks. The Clean Car Resolution seeks to end the "stealth" anti-environmental rider that bars the Clinton Administration from even studying whether to raise miles per gallon standards. The auto industry is waging a multi-million dollar ad blitz in states with swing Senators, arguing that they just can't build cleaner vehicles. Latest reports are that they are running this TV, radio, and newspaper ad campaign in: DE, IA, IL, ME, ND, NE, NM, SD and WI.
TAKE ACTION: Help stop the big polluters in the auto industry! Please phone or fax your Senators TODAY! Urge them to support the upcoming Gorton/Feinstein/Bryan Clean Car Resolution, and closing the loophole that lets SUVs and other light trucks pollute more than cars! Senators from across the political spectrum agree that it's high time we close the SUV loophole! Remind your Senators that raising miles per gallon standards for cars and trucks is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming!
For more information on Global Warming and CAFE standards: https://www.toowarm.org
TAKE ACTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Mexican Environmentalists Tortured
On May 2, the Mexican military arrested Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, two environmentalists who organized their communities to curb logging in the old-growth forests of the Sierra de Petatlan in southwestern Mexico. Wealthy land owners, angered by disruption to their profitable logging ventures, targeted Montiel and Cabrera and urged corrupt Army officials to arrest them. Since May, Montiel and Cabrera have reportedly been beaten, tortured, and forced to confess to charges concocted by the military--including drug trafficking and belonging to a guerrilla group. Please write to the Mexican Ambassador and demand that Montiel and Cabrera be released from jail immediately. Tell him that torturing environmentalists is an outrageous violation of basic human rights. Ambassador Jesus Reyes Heroles, Embassy of Mexico, 1911 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20006, FAX (202) 728-1698. For more information, visit our Web site, www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
TAKE ACTION ON WILDLANDS
Just before the Congress left town for the August recess, we reached a milestone in the campaign to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Six representatives signed on in the final week as cosponsors of HR 1239, a bill introduced by Rep. Bruce Vento (D-MN) to officially designate the coastal plain as wilderness. His bill now enjoys a record level of support, 160 cosponsors. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to polar bears, caribou and countless migratory birds, is truly America's last great wilderness. The Native Alaskan Gwich'in people depend on the Porcupine Caribou herd for food and cultural survival. The time has come to permanently protect this last remnant of Alaska's great wilderness from the oil development that has already claimed 95% of the Alaska's coast, for the wildlife, the Gwich'in people, and for all future generations. With your help, we hope to fend off threats to develop the coastal plain and to ultimately win support for passage of this important legislation. Please contact your Representative and urge him/her to cosponsor HR 1239. Ask your Senators to cosponsor S.867, a similar bill in the Senate introduced by Sen. William Roth (R-DE) which has also garnered a record 25 Senators as cosponsors.
TAKE ACTION ON SPRAWL
As poorly planned development continues to eat away at Americans' quality of life, your Senator can take steps to curb some of the ill effects of sprawl by supporting S. 1558 the "Community Open Space Bond Act." The Community Open Space Bond Act was recently introduced into the Senate by Senators Baucus (D-MT) and Hatch (R-UT). It would provide a new set of innovative tools to local and state entities to fight sprawl. The bill would give state, local and tribal governments up to $1.9 billion annually for five years in bonding authority to combat sprawl. The program allows state and local governments to carry out their own conservation priorities by using zero interest bonds to purchase open space, protect water quality, improve access to parks and to help redevelop abandoned industrial sites. Although S. 1558 is not the solution to sprawl, it is a strong start. Urge your senator to cosponsor S. 1559 and provide communities with the tools to make our communities more livable.
TAKE ACTION ON FAMILY PLANNING
Now is the time to talk or meet with your Senators! Since Congress is out of session through Labor Day your Senators and Representatives are most likely at home in their districts. The battle over UNFPA might not be over yet, especially in the Senate. Please urge your Senators to cosponsor the bill to refund UNFPA, S.965. For more information contact Carol Schlitt at 202.547.1141 or at carol.schlitt@sierraclub.org or visit our website at www.sierraclub.org/population.
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.
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