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Oct. 27, 1999
"We have let the Sierra Club define agriculture in this country" -- Paul Hitch, cattleman and hog farmer. (From the Daily Oklahoman, 10/18, after the release of the Sierra Club's report on factory farms)
1. Take Action: Stop "Clearcuts for Kids" - House Vote Soon!
2. Sierra Club Mourns the Death of Rhode Island Senator John Chafee
3. Sprawl Campaign: on the Road and in the News in MO & MI
4. Radio Ads Support President's Roadless Plan
TAKE ACTION
1. TAKE ACTION: STOP "CLEARCUTS FOR KIDS" - HOUSE VOTE SOON!
Mike Dombeck, Chief of the Forest Service, said it best: "Why should the education of rural schoolchildren be funded off the back of a controversial timber program?" He was referring to a 1908 law, known as the "25% Fund" that requires the Forest Service to turn over 25% of logging revenues to counties for use in funding schools and roads. This outdated program allows huge logging companies to cut down our National Forests in the name of providing money for schools. This program is such a bad idea we've dubbed it "Clearcuts for Kids."
Unfortunately, members of Congress and Senators are pushing legislation to strengthen this outdated law. Reps. Nathan Deal (R-GA) and Allen Boyd (D-FL) have introduced the "County Schools Funding Revitalization Act of 1999," HR 2389. Under their plan, if the 25% of logging revenues are less than the annual payment, the Forest Service must pay the difference out of their other programs such as wilderness management and fish and wildlife habitat. This short-sighted legislation would create an even greater incentive for the Forest Service to log or lose non-timber funding, and puts corporate logging interests at the helm of managing America's National Forests.
In the Senate, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has teamed up with logging industry champion Larry Craig (R-ID) to produce S. 1608. This bill increases incentives for logging, increases funding for timber sales, and allows local control of the National Forests. All in the name of providing money for schools.
A combined version of these two bad bills could hit the house floor early next week! It is important to call your representatives now!
**Please CALL your Member of Congress through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to OPPOSE HR 2389 and SUPPORT the Clinton Administration's proposal to de-link rural education funding from National Forest logging levels.**
**Please CALL your SENATOR at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to OPPOSE S. 1608, the Wyden/Craig "Clearcuts for Kids" bill and SUPPORT the Clinton Administration's proposal.**
For more information contact Sean Cosgrove, Sierra Club National Forest Policy Specialist at (202) 547-1141.
2. SIERRA CLUB MOURNS DEATH OF SENATOR JOHN CHAFEE (R-RI)
The environmental movement lost a true hero in the Senate on Sunday, with the death of Rhode Island Senator John Chaffee. Following is the press statement of the Sierra Club's Executive Director Carl Pope expressing our remorse.
"The Sierra Club is deeply saddened by the loss of a true environmental giant, Senator John Chafee. Senator Chafee was at the helm of every major environmental achievement in the past two decades. His leadership steered our nation on a course of environmental conservation and protection. Transcending party lines, Senator Chafee worked to improve our lives by fighting for tough environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and Superfund clean-ups.
"When others sought to weaken environmental protections, Senator Chafee courageously stood up and demanded that companies clean up the toxic pollution they created. Thanks to Senator Chafee's vision and hard work, our children have a better chance to enjoy a heritage of breathable air, drinkable water, abundant wildlife and clean coasts.
"Because of Senator Chafee's dedication, our nation is a healthier, more beautiful place to raise our children. Like the lands he fought to protect, Senator Chafee is widely admired and completely irreplaceable."
3. SPRAWL CAMPAIGN: ON THE ROAD AND IN THE NEWS IN MO & MI
Thirty local activists and several media outlets joined Sierra Club organizer Clarlyn Price-Bollinger for a press conference and Tour de Sprawl in St Louis and nearby Jefferson County last Thursday. The event began with a press conference in downtown St Louis with three speakers, Deron Lovaas of the Sierra Club's DC office, Roy Hengerson of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and Kelley Isherwood, a Jefferson County smart growth activist. The press conference was followed by a tour of nearby places threatened by sprawl. The goal of this tour and others like it was to educate communities about preserving and protecting open spaces, from poorly planned development.
Jefferson County residents and members of their recently formed Citizens for Smart Growth Committee attended the Tour de Sprawl with handmade picket signs held high. They are fighting the construction of an airport, light industrial park and retail mall in a rural area. The Tour De Sprawl stops included a scenic pond and wooded area that is slated for the retail mall development and a home which is in the tract slated for the airport. The event was a great success and garnered tremendous media attention from local radio stations and newspapers.
Another Sprawl Campaign success story comes to us from Michigan. Sierra Club organizer Dan Farough and Chapter Conservation Chair, Judith Thompson, published an op-ed in the Detroit News. The op-ed, entitled "Does Michigan need More Laws to Control Suburban Sprawl?" outlined the Sierra Club Sprawl report and solutions to solving sprawl in Michigan. The piece, published on Sunday, October 24, is part of the Sierra Club's campaign to fight sprawl in Michigan.
Following are some excerpts from the op-ed: "Michigan needs to contemplate the sort of future we will leave the next generation. Nothing is more central to such a vision than how we use our land and define development. We must move from acknowledging the effects of sprawl to formulating a vision to stop it. That is why the Sierra Club recently released its second annual sprawl report, 'Solving Sprawl,' which rates the 50 states and finds Michigan lagging behind." The concluding paragraph reads, "Now is the time to lead Michigan forward into a new century of smart growth by formulating serious and precise proposals for dealing with what has been called the number one challenge to Michigan's future. Doing nothing is no longer an option."
Congratulations to the Sierra Club's, Clarlyn Price-Bollinger, Dan Farough and Judith Thomson for their successful efforts to educate the public about solving sprawl!
4. RADIO ADS SUPPORT PRESIDENT'S ROADLESS PLAN
This week, the Sierra Club is launching radio ads in five states to help Americans voice their support for protecting our National Forests. The ads build on President Clinton's announcement earlier this month that he would begin the process of stopping roadbuilding and logging in the remaining roadless areas of our National Forests. Roadless areas are the last wild forests - unspoiled by human hands but threatened by logging, mining, oil drilling and destructive motorized vehicles. The President's proposal could save 40 million acres of these unprotected wild forests! By calling 1-800-OUR-LAND, listeners can learn how they can urge the Forest Service to protect the roadless areas in our National Forests. The ads are running in California, South Dakota, Iowa, Montana, and Oregon through the end of the week.
"I am placing environmental protection at the very heart of my campaign for the presidency. I will have no higher priority as President." Al Gore, 10-21-99, Rye, NH
Friday is the ALL ACTION edition of the SC-ACTION, including actions that you can take on Sierra Club campaigns. Please check out the action items below:
FEATURED ACTION Interior Appropriations Vote Accountability
(1) Letters to the Editor for Land Legacy Legislation
(2) Environmental Quality
(3) Forest Protection
(4) Human Rights
(5) Population
(6) Global Warming
(7) Trade/WTO
FEATURED ITEM: Hold your Representative Accountable for Vote on Anti-Environmental Riders
WEEKLY CAMPAIGN ACTION ITEMS:
1) Land Legacy Legislation
2) Stop Superfund Rollback!!!
3) Thank President Clinton for Roadless Protection Proposal
4) Speak Up Against Human Rights Violations
5) Ensure Equality in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage
6) Clinton Signs Dirty Transportation Appropriations Bill
7) No Globalization without Representation
FEATURED ACTION: Hold your Representative Accountable for his/her Vote on Anti-Environmental Riders
On Thursday night, Congress passed a spending bill for the Interior Department that shortchanges funds for protecting parks and wildlands, and undermines existing environmental protection laws.
"This shameful bill fails to protect the beautiful places our families treasure, while giving special breaks to the logging companies and polluters that destroy our public lands," said Melanie Griffin, Director of the Land Protection Program. "Special interests have tacked dozens of riders onto this bill to overturn court decisions, tie land managers' hands, and undermine environmental protection laws. Rather than protecting America's public forests, canyons and streams, Congress passed a bill chock full of giveaways to the mining, timber, livestock and oil companies."
The appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives on a 225-200 vote, provides the Interior Department nearly $1 billion less than the $15.048 billion requested by President Clinton and includes barely a quarter of the $1 billion the President requested for his Lands Legacy initiative to protect the threatened parkland and open spaces Americans cherish. An April poll conducted for the Sierra Club found that 78 percent of voters support the billion-dollar Lands Legacy program.
Last week, President Clinton promised to veto this bill unless Congress adequately funded the Lands Legacy program and removed the harmful riders. On October 13, he said "let me be clear, if the Interior bill lands on my desk looking like it does now, I will give it a good environmental response -- I will send it straight back to the recycling bin."
In the face of the President's veto threat, 200 members of Congress voted against the bill--a healthy veto-proof margin--which means that the fate of next years funding for our nation's natural resource programs as well as the fate of these anti-environmental riders will be decided in some end of the year omnibus budget bills. Please help keep the heat on Congress to reject anti-environmental riders and this backdoor approach to doing business.
To see how your legislator voted, check out the vote on our website: www.sierraclub.org/votewatch/ Please take the time to thank those members who voted against this destructive bill and admonish those who voted for the bill. You can reach their offices by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121.
(1) Letters to the Editor for Land Legacy Legislation
Today Congress has before it a rare and remarkable opportunity to pass legislation that will provide comprehensive funding for a host of conservation programs, including full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 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. Legislation before Congress would build on the same principle -- that funds acquired from use of our nonrenewable resources should be reinvested into the protection of our environment -- and would fund an array of other programs, including open space preservation, wildlife protection, and coastal restoration.
Legislators continue to negotiate on various proposals and a bill could be considered in committee any day. You can help move the process along by writing a letter to the editor of your local paper -- your Representative and Senators will see the letter! Emphasize the great opportunity before us, and urge your elected officials to help pass conservation legislation that does NOT include incentives for stepped-up offshore drilling, does not fund projects that could actually harm the environment, and does not create new restrictions on the use of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
(2) STOP SUPERFUND ROLLBACK!
Two anti-environmental Superfund bills have recently passed out of Committee and are now being reconciled in order to bring the legislation to the House floor, maybe as early as next week. Both HR 2580, which passed out of the Commerce Committee, and HR 1300 which passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would severely weaken environmental and public health protections surrounding our nation's most hazardous waste sites---Superfund sites.
These bills would open up loopholes in the Superfund law that would allow owners of polluted property to avoid paying for its cleanup. The legislation would severely weaken the "polluter pays" principle upon which Superfund was founded---leaving the American taxpayers to pick up the costs of cleanup. The bill also would relax cleanup standards that would leave sites still polluted even after they have been dubbed "clean." Call your Representative and tell him or her you want our nation's Superfund sites cleaned-up and therefore you oppose HR 1300 and HR 2580!
3) Thank President Clinton for Roadless Protection Proposal
Last week President Clinton took a historic step toward protecting America's forests leading the nation toward a permanent ban on roadbuilding and logging in the remaining untouched areas of our National Forests. The proposal could protect 40 million acres of America's National Forests--areas which safeguard clean drinking water for rural communities, protect habitat for grizzly bears and other wildlife, and preserve recreation opportunities.
This is a great step forward for the protection of our nation's forests. For too long our National Forests have been subject to a guiding policy of subsidized road construction, logging, mining and other damaging activities. It is time to permanently protect these valuable undamaged forest lands. All citizens who value clean water, clean air, abundant wildlife and the great outdoors should applaud the President's bold initiative to protect our nation's National Forest roadless areas.
Please take a moment to call the White House Comment line at (202)456-1111 to thank President Clinton and urge him to permanently protect all our remaining National Forest roadless areas.
4) Speak Up Against Human Rights Violations
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
5) Ensure Equality in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage
EPICC: The Equality in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act (EPICC) would require insurance companies that cover prescription drugs to also cover prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. Similarly, the measure would require that health plans offering coverage for outpatient medical services also provide coverage for outpatient contraceptive services. EPICC would make contraceptives more affordable and accessible for all Americans, begin to bring parity to health care costs for men and women, improve women's and children's health, and protect the environment.
EPICC (S.1200 and H.R. 2120) has been introduced in both houses of Congress. It is sponsored by Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Harry Reid (D-NV) in the Senate and Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) in the House. It has 37 sponsors in the Senate and 118 in the House. To see if your Representative and Senators are co-sponsors visit https://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:SN01200:@@@P and https://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:HR02120:@@@P.
Ensuring access to family planning services regardless of ability to pay slows population growth and protects the environment. Please call your Senators and Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor this important legislation. For more information visit our website at https://www.sierraclub.org/population or contact Jennifer Kurz at jennifer.kurz@sierraclub.org or at 202-547-1141.
6) CLINTON SIGNS DIRTY TRANSPORTATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL!--Tell your friends and neighbors by writing a letter to the editor.
Despite the hard work of the environmental community and activists across the country, President Clinton put pork-barrel politics ahead of our children's health by signing a Transportation Appropriations bill containing the infamous rider freezing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. A CAFE increase is the biggest single step we can take toward curbing global warming. Educate your neighbors and elected officials about how bad this dirty bill is. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper containing the following points: (1) The President failed to show leadership on this critical issue. (2)The average fuel economy for new vehicles in the 1999 model year was only 23.8 miles per gallon, the lowest level since 1980. (3)Without the Administration's ability to even study new standards for these vehicles, Americans will become even more dependent on foreign oil, waste more money at the gas pump, and pollute our air and atmosphere.
For more information visit https://www.toowarm.org or contact michelle.artz@sierraclub.org
(7) No Globalization w/out Representation: Make Trade Clean, Green, and Fair
We are five weeks away from the largest trade summit ever hosted on U.S. soil, the Seattle WTO Summit Nov. 30 - Dec. 4. The current rules of the global trading system trade away our environment by threatening our hard-earned environmental standards. The Sierra Club's Responsible Trade program is organizing public education and protest activities in Seattle and around the country urging President Clinton to fix the WTO and global trading rules to protect our environment.
There are lots of ways to get involved. Write to your representative. Write a letter to your local paper. Or send for our action kit and learn how to hold a "Boston WTeaO Party: No Globalization without Representation!" To get involved, send an e-mail to sam.parry@sierrraclub.org or to dan.seligman@sierraclub.org for an "action kit."
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