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Nov. 17, 1999
"Lewis and Clark's mission was to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase and beyond to the Pacific . . . Our mission is to protect their legacy, the wildlands and wildlife we have left." -- Chuck McGrady, Sierra Club president, speaking at Lewis and Clark campaign kickoff event in Boise, Idaho
Contents:
LEWIS AND CLARK CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
WILDLANDS ADVOCATES PACK PUBLIC HEARINGS
ARIZONA RALLY A SUCCESS: Concert draws media and public attention
SIERRA CLUB LAUNCHES LEWIS AND CLARK CAMPAIGN
Today, the Sierra Club announced a new five-year campaign to protect America's remaining wildlands and wildlife -- with a little help from the legacy of explorers Lewis and Clark. The campaign will focus on President Clinton's plan to protect wild forests throughout the nation, as well as local efforts to protect and restore 34 specific sites in eight states visited by Lewis and Clark on their historic expedition nearly 200 years ago. Wilderness areas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Montana and Nebraska are all being targeted by the campaign.
To launch the campaign, Sierra Club leaders unveiled some of the multimedia materials that will help send the message, including maps, television and radio ads, an 88-page report highlighting each of the 34 sites, a hiker's guide and a list of outings exploring Lewis and Clark's legacy. The Club has already enjoyed advance media attention from USA Today and the Seattle Post Intelligence.
Club President Chuck McGrady was on hand in Boise, Idaho, to announce the campaign Other speakers there included Jonathan Stoke, Northern Rockies Chapter chair, and organizer Roger Singer. The press conference garnered coverage on two television stations, three radio stations as well as several newspapers, said Singer.
According to McGrady, the biggest step that can be taken nationally to protect America's wildlands is adopting Clinton's wild forest protection plan, which could save 60 million acres of unspoiled areas inside our National Forests. (More on that below.) A poll released today by the Club found overwhelming support for the plan, and two-thirds of those surveyed stated they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported the proposal.
That doesn't mean that everyone agrees with the Club's ideal of protection for our remaining wildlands. Here's what Clark Collins, director of the Blue Ribbon Commission in Idaho, said in USA Today, "The wilderness advocates come up with one hare-brained scheme after another to lock up our public lands."
In the coming months, the Sierra Club will be working hard to drum up support for the campaign as well as Clinton's wild forest protection plan.
WILDLAND ADVOCATES PACK THE FIRST ROADLESS HEARINGSvOn Nov. 16, in Milwaukee, Wis., and Albuquerque, N.M., the Forest Service hosted the first round of hearings on the president's plan to protect America's last unspoiled roadless areas. Environmentalists packed the rooms at both hearings, outnumbering the opposition by giant margins.
Martin Heinrich, the New Mexico Chapter's Wilderness Committee chair, led the Sierra Club charge in Albuquerque. Also testifying in favor of the plan were members of Republicans for Environmental Protection, as well as hunters, fisherman and police officers. "The hearing hall was packed with people wearing 'Save Our WILD Forests' hats' said Heinrich. He said that even those who were representing the off-road vehicle crowd admitted that we don't need any new roads. Heinrich also held a press conference and got a story on the local NPR affiliate.
The Milwaukee hearing was also a great success. Club members came from far and wide to express their support. Only one person, a representative from the Timberman's Association, spoke against the plan.
Sierra Club Midwest staffer Carl Zichella was joined by public education organizer Jill Walker from the Minneapolis-St.Paul, who drove down to represent the North Star Chapter. John Berge, chair of the John Muir Chapter spoke on on behalf of Club members in Wisconsin. Anne Woiwode and Marvin Roberson came from Michigan to testify. The award for the person who traveled the furthest to testify goes to Dr. John Osborne, who ably represented the Sierra Club's Intermountain West.
These two hearings were the first in a series of nine hearings being held near the Forest Service regional headquarters. Still to come are hearings in Salt Lake City, Denver, Juneau, Portland and Sacramento. Kudos to the Club activists who helped organize and pack the house in Albuquerque and Milwaukee.
RALLY TO SAVE ARIZONA'S SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS A SUCCESS
A concert to help save the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona last weekend drew more than 1,200 people. About 1,000 of them signed letters and postcards to federal officials to stop the White Vulcan pumice mine on the flanks of the Peaks. Eighty volunteers helped park cars, provided information, worked backstage to support the musicians and talked to the news media.
Representatives of nine Native American tribes spoke or presented statements of unity and support for saving the Peaks, which are sacred mountains to tribes throughout the Colorado Plateau.
Three Hopi runners ran the 102 miles to the concert in relay starting Friday morning and arrived to traditional drum war chants and prayers Saturday afternoon after the concert began. The concert ended with noted Hopi reggae rapper Casper doing a finale with the massed bands and a special rap repeating "Save the Peaks."
For three days the news media covered the runners, the pumice-mine issue and even gave out directions to the concert. The Arizona Republic, the state's major newspaper, ran two color photos and a big story on the event and the Save the Peaks campaign. Perhaps the best quote was that of Hopi runner and former tribal chairman, Ferrell Sekacucu, who noted that he had tried to protest the mine years earlier to no avail, "but maybe now they will listen."
"The environmental riders, or amendments, are legislative favors for the oil, gas, mining, ranching and timber industries that Republican senators favor and environmentalists oppose." -- New York Times writer Tim Weiner characterizing anti-environmental riders in a Nov. 11 news story
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: Family Planning Gag to Become Law NASTY RIDERS: Coal-Mining Favors Would Pollute Air and Water FOREST HEARINGS: Tell Them to Protect All National Forests
TAKE ACTION
Global Gag Rule to Become Law
For the first time since Bill Clinton took office, Rep. Chris Smith's (R-N.J.) "Global Gag Rule" is expected to become law. Reversing a cornerstone of his presidency, Clinton agreed yesterday to allow the inclusion of the Global Gag Rule in an appropriations bill.
The Global Gag Rule would bar family-planning organizations abroad from receiving U.S. funds if -- with their own money -- they provide legal abortion services or participate in public debates on abortion policies.
Under the terms of a tentative agreement with Congress, Clinton is expected to waive the gag rule. This translates into a 3 percent cut in the $385 million appropriated to international family-planning assistance, a cut of $12.5 million.
In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development will be required to report on how much money is spent by every group it funds to advocate or provide abortion services. If the money amount exceeds $15 million, these groups will stop receiving U.S. funds. In return, the congressional leadership has agreed to include money in the appropriations bill to pay our United Nations dues.
For the past three years, the congressional leadership, at Rep. Smith's behest, has refused to pay our U.N. dues without passing the Global Gag Rule. Clinton has vetoed all such attempts, protecting the health of women and the environment. But this year, when the U.S. was on the verge of losing its vote in the U.N. General Assembly, Clinton caved in.
Access to family planning allows women to choose the size and spacing of their families. At least 120 million women in the developing countries would use family planning if given access to it -- and planning prevents abortion. More than 600,000 women die every year from complications from incomplete abortions.
****Please call Smith and the congressional leadership and tell them it is unacceptable to sacrifice women's lives for politics.**** Rep. Chris Smith, (202) 225-3765 Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss), (202) 224-3135 House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), (202) 225-0600
NASTY RIDERS: Coal-Mining Favors Would Pollute Air and Water
There are still several maverick anti-environmental riders loose on the range that will no doubt be very difficult to stop.
One particularly egregious rider, referred to as the "mountaintop removal rider," is being pushed by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), the powerful ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. This rider would overturn an Oct. 20 federal court decision that requires state and federal agencies to enforce the Clean Water Act and coal-mining laws in West Virginia.
Judge Charles Haden ruled that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection can't allow new mountaintop-removal mines to dump millions of tons of waste rock into some types of streams, a practice that violates the Clean Water Act and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Drafts of Byrd's rider have proposed to exempt the dumping of waste rock into streams from any state and federal water-quality laws.
Many speculate that Byrd will sneak the rider into an omnibus bill right before Congress leaves town. The rider would create a huge loophole in the Clean Water Act, lead to the destruction of thousands of miles of streams in West Virginia and set a precedent that will be exploited by other industries for years to come.
Another troubling rider would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from collecting millions of dollars in fines from coal-fired power plants that violate the Clean Air Act. Friends of dirty utilities in Congress are planning to launch an attack on the enforcement lawsuit the EPA and Justice Department announced on Nov. 3rd.
The Justice Department filed lawsuits on Nov. 3 on behalf of the EPA against seven utility companies for not installing emissions-reducing equipment at 17 power plants in the South and Midwest. The companies face civil fines of $27,000 per day for violations prior to Jan. 30, 1997, and $27,500 for each day thereafter. A draft of the rider circulating the halls of Congress would exempt these polluters from incurring additional penalties after Nov. 3rd, even as they continue to violate the law. The rider would allow these plants to continue to spew out smog-forming and acid-rain causing pollution by tolling penalties until the EPA's case is finished. The rider would also create a dangerous precedent as other industries facing penalties for violations will rush to Congress expecting special protections.
Please call the White House and leave messages for Clinton and Gore asking them to veto any appropriations bill containing the Clean Water Act loophole for the coal-mining industry. They should veto all anti-environmental riders. White House Switchboard: (202) 456-1141.
WILD FOREST HEARINGS: Tell Them to Protect ALL National Forest Roadless Areas
This week starts a series of historic hearings across the country that will determine the outcome of the Clinton administration's plan to protect our last wild forests. Many Sierra Club members in Wisconsin and New Mexico have already come home to find a taped message on their answering machine from Club Executive Director Carl Pope, telling them about the importance of the president's plan and urging them to attend the hearing.
Activists who can attend a meeting are encouraged to deliver the message: "Protect our national forests from logging and other destructive activities." Here's this week's schedule:
Tuesday, November 16 Albuquerque, NM-Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 Second Street, NW.: 6:00-7:30, 7:30-9:00
Tuesday, November 16 Milwaukee, WI-University of Wisconsin, Chemistry Building, Room 180, 3210 N. Cramer Avenue: 5:00-6:30, 6:30-8:00.
Wednesday, November 17 Salt Lake City, UT-Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 South West Temple: 6:00-7:30, 7:30-9:00
Wednesday, November 17 Missoula, MT - University of Montana, Gallagher Busi. Bldg., Room 123, Arthur and Connell Avenues.: 6:00-7:30, 7:30-9:00
Thursday, November 18 Denver, CO - Embassy Suites Downtown Denver, 1881 Curtis Street.6:00-7:30, 7:30-9:00
Thursday, November 18 Juneau, AK- Centennial Hall Convention Center, 101 Egan Drive: 5:00-6:30, 6:30-8:00
"When children have trouble breathing because of pollution from a utility plant hundreds of miles away, something must be done." Attorney General Janet Reno, commenting on the 7 lawsuits the Justice Dep't filed on behalf of EPA against electric utility companies in the Midwest and South. November 3, 1999.
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:
(1) FEATURED ACTION: Protect Roadless Forests
(2) Global Warming: Urge Your Representative to Sign the Clean Car Letter
(3) End Commercial Logging
(4) Stop Superfund Rollback!
(5) Call Your Senator For Land Legacy Legislation
(6) Speak Up Against Human Rights Violations
(7) Take Action on Population
(8) No Globalization W/Out Representation: Make Trade Clean, Green, And Fair
FEATURED ACTION ITEM FOR THIS WEEK:
SUPPORT THE WILD FOREST PROTECTION PLAN: PROTECT ROADLESS FORESTS
Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark explored America and found a boundless wilderness of jaw-dropping wonders. Today, only fragments of those wild lands dot the American landscape. More than half of our National Forests have been hammered by logging, mining and other destructive activities. Recently, President Clinton proposed a plan that can protect 60 million acres of wild forests from road building, logging and other destructive activities -- but the Forest Service needs to hear from you!
The U.S. Forest Service has asked for public comments on the plan to save our wild forests. Timber industry lobbyists are already trying to weaken or stop this initiative, so it is critical to demonstrate broad public support for protecting our wild forests. Your comments will help to shape the final protection plan. Write a letter covering the same 3 key points below.
**Please send an e-mail to the forest service today at: roadless/wo_caet-slc@fs.fed.us.
Thank you!
I applaud the President's initiative and urge you to protect 60 million acres of remaining roadless wild lands in our National Forests.
I support a roadless protection policy that:
-applies to ALL National Forest roadless areas over 1000 acres -- including Alaska's Tongass and Chugach National Forests;
- provides permanent protection for all roadless areas from new road construction, logging, mining, off-road vehicle use, oil and gas development and other harmful activities;
- protects roadless areas now rather than waiting for the forest planning process.
The Forest Service must seize this opportunity to protect wild America and our children's inheritance. Please count this as my formal comment on the proposed rulemaking for protection of roadless areas.
*Name required
For more information contact Tanya Tolchin (tanya.tolchin@sierraclub.org)
(2) URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SIGN THE BOEHLERT/DICKS CLEAN CAR LETTER
Everyday the science on global warming is growing stronger and the evidence is becoming clearer. It is time to take the biggest single step the US can take to curb global warming -- raising miles per gallon standards for SUVs, minivans, pickups and cars. But, a House-based rider has frozen the standards in the Transporation Funding bill since 1996. This year, thanks to your help, 31 Senators signed a letter to the President supporting raising miles per gallon standards and 40 Senators voted for the Clean Car Resolution. Now we are taking the fight to the House.
PLEASE call or write your Representative and urge them to sign the letter which Representatives Boehlert (R-NY), Dicks (D-WA), Greenwood (R-PA), and Waxman (D-CA) are circulating in support of fuel economy standards. The Boehlert/Dicks letter to President Clinton urges hime to "work with Congress to implement" the law setting automotive fuel economy standards. The anti-environmental rider that has frozen CAFE standards since 1995 starts in the House. It is time to stop it! Please contact your Representative and urge that they sign the Boehlert/Dicks Clean Car letter. For more information contact Ann Mesnikoff ann.mesnikoff@sierraclub.org.
(3) END COMMERCIAL LOGGING Our National Forests were established over one hundred years ago for all Americans. These forests provide clean drinking water for communities, outstanding recreation for families and unexcelled wildlife and fish habitat.
Unfortunately, our National Forests are being destroyed by a money-losing commercial timber sale program. Write a letter or call your Member of Congress through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to co-sponsor the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act. - For more information contact Sean Cosgrove at (202) 547-1141.
(4) 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!
(5) CALL YOUR SENATOR 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 and would fund an array of other programs, including open space preservation, wildlife protection, and coastal restoration.
You can help by calling your Representative and Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121! Emphasize the great opportunity before us, and urge your elected officials to support increased funding for the President's Lands Legacy initiative!
(6) 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
(7) TAKE ACTION ON POPULATION
Chris Smith (R-NJ) is again working to hold our UN dues hostage to his Mexico City Global Gag Rule. For the past two years, this linkage has blocked payment of our UN dues. If he is successful again this year, the United States stands to lose its vote at the United Nations. Please call Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) (202.224.6253) and House Majority Leader J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) (202.225.2976) and tell them to de-link the Global Gag Rule and UN dues because:
· You support international family planning assistance without restrictions
· The Global Gag Rule restricts free speech. This would be unacceptable here at home. It should not become part of U.S. foreign policy overseas.
· We now have six billion neighbors around the world. We must act to protect health of these women and children around the world in order to protect the global environment.
· We cannot afford to lose our influence, negotiating role, and vote at the UN.
Contact Jennifer Kurz at 202.547.1141 or at jennifer.kurz@sierraclub.org for more information.
8) NO GLOBALIZATION W/OUT REPRESENTATION: MAKE TRADE CLEAN, GREEN, AND FAIR
We are three 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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