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Monday, February 7, 2000
"President Clinton today laid out the most aggressive environmental budget I've ever seen."
Sierra Club Legislative Director Debbie Sease (See below)
CONTENTS
1) SIERRA CLUB HAILS CLINTON ENVIRONMENTAL BUDGET
2) HEALTH OF THE ENVIRONMENT POLL
1) SIERRA CLUB HAILS CLINTON ENVIRONMENTAL BUDGET
Our reaction to the President's new budget proposal:
WASHINGTON -- The Sierra Club today welcomed President Clinton's FY 2001 budget proposal as "the most aggressive environmental budget in years," but warned that it faces a rocky future as the anti-environmental leadership in Congress tries to sink the plan. Overall, the budget supports Americans' desires to protect our remaining open spaces, safeguard our National Forests and combat suburban sprawl.
"President Clinton today laid out the most aggressive environmental budget I've ever seen," said Sierra Club Legislative Director Debbie Sease. "As Americans see wild lands and open spaces disappearing, we want to protect the special places we have left -- from our grand national landscapes to the neighborhood jewels closer to home. The President's budget will enable Americans to protect those beautiful lands we all treasure.
"However, we warn the public that passing the environmental proposals in this budget is no sure thing," Sease continued. "Anti-environmental leaders in Congress have their switchblades and stones ready, eager cut important funding and sink these proposals with harmful riders. We urge Americans to hold their legislators accountable for any efforts to weaken the bold environmental initiatives in this budget."
The Sierra Club praised Clinton's Lands Legacy initiative to invest $1.4 billion to acquire lands threatened by development, oil and gas drilling, mining and logging. In addition, the Sierra Club was largely pleased with the budget proposal's initiatives to protect America's National Forests.
For the third straight year, the U.S. Forest Service proposes "decoupling" logging receipts from annual payments to counties for schools and roads, and replacing that money with a stable stream of money unrelated to logging levels. Tying local school budgets to logging in National Forests creates an incentive for counties to encourage unsustainably high logging levels, and making children's educations depend on destroying forests.
"By ending the link between logging and school funding, the Clinton administration will strengthen our rural schools and conserve our National Forests," Sease said. "Rural schools deserve a steady funding stream that they can count on without having to sacrifice our National Forests. The Clinton administration aims to end the perverse policy that hurts America's children."
Unfortunately, the budget also includes $190 million in subsidies for the commercial logging program, paying private companies to destroy America's public forests. The Sierra Club believes the money instead should be used for recreation opportunities and fish and wildlife protection programs, which benefit Americans and America's forests, rather than fattening profits for a handful of corporations.
The budget proposes a record amount of money to combat suburban sprawl. The initiatives focus on increasing transportation options and helping local communities protect green space. The Livable Communities budget includes over $200 million for transit systems and more funding for Better America Bonds to help state and local governments to combat sprawl. The proposal helps state and local governments to purchase open space, protect water quality, improve access to parks, and redevelop abandoned city centers. Despite these sprawl-busting efforts, however, the budget also includes funding for sprawl-inducing projects, such as building a monstrous replacement for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge between Maryland and Virginia.
"We wholeheartedly support the President's plans to fight suburban sprawl and make our communities healthier places to live by improving public transportation, cleaning up our cities and protecting green space," Sease said. "However, we need to cut the pork-barrel spending that encourages sprawl at the same time we're working to curb it. For example, the President's proposal includes $600 million to build an excessively large replacement for the Wilson Bridge between Maryland and Virginia, which will only exacerbate sprawl in Washington, DC."
The President's plan also calls for increasing funding for international family planning to its FY1995 level, a crucial step in stabilizing the population pressures on the global environment. In addition, the Sierra Club hopes the President will follow through on his pledge to remove the global gag rule restrictions that Congress imposed last year on international family planning aid.
The budget plan also aims to tackle global warming, proposing the funding necessary to begin that fight. Included in the budget is a significant increase in promoting efficient and renewable energy. For example, the President calls for increasing the budget for clean solar and wind energy by more than 25 percent over last year's proposal. By reducing our nation's reliance on burning fuels that produce greenhouse gasses, and instead switching to renewable energy sources as proposed by the President, we can cut the emissions that cause global warming.
2) HEALTH OF THE ENVIRONMENT POLL
Gallup, CNN, and USA Today conducted a poll of 1,000+ adults nationwide on Jan. 13-16 and found that "protection of the environment" is a high priority. Of those polled - 70%, the highest number recorded in the past 9 months, indicated that "protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth."
This is good news as we approach the national elections for U.S. Congress this Fall. It is evident, in many recent polls, that the environment can and will play a key role in national level races.
A Newsweek poll released last month states that 61% of Americans consider the environment to be a "very important" issue - tied with taxes and ranking above "America's role overseas."
WEEKLY ACTION ISSUE
"I don't think there was a real appreciation of the full significant of the vote [to create the World Trade Organization]
Rep. Robert Matsui, LA Times, 11/28/99
TAKE ACTION
1) STOP "CLEARCUT FOR KIDS" BILL IN SENATE
An outdated law known as "Payments to Counties" creates a perverse incentive for affected communities to support high levels of logging by giving a portion of logging receipts to some rural counties. In recent years, because of a decrease in logging in some communities -- due to both unsustainable logging practices and various protection measures -- payments to counties have declined, and some rural school systems have suffered. The Clinton administration has proposed de-linking county payments from timber cuts, to provide stable funding for schools and reduce the incentive to continue an unsustainable logging program.
But powerful members of Congress are backing a bill that would force the Forest Service to increase logging to make more money -- or else make up for it by taking away money budgeted for fish and wildlife conservation. What makes it worse is that the National Education Association has been persuaded to support this ill-conceived bill. Now the bill is headed for the Senate (S. 1608) and could be voted on in the next month. Communities should not have to sacrifice clean drinking water, jobs and wildlife habitat to fund their children's education.
TAKE ACTION: Call your Senators today through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to OPPOSE S.1608. Urge them to support a responsible proposal to decouple rural education funding from National Forest logging levels. Also, call NEA President Bob Chase at (202) 833-4000 and ask him to OPPOSE S. 1608 and to support funding for rural schools that will give schoolchildren a strong education and a healthy environment.
2) GLOBAL WARMING:
URGE REPS TO SIGN THE BOEHLERT/DICKS CLEAN CAR LETTER
Global warming is one of the most pervasive environmental crises we face, and every day the science on global warming is growing stronger and the evidence is becoming clearer. 1998 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1860, and 1999 was right behind it. It is time to take the biggest single step the United States can take to curb global warming -- raising miles-per-gallon standards for SUVs, minivans, pickups and cars. Since 1996, Congress has attached a rider to the Transportation Funding bill that has frozen the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards and has even prevented the U. S. Department of Transportation from examining the need to raise the CAFE standards.
PLEASE call or write your Representative and urge them to sign the letter that Reps. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Dicks (D-Wash.), Greenwood (R-Pa.), and Waxman (D-Calif.) are circulating in support of fuel economy standards. The Boehlert/Dicks letter to President Clinton urges him 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 urge your representative to sign the Boehlert/Dicks Clean Car letter.
3) PROTECT WILD FORESTS
At the end of last year, the Sierra Club launched a massive grassroots effort to support the President's Wild Forest Protection Plan - a historic initiative that could lead to the protection of 60 million acres of our last unspoiled wild forests. You may be one of the hundreds of thousands of Club activists who signed one of our postcards or spoke at a public hearing in support of the Wild Forest Protection Plan. Sierra Club grassroots efforts were awesome and we flooded the Forest Service with comments.
But our work to protect these wild forests is far from over. Timber industry allies and off-road vehicle enthusiasts are mounting a massive campaign to delay and defeat this proposal. Please help demonstrate broad public support for protecting our last wild forests by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Some Points to Address in your letter: Our national forests should be protected from all damaging activities; I support the protection of all wild forest roadless areas over 1,000 acres from all damaging activities; I urge my elected officials to publicly support this historic plan. If your letter is published, please send a copy to the Sierra Club in DC at 408 C St NE, Washington DC 20002, ATTN: Wild Forest Campaign. Thank you.
4) MAKE CORPORATE LIVESTOCK OWNERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR CLEAN WATER
Believe it or not, the giant corporations who own the livestock at many poultry and pig factories bear no legal responsibility for the massive water pollution these operations cause. To escape accountability, Perdue, Smithfield, Tysons and the other industrial corporations contract with independent growers to raise the animals. When EPA or state agencies issue Clean Water Act permits, the legal responsibility for complying with pollution requirements lies with the contract growers. The big corporations are off the hook, so they have no incentive for making sure that livestock waste doesn't pollute the water.
That's not fair. These huge corporations deliver the animals to an independent grower, prescribe their medications, provide the feed, dictate terms under which the animals must be raised, and then take them to the processing plant. They should also take some responsibility for making sure that their animals' waste does not pollute water. Making the companies responsible for the massive amounts of waste that enters our rivers and streams could be accomplished by having the EPA and state agencies issue Clean Water Act permits that identify both the corporation and the grower as "co-permitees."
Sierra Club and other environmental groups have long urged EPA to take this step, and the Agency's draft Clean Water Act guidance for issuing permits to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) recommends issuing co-permits. But these wealthy, influential corporations strongly oppose this provision that would hold them accountable for their polluting practices, and EPA may back down and delete it from the final guidance.
Please urge EPA Administrator Carol Browner to require co-permits and hold corporate livestock facilities responsible when they pollute our water. Write her at: U.S. EPA, 401 M Street SW, Washington DC 20460.
5) STOP CORPORATE POLLUTERS FROM ABUSING OUR DEMOCRACY
Every time we turn around, the United States Trade Representative has taken another wack at environmental protection in the name of "fee trade" for corporate polluters. You've heard about how the USTR undercut our own clean air standards and sea turtle protections.
Now it's come to light that the USTR threatened the European Union with a World Trade Organization complaint for trying to clean up the growing pile of toxic waste from junked computers. The Euro's -- and many American toxics activists -- believe that the only solution to the growing pile of obsolete computers is "extended producer responsibility," requiring manufacturers to take back and recycle used electronic equipment. Extended producer responsibility would be as good for America as it would be for Europe. After all, in the next few years, we will dump more than 300 million computers -- and the 1.2 billion pounds of lead they contain -- into landfills, polluting the water we drink with a potent killer of brain power.
Since the computer industry would have to pick up the tab for recycling, the American Electronics Association took advantage of the USTR's secretive, industry-only advisory committees to persuade the Clinton administration to mount a formal attack against the proposed European standards LONG before Congress, the public, or the press could learn what was going on.
Rep. George Miller thinks that we need to flush the polluter lobbyists at USTR out into the open. Next week, he will circulate a letter to his House colleagues asking them to urge President Clinton to open up USTR decision-making to the public and to other federal agencies, such as the EPA.
TAKE ACTION. To help Rep. Miller clean up the mess at USTR, call or write your Representative. Urge them to sign the Miller letter on "Democratizing US Trade Policy." For more info or to join our listserv see www.sierraclub.org/trade.
6) URGE YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER AND SENATORS TO COSPONSOR THE EQUALITY IN PRESCRIPTION INSURANCE AND CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE ACT (EPICC)
The Equality in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act (EPICC) would require all insurance companies that offer prescription drug coverage 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.
For more information visit our website at www.sierraclub.org/population or contact Carol Schlitt at carol.schlitt@sierraclub.org.
7) PUT THE BRAKES ON SPRAWL
As poorly planned development continues to eat away at Americans' quality of life, Congress can help stop sprawl by supporting the Better America Bonds Act, H.R. 2446 in the House of Representatives and the Community Open Space Bonds Act, S. 1558 in the Senate. These bills would help local communities by financing smart growth measures, revitalizing urban areas and removing open space from the path of development.
These companion bills would set up a voluntary program allowing communities to carry out their own conservation priorities by using zero interest bonds to purchase open space, protect water quality, improve access to parks, and redevelop abandoned industrial city centers. Call your Representative and Senator and tell urge them help promote smart growth initiatives that protect open space by cosponsoring these bills.
8) NIKITIN IS FREE!!!... OR IS HE? (ACTION ITEM)
On December 29, 1999, retired Russian Navy Captain and environmentalist Aleksandr Nikitin was acquitted of charges of treason and espionage, thanks in large part to vigilant efforts by international environmental and human rights activists who organized on his behalf.
This decision represents a remarkable vindication of Nikitin's efforts to expose an environmental catastrophe of leaking radiation from nuclear submarines. However, the Office of the Prosecutor in St. Petersburg, Russia, has filed an appeal and requested that a different judge preside over the case.
TAKE ACTION: Please write to Acting President Vladimir Putin and urge him to set Nikitin free and to allow environmentalists to operate without fear of intimidation and harassment. Write to: Mr. Vladimir Putin, Acting President of the Russian Federation, c/o Ambassador Yuri Ushakov, Embassy of the Russian Federation, 2650 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20007. e-mail: president@gov.ru
"The violence of fringe anarchists stole headlines at Seattle's [WTO] meeting, but more noteworthy was the huge peaceful demonstration by greens seeking to make sure trade pacts do not sacrifice the environment."
Gene Linden, Time Magazine
CONTENTS
1) TARHEEL "SMART-GROWTH JITTERS"
2) MAUI WOWIE: HAWAII SIERRANS STOP AIRPORT EXPANSION
3) TOXIC TROUT BUFFET
4) SPRAWL WITH A SMILEY FACE
1) TARHEEL "SMART-GROWTH JITTERS"
The North Carolina Association of Realtors attempted to monkey wrench the General Assembly's smart-growth commission before it even held its first meeting. The 37 members of the Commission will spend the next year looking at policies that could put new restrictions on where and when houses, offices and shopping centers are built.
Not about to take "smart growth" lying down, the N.C. Association of Realtors has asked legislators to sign a "homeowners' bill of rights," that calls for "market" forces to rule housing development and opposes any "artificial boundaries and rules created by government."
The Sierra Club's North Carolina sprawl campaigner Mary Kiesau shot back, "There's always going to be people out there that are resistant to change, and this may be the first real sign of that resistance. It seems as though the Realtors are running scared when nothing has even been proposed. It really is a case of the smart-growth jitters."
2) MAUI WOWIE: HAWAII SIERRANS STOP AIRPORT EXPANSION
The Star-Bulletin reports ( January 28, 2000) that environmentalists won a seven-year battle to stop airport runway extensions planned for both Kauai and Maui.
"The airlines have informed us that, based on the type of aircraft that are being used now and will be used in the near future, they don't want the extensions at this time." said aviation Administrator Jerry Matsuda.
Environmentalists on both islands waged a "virtual war" against the tourism industry to try to keep direct jumbo-jet flights from Asia and Europe off of their islands. Their concerns ranged from the danger of introducing alien plant and animal species to a desire to stop the growth of tourism.
"This is good news," said Judy Dalton, head of the Sierra Club on Kauai. "I'm hoping the runway extension never is built."
The Club immediately set its sights on its next campaign, reports a front page story in the Maui New (1/30/00). "We're not hanging up our shoes and saying this is over,'' Lucienne de Naie, the Club's conservation organizer, told The Maui News, ``We're all committed to finding a means to do a much better job with alien-species interception -- at airports as well as at harbors.
3) TOXIC TROUT BUFFET
Megan Fowler, the Field Team's media coordinator worked with the Club's Great Lakes Program to stage a media-grabbing "toxic buffet" at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The "toxic buffet" is an idea cooked up by the Club's Midwest Office to dramatize how pollution in the Great Lakes poses a public health threat and to urge greater clean-up efforts. Eric Uram from the Midwest office served up five plates of appetizing fish - one from each lake.
Only there was a catch. (Lord, stop me before I pun again.) The fish were loaded with mercury, PCB's and other pollutants.
Speakers included Emily Green, Charlotte Caldwell from the Great Lakes Indigenous Environmental Network, Margaret Wooster from Great Lakes United, and Dr. Theo Colborn, author of "Our Stolen Future" all spoke at the press conference.
Despite the stormy weather, press turnout included: Associated Press, ABC Radio, NPR, Knight-Ridder, Conus Television, Newhouse News, and Metro News Network. Local TV stations in Duluth, MN, Rochester, NY, and Detroit (ABC & FOX) also planned on running the story.
4) SPRAWL WITH A SMILEY FACE
The Cincinnati Enquirer, (January 30, 2000) reports that developers have cooked up a "a new version of small-town America" in the shape of a 21st century village modeled on ideas from the neighborhoods of the early 20th century neighborhoods.
The leaders of the fast-growing Butler County community intend to avoid the overdevelopment sprawl that overran most of the Cincinnati area. They are keeping tight reins on developers, the Enquire reports, making them stick to a detailed master plan designed for small-town atmosphere amid booming growth.
Features of the plan include pedestrian-friendly trails, centralized parking, and plenty of green space to get folks out of their cars; mixed commercial, retail and residential housing so people can walk to work or shop; and commercial parks designed for better traffic flow.
But Glen Brand, from the Club's Cincinnati office, is skeptical. The "village" approach doesn't guarantee that communities will be immune to traffic congestion and overdevelopment, he told the Enquirer. He criticized one project for paving over more of Greater Cincinnati's dwindling farm land. And he dubbed a proposed mall in the project, the "Mega-Sprawl Mall."
Glen did say, however, that he was slightly encouraged to see the township's development would include residential housing within the greater commercial and retail community.
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