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May 12, 2000
"I want to give the most humble and respectful thanks to all the organizations that do listen to us... Becasue the environment is the true future of our children, of our grandchildren, and even of the children of those that have tried to destroy humanity. I believe this is a struggle that we can win together... because no one can live without forests. And if the forests are there for us, to give us life, why not intercede on their behalf, to protect them and take care of what little is left?" -- Anti-logging activist Rodolfo Montiel, upon receiving the Goldman Environmental Prize.
CONTENTS
FEATURED ACTION: NO BLANK CHECK FOR CHINA
Regular Friday Action Features
1) WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN: Help stop the "Clearcuts for Kids" bill.
2) HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: Help Mexican anti-logging environmentalists regain their freedom!
3) CLEAN WATER: Urge Secretary Glickman to protect America's waterways from corporate animal waste.
4) GLOBAL WARMING: Urge your Representative to oppose the CAFE-freeze rider.
5) SPRAWL: Protect America's air quality from sprawl-inducing highway
6) POPULATION: Ask Congress to support international family planning funding
7) FEATURED FIELD ACTION: Urge Congress to oppose the anti-wilderness San Rafael Swell legislation
FEATURED ACTION
FAIR TRADE CAMPAIGN: NO BLANK CHECK FOR CHINA
Please contact your US representative to oppose an environmentally damaging trade deal with China called "permanent normal trade relations" or permanent "NTR." Please act soon because Congress could vote as early as May 22.
Permanent NTR would end Congress' annual review of US-China trade ties, and is part of an agreement that paves the way for China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Adding China to the WTO now would doom efforts to reform undemocratic global trade rules that expose our health and environmental laws to challenge as "barriers to trade." Without the leverage afforded by annual review, we would have little ability to influence China to accept WTO reforms. The China trade agreement that the Clinton administration is pushing the Congress to adopt would harm the environment -- despite promises from the President last year that future trade agreements would protect the environment.
In addition, without annual review, the United States would have little leverage to protect the human rights of environmental activists in China. Recently, for instance, the pro-environment China Democratic Union was shut down and its leader jailed for promoting the idea of an "ecological civilization."
Also, China is the world's leading illegal importer of endangered-species body parts. Without annual review, the United States will have little influence with China to stop this illegal trade that threatens tigers, rhinos, and black bears.
We are not opposed to engagement with China. But we must retain annual review until a comprehensive trade agreement is reached that provides protections for the environment and working families on a par with any new rights for global business.
TO TAKE ACTION:
Dial (202) 224-3121 for the US Capitol switchboard. Or write to the Honorable __________ (name of your US Rep.), US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
For more information, contact: Dan Seligman, Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program, (202) 547-1141; dan.seligman@sierraclub.org
1) WILDLANDS: Help stop the "Clearcuts for Kids" bill
Almost a century ago, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. Forest Service to turn over 25 percent of its logging revenues to rural counties to fund schools and roads. That outdated law creates a perverse incentive for affected communities to support high levels of logging. Although education funding is the excuse for supporting this program, many counties spend 75% of their payment on roads, not schools.
Unfortunately, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has teamed up with Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) to introduce a bill known as S. 1608, the so-called "Secure Rural Counties and Community Self-Determination Act," that would force an increase in logging incentives. This bill is not based on education needs but on past logging levels and actually takes funds away from many states in the country. The bill also forces counties to give as much as 20% of their "education funds" to logging projects.
The bill ignores the contributions of National Forests to recreation, wildlife, fishing and water quality. Nationally, recreation generates nearly $40 to the economy for every dollar generated by logging, and creates more than 30 times as many jobs. And increased logging destroys recreation opportunities. In addition, rural communities rely on National Forests for clean drinking water and logging can clog streams with silt and run-off. Communities should not have to sacrifice clean drinking water, jobs and wildlife habitat to fund their children's education.
** TAKE ACTION ** CALL YOUR SENATORS through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote against S.1608. Tell them that schoolchildren should not be held hostage to an unsustainable logging program! Our children need good schools and a healthy environment. This bill could be voted on in the next few weeks.
2) HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: Help free jailed Mexican environmentalists by contacting your Representative.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Contact your Member of Congress (Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121) and urge them to sign on to Rep. Pelosi's letter supporting persecuted environmentalists in Mexico.
Two Mexican anti-logging environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia -- arrested and tortured in May of last year by members of the Mexican army -- are getting U.S. political support on Capitol Hill. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has written a letter to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo urging him to "ensure that Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera are immediately and unconditionally released." The Pelosi letter is also calling for a "transparent and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture... and that those found responsible for possible violations are promptly brought to justice." (The full text of the letter can be found on our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/human-rights).
Concerned Sierra Club activists have joined Amnesty International activists across the country to give Montiel and Cabrera much needed support. Activists have written to the Mexican government, visited Mexican consulates throughout the US and have joined forestry activists in the US to show their support for the two Mexican environmentalists. Now they need the full support of the US Congress. Call your Representative today and urge her/him to sign on to Rep. Pelosi's letter.
For more information call or e-mail Alejandro Queral at 202-547-1141 or alejandro.queral@sierraclub.org
3) CLEAN WATER: Protect America's lake's, streams, and rivers from animal waste.
CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are giant corporate-owned livestock factories that churn out cattle, hogs, chickens, and turkeys in staggering numbers and produce massive amounts of animal waste in the process (2.7 trillion pounds per year). Too often this waste ends up in our rivers and streams, contaminating drinking water and spreading disease.
During the past year the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been working to develop guidance for writing Clean Water Act permits for animal factories. While the EPA has tried to produce acceptable guidance, USDA is seeking to protect animal factories from Clean Water Act permitting. As a result, the latest draft of the guidance does not clearly require all CAFOs to obtain, and the process is at a stalemate.
TAKE ACTION: Help protect America's lakes, stream and rivers from the animal waste produced by CAFOs by telling Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to stop protecting factory farms from the Clean Water Act.
For a sample letter to Secretary of Agriculture Glickman and for more information visit https://www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/cleanwater/cwemail.asp
4) GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY: Urge your Representative to oppose the CAFE-freeze rider
LIKE NOXIOUS WEEDS THAT WON'T GO AWAY, THE ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS ARE REAPPEARING. Monday, May 8, friends of the auto industry inserted the CAFE-freeze rider to the Dep't of Transportation appropriations bill which blocks all funding for even a study to raise fuel economy standards. Meanwhile, other anti-environmental riders continue to work their way through the appropriations process. For example, Rep. Knollenberg (R-MI) has offered a rider to the agriculture appropriations bill, stating, "no funds shall be used for the Kyoto Protocol" and forcing the White House to submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification.
TAKE ACTION: PLEASE CALL OR WRITE YOUR REP. AND URGE HIM OR HER TO OPPOSE THE CAFE-FREEZE RIDER. Your calls and letters are working. Because of your efforts, over 100 Representatives have either signed the Clean Car Letter or committed to vote to strike the CAFE-freeze rider. Please call your Representative today and urge them to support increased fuel economy (CAFE) standards so we can stop guzzling gasoline and slash pollution! While talking to your Representative, also urge him or her to oppose HR.4270, the auto industry sponsored bill which only seeks to delay action on fuel economy standards.
5) SPRAWL: Protect America's Air Quality From Sprawl-Inducing Highway
A recent experience in Atlanta illustrates how the Clean Air Act can positively affect transportation spending. In Atlanta, the air pollution problems prompted state and local governments to shift investment from sprawl-inducing highways and allowed more funds to be channeled to public transit, safety, traffic management and other projects to help revitalize existing communities. With many areas facing deadlines to attain the national air quality standards, this flexibility is important.
Rep. John Lewis' (D-GA) bill HR 3686 the "Road Back to Clean Air" would provide communities with funding tools to meet air quality health standards and improve transportation mobility. This bill strengthens the conformity provisions of the Clean Air Act to ensures that areas of the country with air quality problems take into account the pollution impacts of proposed transportation projects. Ask your Representative to protect your air quality from sprawl-inducing highways and cosponsor HR 3686. The Senate companion bill is S 2088 introduced by Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA).
For more information contact Dirk Manskopf at 202.547-1141 or dirk.manskopf@sierraclub.org.
6) POPULATION: Contact your Representative and Senators to support international family planning funding
Congressional supporters of international family planning have introduced legislation aimed at restoring funding for international family planning efforts abroad. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced "The Saving of Women's Lives through International Family Planning Act" (H.R. 3634/S. 2380). This legislation would provide assistance for international family planning and repeal the Global Gag Rule. The Global Gag Rule disqualifies family planning associations overseas from receiving U.S. funds if they, with their own funds, lobby to change laws on abortion or provide legal abortion services.
International family planning programs provide services that saves women's lives. They provide reproductive health care, including family planning that result in safe pregnancies and safe motherhood. Specifically, this legislation would authorize 1995 funding levels for international family planning-earmarking $542 million for population assistance and $35 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
TAKE ACTION: Call your Representative and Senators and urge them to co-sponsor this critical legislation. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
7) FEATURED FIELD ACTION: Sierra Club opposes anti-wilderness San Rafael Swell Legislation
The Utah Congressional delegation has introduced H.R 3605 and S. 2048, "The San Rafael Western Legacy District and National Conservation Act." This legislation seeks to circumvent wilderness protection by establishing a so-called "National Conservation Area" or NCA, with relatively weak protection for some of the nation's wildest and most stunning scenery. While the bill appears to take modest steps toward protecting wilderness-quality lands in the San Rafael Swell region of Utah, it falls far short of adequately addressing the threats to this spectacular wilderness.
Damage from the use of off-road vehicles (ORV's) is the single most significant threat to the wilderness qualities of the San Rafael Swell. While H.R. 3605/S. 2048 appears to limit the use of motorized vehicles in the NCA proposed by the bill, it does not require the Secretary of the Interior to close wilderness-quality lands the use of motorized vehicles as wilderness designation would.
In Utah, the second driest state in the Union, water is critical to plant communities and wildlife, but H.R. 3605/ S. 2048 fails to assert a much needed water right for the lands protected under the bill. Other problems with the legislation include its piecemeal approach to land protection (it doesn't include all of the wilderness-quality lands of the San Rafael Swell), as well as an authorization of $10 million for tourist promotion and development with minimal guidance for protecting the wildlands of the area.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: The House version of the legislation, H.R. 3605, is due to be marked up in Committee next Tuesday, May 16. Please call your members of Congress today and ask them to oppose the passage of this bill. Tell them that America's wild desert lands in Utah deserve wilderness protection as proposed in the Sierra Club-supported "America's Redrock Wilderness Act," H.R.1732, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY).
Also, please take some time to write your U.S. Senators with the same message. (The Senate version of the San Rafael Swell legislation is S. 2048, sponsored by Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, has not yet been scheduled for mark-up.)
"While [the Draft Environmental Impact Statement] prevents future road building, it still allows logging and continued off-road vehicle use. That can be as destructive as anything." -- Rob Smith, Sierra Club Arizona Southwest Field Office, quoted in a May 9 Associated Press story on the Forest Service's Draft Wild Forest Protection Plan
Contents:
1) TAKE ACTION: Public Comment Period Kicks Off -- Weigh in to Protect Wild Forests
2) TAKE ACTION: Urge your Rep. to support the Clean Car Amendment
3) REPORT FROM THE FIELD: May Day Parade Promotes Forest Protection and Human Rights
1) TAKE ACTION: Public Comment Period Kicks Off -- Weigh in to Protect Wild Forests
Yesterday, the Forest Service released their draft alternatives on the Wild Forest Protection Plan - the historic initiative that could protect 60 million acres of our last pristine wild forests. The release kicks off a second 60-day comment period with nearly 400 public meetings scheduled nationwide!
Unfortunately, the Forest Service's draft plan does not recommend full protection for our last wild forests. The preferred alternative does not end logging in unspoiled forest areas, but only prevents roadbuilding. Additionally, the plan does not protect the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The Tongass is the America's largest national forest and the largest temperate rainforest remaining on earth.
The good news is the Forest Service has recommended ending road building and has included policy options that could -- if added together -- protect the wild areas of our National Forests. That is why it is so important that Sierra Club members comment on the plan and call for full protection of wild forests. The Sierra Club is organizing a massive effort to turn people out at the public hearings and collect written comment calling for the protection of ALL roadless areas over 1,000 acres - including Alaska's Tongass National Forest -- from logging and all damaging activities.
Please join our efforts by participating in the public comment period. Please write a letter to the Forest Service. Your personal letter will count towards the final decision. Letters and e-mails should be sent to the address below. Thank You.
USDA Forest Service-CAET
Attn: Roadless
PO Box 221090
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
By e-mail to roadlessdeis@fs.fed.us
By fax to 877-703-2494
Thank You!
2) TAKE ACTION: Urge your Rep. to support the Clean Car Amendment
The polluters are at it again and the stench of anti-environmental riders are sweeping their way through the appropriations bills! On Monday, the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee held its mark-up of the Department of Transportation appropriations bill and there was no surprise that the friends of the auto industry inserted the CAFE-freeze rider. Rep. Olver (D-MA) spoke out against the rider, but it was nonetheless included as part of the mark-up. It is crucial that you contact your Representative and encourage him or her to support the Clean Car Amendment and oppose this anti-environmental rider.
PLEASE call or write your Representative and urge them to support the Clean Car Amendment in support of increased fuel economy standards. The Clean Car Amendment will strike the CAFE-freeze rider from the DOT budget and allow DOT to do its job and address the need to raise fuel economy standards. The anti-environmental rider that has frozen CAFE standards since 1995 starts in the House. It is time to stop it so we can stop guzzling gasoline and slash pollution!
Unfortunately, the auto industry has also taken action. On April 13, friends of the auto industry introduced a bill that calls for a lengthy study which will delay any current action. Tax incentives are also created which could erode current CAFE standards. This bill is not an approach to address environmental concerns, but is designed to circumvent fuel economy standards and delay action. The auto makers have realized that their "just say no" efforts aren't working, so they've decided to say "yes" to something. But what they've proposed is a wolf in sheep's clothing and will only further limit efforts to increase fuel economy standards.
Some quick facts about cars and oil consumption:
*Cars and light trucks alone guzzle 40% of the oil we use every day in the US -- about 8 million barrels every day!
*The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in 1999 was at its lowest point since 1980, largely due to gas guzzling SUV's and other light trucks. The standard for automobiles is currently 27.5 mpg.
*The CAFE standard for light trucks -- SUV's, minivans and pickups -- has stagnated for 19 years. It is a low 20.7 mpg.
*The CAFE standard for cars has not changed in 14 years and was set in the original CAFE law in 1975.
*OPEC has once again reminded us that we are dependent on foreign oil. 55% of the oil we use is imported. The oil industry and their friends in Congress are using high oil prices as an excuse to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- our last pristine wilderness area. The Arctic is our Serengeti. We should dill under Detroit, NOT the Arctic.
*Raising CAFE standards will save more oil than we import from the Persian Gulf, can expect to get from the Arctic and off-shore California COMBINED!
Every year since 1995 friends of the auto industry have attached an anti-environmental rider to the bill that funds the Department of Transportation freezing CAFE standards. This is a back door gag rule on the agency responsible for studying and setting new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. With this rider in place, the Department of Transportation can't even study new fuel economy standards!
It is time to stop the CAFE-freeze rider so we can stop guzzling gasoline and slash pollution! Please urge your representative to support the Clean Car amendment and strike the CAFE-freeze rider. CALL OR WRITE TODAY!!
For more information contact jeffrey.bourne@sierraclub.org
3) May Day Parade Promotes Forest Protection and Human Rights
FROM MN EPEC ORGANIZER, JILL WALKER
As is tradition every first Sunday in May, activists of all stripes took to the streets yesterday to participate in the annual May Day Parade and Festival in south Minneapolis. This year, Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment Campaign volunteers teamed up with forestry activists to promote protection of 60 million acres of wild forests and to protest the torture by the Mexican Military of anti-logging activists and farmers Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia from Mexico.
10 of us marched in the Free Speech section of the parade, behind an excellent drum corps and in front of a young group of Extreme (yo-Yo) Spinners. We gave away 800 "Stop Logging our National Forests" buttons to happy onlookers.
Meanwhile, Sierra Club volunteer Mollie Dean set up a table at the park and collected a huge bag full of signed postcards for human rights and protection of roadless areas.
Thank you, volunteers!!!
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