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May 24, 2000
"I totally agree that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a truly unique, pristine ecosystem, and I believe we should not damage it. . . it should be set aside in wilderness designation in perpetuity..."
Senator Robert Smith, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Act"
Reports from the Field:
1. Sierra Club EVEC Campaigns Raise Voter Awareness - read what they're doing in:
- Nevada
- Kansas City
- Philadelphia
2. New Jersey and New York Activists Explore the Wildlands of New Jersey
3. Washington DC's Environmental Justice Campaign Has Successful kickoff
1. EVEC Campaigns are Making the Environment Matter This Election Year
In Kansas City last weekend over fifty Sierra Club volunteers participated in the Club's Environmental Voter Education Campaign's spring outreach event, one of the biggest events in the history of the Kanza group. Lead by Conservation Organizer Christine Applehanz, volunteers distributed voting guides that highlighted the votes of members of Congress from Kansas on the environment. The voting guides spotlighted Rep. Dennis Moore's strong record on clean water. The event included a Native American environmental activist and was covered by the Kansas City Star.
Christine reports that people who received the voting guides started calling to volunteer a day after the event.
In Philadelphia, Conservation Organizer Adam Diamond and 18 volunteers got up early in the morning to educate commuters about Rep. Joe Hoeffel's strong record on fighting suburban sprawl. The group distributed voting guides at commuter rail stations north of Philadelphia from 6:30 to 9 in the morning. In that short time frame, volunteers distributed 300 charts and collected 150 postcards. The press conference following the event generated six stories in the media, including an interview on the local NPR station and a story from Reuters news service.
And in southern Nevada, a mailing for their May 13 spring outreach event urged people to "Make Their Mother Proud" and help protect Nevada's water by taking an urban hike. Twenty-three people attended the event at Sunset Park, and enjoyed a picnic and urban hike. Most importantly, they distributed over 3,000 voter charts door to door. Many local Sierra Club members who could not make the event came by to pick up charts so they could do their neighborhoods themselves.
2. Sierrans tracking bears, bobcats and river otter -- is this Maine or Montana? NOPE its the WILD HIGHLANDS OF NEW JERSEY!!
The weather was cold and wet, but that didn't deter 45 hikers and activists from New York and New Jersey from heading out to the Wild Highlands to track bear, river otter and bobcat -- JUST one hour from Manhattan -- this last Saturday. The event started with an introduction by Susan Holmes (Sierra Club's Northeast Office) and Wilma Frey of the Highlands Coalition. The star of the day, Sue Morse of Keeping Track -- the nation's preeminent tracking and advocacy organization based in Vermont-- then taught the group about the wild species of the Northeast and how to "see" them in the landscape.
After lunch, the group hit the trail and almost right away came upon a bear mark tree -- a large oak covered in scratches that acts as a signpost for bears. Signs of bear and river otter were plentiful, as was lots of good bobcat habitat.
The event was designed to raise awareness about the biodiversity of the Highlands. A forested area of over 1.5 million acres stretching from west of the Delaware River to Western Connecticut, the Highlands region represents one of the greatest wild area in the Northeast.
"If you know where to go in the Highlands you can hear the howl of coyote, see a mother bear with cubs or watch a river otter playing - it is the Yellowstone of the New York metropolitan region," said Holmes.
The event was lead by the Sierra Club with support from the Highlands Coalition, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the New York, New Jersey Trail Conference. NE Staffer Lori Herpen did a great job with the on-the-ground logistics and Bart Semcer, although not able to attend, was a driving force in the organization.
3. DC's Environmental Justice Program Makes Voices Heard at Air Pollution Hearing
The first program of the DC Environmental Justice program went off nearly flawlessly last weekend, as a busload of 15 residents from neighborhoods adjacent to polluting facilities attended an air pollution permit hearing.
The hearing, focusing on the air pollution of Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Facility and Saint Elizabeth's Hospital incinerator in southeast Washington, DC, was to address permit applications for both facilities. The facilities' lawyers and workers were "not used to having people turn out at these hearings." But this time, fifteen residents of Anacostia neighborhoods got on the bus and made sure their voices were heard. Activists began the day with a short discussion of the issues they wanted to address in the hearing, then energized themselves with a delicious homemade lunch before entering the hearing to testify.
They filled the board room of the hearing and told their stories of living in areas where it smells horrible, where asthma is common, where their lives are affected every day by the air pollution. Their on-the-record testimony spoke to the need for hearings to be in their neighborhood, in the evening, and publicized, in contrast to yesterday's midday meeting across town from the facilities. They stressed the need for the city and the facilities to take responsibility for the heath effects. Most importantly, they envisioned the hearing as a beginning for a bigger strategic campaign to improve environmental health in their neighborhood.
The Sierra Club, lead by Organizer Julia Eisenhardt, provided bus service, organizing assistance, lunch, and outreach for the event.
Following up on the hearing, a meeting will be scheduled with attendees to plan the future of this campaign.
Congratulations go out to Southwest Hill Residents' Association, ANC 8A and 8D05, and the Barry Farms Civic Association on a great job! This inter- neighborhood alliance will be a powerful force in the fight for environmental justice!
May 22, 2000
"The battle we have fought, and are still fighting, for the forests is a part of the eternal conflict between right and wrong...So we must count on watching and striving for these trees, and should always be glad to find anything so surely good and noble to strive for." - John Muir November 23, 1895
Contents:
TAKE ACTION: Stop the "Clearcuts for Kids" Bill
Help Protect Utah Wilderness: Schedule a District Meeting with Your Member of Congress
Featured Take Action
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.
Your Senators should OPPOSE this bill for the following reasons:
- S. 1608 keeps the traditional tie between timber receipts and payments to counties. Counties would continue to have an incentive to advocate for more logging on federal lands.
- Under S. 1608, payments to counties would come from Forest Service revenues and fees and then from the general Treasury if Forest Service funds are insufficient. However, Treasury funds are not guaranteed. The likely effect would be for Congress to take the funding from environmentally beneficial activities such as wilderness management, fish and wildlife habitat restoration and recreation, or force the Forest Service to increase logging.
- S. 1608 would take between 20% and 15% of the counties' education payments to create a special account that would be used for "investments in resource management and restoration." Counties do not have a choice - they have to give a portion of these "education funds" to logging projects.
- S. 1608 would create "local advisory committees" that would approve the special projects. This would give county officials and local interests influence to allocate millions of dollars of federal funds and would vastly increase local control over National Forest management. The National Environmental Policy Act allows for ample input from citizens and local governments into federal management decisions and has worked for decades.
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.
Help Fix the San Rafael "Not-so-Swell" bill and protect Utah's Wilderness:
Last week, the House Resources Committee adopted a bill that could actually increase the destruction of Utah wilderness by off-road vehicle use. H.R 3605, "The San Rafael Western Legacy District and National Conservation Act," seeks to circumvent wilderness protection in the spectacular San Rafael Swell region of Utah by establishing a so-called "National Conservation Area" ("NCA"). While the bill appears to take modest steps toward protecting wilderness-quality lands in the San Rafael Swell, it falls far short of adequately addressing the threats to this spectacular wilderness.
Damage from the use of off-road vehicles ("ORVs") is the single most significant threat to the wilderness qualities of the San Rafael Swell. While H.R. 3605 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 to the use of ORVs as wilderness designation would. And an amendment adopted in Committee could actually have the effect of opening even more wilderness-quality areas to ORV use.
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 TO HELP:
The bill has been passed out of the Committee and could go to the House floor in the coming weeks. During the week of May 29 through June 2, your Member of Congress will be home in the District. This is an excellent opportunity for you to voice your concerns. Call the district office and see if you can get an appointment to see your Representative. Urge him or her to support amendments on the floor to do the following:
- restrict ORV use in wild and roadless areas of the San Rafael Swell
- preserve the wilderness qualities of all the areas included in the Sierra Club-supported "America's Redrock Wilderness Act," H.R.1732, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY).
In its current form, H.R. 3605 would establish a bad precedent for protecting our Nation's precious public wildlands, and would fall far short of adequately protecting the wilderness of the San Rafael Swell in Utah. Please urge your Member of Congress to support amendments to fix this bill, and to oppose the bill unless amendments to address all the concerns noted above are adopted.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"If that many former presidents, politicians, economists, and other notables want normal trade relations with China, it must be the big mistake we think it is."
Judy Kunofsky, Chair Sierra Club's Sustainable Planet Strategy Team
CONTENTS
URGENT ACTION: OPPOSE ENVIRONMENTALLY DAMAGING TRADE DEAL
Regular Friday Action Features
1) WILD FOREST CAMPAIGN: Hand-write a letter & Attend local Hearings
2) GLOBAL WARMING: Urge President to Veto DOT Appropriations Bill
3) END COMMERCIAL LOGGING CAMPAIGN: Help stop the "Clearcuts for Kids" bill
4) POPULATION: Urge Congress to Fund International Family Planning
URGENT ACTION
RESPONSIBLE TRADE PROGRAM: 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 TODAY because Congress will vote the week of 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
FEATURED ACTIONS
1) WILD FOREST CAMPAIGN: Hand-written letters to the U.S. Forest Service are needed Attend your local Forest Service hearing
We have heard from the U.S. Forest Service that hand-written letters will be weighted more heavily than postcards when they are tallying comments on their recently released roadless area DEIS. Please localize your comment with a story of why your nearby roadless area is important to you, request that the Forest Service protects all roadless areas of 1,000 acres and greater -- including the Tongass NF in Alaska -- from ALL destructive activities, and send it to:
Chief Mike Dombeck, U.S. Forest Service c/o Sierra Club 408 C Street NE Washinton, DC 20002
We will collect these and deliver them to the U.S. Forest Service.
Please attend your local Forest Service hearing to comment on the Forest Service roadless area policy. To find the closest hearing to your home, please visit our Sierra Club web site. https://www.sierraclub.org/wilderness/WildForest/Index.asp
2) GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY: CONGRESS DUCKS VOTE ON FIRST ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDER OF THE YEAR
Congress Once Again Blocks Even Study of Cutting Auto Pollution
The Sierra Club is outraged that the Republican leadership has yet again prevented action to cut auto pollution and is profoundly disappointed that the Democratic leadership didn't fight back. This is the first major anti-environmental rider of the 21st Century. It is essential that the Republican leadership stop polluting our laws with riders. It is equally essential that when they do, the Democratic leadership stand and fight. Since Congress didn't do its job, the President must use his veto power.
TAKE ACTION. Please call the White House comment line, 202-456-1111, and urge the President to veto the DOT appropriations bill to remove the Anti-Environmental CAFE-freeze rider. Once again, Congress has used a rider to bar the Department of Transportation from even studying raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. With fuel economy at its lowest level since 1980 and oil consumption at an all-time high, action is clearly needed.
In 1975, Congress passed the CAFE law to conserve oil and improve the nation's gas mileage. From 1975 to 1989, CAFE doubled the nation's fuel economy, but 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. Making our cars and trucks go further on a gallon of gas is the single biggest single step to curb global warming.
3) 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.
4) POPULATION: Contact your Representative and Senators to support international family planning funding
The number of co-sponsors is growing! Please continue to urge your Representative and Senators to co-sponsor this critical legislation. H.R.3634 has 113 co-sponsors to date; make sure your Member is on the list.
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
"Not so long ago, cars and trucks were things to aspire to. But very recently there's been a change. Now the whole notion of social liability has crept in." -- Bill Clay Ford, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Ford Motor Company
CONTENTS
FEATURED ACTION: STRIKE THE CAFE-FREEZE RIDER FROM THE DOT BUDGET
URGENT ACTION
FIRST VOTE ON ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDER THIS FRIDAY
URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO VOTE TO STRIKE THE CAFE-FREEZE RIDER FROM THE DOT BUDGET.
The House CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) floor vote is this Friday! The Department of Transportation funding bill is scheduled to be taken up by the House on Friday, May 19 and contains the CAFE-freeze rider. This is the first of many anti-environmental riders and your urgent help is needed.
PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND URGE HIM OR HER TO VOTE TO STRIKE THE CAFE-FREEZE RIDER FROM THE DOT BUDGET. This anti-environmental rider has been a part of the DOT funding bill since 1995 and blocks all funding for a study to raise fuel economy standards. This gag order denies Congress the information they need to make informed decisions about fuel economy standards. Raising fuel economy standards is the single biggest step we can take to reduce global warming.
PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND ASK HIM OR HER TO OPPOSE THIS ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDER. CALL TODAY AND ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO VOTE TO STRIKE THE CAFE-FREEZE RIDER FROM THE DOT BUDGET.
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