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June 12, 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1) TAKE ACTION:
Call Your Senators to Support Clean Car Resolution
Call Your Representative to Oppose Anti-Environmental Riders
FEATURED ACTION
VOTES ON ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS EXPECTED THIS WEEK
As promised things are heating up as the Appropriations process in Congress moves into full swing. This week, we expect many votes in both the House and Senate on important environmental issues: there will be votes to strike anti-environmental riders, there will be attempts to attach new riders, and there will be pro-environmental amendments aimed at stopping federal programs that are harming our environment.
SENATE
In the Senate, things are pretty straightforward-the big vote this week will be on a "Clean Car Amendment" to the Transportation Appropriations Bill. The Senate is set to vote on the Transportation funding bill on Thursday, June 15th. Senators Gorton (R-WA), Feinstein (D-CA) and Bryan (D-CA) will again offer the Clean Car Resolution in support of improved miles per gallon standards for cars and light trucks and opposing the House-based rider blocking new fuel economy standards.
Since 1995, friends of the auto industry have used the appropriations process to block implementation of the most successful energy savings policy Congress has ever adopted -- Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The rider blocks the Depart of Transportation from even studying new standards. As a result, our cars and trucks are consuming more oil and producing more pollution. Cars and light trucks alone account for 40% of US oil consumption and 20% of US global warming pollution.
Last year, 40 Senators voted for the Clean Car Resolution, and with your help we can do even better this year.
***TAKE ACTION***PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY
(Capitol Switchboard: 1-202-224-3121) and urge them to vote for the Clean Car Resolution opposing the CAFE-freeze rider in the Transportation funding bill. Tell them raising these standards will save consumers money at the pump, reduce air pollution, and is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming.
HOUSE
In the House of Representatives, they are scheduled to take up the FY 2001 Interior Appropriations bill sometime late on Tuesday. The debate is expected to be contentious, as there is heated controversy over inadequate funding levels to carry out critically needed natural resources programs. Moreover, as in years past, the Interior funding bill is laden with a host of anti-environmental riders that would undermine our nation's land management and environmental protection programs.
Because of these antics, we expect a number of Representatives to offer amendments on the floor to STRIKE anti-environmental riders from the Interior bill. The Sierra Club supports efforts to remove the following riders presently in the bill that would:
- Prohibit the expenditure of funds to plan, design or manage any National Monuments designated by the President after 1999;
- Prohibit funding for the protection of America's rivers through the Heritage River Initiative;
- Prohibit environmental review of grazing permits that are due to be renewed;
- Block the establishment of two new National Wildlife Refuges in Illinois/Indiana and California;
- Block Funding for federal efforts to combat global climate change;
- Delay the National Forest Planning Process;
- Bar funds for completing a final decision on the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project.
These are some of the anti-environmental riders that are already in the Interior Appropriations bill, but others in the House still want a bite at the apple. We also expect members of the House to try to attach additional designed to gut environmental protections during debate on the House floor. For example:
-Despite the overwhelming public support for protecting wild forests, Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) is expected to offer an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that aims to derail President Clinton's Wild Forest Roadless initiative.
-Stupak is also considering offering an amendment to block enforcement of new National Park Service regulations which restrict damaging snowmobile use in most National Parks.
We also expect a number of pro-environmental amendments to be offered during floor debate including
- An amendment by Representative DeFazio (D-OR) to prevent Fish and Wildlife Service from approving new commercial farming leases that are causing harm to the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge.
- Rep. Defazio will also offer an amendment to prohibit the Forest Service from using taxpayer funds to enforce the recreation fee demonstration program, making it a voluntary program instead.
***TAKE ACTION***Please take a moment to call your Representative and urge them to end the practice of using must-pass funding bills to advance anti-environmental riders. Please vote to strip these harmful riders from the Interior Appropriations bills and support amendments that may be offered to strengthen environmental and natural resource protection programs. Thanks you for efforts.
"We congratulate Sen. John McCain for winning the first battle in the long war for campaign finance reform" - Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, on the Senate's vote to require disclosure of contributions by so-called "527" organizations.
CONTENTS:
* SPECIAL TAKE ACTION: PROTECT WILD FORESTS
I) WILDLANDS: THREAT TO UTAH PREVENTED
II) HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT URGENT ACTION
III) GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY
IV) END COMMERCIAL LOGGING CAMPAIGN:
V) CAFOs
VI) SPRAWL
VII) POPULATION
VIII) WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN
PROTECT WILD FORESTS: TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE THE STUPAK AMENDMENT
As you know, the Forest Service is considering plans that could protect 60 million acres of the last wild areas in our National Forests. Sierra Club members are mobilized nationwide to build support for and strengthen this historic initiative.
Despite the overwhelming public support for protecting our last wild forests, some members of Congress want to delay or destroy this initiative. Next Tuesday, Representative Stupak is expected to offer an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that aims to defeat this initiative. Please call your member of Congress immediately and urge him/her to protect our wild forests by voting against the Stupak Amendment. Tell him/her to support the protection of wild forest roadless areas from logging, roadbuilding and all damaging activities. The House may take up this bill as early as **Tuesday** so please call your Representative immediately. Thank You.
I. WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN - Protect Utah Wilderness
On Wednesday, June 7, environmental leaders in the House of Representatives derailed a bill on the floor that would have set up only the weakest "protection" for Utah wildlands, and established a dangerous precedent for wilderness protection nationwide. Word went out from thousands of Sierra Club members to their Representatives in Congress that critical changes had to be made to H.R. 3605, the "San Rafael Western Legacy District and National Conservation Act."
Reps. Mark Udall (D-CO), Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Jay Inslee (D-WA) came to the rescue, offering amendments to fix the bill and guarantee that the wild character of the San Rafael Swell is protected for future generations. Unfortunately, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) offered substitute amendments which significantly undercut these protection efforts. The Republican leadership allowed more than double the amount of time usually allotted for voting in order to arm-twist enough votes to defeat the Udall amendment. While this underhanded tactic gave them a temporary edge, the votes on the Inslee and Holt amendments went our way by a close margin, and the bill sponsors were forced to pull the bill from the House floor.
Because champions of this weak bill may attempt to bring it up again, quick feedback to your Representatives on the recent votes is crucial. Please visit our "Votewatch" site at www.sierraclub.org/votewatch, to determine how your Member voted. If he or she voted "NO" on either Boehlert amendment, call and say "Thanks!" If they voted "YES," that was the wrong vote and they need to hear it. Please call soon -- and thank you for all your work on Utah Wilderness that made this victory possible!
II) HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT URGENT ACTION Mexican Earth Defenders Face Possible Conviction
On June 6, at 11:45 pm, in an eleventh and three quarter hour maneuver, the prosecution in the case against Mexican environmental heroes Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera filed papers with the court against Montiel and Cabrera, who have spent the last 13+ months in prison for organizing their community to protest excessive and possibly illegal logging of old growth forests in the Southern Sierra Madre. The defense now has a period of about two weeks to file their rebuttal.
At this pivotal moment in the case, we are stepping up efforts to urge Mexico's Attorney General, Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, to drop the case and free Montiel and Cabrera immediately and unconditionally. Please write to the Attorney General's Attaché office in the Mexican Embassy urging the Mexican government to free Montiel and Cabrera.
Send letters to:
Jorge Madrazo Cuellar c/o Alejandro Diaz De Leon Attorney General's Attaché Embassy of Mexico 1911 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20006
For sample letter, go to: www.sierraclub.org/human-rights/Mexico/action.asp
III) GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
Urge Your Senators to Vote for the Clean Car Resolution VOTE EXPECTED JUNE 15
Since 1995, friends of the auto industry have used the appropriations process to block further implementation of the most successful energy savings policy- Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. As a result, our cars and trucks are consuming more oil and producing more pollution.
PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY (Capitol Switchboard: 1-202-224-3121) and urge them to vote for the Clean Car Resolution opposing the CAFE-freeze rider in the Transportation funding bill. Tell them raising these standards will save consumers money at the pump, reduce air pollution, and is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming.
The Senate is set to vote on the transportation appropriations bill next week. Senators Gorton (R-WA), Feinstein (D-CA) and Bryan (D-CA) will again offer the Clean Car Resolution in support of improved miles per gallon standards. Last year, 40 Senators voted for the Clean Car Resolution, and this year we expect to do even better. Not one of those who voted with us last year is switching sides and we have picked up new pledges of support. In fact, every office we've visited has stated receiving phone call after phone call in support of improved miles per gallon standards.
The Auto Industry Has Told the Senate What They Think -- Have You?
IV) END COMMERCIAL LOGGING CAMPAIGN: 8 New Cosponsors added to Mckinney-Leach bill to End Commericial Logging!
In a wildly successful lobby week about 20 Sierra Club activists from across the country garnered 8 new cosponsors in only 3 days! Activists participated in a training, visits with members of Congress and a reception inside the Captiol where Sierra Club President Robbie Cox and Representatives Cynthia Mckinney, Rush Holt, and Lois Capps thanked Sierra Club activists for their hard work. The highlight of the evening was an uplifting speach by lead sponsor Cynthia Mckinney.
We now have a total of 87 cosponsors! The newest being: Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Bennie Thompson (D-MI), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Joe Hoefel (D-PA), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), and Karen McCarthy (D-MO). Keep up the great work !!
V)CAFOs Keep Water Clean from Factory Farms!
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. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), hog, chicken and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states.
You can take action to 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. It is crucial that he hears how important clean water is to you. If possible, please call or email him so he hears from you as soon as possible.
For more information and a sample letter or message please visit https://www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/cleanwater/cwemail.asp. His address: The Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary U.S. Department of Agriculture, 14th & Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250. His email: agsec@usda.gov. His phone: 202-720-2791
VI) Protect America's Open Space and Farmland From Sprawl
Every American is feeling the consequences of sprawl. Across America "sprawl" --- scattered development that increases traffic, saps local resources and destroys open space --- is taking a serious toll on our environment, our health and our quality of life. The Senate can take steps to curb some of the effects of sprawl by supporting S. 1558, the Community Open Space Bonds Act.
The Community Open Space Bond Act introduced by Senators Baucus (D-MT) and Hatch (R-UT) would give state, local and tribal governments up to $1.9 billion annually for five years in bonding authority to combat sprawl. The program allows states and local governments to carry out their own conservation priorities by using zero interest bonds to purchase open space, protect water quality, improve access to parks, and help communities re-develop abandoned industrial city centers. The program is voluntary, grassroots-driven and community-focused.
Call or write your Senators and tell him or her to cosponsor S. 1558, the Community Open Space Bonds Act. For more information and a sample letter visit https://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/sprawl/bonds.asp.
VII) POPULATION
Improve global health: Contact your Senators and Representative
The Sierra Club's Population Program is committed to environmental protection and population stabilization and works for these goals by advocating for increased U.S. funding for international family planning programs. Progress has been made. More women are receiving family planning services around the world. But, it is estimated that more than 150 million married women in developing nations request modern methods of contraception, but do not have access to them.
According to the World Health Organization, as a result of lack of access to proper prenatal care and safe motherhood programs nearly 600,000 women die each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Annually, 18 million women suffer from pregnancy-related health problems that can be permanently disabling.
The Global Health Act of 2000, introduced by Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Senator Leahy (D-VT), is legislation that addresses these critical issues. The Global Health Act increases assistance to developing nations with high levels of premature death, by improving children's health and nutrition and by reducing unintended pregnancies. It calls for an additional $1 billion dollars for health, child survival, and voluntary family planning programs in the existing budget.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and ask them to endorse HR 3826 and S 2387, to help protect the lives of women around the world. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
VIII) WILDLANDS CAMPAIGN - Protect Utah Wilderness
On Wednesday, June 7, environmental leaders in the House of Representatives derailed a bill on the floor that would have set up only the weakest "protection" for Utah wildlands, and established a dangerous precedent for wilderness protection nationwide. Word went out from thousands of Sierra Club members to their Representatives in Congress that critical changes had to be made to H.R. 3605, the "San Rafael Western Legacy District and National Conservation Act."
Reps. Mark Udall (D-CO), Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Jay Inslee (D-WA) came to the rescue, offering amendments to fix the bill and guarantee that the wild character of the San Rafael Swell is protected for future generations. Unfortunately, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) offered substitute amendments which significantly undercut these protection efforts. The Republican leadership allowed more than double the amount of time usually allotted for voting in order to arm-twist enough votes to defeat the Udall amendment. While this underhanded tactic gave them a temporary edge, the votes on the Inslee and Holt amendments went our way by a close margin, and the bill sponsors were forced to pull the bill from the House floor.
Because champions of this weak bill may attempt to bring it up again, quick feedback to your Representatives on the recent votes is crucial. Please visit our "Votewatch" site at www.sierraclub.org/votewatch, to determine how your Member voted. If he or she voted "NO" on either Boehlert amendment, call and say "Thanks!" If they voted "YES," that was the wrong vote and they need to hear it. Please call soon -- and thank you for all your work on Utah Wilderness that made this victory possible!
NEXT PAGE -->
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| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|