NEXT PAGE -->
|
| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
Updated Daily!
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|
DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
September 29, 2000
"Make our day" -- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) on President Clinton's threatened veto of the energy and water spending bill.
1) FEATURED ITEM: TELL THE PRESIDENT TO FULLY PROTECT OUR WILD FORESTS
2) RIDERS UPDATE: CARA/Land Legacy and Interior
3) TAKE ACTION: Global Warming International Day of Action, Oct. 5
4.) TAKE ACTION: The Arctic Refuge Under Attack in Congress
5) TAKE ACTION: Our Streams and Wetlands Need Protection from Sprawl
6) TAKE ACTION: International Family Planning Debate Continues Into House/Senate Committee
7) TAKE ACTION: Convicted Mexican Environmentalists Have Reportedly Been Threatened with Physical Violence
8) IN THE NEWS: Former VA DEQ staff criticize Allen
TELL THE PRESIDENT TO FULLY PROTECT OUR WILD FORESTS
Right now, the Forest Service is deciding the fate of the last remaining unspoiled roadless areas in our National Forests. They are deciding whether or not to ban logging in our last wild forests and whether or not to protect the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. You are probably one of the more than ONE MILLION Americans who signed a postcard, wrote a letter or spoke at a meeting this summer calling for full protection of all of our last wild forests.
The Forest Service has counted and considered the public comments and now they are making decisions! But there is political pressure to weaken and derail this historic plan. So, we are asking you to speak out on behalf of our wild forests once again.
TAKE ACTION: Please call President Clinton at 1-800-663-9566 (press zero to bypass the long recording) and tell them to ensure that the final roadless rule truly protects all of our last unspoiled roadless areas by banning logging and other destructive activities. And tell them to include the Tongass National Forest in Alaska! Thank you!
2) Riders Update: CARA/Land Legacy and Interior
CLUB'S TAKE ON LAND FUNDING (CARA/LAND LEGACY) AND INTERIOR RIDERS
The deal on the Interior Appropriations bill is a mixed bag. Although many of the anti-environmental riders have been stripped from the bill, several potentially damaging riders remain, and we have not seen the details on some of the compromises made on other riders. Of particular concern are riders that threaten to increase logging in our National Forests, allow lead mining in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri, and allow the livestock industry to extend destructive grazing operations on public lands without environmental review.
In the same bill, negotiators struck on a deal on the so-called CARA/Land Legacy funding proposal. The bill provides enhanced funding levels for many important programs and helps to encourage the Congress to consistently fund these programs for six years into the future. The deal also dropped out dangerous provisions in the CARA (Conservation and Reinvestment Act) bill that would have threatened our fragile coasts with increased oil drilling and the construction of destructive infrastructure projects. However, the powerful promoters of these bad provisions are likely to attempt to insert them into other budget bills next week (Commerce, State and Justice appropriations).
We must remain vigilant. Our environment is far from safe at this point.
3) Global Warming International Day of Action, Oct. 5
Leading up to the next round of international negotiations on global warming, an International Day of Action is planned for October 5. Activists across the country and across the planet will be holding events as to draw attention to the need to start taking action on global warming.
We are working with other environmental groups at events here in the U.S. and there may be an event planned near you! Please let us know if you are interested in taking part in one of these events and would like to find out if there is an event in your town.
To find an event near you, please contact Chris Hayday, 202-547-1141 or chris.hayday@sierraclub.org.
4. The Arctic Refuge Under Attack in Congress
With oil prices reaching $37 a barrel and energy becoming a central issue in the Presidential race, the fate of the Arctic Refuge is once more a central topic of debate. Sierra Club volunteers and staff are engaged in a major lobbying, public education, and media campaign.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Trent Lott has said he plans to bring the so-called "National Energy Security Act of 2000," (S.2557) to the Senate floor again next week for debate. This, despite the record level of support for the Arctic Wilderness bills in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Sierra Club is strongly opposed to S.2557 first and foremost because the legislation would authorize oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Protecting the Arctic Refuge from encroaching oil development has long been a top priority for the Sierra Club. Home to wolves, grizzly bears, musk ox and the calving grounds for the 129,000 member Porcupine River caribou herd, this spectacular landscape is truly one of our nation's natural treasures. The Sierra Club believes that the coastal plain--the last 5% of Alaska's vast North Slope that remains off-limits to drilling--should be permanently protected as Wilderness.
The Sierra Club also objects to other provisions of S.2557. We believe the legislation focuses too heavily on tax breaks and subsidies to the polluting oil, coal, and nuclear industries. We urge the Senate to reject the failed policies of the past and instead craft a long-term sustainable energy policy.
America needs a comprehensive energy strategy based on conservation, renewables, alternative energy sources and raising the fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. We urge the Senate to craft a national energy strategy that would cut our dependence on oil and slash pollution, while allowing us to protect national treasures like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for future generations.
5) Our Streams and Wetlands Need Protection from Sprawl
Developers are exacerbating sprawl by turning wetlands into strip malls, tract housing and golf courses -- all without any environmental review. Why? They are exploiting a 1998 court ruling that struck down the "Tulloch Rule" and opened a loophole in the Clean Water Act enabling developers and others to do various ditching, draining and excavating projects without public notice or a permit.
Destroying these wetlands and streams harms the quality of our nation's water, aggravates flooding, robs a wide array of birds, fish and wildlife of critical habitat and invites sprawling development in sensitive ecosystems.
You can help protect our streams and wetlands by supporting a rule the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed to limit the destructiveness of this loophole and by urging these agencies to do more to stop sprawl from invading sensitive ecosystems.
TAKE ACTION: The comment period on this rule ends on Oct. 16, 2000, so urgent action is necessary. Please write a personal letter making similar points to the points listed below. If you want to do more to help with this campaign or need further details, call the Sierra Club at (202) 547-1141 or visit our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/wetlands/tulloch.
Support for the proposed rule to help stem the destruction of streams and wetlands due to the "Tulloch" loophole (65 Fed. Reg 50108 ff).
Since a court overturned the Tulloch rule in 1998, thousands of acres of wetland have been ditched and drained and hundreds of miles of streams degraded without any environmental review. Closing the Tulloch loophole will protect streams and wetlands that are home to thousands of birds, fish and other wildlife. Streams and marshes protect our communities by acting as natural sponges, soaking up and filtering water that would otherwise flood our neighborhoods.
Apply the full Clean Water Act protections for streams and wetlands by strengthening and clarifying the proposed rule as follows:
- Provide clarity in the rule that specific activities -- such as sidecasting, stockpiling, clearing, grading, leveling and backfilling -- always require environmental review to ensure that developers are not able to exploit any vagueness within the rule;
- Develop stronger language to protect our streams from toxics, heavy metals and other pollutants that are sent downstream by ditching and dredging.
The Army Corps must seize this opportunity to protect our nation's streams and wetlands from the widespread destruction this loophole has created.
Mail to: Mr. Mike Smith Office of the Chief of Engineers ATTN CECW-OR (3 F73) Further Revisions to Definition of Discharge or Dredge Material 441 G Street NW Washington, DC 20314-1000
Email to: CECWOR@HQ02.USACE.Army.Mil
6) International Family Planning Debate Continues Into House/Senate Committee
Join the Sierra Club's Population Program efforts: Ask your Senator to repeal the Global Gag Rule and keep the Senate's higher funding level.
International family planning funding continues to be contentiously debated within the House and Senate foreign operations appropriations. Last fiscal year, Congress and the White House imposed restrictions on U.S. family planning assistance overseas. The policy, the Global Gag Rule, disqualifies overseas family planning associations from receiving U.S. funds if they, with their own money, lobby to change laws on abortion or provide abortion services in their own countries where it is legal to do so.
On July 13th, the House of Representatives voted to maintain the Global Gag Rule restrictions (H.R.4811) by a narrow margin of 206-221, passing the bill with funding levels of $385 million for international family planning assistance and $25 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). These represent no increase from the funding levels of last year.
The Senate passed their bill (S.2522) with increased funding levels and removed the Global Gag Rule restrictions from the legislation. The Senate requested $425 million for international family planning assistance through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and $25 million for UNFPA.
Now, the House and Senate versions will go to a conference committee. The joint committee of Representatives and Senators has to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the foreign appropriations bills, and send it on to the President. At that point the President can either sign the bill into law or veto it. President Clinton has threatened a veto if the Global Gag Rule restrictions and low funding levels remain.
TAKE ACTION: If you are from one of the following states, please contact your senator: Specter (R-PA), Gregg (R-NH), Campbell (R-CO), Leahy (D-VT), Inouye (D-HI), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Harkin (D-IA), Mikulski (D-MD), and Murray (D-WA). Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
TELL THEM: U.S. funding for voluntary family planning and other reproductive health programs not only save lives and improve human health, but also help slow population growth and protect the environment.
Attempts to interfere with the delivery of these vital health services undermine the prospects for conserving natural resources, protecting wildlife habitat, and ultimately, for ensuring a healthy and prosperous future for our children. Please keep the Global Gag Rule out and support the Senate funding levels.
7) Urgent Action: Convicted Mexican Environmentalists Have Reportedly Been Threatened with Physical Violence
Two Mexican environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, convicted August 28 for crimes they confessed to under duress of torture, have reportedly become targets of new physical threats. Lawyers for the earth defenders are gravely concerned for the safety of their clients after receiving reports that Carlos Coronel, director of their prison in Iguala, Guerrero, is contracting inmates to beat up Montiel and fellow environmental activist Teodoro Cabrera.
On September 8, Montiel and Cabrera learned that the prison director had remarked that he needed to hire someone to beat up the environmentalists. This threat is all the more serious given that the prison director has frequently denied Montiel and Cabrera's right to receive visitors. In addition, if further physical beatings are disguised as conflicts between inmates, it will be difficult for the lawyers to prove that prison officials had a role in the attacks.
TAKE ACTION: Please send urgent appeals urging that:
Montiel and Cabrera be released immediately and unconditionally; and
Until they are released, that prison authorities guarantee the physical and psychological security of Montiel and Cabrera.
Send your appeals to:
President Ernesto Zedillo c/o Ambassador Jesus Reyes-Heroles Embassy of Mexico 1911 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006
Please copy all letters to Sam Parry at sam.parry@sierraclub.org.
For more information, please visit our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
8) IN THE NEWS: Former VA DEQ staff criticize Allen
Richmond, VA - After weeks of planning and organizing the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter hit a grand slam at our press conference this morning. Four former Department of Environmental Quality scientists and engineers held reporters attention and answered numerous questions for a full hour on how the former Allen administration gagged staff, hid critical water databases, and treated permitee's with greater deference than the citizens of the Commonwealth. The panel fielded many questions and after the press conference received numerous compliments from individual reporters.
The compelling testimony drew major press coverage: Associated Press, two NBC's TV stations, WRVA radio station and a Virginia News Network and the Daily Press, Virginian Pilot and the Richmond Times Dispatch.
The press conference was called by the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter's Environmental Voter Education Campaign as a follow up to the release of it's voter guide earlier this month.
Each of the former DEQ staffers shared specific instances where permits and other routine actions were politicized to insure a favorable outcome for polluting industries. Two of the four staffers had actually resigned during the Allen Administration in protest of the political interference they encountered in doing their jobs.
"'God said, go forth and conquer the earth. He didn't say go forth and join the Sierra Club." -- San Luis Obispo County member Baron stated, in opposition to the local smart growth initiative
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Take Action - Urge Your Representatives to Oppose Anti-Environmental Riders, including the Utah Anti-Wilderness Provision
II. Lewis and Clark Campaign Kickoff a Great Success
III. Sprawl Report Release Takes Rhode Island By Storm
I. Anti-Environmental Riders Still Looming in Funding Bill!
Just in case you thought the Interior Appropriations bill couldn't get any worse...Announcing a new backdoor attack on Utah wilderness!
As you probably know, this year's Interior Appropriations bill is once again heaped with "riders" designed to weaken protection of our environment and public lands. Now to make matters worse, Rep. Jim Hansen of Utah has managed to see to it that an anti-wilderness bill for Utah is tacked on as well.
Last spring, the San Rafael Western Legacy District and National Conservation Act (H.R. 3605) was taken up by the House, but was derailed by a majority of the House who recognized the bill's weaknesses. H.R. 3605 would not designate a single acre of official wilderness, when roughly 80% of the bill's proposed National Conservation Area has been identified as wilderness-quality. It would also completely fail to curtail what is perhaps the most serious threat to wilderness in the San Rafael Swell region - damage from the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs)
When the House took up the bill in June, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) offered an amendment that would have protected the Swell's most pristine areas from rampant ORV abuse. But Rep. Boehlert (R-NY) offered a substitute amendment that would have significantly undercut the Holt amendment, and would have allowed destruction by ORVs in San Rafael Swell wilderness to go essentially unabated. Fortunately, the Boehlert amendment was rejected, at which point, bill sponsors pulled the bill from consideration. Now, proponents of H.R. 3605 are trying to bypass procedure, and tack the bill to Interior Appropriations as yet another anti-environmental rider.
And that's not the only one. The Interior bill is chock full of bad riders, including one to increase damage from logging projects by limiting reviews and meaningful public participation required by the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. If enacted, this rider would be the first time that Congress has imposed expedited procedures on National Forest management activities since the notorious "Salvage Rider" of 1995. Like the Salvage Rider, this "cut first - ask questions later" approach will foster controversy, not solutions, for at risk communities.
Please contact your Representative in the House AND your Senators (contact information can be found at the end of this message) and urge them to vote "NO" on the Interior Appropriations conference report if it contains the San Rafael Swell rider, or any other anti-environmental rider.
II. Lewis and Clark Campaign Kickoff a Great Success!
This weekend, the Northern Plains and Northwest regions conducted our first media tour of the Lewis and Clark campaign. Anyone who doesn't believe in Divine Intervention needed to attend this charmed and wonderful weekend!
The Weather Gods were kind to us, during a time when some parts of our regions were blanketed with early snow storms. Our last-minute preparations paid off in a big way, especially with the addition of extra activities provided by an outfitter who specializes in tours of the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Our tour made its way across our route on the very same days that Lewis and Clark spent traversing this terrain, which reporters found especially significant.
The first night, we premiered our video on the Club's five-year campaign and then checked out the Lolo Hot Springs, after reading a section of the original Corps of Discovery journals about this very spot!
The next morning, we distributed our new Forestry, ORV and Grizzly bear reports -- all great Club communication products that fit perfectly into this campaign. . We showed reporters historic sites and stunning wildlands, and also confronted them with clearcuts, streamside erosion and "roads to nowhere." Our volunteer leaders, Len Broberg (Montana Chapter Chair) and Dr. John Osborne, did a masterful job of describing the issues that we face in the Northwest and Northern Plains regions.
During the Friday evening session, we discussed the Sierra Club's campaign with the Nez Perce's Watershed coordinator, who was able to offer a frank and interesting perspective.
Our tour ended with a stop to the DeVoto Grove, where writer Bernard DeVoto edited the voluminous journals. At that point, our outfitter had arranged a special appearance by Ritchie Doyle, an actor who arrived as William Lewis, in full period costume, walking out of the forest with an American flag. Nobody expected this kind of a meeting!
Although our media contingency (eight reporters) was small, we were able to chart a route for future press tours, congressional tours, and outings to educate our own members about the route that Lewis and Clark took through this magnificent terrain.
A real success for the Club's newest campaign!
III. Sprawl Report Release Takes Rhode Island by Storm!
On Tuesday, September 19, the RI chapter released the National Sprawl Report in conjunction with its own map of the "Nasty Nine" sprawlers in Rhode Island. A press conference was held on the South lawn of the Rhode Island statehouse. Presentations were made by Sarah Kite, EPEC Organizer, by representatives of the smart growth project (the town planner and the architects) and by a representative of the Aquidneck Island Partnership, one of the regional planning groups in the state. The press conference was attended by local print and radio media, and at the conclusion of the press conference, we took the press conference on the road.
We made additional presentations around the state-in Newport, Middletown, North Kingstown, Narragansett, and Providence. Stories appeared in the Providence Journal, the Newport Daily News, the Narragansett Times, The Observer, the North-East Independent, the Warwick Beacon, and The Providence Business News. The local spin to the sprawl report story ran on the AP wire as well. Rhode Island EVEC organizer Sarah Kite was interviewed by three local radio stations-WPRO, WHJJ and WRNI (the NPR station in RI). Our story ran all day on Tuesday, and started some discussion on a local talk-radio show. We were also one of two "fast-breaking news" stories on the Providence Journal's website on Tuesday, September 19.
"I ask the Congress -- if they want to go home and campaign -- to take the anti-environmental riders off the bills because I've got nowhere to go and I'm not going to approve them. And I'll be happy to stay here until Election Day," the president told his appreciative audience at the League of Conservation Voters event. -President Clinton at a White House Rose Garden event 9/21/00
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURED ITEM: HELP STOP ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS
ACTION ITEMS:
1. TAKE ACTION: Oppose S. 2557 National Energy Security Act 2000
IN THE NEWS: Senator McCain holds hearing on solutions to GLOBAL WARMING
FEATURED ITEM: TAKE ACTION: HELP STOP ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS
In an unfortunate but all-too-usual rite of fall, Congress continues to attack our environment and the laws that protect it with a slate of appropriations "riders." The FY2001 Interior Appropriations bill, previously laden with anti-environmental riders, is now dramatically worse than just a few days ago because of the addition of new anti-environmental riders.
President Clinton has threatened to veto any spending bill that contains riders and we will continue to urge President Clinton to stand tall against these and other attacks on our environment. BUT, we need to ensure that the President has the support he needs from Congress.
** TAKE ACTION: CALL your Representatives AND Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to oppose the FY 2001Interior Appropriations Conference Report if it remains laden with anti-environmental riders. Ask them to oppose ALL anti-environmental riders attached to any bill. **
The FY 2001 Interior Appropriations bill contains many harmful anti-environmental riders including efforts to:
- Remove recovery alternatives for endangered Snake River salmon. This rider would block studies, consideration, or discussion of dam bypass as a recovery option. Because it interferes with a plan that is still out for public comment, this rider renders meaningless the opinions of more than 200,000 people. If enacted, this rider could undermine the Administration's comprehensive salmon recovery plan for the Snake/Columbia River basin.
- Prevent the Secretary of Interior from updating the rules that govern hardrock mining on public lands. The rider would eliminate public input from the rulemaking process. By doing so, the rider would ensure that taxpayers remain liable for billions of dollars in environmental cleanup costs at bankrupt mines. It would prevent the Department of Interior from denying mine proposals in places where they endanger National Parks and wilderness areas and would block the establishment of environmental standards for cyanide-based mining.
- Increase damage from logging projects by limiting reviews and meaningful public participation required by the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. If enacted, this rider would be the first time that Congress has imposed expedited procedures on National Forest management activities since the notorious "Salvage Rider" of 1995. Like the Salvage Rider, this "cut first - ask questions later" approach will foster controversy, not solutions, for at risk communities. The bill also includes other measures that will increase harmful logging.
- Exempt roadless areas in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire from inclusion in the Administration's roadless protection initiative.
1. Help save Arctic
With oil prices reaching $37 a barrel and energy becoming a central issue in the presidential race, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has said he plans to bring the so-called "National Energy Security Act of 2000," (S.2557) to the Senate floor for debate this week.
The Sierra Club is strongly opposed to S.2557 first and foremost because the legislation would authorize oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Protecting the Arctic Refuge from encroaching oil development has long been a top priority for the Sierra Club. Home to wolves, grizzly bears, musk ox and the calving grounds for the 129,000 member Porcupine River caribou herd, this spectacular landscape is truly one of our nation's natural treasures. The Sierra Club believes that the coastal plain--the last 5% of Alaska's vast North Slope that remains off-limits to drilling--should be permanently protected as Wilderness.
The Sierra Club also objects to other provisions of S.2557. We believe the legislation focuses too heavily on tax breaks and subsidies to the polluting oil, coal, and nuclear industries. We urge the Senate to reject the failed policies of the past and instead craft a long-term sustainable energy policy.
America needs a comprehensive energy strategy based on conservation, renewables, alternative energy sources and raising the fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. We urge the Senate to craft a national energy strategy that would cut our dependence on oil and slash pollution, while allowing us to protect national treasures like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for future generations.
TO TAKE ACTION, call your Seators and urge them to oppose S.2557 or any legislation that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If they are an Arctic Refuge cosponsor, ask them to speak against the bill on the Senate floor. (Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121)
IN THE NEWS: Sen. McCain Holds Hearing on solutions to Global Warming
While during his failed presidential bid, Senator John McCain was confronted at nearly every campaign stop in New Hampshire with crowds of young people waving signs and chanting, "What's your plan to stop global warming?"
McCain didn't have an answer, but he admired the young folks out in the New Hampshire cold demanding action. Last Thursday, Senator McCain held a Senate hearing on global warming solutions at which Our own Ann Mesnikoff testifed and spoke out for increased fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. Also testifying was Fred Palmer, of the Western Fuels Association, who contended that coal is the best source of energy out there. Senators Kerry and McCain were rightly skeptical of his statements, and succeeded in making Palmer look rather foolish.
In Ann's words, "American cars spew out more global warming pollution than all but four countries. The time is now to raise fuel economy standards, and we hope Senator McCain will make fighting global warming a priority."
NEXT PAGE -->
|
| * * * COMPANIES & PRODUCTS * * * |
|---|
| * * * IN-HOUSE RESOURCES * * * |
|---|