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Environment Action
Alerts for
March 1 - March 7, 2001
from Rainforest Action Network March 1, 2001
Here's several recent articles on the situation in
Colombia. There is
coverage of both the U'wa and
Oxy in the corporate and financial press
as
well as important analysis from the independant media about oil's
central role to American involvement in Colombia.
We hope that everyone who has
worked to support the U'wa is continuing
to educate
themselves about the broader context of Plan Colombia and
the battle against the Free Trade Agreement of the
Americas. One of the
best things we can do to help the
U'wa is to get the truth out about
what is going on in
Colombia. Communities like the U'wa are the ones
who are paying the price for our addiction to fossil
fuels. They are
the people who are literally
getting caught in the crossfire as U.S.
military aid
escalates the violence
in Colombia.
Write letters to the editor,
educate your communities and keep on
organizing to
support the U'wa and all communities on the frontlines of
the corporate global economy.
For a local organizing packet to help you support the U'wa
in your
community contact Rainforest Action
Network at
415-398-4404/1-800-989-RAIN or
organize@ran.org
For
background information on the U'wa struggle and downloadable
resources see :
www.ran.org
www.amazonwatch.org www.moles.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In this Post
#1 Yahoo Finance
- Oxy pipeline temporarily shut down Feb 28th
#2
Financial Times "Colombia strives to Strike Oil" Feb 19th
#3 Oil Rigged : There. s something slippery about the U.S.
drug war in
Colombia. Feb 15th
----------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Yahoo Finance
NOTE . force majeure literally means "greater force"; a
legal term for
when clause which allows for
cancellation of contractual obligations
caused by
events beyond the party's control, such as natural disasters
or wars.
Wednesday February 28, 12:22 pm Eastern Time
Occidental declares Colombia Cano
Limon force majeure
BOGOTA,
Colombia, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=oxy&d=t> - news
<outbind://26/n/o/oxy.html>) has declared
force majeure for production
at its Cano Limon oil
field in Colombia due to repeated guerrilla
attacks on
its pipeline, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.
``We have declared force majeure since Tuesday,'' a
Bogota-based
spokesman for Occidental's Colombian
operation told Reuters.
Oil output at Cano Limon field
is ``shut down'' due to bomb attacks
which stopped
pumping on its 220,000-barrel-a-day capacity pipeline on
Feb 17, the spokesman said.
Field
operator Occidental receives 35 percent of the oil pumped through
Cano Limon, Colombian state firm Ecopetrol owns 50 percent,
and
Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol the rest.
Output from the Cano Limon field in the eastern Colombian
province of
Arauca -- a rebel stronghold -- accounts
for less than 5 percent of
Occidental's total world
production.
The pipeline is a favorite target of rebels
waging a 37-year-old war
against the government and was
crippled by bombs 98 times in 2000 even
though most of
it is buried six feet (two meters) under ground.
Its
operators have been forced to declare force majeure twice in recent
years
----------------------------------------------------------------------
#2 Financial Times
Colombia strives to strike oil
By
James Wilson in Cubara
Published: February 19 2001
18:34GMT
Far beneath the
snow-capped peaks of the Cocuy mountains, half-concealed
groups of soldiers watch a helicopter as it flies into a
narrow valley.
Dangling below
the aircraft are more supplies for Occidental Petroleum,
which has been sinking an exploratory well here since
November, moving
ever closer, it hopes, to one of
Colombia's biggest oil finds. Also
observing, having
passed an army checkpoint and climbed to the top of a
ridge overlooking the US company's drilling rig, are
several members of
the U'wa.
This is the ancient territory of
the U'wa, now numbering only
5,000-7,000 people and one
of Colombia's 80 indigenous ethnic groups.
They have
faced many intrusions, but as they contemplate Occidental's
search for the oil the U'wa know as ruiria, they feel a
great threat to
their lifestyle and culture. "This is
life or death for us. We want the
world to know what is
happening in U'wa territory," says Shiwkara, a
community spokeswoman.
The U'wa case is emblematic of a David versus Goliath
struggle between
indigenous groups, global energy needs
and corporate power.
Violent clashes last year between
the U'wa and the Colombian military
protecting the
drill site left three children drowned after one of their
protests was forcibly broken up, the Uw'a say.
Both Occidental and the government
think the U'wa case has become overly
influenced and
manipulated by outsiders.
But
throughout the troubles, Occidental has moved ahead with
exploration, sanctioned by the government in Bogotá. "We do
not think we
are in a conflict here. We are a foreign
investor fulfilling our
contractual obligations," a
company spokesman said.
It
says it is contributing a local health centre, schools and other
community projects. It also used to give grants to U'wa
students until
it says these were rejected. Moreover,
it thinks the U'wa have been
given one of their most
important demands - the expansion of the
resguardo,
reserved land from which non-indigenous people are excluded.
In 1979 and 1987 the U'wa were
granted two separate reservations
totalling 69,000
hectares. In August 1999, the government agreed to
expand these areas into a 220,000 ha reserve solely for the
U'wa.
Six weeks later, it granted Occidental its
licence to drill its first
exploratory well, at a site
500m outside the expanded resguardo.
Despite their
larger territory the U'wa have not been pacified. They
argue their lands will still be affected, their streams
polluted and
their security compromised.
A stark lesson from Colombia is
that oil attracts trouble from all
sides. Two armed
rebel groups active in the country since the 1960s have
learned to exploit oil, either through extorting protection
money or
blowing up installations.
Occidental knows these problems
only too well. It built a pipeline
through this region
in the 1980s to carry oil from its nearby Caño Limon
field. Last year the pipeline was blown up 98 times, and 79
times in
1999. Even so, Caño Limon has been "a good
business", says the company.
Moreover, in a complex local power struggle, both the Farc
and ELN rebel
groups have attacked the pipeline. The
Farc has also targeted the U'wa
cause, killing three US
citizens working with the U'wa in 1999.
The U'wa resent and fear being dragged into Colombia's
military
conflict. Roberto Perez, president of the
U'wa's tribal council, says:
"We have told the army and
all armed groups to respect our territory."
Meanwhile, economic analysts say attacks already bleed the
economy of
2-4 percentage points of growth annually.
Even so, oil is Colombia's
biggest export, worth $4.6bn
in 2000.
"I think, as a
Colombian, that Colombia has to seek means of
development," says an Occidental employee. Ecopetrol, the
state oil
company, says: "Forty million Colombians need
these resources." The test
drill is expected to be
completed by May. But the U'wa blame
Occidental's
earlier Caño Limon development for environmental damage.
"Ten years ago you could pull fish out of this river with a
bucket. This
year there has not been one little fish,"
says Rosario, one of four nuns
living at a mission
built in the area in the 1920s.
A government official
thinks it would be possible to safeguard the U'wa,
even
if oil development goes ahead. But, the offical adds: "I would love
it if they didn't find a drop of oil. I would laugh the
whole day.
Without oil, there is no problem."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
# 3
Feb 15, 2001
Resource Center of
the Americas
www.americas.org
Oil Rigged
There. s something
slippery about
the U.S. drug war in Colombia.
by Thad Dunning and Leslie Wirpsa
The public face of U.S. policy
toward Colombia has long been the war on
drugs.
Colombia, according to widely reported CIA estimates, produces 90
percent of the U.S. cocaine supply and 65 percent of U.S.
heroin
imports. U.S. officials say the aim of Plan
Colombia, a $1.3 billion aid
package signed by
President Clinton last year, is fighting
.
narco-guerrillas. and eradicating coca crops.
But that. s just part of the agenda. Plan Colombia is also
about oil.
Colombia. s petroleum production today
rivals Kuwait. s on the eve of the
Gulf War. The United
States imports more oil from Colombia and its
neighbors
Venezuela and Ecuador than from all Persian Gulf countries
combined. And, last June, Colombia announced its largest
oil discovery
since the 1980s. The Colombian government
and transnational oil
companies are eager to secure
their exploration and production
activities with U.S.
military might.
Some U.S.
military officials harbor no illusions about their role in
Colombia. Stan Goff, a former U.S. Special Forces
intelligence sergeant,
retired in 1996 from the unit
that trains Colombian anti-narcotics
battalions. Plan
Colombia. s purpose is . defending the operations of
Occidental, British Petroleum and Texas Petroleum and
securing control
of future Colombian fields,. said
Goff, quoted in October by the Bogotá
daily El
Espectador. . The main interest of the United States is oil..
Colombia. s two major guerrilla
groups condemn foreign control of the
nation. s
petroleum even as they rely on the oil companies for ransoms
and extortion payments. The guerrillas face competition
from rightist
death squads known as paramilitaries,
many with documented links to
Bogotá. s army and some
with alleged ties to the oil firms.
In recent months,
the violence has begun to spread beyond the nation. s
borders. To the south, the Colombian war is further
destabilizing
Ecuador, a country wracked for decades by
political upheaval, including
a military coup during an
indigenous revolt a year ago. To the north,
the war is
heightening tensions in Venezuela, where populist President
Hugo Chávez has helped drive up world oil prices by
reviving the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC).
Critics of
U.S. policy in Colombia have likened it to past interventions
in Vietnam and El Salvador. But with world oil prices stuck
at all-time
highs, with U.S. oil consumption expected
to rise 25 percent over the
next two decades, and with
Middle East producers increasingly
unreliable, another
important comparison is the U.S. war against Iraq.
One question is whether U.S. military aid will help keep
the Colombian
oil flowing. whether it will enhance or
erode the security of oil
operations. More troubling
questions surround the human cost of further
militarizing a conflict that has killed tens of thousands
of Colombians
and displaced almost 2 million since
1985.
BLACK GOLD
Colombia. s known oil reserves amount to 2.6 billion
barrels, far fewer
than those of the world. s major oil
powers. But only about 20 percent of
the country. s
potential oil regions have been explored, due to the
violence. Desperate for more investment, President Andrés
Pastrana. s
administration sweetened the terms a year
ago, allowing foreign
companies more of the profit from
Colombian oil operations. As a result,
the state. s
Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos (Ecopetrol) awarded a record
13 new exploration and production contracts last year.
Colombia. s biggest foreign
investor is BP Amoco, formed when British
Petroleum
merged with Chicago-based Amoco in 1998. The London-based
giant controls Colombia. s largest oilfield, a
1.5-billion-barrel trove
called Cusiana-Cupiagua in the
northeastern province of Casanare A
444-mile pipeline
called Ocensa carries BP Amoco oil to the Caribbean
port of Coveñas for export.
Los Angeles. based Occidental Petroleum helps operate the
nation. s
second-largest oilfield, Caño Limón, holding
1 billion barrels in
Arauca, a province just north of
Casanare. Occidental pumps away its
share through a
485-mile duct to Coveñas.
The
June announcement confirmed a deposit about 55 miles southwest of
Bogotá. An international consortium led by Canadian
Occidental Petroleum
expects as much as 300 million
barrels from the oilfield, called
Boquerón, making it
the nation. s third-largest deposit.
Other major
investors in Colombian oil have included Exxon, Shell and
Elf Aquitane. The transnationals have helped boost the
nation. s oil
production almost 80 percent over the
last decade. Most of the exports
have gone to the
United States, putting Colombia among the top eight
U.S. oil suppliers.
Many of these companies have led the fight for U.S.
military aid to
Colombia, the world. s third-largest
recipient of U.S. security
assistance. In 1996, BP
Amoco and Occidental joined Enron Corporation, a
Houston-based energy firm, and other corporations to form
the
U.S.-Colombia Business Partnership. Since then,
backed by hefty
oil-industry donations to political
candidates, the partnership has
lobbied hard for
increased aid. Lawrence P. Meriage, Occidental. s
public-affairs vice president, not only pushed for Plan
Colombia last
year but urged a House subcommittee to
extend military aid to the
nation. s north to . augment
security for oil development operations..
The firms
have allies in the U.S. national-security apparatus. In 1998,
Gen. Charles Wilhelm, then head of the U.S. Southern
Command, told
Congress that oil discoveries had
increased Colombia. s . strategic
importance.. Last
April, Sen. Bob Graham (D-Florida) and former National
Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft warned in a Los Angeles
Times editorial
that Colombia. s reserves would .
remain untapped unless stability is
restored..
Petroleum companies say their
presence in Colombia creates employment
alternatives
for coca farmers, adds muscle to counterinsurgency efforts
and, ultimately, promotes peace and stability. In 1996,
British
Petroleum, Occidental and Royal Dutch/Shell
co-sponsored a full-page ad
about Colombia in the
Houston Chronicle, touting . a powerful new weapon
. .
. in the war against drugs.. The ad pictured the nozzle of a gas
pump.
PETROVIOLENCE
Numerous studies
suggest that transnational extraction of natural
resources from the Third World promotes not economic and
political
stability, but violence and lawlessness. From
Indonesia to Nigeria to
Colombia, mining and oil
drilling have spurred the growth of rightist
militias,
criminal gangs and leftist insurgencies. Political scientists
call this the . resource curse..
Since 1986, according to Colombian
government sources, the country. s
guerrilla groups
have bombed oil pipelines more than 1,000 times and
have kidnapped hundreds of oil-company executives and
employees. Using
these operations as leverage, the
guerrillas have generated roughly $140
million per year
in ransoms and extortion payments. They also squeeze
.
taxes. from local contractors working for the companies. In all, the
oil revenue rivals conservative estimates of guerrilla
earnings from the
cocaine and heroin trades.
During construction of the Caño
Limón pipeline in the 1980s, contractors
for the German
company Mannesmann reportedly paid about $4 million to
the National Liberation Army (ELN) for the release of four
kidnapped
engineers. Such payments enabled the ELN,
verging on collapse, to
regroup and rearm. Today the
ELN, with 7,000 members, is the nation. s
second
largest guerrilla army. The 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest rebel group, has
adopted similar
tactics, even consenting to oil
drilling opposed by local indigenous
people.
Guerrilla violence around the oil
industry has intensified since July
13, when President
Clinton signed Plan Colombia. Decrying . North
American
intervention,. ELN guerrillas bombed the Caño Limón pipeline 23
times between July and September, forcing Occidental to
declare force
majeure for 45 days. The pipeline was
knocked out at least 97 times last
year, exceeding a
record 79 outages from rebel attacks in 1999.
Recently,
after a January 20 bombing west of Caño Limón, the duct was
closed for three days.
FARC rebels, meanwhile, bombed Ecopetrol. s southern
pipeline 31 times in
September, forcing Ecuador. s
state oil company, Petroecuador, which uses
the line to
export 45,000 barrels a day, to suspend its obligations.
The paramilitaries, for their
part, have moved into oil-rich provinces
such as
Casanare and, along the southern border, Putumayo. In the
central city of Barrancabermeja home to the country. s
largest oil
refinery, paramilitaries intensified a
campaign of murdering civilians
in January. . Here we
pump out all the energy we need,. said Lt. Col.
Hernán
Moreno, head of the army. s New Granada Battalion in
Barrancabermeja, quoted in the New York Times. . The
takeover of power is
thus of prime importance to these
armed groups..
And
paramilitaries target organizers such as Workers Trade Union leader
Alvaro Remolina, who has called attention to the labor
practices of
Texaco and Occidental in Colombia. On
January 11 last year, his nephew
was murdered near the
city of Bucaramanga, while his brother and a
friend
disappeared in the nearby town of Girón. He lost another brother
to assassins in 1996, and soldiers killed his sister-in-law
in 1999.
One human rights
report on oil and security in Colombia says
paramilitaries have received $2 million for protecting a
Colombian
pipeline. El Espectador, the London daily
Guardian and the BBC,
additionally, have documented
paramilitary links to British Petroleum. A
top BP
official admitted that a British security contractor for the oil
giant supplied night-vision goggles to an army brigade
accused of
killing civilians and committing other
abuses. The contractor also hired
former army commander
Gen. Hernán Guzmán Rodríguez, a 1969 graduate of
the
U.S. Army School of the Americas. In a 1992 report, the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights linked Guzmán to
a
paramilitary group responsible for 149 murders from
1987 to 1990.
Colombia. s
official armed forces have their own stake in oil. Since
1992, a . war tax. of more than $1 per barrel on foreign
oil corporations
has helped Bogotá devote a quarter of
its army to defending oil
installations. And government
forces often sell security services
directly to the
companies. Occidental, which earmarks roughly 10 percent
of its in-country budget to security, has made direct
payments to the
army.
The oil violence weighs heaviest on local civilians.
Disasters resulting
from pipeline attacks have killed
people and wreaked environmental
destruction. In 1998,
73 people died after an ELN bombing of Ocensa, the
BP
Amoco pipeline. The blast set ablaze the northwestern village of
Machuca, Antioquia.
Such violence has prompted communities to resist oil
projects. The
7,000-member U. wa indigenous community
in northeastern Colombia has
opposed attempts by
Occidental and Ecopetrol to drill in its ancestral
land. Occidental is betting it could extract 1.4 billion
barrels from
the area. Last February, when government
security forces broke up an
indigenous roadblock
against the project, three children drowned in a
river
during the melee. In November, some 2,000 government agents
escorted Occidental rigs to drill an exploratory well in
the land.
The project has
brought violence from guerrillas too. In 1999, FARC
members kidnapped and murdered U.S. citizens Terence
Freitas, Ingrid
Washinawatok and La. he Enae Gay, who
were visiting to set up U. wa
education projects.
Despite the upheaval, oil remains
Colombia. s largest export, with
earnings totaling $3.7
billion in 1999. Ecopetrol diverts most of this
profit
to federal and local governments, but average Colombians see
little benefit. Officials face pressure from guerrillas and
paramilitaries alike to invest the payments in their
favor. And many
officials simply steal or squander the
money. Arauca, a boomtown about
25 miles from the Caño
Limón oilfield, has received millions of dollars
annually in oil royalties but is ringed by shantytowns. In
a
petroleum-rich central valley known as the Middle
Magdalena, more than
70 percent of the 750,000
inhabitants live in poverty and nearly 40
percent are
unemployed, double the official nationwide rate.
SLICK BORDERS
Petroleum is playing
an important role as the war expands beyond
Colombia.
Both the FARC and ELN have a growing presence in southern
Venezuela. Guerrillas there are using extortion and
kidnapping to
generate revenue from ranchers and
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the
government oil
company, according to a January 24 Financial Times
report.
Chávez, the Venezuelan president, says his government is
not taking
sides in the Colombian conflict. Venezuelan
military officials say the
guerrilla influx worries
them less than a Plan Colombia provision to
equip
Bogotá. s army with 60 Blackhawk helicopters. Under Chávez, who
took office in 1999, Venezuela has barred U.S. .
counternarcotics.
flights over its airspace, calling
them a violation of national
sovereignty. And some
Venezuelan military equipment has found its way
into
FARC hands.
Venezuelan oil
weighs heavy in U.S. strategy for the region. The
third-largest U.S. oil supplier and the hemisphere. s sole
OPEC member,
Venezuela has 77 billion barrels in proven
reserves. the most of any
country outside the Middle
East. The Chávez government convinced OPEC
members to
cut production, a move that has lifted oil prices to more
than $30 a barrel, their highest level in a decade.
Chávez. s nationalist leanings and his pledges to prevent
PDVSA. s
privatization have fueled worries among some
U.S. policymakers about
U.S. reliance on the Venezuelan
crude. In August, adding to these
worries, Chávez
became the world. s first democratically elected head of
state since the Gulf War to visit Saddam Hussein, the
leader of fellow
OPEC member Iraq. And, in October,
Chávez agreed to provide Cuba with
inexpensive oil.
In other countries, the spillover
violence from Colombia has begun to
menace petroleum
production. Just across the San Miguel River from
Putumayo, the Colombian province, conflict pervades the
town of Lago
Agrio the Ecuadoran oil hub. The area has
long been a site of rest and
relaxation for FARC
guerrillas. But the mood has changed since
U.S.-backed
counterinsurgency and coca eradication caused a larger
influx of farmers, other displaced
Colombians, guerrillas and
paramilitaries. Local police
say violence in December killed 20 people,
including 15
who perished in clashes between Colombian guerrillas and
paramilitaries and five in a bombing of Ecuador. s only oil
pipeline.
(The duct carries crude to a Pacific port for
export. Occidental is part
of an international
consortium vying to build a second Ecuadoran
pipeline, a
$750 million project.)
Such
turmoil has led to militarization, threatening to turn Colombia. s
oil violence into a regional scourge. Brazil, Peru and
Ecuador all host
oil drilling near Colombia, and all are
responding to guerrilla and
paramilitary incursions by
sending in military personnel and equipment.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the former U.N. secretary general
serving as
Peru. s interim prime minister, said in
January that he supported Plan
Colombia, marking a
reversal from the policy of former President Alberto
Fujimori, who resigned in November. . We are guarding our
borders for
possible infiltration, not only from
Colombia but from Ecuador,. said
Pérez de Cuéllar,
quoted by Reuters in January. . The violence is
serious..
Ecuadoran President Gustavo Noboa, who took office after a
January 2000
military coup, has strengthened border
security and threatened to
declare a state of emergency
there. His foreign minister, Heinz Moeller,
has asked
the United States for $160 million to supplement the $20
million for Ecuador under Plan Colombia. Moeller said he
expects to
receive the aid because Washington, which
already bases its Andean
military operations in the
Ecuadoran coastal town of Manta, wants to
protect U.S. .
investments. in Colombia. Moeller said the increased aid
was necessary to protect an . economic buffer zone. between
his country
and Colombia, adding that the protection
will require helicopters,
speedboats and reconnaissance
equipment.
Goff, the former Special Forces sergeant,
says U.S. military operations
in the Andes go beyond
their stated purpose of fighting drugs. . We never
mentioned the words coca or narco-trafficker in our
training,. he said.
. The objective of our operations
was not the Colombians but the
Americans who pay taxes
for the investment made in Colombia. The
objective
continues to be oil. Look where American forces are. Iraq, the
Caspian Sea, Colombia. places where we expect to find
petroleum
reserves..
PROSPECTORS
Oil will remain a U.S.
military priority under President George W. Bush
if his
campaign donors and cabinet appointees have any influence. The
top source of cash for his presidential and Texas
gubernatorial bids was
Enron and its employees,
including CEO Kenneth L. Lay, according to the
Center
for Public Integrity. Enron, one of the companies that led
lobbying for Plan Colombia, owns Centragas, a 357-mile
natural gas
distribution system in northern Colombia.
The cabinet includes Vice President Dick Cheney, former
CEO of
Halliburton Company, a Dallas-based oil services
leader; Commerce
Secretary Don Evans, former chairman of
the Denver-based oil firm Tom
Brown, Inc.; and National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, a former
board member
of San Francisco. based Chevron Corporation.
Bush
appointed John Maisto as National Security Council adviser for
inter-American affairs, his top adviser on the region.
Maisto was
ambassador to Nicaragua during the
U.S.-backed guerrilla war against the
Sandinista
government and chargé d. affaires in Panama during the 1989
U.S. invasion that ousted Gen. Manuel Noriega. Under
Clinton, he was
ambassador to Venezuela and, later, an
adviser to the U.S. military' s
Southern Command.
Bush' s roster and the widening
violence even before Plan Colombia hits
stride are
portents of what the United States holds in store for the
region.
from Natural Resources Defense Council March 1, 2001
Natural Resources Defense Council's
EARTH ACTION: The Bulletin for
Environmental Activists
March 1,
2001
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Contents:
1)
alerts
a) ARCTIC NATIONAL
WILDLIFE REFUGE: Tell your senators that
drilling the
Arctic Refuge is NOT an acceptable energy
policy
b) ENDANGERED WILDLIFE HABITAT:
Protest government
intimidation of environmental
activists in Belize
c) WATER
POLLUTION: Tell the EPA raw sewage discharges must
stop
2) Status of Previous alerts
3) About Our Bulletins/How to
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4)
About NRDC/How to Contact Us
You
will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action
Center (http://www.nrdc.org/action), which includes tools
for taking action easily online.
******************************************
1) alerts
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Tell your senators that drilling the Arctic Refuge is NOT an
acceptable energy policy
On February 26, Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced S.
389, his energy policy legislation. Although Sen.
Murkowski
claims his bill is a response to both
California's current
energy problems and the nation's
long-term energy needs, in
reality the bill would do
little or nothing to improve our
energy security or
decrease energy costs, but *would* have
lasting,
damaging effects on the environment.
Specifically, Sen. Murkowski's bill would increase air and
global warming pollution by weakening standards for
power
plants and encouraging dependence on fossil fuels
such as
oil and coal that produce the most carbon
dioxide, while
driving up demand for gasoline by failing
to upgrade fuel
economy standards.
Perhaps most disturbingly -- and
reason enough to defeat
this bill -- S. 389 would open
the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil drilling,
imperiling one of our country's most
magnificent
wilderness areas even though the government
estimates
that the oil there would provide less than 180
days
worth of domestic supply and take at least 10 years to
produce.
==
What to do ==
Contact your senators and urge them to
oppose Sen.
Murkowski's energy bill.
== Contact information ==
You can email or fax your senators directly from NRDC's
Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Feel free
to include your own reasons why we should not risk
destroying or degrading our nation's most special places for
an energy policy that will do nothing to reduce our
energy
costs or dependence. If you prefer to call your
senators,
the Capitol Switchboard number is (202)
224-3121.
== For background ==
A Responsible Energy Policy for the 21st Century
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/rep/repinx.asp
...
ENDANGERED WILDLIFE HABITAT
Protest
government intimidation of environmental activists
in
Belize
Many of you are aware of
NRDC's ongoing campaign to stop
Fortis Inc.'s proposed
dam project in Belize's Macal River
Valley. You may have
already sent protest letters to Fortis,
urging the
company to cancel its plans for the dam, which
would
flood and destroy crucial habitat for endangered
jaguars
and scarlet macaws. But now a new wrinkle has
emerged.
In early February, environmental
science teacher Kimo Jolly
was fired from his position
at Sacred Heart Junior College
in Belize for speaking
out in opposition to the dam project.
Mr. Jolly's
dismissal follows a pattern of intimidation of
environmentalists in Belize, who have been called "enemies
of the state" in the ruling political party's newspaper.
The
popular teacher has received widespread support in
Belize,
and is preparing to mount a legal defense, but
the Belizean
government needs to hear that the rest of
the world is
watching, too.
== What to do ==
Write to Belize's
ambassador to the United States to protest
the
suppression of environmental debate in Belize and insist
that Kimo Jolly be reinstated to his teaching position.
== Contact information ==
You can email the Belizean ambassador directly from NRDC's
Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action (where you
can also send a message to Fortis if you haven't already).
Or use the contact information and sample letter below
to
send your own message, and please include your own
reasons
why the government's intimidation of
environmental activists
must stop.
Ambassador Lisa Shoman
Embassy of Belize
2535 Massachusetts
Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202-332-9636 x228
Fax: 202-332-6888
Email: belize@oas.org
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Reinstate Kimo Jolly to his teaching
post
Dear Ambassador Shoman,
I am writing to express my deep
concern over the recent
firing of Kimo Jolly from his
position as environmental
science teacher at Sacred
Heart Junior College in San
Ignacio, Belize. Mr. Jolly's
dismissal, which may have
resulted from government
intervention, is completely
unjustified and is a direct
result of his speaking out on
the proposed Chalillo dam
in the Macal River Valley and
other environmental
issues.
Although the right to
free speech is guaranteed in the
Belizean constitution,
in Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights, and in the U.N. Convention on
Civil and
Political Rights (to which Belize is a party), Mr.
Jolly's removal from his position seems to fit a pattern of
human rights abuses in Belize. Earlier this year,
editorials
in your governing-party newspaper attacked
Belizeans who
speak out for the environment as "enemies
of the State" and
"terrorists."
Suppressing the views of
environmentalists is simply
inconsistent with Belize's
strong record of environmental
stewardship, which is
drawing worldwide acclaim and is a
major factor in the
success of Belize's tourism industry. I
urge your
government to clearly reassert the right of all
Belizeans to freedom of opinion and expression -- without
fear of recrimination. I also encourage your government
to
ask Sacred Heart Junior College to reinstate Mr.
Jolly as
soon as possible.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
...
WATER
POLLUTION
Tell the EPA raw sewage discharges must stop
As we told you in a previous
alert, on January 5th the
Clinton administration
announced proposed regulations that
would control and
prevent sewer overflows and would require
that the
public be informed of potential health threats when
overflows occur. The proposed rules, however, were not
printed in the Federal Register prior to the end of
President Clinton's term, and Bush administration officials
have issued an order putting an indefinite hold on any
regulations that were not printed by the time they took
office, preventing the proposed sewer overflow
regulations
from taking effect.
Sewer overflows dump raw and
inadequately treated sewage
into basements, streets, and
waterways, contaminating
beaches, lakes, and streams and
jeopardizing public health.
Pathogens in
sewage-contaminated waters can cause
gastrointestinal
and respiratory illnesses, dysentery, and
hepatitis. The
consequences of contact with sewage-infested
waters are
even greater for children, the elderly, and those
with
weakened immune systems.
== What to do ==
Send a message to
Christie Whitman, the new administrator of
the
Environmental Protection Agency -- and the person who is
now reviewing the proposed rules under a directive from the
White House -- telling her to release the rules now.
==
Contact information ==
You can email EPA administrator Whitman directly from NRDC's
Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use
the contact information and sample letter below to send your
own message.
Administrator Christie Whitman
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: 202-564-4700
Fax: 202-501-1450
Email: whitman.christine@epamail.epa.gov
== Sample letter ==
Dear Administrator Whitman,
I urge you to release the proposed
regulations for
controlling sewer overflows announced by
the EPA earlier
this year. Your agency has no reason to
further delay these
proposed regulations, which, if
finalized, would protect
public health and safety by
keeping bacteria-laden raw
sewage discharges out of our
basements, streets, rivers,
lakes and beach waters.
Please act immediately to ban sewer
overflows, make
public reporting and notification mandatory,
and require
sewage systems to have adequate capacity and be
properly
maintained.
Almost thirty years
of inaction is long enough. Release
these regulations
and get the raw sewage out of our
communities and
waterways now.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
...........
2) Status of Previous alerts
DIESEL REGULATIONS
In our last alert, we asked you to contact White House chief
of staff Andy Card on "Call the White House Day" --
February
15th -- and urge the Bush administration to
implement,
rather than challenge or change, new rules
issued by the EPA
in the final days of the Clinton
administration that will
reduce diesel truck and bus
emissions by more than 90
percent. Your response was
phenomenal (we received
unofficial reports that the huge
number of calls overloaded
the White House phone system)
and, clearly, the message came
through loud and clear:
EPA administrator Christie Whitman
yesterday announced
that the new administration will indeed
enforce these
landmark rules. The regulations are scheduled
to take
effect March 18; most emissions reductions must be
completed between 2006 and 2010. When fully in place, the
rules will prevent an estimated 8,300 premature deaths
and
17,600 cases of bronchitis in children *every year.*
THANK
YOU to everyone who helped achieve -- and defend
-- this
historic public health protection.
******************************
REMINDER!! If you haven't already, be sure to check out
NRDC's new BioGems website at http://www.savebiogems.org.
Explore the beauty and grandeur of North and Central
America's critically endangered natural areas, take action,
and spread the word.
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
******************************
3) About Our Bulletins/How to
Subscribe & Unsubscribe
NRDC
distributes three bulletins by email. To subscribe to
any or all of them or to join our activist networks, go to
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/subscribe.asp. If you
already
subscribe and want to change your subscriptions
or update
your email address or other information, go to
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/profileeditor (or see the
unsubscribe information below).
EARTH ACTION is sent biweekly and
calls out urgent
environmental issues requiring
immediate action. To
unsubscribe from Earth Action, send
an email message to
earthaction@nrdcaction.org with
REMOVE in the subject line.
LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent biweekly when Congress is in
session and tracks environmental bills moving through the
federal legislature. To unsubscribe from Legislative
Watch,
send an email message to legwatch@nrdcaction.org
with REMOVE
in the subject line.
The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK
ACTION ALERT is distributed
bimonthly to members of
NRDC's California Activist Network
and provides action
tools to Californians and others
concerned with
protecting the state's natural resources and
the health
of its citizens. To unsubscribe, send an email
message
to wildcalifornia@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the
subject line.
...........
4) About NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
environmental organization with over 400,000 members
nationwide and a staff of scientists, attorneys and
environmental experts. Our mission is to protect the
planet's wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and
healthy environment for all living things.
For more information about NRDC or
how to become a member of
NRDC, please contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense
Council
40 West 20th Street
New
York, NY 10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
General email: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Earth Action email: nrdcaction@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org
Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving
Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural
Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
from Coaltion to Protect Predators March 1, 2001
This information should be considered in the proposal to
reclassify the
wolf in the great lakes ... with the
risks asscociated with the Minnesota
Plan , and mange in
both states ... we will want to keep an eye on this ...
Karlyn
La Crosse Tribune / Weds., Feb. 28,
2001 lacrossetribune.com OUTDOORS
Mange killing wolves in Wisconsin By BOB
LAMB La Crosse Tribune Mange
has put a
dent in Wisconsin's wolf population, but there's no reason to
panic just yet, says Adrian Wydeven, a mammalian ecologist
with the
Department of Natural
Resources. Nine wolves have been found dead this
winter. Six of those wolves died >from mange
or mange-related causes.
"This isn't a major concern
yet, but any time disease hits a wildlife
population, it
is a concern," said Wydeven during a telephone interview
Monday from his Park Falls, Wis., office. Mange
is a highly contagious
disease that can cause losses in
canine populations. Mange is caused by
small
mites that burrow into the skin cause irritations that result in
hair loss, and lead to bare, crusty skin.
The disease is usually spread by
physical
contact with living or dead animals infected with the disease.
Wydeven, who is responsible for leading the state wolf
management program,
said it appears that coyote
populations in northern Wisconsin are also
affected by
the disease. "The wolves may have gotten the mange from
coyotes. They'll kill coyotes, then roll them
around or play with them.
It's a good way to get
mange," Wydeven said. Although mange has killed
six wolves, Wydeven said losses resulting
from mange are probably more
serious to the
coyote and fox populations. Wolves, once extinct in
Wisconsin in the late 1950's, began
re-establishing themselves in the
state in
1975. Last fall's population was estimated at about 250. However,
Wydeven believes the current mange outbreak will
reduce this year's
population growth.
Still, he said there is no reason to push the panic
button. "Wolves are doing fairly well in our
state. We've been gaining
about 20 percent
annually since 1985," Wydeven said. "If we wouldn't have
had a problem this year, I would have anticipated
an increase of about 50,
so we would have
been up to about 300." A comprehensive evaluation of the
state's wolf population is currently underway,
but actual numbers won't be
known until
April. Wydeven said despite the mange outbreak, he expects the
growth in the wolf population will slow down
because of a loss of habitat.
Wolf packs set
up large territories. Younger animals then set up new
territories of their own. "And as the population
gets higher, disease
spreads more quickly, too,"
he said. "But I am not concerned that this
will jeopardize the future viability of wolves in
the Wisconsin. Some
fluctuations in numbers due to
disease or other environmental factors is a
natural part of any wildlife population." In
addition to mange
contributing to the death of six
wolves this winter, two others were
killed by
vehicle collisions. Surprisingly, one wolf drowned in the
Tomahawk River. One of the wolves killed by a vehicle, and
the one that
had drowned, appeared to have some mange on
them as well. Five of the dead
animals found were part
of the DNR's intensive radio-collar study. Wolf
282F, a radio-collared animal, was found drown under 2 to 3
inches of ice
and 4 to 5 inches of snow on
the Tomahawk River in western Oneida County.
The female
wolf also was missing some hair, but did not appear to have a
severe case of mange. "That death was a strange
one for us," Wydeven said.
"In the last 20
years, we have collected 70-some wolves that have died in
Wisconsin or adjacent Minnesota. This is the
first one that I'm aware of
that has
drowned." Wydeven recalls only one other death that was equally
as strange. "I had one wolf four or five years
ago with mange outbreak,"
he said. "We found
that wolf dead inside a porcupine den. It had quills in
it from the tip of its nose to the tip of its
tail. It was covered with
quills." Wydeven
believes the wolf died from a combination of mange and
the porcupine quills. "It was probably
so desperately cold, that it
crawled in the den when
the porky was there, or the porky crawled in after
the wolf had crawled in," Wydeven
said. Bob Lamb is the Tribune's
outdoors editor. He can be reached at 791-8228,
or e-mail to:
<mailto:blamb@lacrossetribune.com>
blamb@lacrossetribune.com NOTICE:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is
distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in
receiving this information
for research and educational purposes.
from Adrian Miller March 1, 2001
Please visit
this website for more information http://members.fortunecity.com/froguptree/
I am writing to inform you that bushland and National Park
areas are
being cleared in paths up to 15meters wide in
a area that has many rare
species of trees plants and
other animals.
This is only
approximately 100 kilometers south of Sydney on the M5
freeway a a 10minute drive from the hilltop turnoff.
The Contractors to Transfield only
have a permit to clear 5 meters wide
but are taking
great delight in knocking down and running over plants an
animals.
There are streamings being filled with silt and dirt,
streams being
diverted, a small swamp with 4 species of
frogs one a minature frog has
disappeared as have the
frogs.
Is there anything you can
do about this, the locals have tried with
little success
at all, as the national media have not picked up on the
stories in the local paper.
Residents are feeling threatened and scared and many of them
are elderly
people.
They have contacted the people listed below with little
success.
Can you help them?
The local memeber of State Government:
Office for Mrs.Peta Seaton (Shadow Minister for the
Environment)
24 Wingecarribee Street
BOWRAL, 2576
Phone No. (02) 48 61
3623
Fax No. (02) 48 61 3546
email: peta.seaton@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Wingecarribee Shire Council
ABN 49546344354
PO Box 141
Civic Centre, Elizabeth Street
Moss
Vale NSW 2577 Australia
Phone: +61 (02) 4868 0888
Fax: +61 (02) 4869 1203
DX 4961,
Bowral NSW
URL: www.wsc.nsw.gov.au
Email: wscmail@wsc.nsw.gov.au
MAYOR
(elected as Mayor 12/09/00):
Clr P Yeo (Philip . Phil)
7
Holly Street
BOWRAL NSW 2576
Phone: 02-4861 2832 Home
Mobile:
0409 949046
Fax: 02-4861 7639 Home
DEPUTY MAYOR
(elected 12/09/00)
Clr S H Murray
(Sara)
39 Oxley Drive
MITTAGONG
NSW 2575
Phone: 02-4871 1254 Home
Mobile: 0417 431894
Fax: 02-4871
1465 Home
Clr H J Carter
(Heather)
Postal Address:
C/- 14
Bowral Road
MITTAGONG NSW 2575
Phone: 02-4871 1170 Work
Mobile:
0408 978488
Phone: 02-4861 6839 Home
Fax: 02-48616397 Home
Clr D J Fairall (David)
7 Nerrim
Street
BUNDANOON NSW 2578
Phone:
02-4883 7192 Home
Mobile: 0427 946594
Fax: 02-4883 7326 Home
Clr T D Gair (Duncan)
. Carioca
Park.
Somerset Road
FITZROY
FALLS NSW 2577
Phone: 02-4887 7290 Home
Phone: 02-4887 7315 Work
Mobile:
0409 039731
Fax: 02-4887 7249 Work
Clr G Lewis (Gordon)
68 Park Road
BOWRAL NSW 2576
Phone: 02-4861 2459 Home
Mobile:
0409 127010
Fax: 02-4861 2758 Home
Clr R B Mandelson (Richard . Rick)
70 Railway Terrace
WILLOW VALE
NSW 2575
(PO Box 141 MITTAGONG NSW 2575)
Phone: 02-4872 1718 Home
Phone:
02-4871 1019 Work
Mobile: 0408 290 705
Fax: 02-4872 3789 Home
Clr P Reynolds (Peter)
43 Links Road
BOWRAL NSW 2576
Phone: 02-4861
1214 Home
Mobile: 0409 156128
Fax: 02-4861 1405 Home
Clr J E Sherborne (John)
20 Macdonnell Street
YARRALUMLA ACT 2600
Phone: 02-6282 0435 Home
Mobile:
0412 339786
Fax: 02-6232 4125 Home (from 9/2/01)
Clr P B Tuddenham (Paul)
1 Pine Street
MOSS VALE NSW 2577
Phone: 02-4868 1672 Home
Mobile:
0408 637071
Fax: 02-4868 1308 Home
Clr L A C Whipper (Larry)
4 Victor Road
ROBERTSON NSW 2577
Phone: 02-4885
1695 Home
Mobile: 0407 932922
Fax: 02-4885 1978 Home
Clr D J Wood (David)
"Cairnswood
Park", Sproules Lane
BOWRAL NSW 2576
Phone: 02-4887 1289 Home
Mobile:
0408 467881
Fax: 02-4887 1297 Home
The Local
News Paper is: The Southern Highlands News / They have been
helping but need more letters
Address
28 Wingecarribee Street
Bowral
NSW 2576
Contact
Phone: 02 4862 2900
Fax: 02 4861
6905
Newspaper email: web.news@ruralpress.com
Site email: web.news@ruralpress.com
The local 2WKT Higland FM Radio
can be emailed on:
highland@suburbia.com.au
We also have 2ST who broadcast in
the area their contact details,
Radio 2ST
FM BOWRAL
cnr Bong Bong and Banyette Sts
Bowral 2576
Ph: 02 4862
2411
Fax: 02 4861 2421
This Lady May help
The Hon. Carmel Mary TEBBUTT, M.L.C. B.Ec.
Minister for Juvenile Justice
Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth
and Minister Assisting the Minister for the Environment
Australian Labor Party
Contact Details:
Ministerial office:
Level 31
Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer place
SYDNEY 2000
Ministerial office Email:
JJ@juvjus.minister.nsw.gov.au
Ministerial office Phone:
9228 5360
Ministerial
office Fax: 9228 5366
Contact address:
Parliament House
Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Email:
carmel.tebbutt@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 9230 2111
Fax: 9230 2993
The Hon.
Richard Sanderson AMERY, M.P.
Member for Mount Druitt.
Minister for Agriculture
and
Minister for Land and Water Conservation
A.L.P.
Contact Details:
Ministerial office Phone:
(02) 9372 0123
Ministerial office Fax: (02)
9372 0199
Mount Druitt
Electorate address:
Suite
208,
Westfield
Shoppingtown,
Carlisle
Avenue,
Mount Druitt NSW
2770.
P.O. Box 57
Mount Druitt NSW 2770.
Email: Ministerial Email:
ministers.office@agric.nsw.gov.au
Electorate Office
Email:
zcabban@parliament.nsw.au
Phone: (02) 9625 6770
Fax: (02) 9625 9965
THIS MINISTER CONTROLS THE PURSE
STRINGS FOR THE PROJECT VIA DPWS
The Hon. Morris IEMMA,
M.P. B.Ec., LL.B.
Member for Lakemba
Minister for
Public Works and Services(DPWS)
and Minister Assisting
the Premier on
Citizenship
A.L.P.
Contact Details:
Ministerial office Phone:
9228 4299
Ministerial
office Fax: 9228 4277
Lakemba Electorate address:
242 Belmore Road
Riverwood NSW 2210.
Email:
zkhan@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Phone: (02) 9584 1788
Fax: (02) 9584 1945
PO Box: PO Box 1200
Riverwood NSW
2210
http://members.fortunecity.com/froguptree/
from Environment News Service March 1, 2001
WHTIMAN CLEARS DIESEL TRUCK RULE
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, March 1, 2001
(ENS) - In the first sign that the new
Bush
administration will not seek to overturn several major
environmental rules passed by the Clinton administration,
the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency announced
Wednesday it will move forward
on schedule with its
rule to make heavy duty trucks and buses run
cleaner.
For full text and graphics,
visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-01-06.html
************************************************************
TOURISM IS KILLING THE
MEDITERRANEAN, TRAVEL FAIR TOLD
BERLIN, Germany, March 1, 2001 (ENS) - The Mediterranean's
soaring
popularity among visitors could be its downfall
unless a new form of
tourism is introduced, the World
Wide Fund for Nature said today.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-01-10.html
************************************************************
GREENPEACE PRESENTS IMAGE
PROBLEM FOR INTERFOR
By
Neville Judd
VANCOUVER,
Canada, March 1, 2001 (ENS) - New photos of logging on
British Columbia's coast prove that International Forest
Products is
misleading the public, said Greenpeace,
Wednesday.
For full text and
graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-01-11.html
************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 1, 2001
Corps' Mississippi Study
Questioned Yet Again
Bipartisan Bills Would Protect Arctic Refuge as Wilderness
Conservation Groups Defend
Alaska's National Forests
StarLink Corn Turns Up in Corn Seed
Pacific Heat Vent Could Diminish
Greenhouse Warming
Plan
Addresses Longline Fisheries' Impact on Seabirds
Illegal Oysters Send Seafood Sellers to Jail
Volunteers Needed to Guard
Spawning Sturgeon
For full
text and graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-01-09.html
*******************************************************************
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Riparian Habitat and
Floodplains Conference Set
SACRAMENTO, CA, Mar. 1
-/E-Wire/-- The Riparian Habitat and
Floodplains
Conference, sponsored by the California Department of Water
Resources and 16 other public and private agencies and
organizations, is
scheduled March 12 through 15 at
Sacramento's Radisson Hotel.
/CONTACT: DWR PIO, Don
Strickland, 916/657-4469 or Environmental
Compliance,
Analysis & Planning Branch, Earle Cummings, 916/445-7974/
/Web site: http://www.dwr.water.ca.gov/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/01Mar0103.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Environ.com Named
Environmental Compliance Expert for Leading Government
Procurement Web Site Fedmarket.com
TEMPE, Ariz. and KETCHUM,
Idaho, Mar. 1 -/E-Wire/-- Fedmarket.com,
a leading
government contracting portal, appointed Environmental Support
Solutions (Environ.com) as its environmental compliance
expert.
/CONTACT: Robin Suzelis of
Environ.com, 480-346-5524,
robin_suzelis@environ.com;
or Eric Aaserud of Fedmarket.com,
208-726-5553 ext. 12,
aaserud@wrtech.com/
/Web site:
http://www.environ.com/
For Full Text
Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/01Mar0102.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
-- NEWS ADVISORY -- TO
BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND MEDICAL EDITORS:
South Carolina's Research Universities Host Conference on
the Links
Between the Environment and Health
COLUMBIA, S.C., Mar. 1
-/E-Wire/-- A two day conference entitled
"Dispelling
the Fear & Discovering the Truth: Linking the Environment &
Health." Chemicals are contaminating our ground water,
asbestos is
invading our lungs, and lead poisons our
children while they play.
Environmental health hazards
have gone from hidden files to widespread
public
concerns.
/CONTACT: Trish Jerman of
Sustainable University Initiative,
803-777-7760,
jerman@sc.edu, or Katy Ruth of Newman, Saylor & Gregory,
803-254-8158, or e-mail, kruth@nsandg.com for Sustainable
University
Initiative/
/Web site:
http://www.sc.edu/sustainableu/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/01Mar0101.html
************************************************************
SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE --
1-888-764-NEWS
*********************************************************
from Sierra Club March 1, 2001
SC-ACTION Vol. III, #23,
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
February 28, 2001
Quote of the day:
Calling global warming "a real phenomenon," U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency chief Christie Whitman
said Tuesday the administration is
considering limits
on carbon dioxide emissions as part of a broader
anti-pollution strategy. --Dow Jones Newswires -- February
27, 2001
****************************************************************************************
I. A Huge Victory for
the Clean Air Act
II. Two Bills to Save the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Introduced in
Congress
III. Harris Poll: 59% Pessimistic About How Bush Will
Handle The
Environment
****************************************************************************************
I. A Huge Victory for the Clean Air Act
On February 27, the Supreme Court
handed down a huge victory for the Clean
Air Act. In a
unanimous decision in Whitman vs. American Trucking
Association the Court affirmed that air pollution standards
must be set to
protect public health with an adequate
margin of safety and not based on
costs. The Court also
upheld the constitutionality of the Clean Air Act's
standard-setting process. Both decisions are a huge success
for public
health and the environment.
As part of updating the Clean Air
Act to reflect current scientific
knowledge, President
Clinton in 1997 announced new health-based air
standards
for soot and smog. Soon after the new health-based air quality
standards were finalized in 1997, industry, led by the
American Trucking
Association, filed a lawsuit against
the EPA to halt these efforts to clean
the air. On May
14, 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the EPA,
leaving the fate of the new standards in limbo until the
February 27th
Supreme Court ruling.
It is vital to show support for the
Court's ruling and call upon the EPA to
move forward
with the soot and smog standards. These standards will protect
an estimated 130 million Americans, including 35 million
children suffering
from asthma and other respiratory
related illnesses due to poor air
quality. Please send a
letter to the editor (LTE) of your local paper and
show
support for cleaning up our nation's air quality.
To find out more information visit
http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/naaqs/courtruling.asp
or email dirk.manskopf@sierraclub.org.
Also for a list and addresses of newspapers in your area
visit
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/letterstoeditor/index.html
II. Two Bills to Save the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge Introduced in
Congress
At a rousing press conference in
front of the US Capitol two bills to
protect the
embattled coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
from oil and gas development were introduced. The bills,
introduced by
Senator Joseph Lieberman in the Senate and
Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA)
and Nancy Johnson
(R-CT) in the House would designate the 1.5 million acre
coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness--our
nation's highest
level of land protection.
The press conference featured a wide
array of speakers from both parties.
Senators Joe
Lieberman (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Paul Wellstone (D-MN),
Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Corzine (D-NJ) and John Kerry
(D-MA) all spoke
out in strong support for protecting
the coastal plain of the Arctic
National Wildlife
Refuge.
Minority Leader Dick
Gephardt (D-MO) and Minority Whip David Bonior (D-MI)
were among the House members who were in attendance.
Gephardt said
protecting to Arctic Refuge would be "the
most important environmental
issue" facing America for
the next two years. Reps. Moakley (D-MA), Johnson
(R-CT), Olver (D-MA), Maloney (D-NY), Blumenauer (D-OR),
Hoeffel (D-PA),
Holt (D-NJ), Udall (D-CO) and Inslee
(D-WA) all lent their voices to
supporting the
legislation.
To see if your
member of Congress has signed on as an original cosponsor
click here.
Ninety-five percent of Alaska's vast North Slope is open to
oil and gas
exploration and leasing. The coastal plain
represents the last five percent
that remains off-limits
to development. According to the U.S. Geological
Survey,
the mean estimate of oil that could be recovered from the Refuge
would amount to less than a six-month supply for
America. In addition, it
would take at least
10 years to do the exploration, construction, and
drilling necessary to get it to U.S. markets.
A recent Associated Press poll of
one thousand adults found that 53 percent
of US voters
oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while
only 33 percent support such a move.
III. Harris Poll: 59% Pessimistic About How Bush
Will Handle The
Environment
Optimistic About How Bush Will Handle The Following Issues?
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Defense 71% 29%
Crime 58 42
Education 58 42
Taxes 52 48
Foreign
policy 50 50
Helping people with
disabilities 50 50
Medicare 48 52
Jobs 48 52
Social
security 48 52
The
economy 47 53
Drugs 47 53
Health
care 43 57
The
environment 41 59
Abortion 41 59
Conducted 2/15-20/01, surveyed 2,573 adults; margin of
error +/- 2%
(release, 2/27).
-------------------------------------------------------
Sierra Club Legislative Hotline - 202-675-2394
Sierra Club National Headquarters - 415-977-5500
Sierra Club World Wide Web - http://www.sierraclub.org
Sierra Club Vote Watch Website - http://www.sierraclub.org/votewatch/
White House Comment Line - 202-456-1111
White House Fax Line - 202-456-2461
George W. Bush's e-mail -
president@whitehouse.gov
Dick Cheney's e-mail
- vice-president@whitehouse.gov
White House Address -
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500
US Capitol
Switchboard - 202-224-3121
To contact your senators - http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep
------------------------------------------------------------
from E/The Environmental Magazine March 1, 2001
Open
Season
Trophy Hunters are Wiping out
British Columbia's Grizzlies
By Paul Koberstein
Tourists jam Glendale Lodge in Knight Inlet, British Columbia, every fall to witness grizzlies feeding on pink salmon migrating upriver to spawn. They shoot the fearsome bears--with their cameras.
![]() |
| Are British Columbia. s
grizzly bears being slaughtered by hunters, or managed
sustainably? It depends on who you ask. © Ian Mcallister / www.raincoast.org |
But a different sort of visitor also comes to the coastal temperate rainforest to shoot some griz. With a gun. Hundreds from Canada, the U.S. and Europe are paying upwards of $10,000 for the opportunity to join a hunt that begins every September 1. They hunt grizzlies for the trophy, never for the meat.
And now there's trouble. The grizzly, hunted to extinction throughout most of its range in North America, may be facing a similar fate here in British Columbia (B.C.). Disturbing new evidence suggests grizzlies are being systematically extinguished from the province. Last December, 68 professional biologists called for a hunting moratorium pending the completion of long term population studies throughout B.C.
"The B.C. government denies that sport hunting is killing off its coastal grizzly bear population, yet has never done a credible study of grizzly populations," says Chris Genovali of the Raincoast Conservation Society. The group, based in Sidney, B.C., is fighting to protect the vast Great Bear Rainforest, which stretches almost the entire length of the B.C. coast.
"As a professional biologist, ecotour operator and just being on this small globe of ours, I find it appalling that this is allowed to continue," says Richard Biel of Canadian Wilderness Ecotours. "The oldest bears being killed now are around four years old. These creatures live to be 20 to 25 years old." The government of British Columbia claims that's all nonsense. The official line is that the grizzly bear population is in no danger of extinction.
The government has the backing of a powerful hunting lobby, the B.C. Wildlife Federation. This group, which recently brought National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston to speak at its annual convention, insists on a right to hunt. As for the hunters, many of them are wealthy Americans eager to show friends back in the states their valor.
The government's grizzly policies are being challenged by conservation groups in Canada, the U.S. and Europe as the brutal slaughter of an endangered species for the benefit of a small but loud cadre of hunters. The policies are also being questioned from within. One government biologist, Dionys de Leeuw, warns that hunting is on pace to extinguish all grizzlies from British Columbia between 2020 and 2034. Extinction could come even quicker, he adds, unless the B.C. government heeds its own warnings about the devastating effects of ongoing timber harvests in grizzly habitat.
Last November, in a celebrated report entitled "Grizzly Overkill in British Columbia Bear Management," de Leeuw, a senior habitat protection biologist with the B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, writes that the province has vastly overestimated the number of grizzlies still alive in B.C., and is allowing them to get shot at an unsustainable rate. "B.C. grizzly bears are declining," de Leeuw says. "Exacerbating that decline by continuing the grizzly bear hunt is biologically irresponsible."
Official figures put the number of grizzly bears in B.C. at about 14,000, but de Leeuw says overhunting may have reduced the population to as few as 3,000. Hunters kill an estimated 300 each year, with another 300 killed for public safety purposes and by poachers. Over a 33-year period from 1965 to 1997, he estimates more than 6,000 female bears were slaughtered, far in excess of the number the B.C. government considers sustainable.
"These results are discouraging at best," de Leeuw writes. "They clearly indicate that rather than controlling the total kill of grizzly bears to what may well be an arbitrarily conservative level, for 33 years the province has allowed the kill to exceed its own standard of sustainable mortality."
Compounding matters is the dubious nature of the B.C. Ministry of Environment's grizzly population estimates. From 1972 to 1979 the province estimated a population of 6,660 grizzly bears. But in 1990, the Ministry estimated that the province was home to 13,160 bears, using a "habitat suitability" model that assumes grizzlies occupy all suitable habitat. de Leeuw contends the model is so flawed that virtually all grizzly bears could be exterminated in B.C. by sport hunters, and the government would still allow hunting.
Jim Yardley, director of the Environment Ministry's office in Smithers, a community on the Skeena River in north-central B.C., says that de Leeuw's views "do not reflect the views of the ministry, which believes it is managing grizzly bears appropriately and conservatively." de Leeuw was slapped with a gag order and an unpaid suspension when he attempted to circulate his findings among his ministry colleagues.
But even some hunters are getting the picture. Kolbjorn Eide, a former hunting guide in the Lower Skeena region, quit the business a few years ago because of declining bear numbers, and now supports a hunting moratorium. "In the last 30 years from 1970, I would say we have lost about 80 percent of our grizzly population in the Lower Skeena," Eide says. "The B.C. Ministry of Environment has never taken any interest in protecting grizzly bears, and they still don't. There is nothing to save them if they keep up their policies."
Numerous scientists interviewed for this article say de Leeuw's report has significant scientific merit. "It's pretty damning information," says Dr. Bryan Horejsi, a carnivore biologist in Calgary. "There are more than enough reasons to be suspicious about the government's numbers."
Environmentalists are fighting back. The Raincoast Conservation Society and the Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA), a nonprofit based in London, have organized a protest among tourism companies in Europe, Canada and the U.S. "We're jacking up pressure on the economic side," says Martin Powell, an EIA operative. "The tourism industry is deeply concerned because people have put off coming to B.C. It's only a matter of time when that trickle turns into a flood."
EIA has also launched an appeal with the United Nations,
under the Convention on International Treaty in Endangered Species (CITES). The
treaty bans the export and import of listed species, or their body parts. The
U.S. and Canada are among the 152 nations that have signed the treaty.
"We want a ban on all exports of grizzly trophies," Powell
says, "so foreign hunters won't be allowed to take their trophies out of the
country with them, and so they won't go there to hunt in the first
place."
from Environment News Service March 2, 2001
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
(ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
************************************************************
THOUSANDS FLEE AS MOZAMBIQUE
FLOODS WORSEN
MAPUTO,
Mozambique, March 2, 2001 (ENS) - An international rescue effort
is under way in Mozambique where 52 people have died in
floods that now
threaten thousands more.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-02-12.html
************************************************************
SUITS AGAINST HOG FARMS PROMPTED
BY FEDERAL INADEQUACIES
By Cat
Lazaroff
KANSAS CITY, Missouri,
March 2, 2001 (ENS) - Smithfield Foods Inc., the
nation's largest hog producer, is responsible for polluting
the air and
water in at least three states, charge a
host of environmental lawsuits
filed this week. The
suits come on the heels of new reports showing that
agricultural runoff damages ocean habitats, and that farmers
eager to
combat runoff are thwarted by a lack of federal
funds.
For full text and
graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-02-06.html
************************************************************
BITE THE BULLET, EMBRACE CLEAN
ENERGY: UN
NAIROBI, Kenya, March
2, 2001 (ENS) - The United Nations is urging
governments
to recognize the economic and competitive benefits of
switching to climate friendly economies. The call followed
Wednesday's
announcement that climate change talks,
which stalled last November in
The Hague, will resume in
Bonn in July.
For full text and
graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-02-11.html
************************************************************
GOVERNMENTS AGREE PLAN TO TACKLE
PIRATE FISHING
ROME, Italy,
March 2, 2001 (ENS) - Governments have agreed on a new plan
to fight illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
Environmental
groups say the voluntary plan is weaker
than they would have liked, but
a step in the right
direction.
For full text and
graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-02-10.html
************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 2, 2001
Arsenic Water Standard Challenged by
Wood Preservers
Lawsuit
Threatens Giant Sequoia National Monument
Earthquakes Cost U.S. Billions in Damages
Illinois Dairy Farm Illegally Dumps
Wastes
Texas Droughts Extreme
for Past 15 Years
Mechanical
Failure Kills Endangered Colorado River Fish
Former EPA Chief Carol Browner Joins Aspen Institute
Students Rally for Arctic Wildlife
Refuge
For full text and
graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-02-09.html
*******************************************************************
SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
The Nature Conservancy
Recognizes International Paper for Wetlands
Restoration
SPRINGHILL, LA, Mar. 2
-/E-Wire/-- The Louisiana chapter of The
Nature
Conservancy has presented International Paper with its Corporate
Council for Conservation Leadership Award. The award
recognizes IP's
Springhill Habitat Area Restoration
Demonstration Project (SHARD),
through which the company
transformed the wastewater site at its former
Springhill, La., Paper Mill into wetlands.
/CONTACT: Gary O'Rielly,
Regional Public Affairs Manager,
225-383-9681, or
Jenifer Christman, Communications Manager,
901-763-6963,
both of International Paper/
/Web site: http://www.internationalpaper.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/02Mar0105.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Mayor of Panama City,
Panama, to Address Environmental and Conservation
Issues
FORT WORTH, TX, Mar. 2
-/E-Wire/-- Botanical Research Institute of
Texas (BRIT)
to Present International Award of Excellence to the
Honorable Juan Carlos Navarro, Mayor of Panama City, capital
of the
Republic of Panama, on Wednesday, March 7, 2001,
in Fort Worth, Texas,
for his accomplishments in
conservation.
/CONTACT: Bill Lawrence of
Lawrence & Associates, 817-923-3100, for
Botanical
Research Institute of Texas/
/Web sites: http://www.ancon.org
http://www.municipio.gob.pa/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/02Mar0104.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
EDITORS:
NJBPU Approves New
Programs and Funding for Customer Energy Savings and
Renewable Energy
WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 2
-/E-Wire/-- The American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA)
and a number of renewable energy companies and
environmental groups applauded a March 1 decision by the New
Jersey
Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approving
programs that will help
customers reduce energy use and
develop renewable energy sources such as
wind and solar
energy systems.
/CONTACT:
Utility Contacts:
Conectiv Power
Delivery, Matt Likovich, 410-860-6366,
Elizabethtown
Gas, George Koodray, 908-781-0500 X 4613,
GPU Energy,
Ron Morano, 973-401-8097,
New Jersey Natural Gas,
Roseanne Koberle, 732-938-1112,
Orange & Rockland,
Michael Donovan, 845-577-2430,
PSE&G, Kathleen T.
Ellis, 973-430-6618,
South Jersey Gas, Joanne Brigandi,
609-561-9000 X4240;
Contacts for
the non-utility parties:
American Wind Energy
Association, David Wooley, 518-438-9907 x238,
Randy
Swisher, 202-383-2500,
BP Solarex, Todd
Foley,410-981-0253,
Eastern Heating, & Cooling
Council,Harry Roth, 1-800-247-6547,
Environmental
Defense,Natalie Patasaw, 212-505-0606 x1151,
Honeywell,
Dave Holland, 973-890-9500 X 3005,
Natural Resources
Defense Council, Dale Bryk, 212-727-4480,
Renewable
Ventures, Mike Walker, 919-469-3737/
/Web sites: http://www.bpu.state.nj.us
http://www.awea.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/02Mar0103.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO BUSINESS, AUTO, ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Pacific Sands Gives
Operations and Marketing Update; Looks Forward
CLOVIS, CA, Mar. 2 -/E-Wire/--
Pacific Sands (OTCBB: PFSD) is
pleased to give several
updates on its operations and marketing efforts
for the
Eco One line of environmentally friendly products from the month
of February.
/CONTACT: Investor Relations:
Mick Wynhoff, 262-634-5774,
PacificSandsIR@aol.com/
/Web site: http://www.pacificsandsinc.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/02Mar0102.html
***********************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
***********************************************************************
TO BUSINESS, AUTO, ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Incredibly Clean,
Futuristic Honda Fuel Cell Vehicle Serves as Official
L.A. Marathon Pace Car
Vehicle Is Fueled By Hydrogen, Exhaust Is Water
TORRANCE, CA, Mar. 2
-/E-Wire/-- Honda's FCX-V3 fuel cell vehicle,
the latest
in a long line of Honda's environmentally friendly vehicles,
will serve as an official pace car for the 26.2-mile, March
4 L.A.
Marathon. The pace car, complete with L.A.
Marathon logos, will lead the
estimated 23,000 Marathon
runners.
/CONTACT: Mindy Gormley for
Fuel Cell, 310-781-4261, or Matt Klink
for LA Marathon,
310-283-6267, both of American Honda Motor Co., Inc./
/Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/372013.html or
fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 372013/
/Web site: http://www.honda.com/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/02Mar0101.html
************************************************************
SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE --
1-888-764-NEWS
*********************************************************
from EarthNet News March 4, 2001
EarthNet News
...a project of the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
March 1, 2001
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week, the fight over the Arctic Refuge begins and
GE refuses to clean up their mess in New York. Also, plan now to take
the Graduation Pledge and attend the Environmental Journalism Academy!
--Amy Lesser, EarthNet editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shadow Congress: Let the Games Begin!
2. Quote of the Week
3. Corporate Corner: GE's Toxic Legacy
4. Glimmer of Hope: The Court Backs Clean Air
5. Eco-Campus: Graduation Pledge
6. Environmental Journalism Academy
7. Letters to the Editor: A "meaty" argument
8. Jobs, Conferences and Gatherings
9. Activist Phone Book & EarthNet News Info
SHADOW CONGRESS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three bills were introduced this week that would either
protect or drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR). Drillling for oil in the ANWR is one of "Big Oil" Bush's
priorities, and environmentalists are gearing up for all-out
war. Although the amount of oil under ANWR would only support the
U.S. for six months (and take 5 years to reach), the Bush administration is
claiming that our current and future energy woes will be solved by
drilling.
Two of the
new bills would designate the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the Arctic
Refuge as "wilderness," which would prevent drilling in the
region. The bills are sponsored by Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) and Reps.
Markey (D-MA) and Johnson (R-CT). The third bill, sponsored by Sen.
Murkowski (R-AK), would permit drilling in the ANWR and allow the Energy
Secretary to determine if any upcoming federal actions would have a "significant
adverse effect" on domestic energy, which would significantly delay new land
protections, air quality standards, and mining regulations.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Write
your politicians from the EarthNet Action Center at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet and demand that the
ANWR be protected. Destroying a national treasure is not worth six months of
oil!
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/rep/repinx.asp; http://arctic.fws.gov/issues1.html
UPDATE: Last week, the Bush
administration came out in favor of the Brownfields Restoration Act highlighted
in the Feb. 22 issue. The bill is virtually guaranteed to pass now,
but keep those letters coming!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an
effluent society."
-- Hubert H.
Humphrey, Democratic politician, vice president, speech on 10/11/66 at Gannon
College, Erie, PA
CORPORATE
CORNER
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Electric (GE) is responsible for dumping more
than a million tons of toxic PCBs into the Hudson River in New York, which
destroyed 200 miles of river and created the largest Superfund site in the
country. A debate is currently raging over the best solution for this
environmental disaster. Many enviros, backed by the Sierra Club and various
Hudson River groups, are urging the EPA to hold GE accountable to pay for the
clean up. But the company insists that such dredging efforts will
actually make the problem worse by stirring up contaminants that are currently
inert. Instead of tackling the problem, GE is spending millions of
dollars in a public relations campaign to avoid their
responsibility. And, while they're arguing, the water is poisoning
fish, wildlife, and people.
TAKE
ACTION NOW: Tell the EPA you want GE to clean up their mess and pay
for the devastation they wrought by emailing
hudsoncomment.region2@epa.gov. The comment period ends April
17th.
FOR MORE
INFO: http://www.hudsonwatch.net; http://www.sierraclub/toxics/action/Hudson.asp
GLIMMER OF HOPE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week, the Supreme Court upheld the Environmental
Protection Agency's right to set air pollution standards based on public health
reasons rather than cost. This is a huge victory for the environment
and the 130 million Americans who deal every day with smog and
soot. Clinton announced the new air quality regulations in 1997, but
lawsuits led by the American Trucking Association have held up the new standards
in the courts until now.
ECO-CAMPUS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Graduation Pledge Alliance is hoping that the term
"GPA" may soon have two meanings in campus culture. The first GPA describes how
well you did before graduation, and the second predicts what good you'll do
after. The Pledge asks graduating students to "take into account the social and
environmental consequences of any job...and try to improve [problems]." Recent
"pledgers" have promoted recycling at work, removed racist language from a
training manual, and even helped convince an employer to refuse a chemical
weapons contract!
Start planning
now to organize the Pledge on your campus. Contact Neil at
NJWollman@manchester.edu for information. Or visit their website at http://www.manchester.edu/academic/programs/departments/Peace_Studies/files/gpa.htm.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM ACADEMY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calling all student journalists! Gain
hands-on experience as you collaborate with top professionals from print, radio
and the Web to produce stories that explore environmental
issues. Network with fellow college reporters, editors and
photographers from across the nation and discover how social justice relates to
urban environmental issues and public health concerns during the Community
Environmental Tour.
The 2001 Environmental Journalism Academy will be held at
American University in Washington, DC from June 14-18. $75 includes
housing, food, and training. Rolling admissions -- APPLY NOW at http://www.envirocitizen.org/news/eja/. Pass
the word along to your campus paper!
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Editor's Note: The Great American Meatout is on March
20. Find out you can "kick the habit" at http://www.meatout.org.
There are many reasons to become
a vegetarian or a vegan, including personal health, animal cruelty,
environmental devastation, waste of precious resources, pollution,and global
warming. 40% of America's beef is imported from land that once was home to vital
rainforest life. 38% of the world's grain is used to feed livestock, enough to
feed 400 millionpeople on a vegetarian diet. The world's oil reserves would last
260 years if humans ceased to eat meat. Livestock production uses over 50% of
U.S. water. America's cattle industry creates 158 million tons of waste per
year. It is the number one cause of water pollution. I don't think we
fully realize how much power we have as consumers, nor how much impact we have
on our future and the world. I cannot understand how we can continue to engage
in a diet we don't need that results in suffering and painful deaths to animals,
destroys the land that supports our lives,and pollutes the air we breathe and
the water we drink. Switching to a vegetarian diet is not difficult,and I have
never felt better in my whole life. I have more energy andmore clarity of
mind. I'm doing better in college, and severe stomach problems I've
had since a child completely vanished. I have done it not only for myself, but
more importantly for my greater self which includes you and all life on
Earth.Switching to a vegetarian diet or at least largely cutting back on meat
eating is one of the easiest ways to take a stand for your future and that of
future generations of people, animals, trees, Earth. I beg only
that we think deeply about the choices we are making, and make an effort act
wisely.
-- Sage Sheldon, Oklahoma State University
Got something to
say? Send your letters to earthnet@envirocitizen.org. We
reserve the right to edit for length, clarity, and purpose.
JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
------------------------------
These
are a sampling of the over 180 environmental and activist jobs and internships
listed at www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/index.asp!
Citizens Campaign for the Environment is seeking Campaign
Staff for summer and full-time positions in Buffalo, NY. Find the job
description at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/detail.asp?id=2384.
Washington Conservation
Voters is seeking an Administrative Coordinator in Seattle, WA. Find
the job description at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/detail.asp?id=2380.
The Green Guerillas is
seeking a Community Organizer in New York City. Find the job
description at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/detail.asp?id=2364.
The Sanibel-Captiva
Conservation Foundation is seeking a summer/fall Naturalist Intern in Sanibel,
FL. Find the internship description at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/detail.asp?id=2368.
CONFERENCES AND GATHERINGS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp.
WHAT: Green Community Workshop
WHERE: Shepherdstown, WV
WHEN: March
15, 2001
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/detail.asp?id=703
WHAT: Nurturing a Green
Campus Training
WHERE: Emory University, Atlanta, GA
WHEN: March 22-23, 2001
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/detail.asp?id=712
WHAT: Cascadia Activism and
Ecology Conference
WHERE: Evergreen State College,
Olympia, WA
WHEN: April 5, 2001
FOR MORE INFO: http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/detail.asp?id=710
ACTIVIST PHONE BOOK
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from Global Response March 5, 2001
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
GREAT NEWS TO
CELEBRATE!! Boise Cascade cancelled its Cascada Chile
project. Cascada Chile would have been the
world's largest chip mill,
doubling the rate of logging
in Chile's southern temperate rainforests.
Global
Response members helped launch a worldwide campaign against Cascada
Chile, with an international letter campaign in 1999 (see GR
Action #2/99
"Save Ancient Temperate Rainforests -
Chile" at
http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/gra0299.html).
Thanks to all who wrote letters
on this issue!
***********************
Here's a
note we received from Defensores de los Bosques Chilenos
(Defenders of the Chilean Forests):
Boise Cascade project in Chile,
Cascada Chile has finally been canceled.
Thanks to all
of you who made this possible. This is a big success!!!
We'll try to send more details of the decission, although
most of you know
what the authorities have said:
environmentalists, EIA investment was too
high, the
government didn't want the region to continue growing, etc, etc,
etc. The important thing is that this is true.
**********************
Here's a press release from Rainforest Action Network:
Boise Cascade Closes Mills, Cancels
Major Project amidst Sweeping Changes
in the Wood
Products Industry
Customers'
Demand for Old Growth Forest Protection, Responsible Logging Is
Transforming the Marketplace
Boise, Idaho-Following on the heels of the recent
announcement that it will
close its last mills in Idaho,
this week Boise Cascade disclosed that the
company is
also canceling its controversial Cascada Project in southern
Chile.
Slated to be the world's largest chip mill and Oriented
Strand Board (OSB)
facility, the Cascada Project was
expected to double the rate of logging in
southern
Chile's old growth forests, the second largest temperate
rainforest on the planet. Intense international pressure and
legal action
in Chile to protect endangered native
forests from Boise Cascade's proposed
mill had
successfully delayed the project for years.
"We may be seeing the last gasps of a dying old growth
logging industry,"
commented Michael Brune, Campaigns
Director of the Rainforest Action
Network. "Legal activists and environmental
groups have been fighting for
protection of Chile's
endangered forests for some time. We'd like to
congratulate our allies in Chile including Geo Austral,
Defensores del
Bosque Chileno, and Renace as well as
dozens of organizations in the U.S.
including American
Lands Alliance, Co-op America, Global Response,
Greenpeace, the National Forest Protection Alliance, Natural
Resources
Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, and many
others."
Boise Cascade's recent
moves come at a time when the company is feeling
pressure from a rapidly changing marketplace with consumers
turning away
from old growth wood and towards
sustainably harvested products. Top wood
users and
retailers including important Boise Cascade customers such as
Kinko's, Lowe's and Home Depot have committed to eliminating
the use of old
growth wood and give preference to
alternatives. Nearly twenty-five percent
of the U.S.
lumber market has pledged to transform its use of wood and
paper products. Many of these companies are Boise Cascade's
largest
customers.
"Boise Cascade's decision to abandon this woodchipping
project in Chile
reflects the market and environmental
chaos created by these 'cut and run'
multinational
timber dinosaurs," asserted Jake Kreilick of the National
Forest Protection Alliance. "It's time for Boise Cascade to
face the music
and take notice of the powerful statement
the marketplace is making in
favor of protection of our
last remaining old growth forests and U.S.
public
lands."
More than three-quarters
of the world's old growth forests have already
been
logged and degraded, much within the past three decades. In the United
States, less than five percent of our original forests
remain.
*****************
Here's an article from Environmental
News Service:
Boise Cascade
Pulls Out of Chile
BOISE,
Idaho, February 22, 2001 (ENS) - Forest
products company
Boise Cascade has announced
cancellation of plans
to build and operate an oriented strand board
manufacturing plant and deep water port in Puerto Montt,
Chile.
Public
interest environmental lawyers in Chile
and
environmentalists in the United States are calling the
decision
a victory for
Chile's ancient
forests.
argument that Cascada did not have
to assess the impacts of cutting local forests.
FIMA
submitted a petition to the Canada-Chile
Commission for
Environmental Cooperation in June, 2000 and by August, the
Commission agreed to hear arguments. This
commission was created by a
trade agreement between
Canada and Chile. Its mission is to review citizen
complaints and determine if governments are complying with
environmental laws.
FIMA
believes that unrelenting pressure on
Cascada Chile
influenced Boise Cascade's decision
to cancel the
Puerto Montt project.
Boise
Cascade said that an unfavorable supply
and demand
outlook for oriented strand board is
the
reason for its decision to halt the Cascada Chile development. "Given
the expectation of an additional 7.4 billion square feet
of OSB capacity
planned industrywide in North America
and severely depressed product
prices at this
time, our plans for the project have been cancelled."
--------------------------------------
GLOBAL RESPONSE is an international letter-writing network
of environmental
activists. In partnership
with indigenous, environmentalist and peace and
justice
organizations around the world, GLOBAL RESPONSE develops "Actions"
that describe specific, urgent threats to the environment;
each "Action"
asks members to write personal letters to
individuals in the corporations,
governments or
international organizations that have the power and
responsibility to take corrective action. GR also
issues "Young
Environmentalists' Actions" and "Eco-Club
Actions" designed to educate and
motivate elementary and
high school students to practice earth stewardship.
P.O. Box 7490 Phone: 303/444-0306
Boulder CO, USA 80306-7490
Fax: 303/449-9794
To receive Global Response "Actions" and "Emergency Actions"
by email:
Send a blank message to:
globresmembers-subscribe@igc.topica.com
Visit our website at: http://www.globalresponse.org
from Environment News Service March 5, 2001
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
(ENS) http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
************************************************************
MERCURY POSES RISK TO ONE IN 10
U.S. PREGNANCIES
WASHINGTON, DC,
March 5, 2001 (ENS) - One in 10 women of childbearing
age in the United States are at risk of having newborns with
neurological problems due to in utero mercury exposure,
according to a
government study released last week.
Fetuses are exposed to mercury in
the womb primarily
because of their mothers' consumption of contaminated
fish.
For
full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-05-06.html
************************************************************
G8 ENVIRONMENT MINISTERS KEEP
CLIMATE BALL ROLLING
TRIESTE,
Italy, March 5, 2001 (ENS) - Environment ministers from the
world's eight most powerful countries have reaffirmed their
desire to
reach a global accord on implementing the
Kyoto Protocol. This addition
to the United Nations
climate change treaty governs the greenhouse gas
emissions of 39 industrialized nations.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-05-01.html
************************************************************
PROPOSED CANADIAN PARK UNCHANGED
SINCE CREATION
IQALUIT, Nunavut,
Canada, March 2, 2001 (ENS) - An inland Arctic sea
whose
mudflats, cliffs and rolling tundra banks are described as
unchanged since creation is a step closer to becoming
Canada's newest
national park.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-05-10.html
************************************************************
NEW HOPE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST
MALARIA
GENEVA, Switzerland,
March 5, 2001 (ENS) - Pharmaceutical giant
GlaxoSmithKline has signed agreements with two non-profit
organizations
to develop a new treatment for malaria.
For full text and graphics
visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-05-11.html
************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 5, 2001
Hawaiian Coral Smugglers Plead
Guilty
Innovative Pollution
Agreement Saves Company $825,000
Have DNA Lab, Will Travel
Airlines Reach Agreement on Texas Clean Air Plan
Using Nature to Manage Landscape
Pests
The Wilderness Society
Honors U.S Forest Service
Inland
Aquarium Joins Marine Fish Conservation Network
Plant Grass on Spring Break
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-05-09.html
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SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
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E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE
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TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATIONAL
EDITORS:
Hunters Raise Millions
for Wildlife
CODY, Wyo., March 5
-/E-Wire/-- The wild sheep of North America
will
continue to prosper because of dedicated hunter/conservationists
who raised nearly $4 million during the Foundation for North
American
Wild Sheep's (FNAWS) 24th Annual Convention.
Over $1.6 million, raised
through a special hunt tag
auction, will be immediately used to fund
State and
Provincial wild sheep and wildlife programs.
/CONTACT: Paula Karres of
Foundation for North American Wild Sheep,
307-527-6261/
/Web site: http://www.fnaws.org/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/05Mar0109.html
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E-WIR