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Environment Action
alerts April 16-24, 2000
Earth Day Actions Terminator Seeds GP-Farewell Fronteir News
Sign Clean Car Pledge & Enter Car
Contest Save the Sequoias-SC#195 Nature
Conservancy News
Wilderness Society News Sierra Club Action-#196 DENLINES Issue #13
Save Soda Mountain Sierra Club Action- #197 ENS News 4-22-00
Urgent alert-Minnesota Wolves Need Your Help Sierra Club Action-#198 EDF News
Follow-Up to Minnesota Wolves Need Your Help Stop India's Maheshwar Dam ENS News 4-24-00
from World Wildlife April 17, 2000
Earth Day Actions
If you have any questions or comments, please go to:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/forms/feedback.cfm
*
--Earth Day Actions: Earth Day is April 22, 2000.
Explore
WWF's Earth Day site to learn more about what
you can do this earth day to
help save our living
planet! Download a new WWF screensaver, send a free
electronic Earth Day postcard, and even learn simple
recipes to replace
your household cleaners! Come be
part of the celebration, and
learn what WWF is doing
around the world to support Earth Day 2000. You can
learn more about what you can do for Earth Day 2000 at:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/earthday
--How can you help? Here are 5
steps you can take to
help protect our planet from global warming:
1.
Install low-flow showerheads that use less water.
2. Ask your utility
company for a home energy audit.
3. Whenever possible, walk, bike, carpool,
or use
mass transit.
4. Insulate walls and ceilings to save about 25% on
heating bills.
5. Support the Earth Day 2000 Clean Energy Agenda at
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org
--Miles for the Wild: Take action to save endangered species!
Miles for the Wild runs through Earth Day, April 22nd. Earn a
minimum of
5 miles per dollar donated. ClickMiles earned by
donating will be doubled by
an anonymous donor will match
donations over $200. Also, shop at
AnimalPlanet.com, Ebags.com,
WorldSpy.com or AreYouGame.com, and a
percentage of your
purchase will go to WWF. Go Wild! Get Miles!
http://www.worldwildlife.org/miles/index.htm?m417
--Help save our living planet, pass this email message on to a
friend.
This email is being sent to everybody who accepted
World
Wildlife Fund's Living Planet Pledge, signed up for
the Earth Day Alert,
or joined our "what's new" mailing
list. These lists are now
combined into one "what's new
at WWF online" list. The purpose of this
message is to keep
you informed about what WWF is doing, as well as what
you can do to help save life on Earth and protect wildlife
and
wildlands.
from Union of Concerned Scientists April 17, 2000
Sign UCS's Clean Car Pledge online
and you'll be able to enter a free drawing
to win a new Toyota Prius, no strings attached. The Prius is the
first family-sized, hybrid-electric vehicle to go on sale in the
U.S. It should get an average of 55 MPG and meet California's
stringent SULEV standard for tailpipe emissions.
To sign
the clean car pledge, just click on the pledge
site at http://www.cleancarpledge.org. After
signing
the pledge, you will be able to enter the free contest.
The
contest winner will be announced on Earth Day,
April 22.
To help
UCS's clean car campaign, please forward this
email to as many friends,
family and colleagues as
possible. If they sign online before
April 22, they
will also have an opportunity to win the Prius.
For
more information about the Clean Car Pledge
Campaign, please contact Michael
Pancook at the Union of
Concerned Scientists at mpancook@ucsusa.org or
510-843-
1872.
GOOD LUCK!!!
from Wilderness Society April 19, 2000
Wilderness Society News - http://www.wilderness.org.au
19 April 2000
VICTORY
Southern NSW Forest Agreement: major
step forward for forest protection
but wilderness areas still threatened by
woodchipping
* http://www.wilderness.org.au/projects/Forests/srfaresult.html
Help us achieve more wilderness
victories.
Become a Wilderness Defender.
Freecall 1800 030 641 or visit
http://www.wilderness.org.au/join/#wilderness_defender
______________________________________________________________________
LATEST MEDIA RELEASES
- Tuckey changes export regulations to protect Daishowa
- "Who will be the next to fall?": Victims of violence in Victoria release
report of violence and police bias
- New blueprint to take SA parks
system into the 21st Century
- Central Western NSW forests safe from the
charcoal burner but await full
protection
- NSW carbon and biodiversity
credits proposal: big questions remain
unanswered
- WA rallies against
old growth assault
- Cape York wake up call to Prime Minister and Queensland
Premier
* http://www.wilderness.org.au/news/media/
______________________________________________________________________
EVENTS
- [Sydney] Staying
Alive: The Future of the Reef - 6 May
- [Hobart] Wilderness Society Slide
Show - 2 May
- [Tasmania] Styx Valley to be lit by 'Star of Hope' - 24 April
- [Launceston] Ben Lomond Forest Tour - 23 April
- [Byron Bay] Blues and
Roots Music Festival - 21 April
- [Tasmania] Discover the Secret Giants of
the Styx Forest - Jan-May
* http://www.wilderness.org.au/calendar/
______________________________________________________________________
POSITION VACANT
Melbourne: Fundraising/Office Manager
* http://www.wilderness.org.au/calendar/20000419_ev.html
______________________________________________________________________
This message comes to you from The Wilderness Society News List.
This is a free, low-volume, announcement-only email list, so you won't
get
bombarded by messages from other people on the list. We expect to be
sending no more than 1 or 2 messages per month to this list.
The
Wilderness Society is a national, community-based, environmental
advocacy
organisation whose mission is to protect, promote and secure the
future of
wilderness and other high conservation areas.
Since its formation in
1976, The Wilderness Society has protected over
five million hectares of
wilderness in Australia, including Kakadu, the
Daintree, Kangaroo Island,
south west Tasmania, Australia's sub-Antarctic
Islands and Shark Bay.
To take action on behalf of wilderness today, visit our website at
http://www.wilderness.org.au/
______________________________________________________________________
To subscribe to this list, visit our website at
http://www.wilderness.org.au/about/newslist.html
______________________________________________________________________
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from Worldwildlife April, 2000
Save Soda
Mountain For All Americans
Dear WWF
Conservation Action Network Activist:
Please help convince President
Clinton to designate public lands in the
Soda Mountain area of southern
Oregon as a national monument and
protect its globally outstanding rare and
diverse plants and wildlife.
Soda Mountain's wild and scenic
landscape of high ridges and steep
canyons shelters one of the great
treasure-troves of life in the West.
The region encompasses trout
streams, ancient stands of fir and pine,
flower-strewn meadows, towering
volcanic cliffs, and rich grasslands
dotted with magnificent oaks.
Here the plants and animals of several
ecoregions merge into an
amazing array of natural variety.
For the past six months, the Soda
Mountain area has been under study
by Secretary of Interior Bruce
Babbitt as a candidate for national
monument designation. World
Wildlife Fund, the Soda Mountain
Wilderness Council, and numerous other
local, regional, and national
groups support national monument designation
for the Soda Mountain
area.
Unfortunately, this ecologically
priceless landscape is now threatened
by commercial livestock grazing,
logging, off-road vehicle abuse, and
piecemeal management. President
Clinton needs to hear about the
vital importance of this region for the
biodiversity of the West, and
about the critical need to protect it as a
national monument for future
generations.
Please show President
Clinton that there is tremendous support for
protecting this phenomenal
landscape. Go to
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to send him a free message
today
from the Coalition to Protect Predators April 19,
2000
URGENT ALERT
MINNESOTA WOLVES NEED YOUR
IMMEDIATE HELP
On
April 18th, 2000, the Minnesota Senate passed a wolf management
plan that
will threaten the long-term survival of wolves in Minnesota
and the Great
Lakes region as a whole. The bill goes to the House for
a vote on
Wednesday, April 19th (where it is expected to pass) and
then lands on
Governor Jesse Ventura's desk.
PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL GOVERNOR
VENTURA BY
FRIDAY, APRIL 21st AND ASK HIM TO VETO HOUSE FILE
3046.
The most serious problem with this bill is that it sets
very lenient
standards for the taking of gray wolves. It allows
citizens to obtain
"predator control certification" permits to trap and
shoot wolves
within a one-mile radius of areas where livestock or pet
depredation
has occurred. However, wolf controllers are not obligated
to trap only
offending wolves, but are permitted to kill all wolves in a
designated
"predator control area." In addition, depredation incidents
don't have
to be current. Anyone who has experienced livestock or pet
depredation within the past five years can request a predator control
area be opened for wolves. This system almost guarantees that the
wolves being killed won't be the offending animals. Wolf controllers
will be paid $150 per wolf killed, a modern form of bounty and an
incentive to kill as many wolves as possible
.
Also according to the bill, the state will be divided
into two zones, A
and B. Taking of wolves by individuals is allowed in
both zones if
wolves are considered to be a threat, with threat defined as
the
perception that wolves are "stalking, attacking, or killing livestock, a
guard animal or a domestic pet." The term "stalking" is a more
obscure description of behavior than the word "pursuing," which is the
term used in other wolf management plans. Anyone can claim they
believe a wolf is "stalking" their livestock, just by seeing it in the
vicinity of their farm. Within Zone A, the alleged wolf protection zone,
wolf control areas can be set up for 60 days and in Zone B, the
timeframe is not regulated at all.
Though at
present the gray wolf still enjoys the protection of the
federal Endangered
Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
hoping to delist wolves
in Minnesota and give management of the
species back to the state.
While the FWS has said that they will not
delist wolves unless the states
have management plans in place that
ensure the long-term survival of the
species, there is no guarantee that
they won't move forward with delisting
as soon as any plan is passed.
Please call Gov. Ventura
immediately, remind him that he was
elected under the platform of being the
people's governor and ask him
to veto House File 3046. This bill does not
reflect the type of wolf
management desired by the people representing
myriad stakeholders on
Minnesota's wolf citizen's roundtable
committee. The passage of this
wolf bill undermines the democratic
process and shows a complete
lack of respect for all those who reached a
good faith compromise on
the management of Minnesota's gray wolves during
the five months of
intense negotiations last year. Furthermore, it
puts wolves in the
Upper Midwest in imminent danger of becoming endangered
once
again.
Gov. Ventura can
be reached at:
Phone: 651-296-3391
Fax: 651-296-2089
jesseventura@jesseventura.org or
office@jesseventura.org
from the Coalition to Protect Predators April 19,
2000
Subject: RE: ACTION ALERT - Help needed to Protect MN Wolves!
URGENT COALITION MEMBERS
You may ahve recieved the following alert form Defenders.... and it may
have been confusing to you with the new bill numbers ... the text about the
bill of the alert is correct EXCEPT for the last paragragh
regarding the
roundtable process. .
Here is what happened ... HF
1415 originaled form an amendment tacked
on to
another hunting tax bill # 3046 (along with other amending
tax
laws) We need to make this clear ... that
the wolf plan has been
slipped by the full Senate who refused to vote on it
Monday ... so they
stuck it on this bill just to get it passed
since HF1415 is stalled in
conference ....
The action that occured is
not posted under the legislative wolf
bill info....
PLEASE PLEASE ... DO NOT SUPPORT THE ROUNDTABLE BILL WHEN YOU
WRITE TO
VENTURA!!!! THOSE OF US WHO WERE STAKEHOLDERS ON THE
ROUNDTABLE BILL AND
HAVE FOUGHT FOR THE WOLF HERE FOR OVER 30 YEARS DO NOT
SUPPORT THIS
POSITION !!!!!!
WRITE
AND OR CALL VENTURA BUT ......... There is no reason
There is no reason to mention of the roundtable process as if it
provided any better management .. it was almost as lenient as this
amendment AND certainly just as bad!! By trying to point to it as
good
management we may be stuck with it , a landowner shoot on
sight bill, as
a precedent in the future .
THE ROUNDTABLE BILL does NOT represent the "type of wolf
management desired by the
people representing myriad stakeholders" on the RT panel ...
as a stakeholders who actually served on that panel for days and
hours , we find it very upsetting to
have it stated below that WE
support it...
Groups that want to
continue to supporrt the liberal killing plan
called
the roundtable bill may do so
BUT don't claim the people who
served on that panel do support it
....
only a few "environmentalists" who brokereed the deal do support
it
, and also testified they support hunting and trapping of wolves in the
future. In fact, even the ranchers,trappers,
hunters and DNR hate the
Roundtable for the opposite reason ... they wanted
more killing . It is
not sound to keep pointing to the
Roundtable bll as a good compromise
...........
REMIND JESSE WE HAVE
A New State motto FOR TOURISM.....
" If you want
to kill something ... come to Minnesota "
I'LL SEND NEWS ARTICLES NEXT
...... THANKS , Karlyn .
WOLFLINES
ACTION ALERT
===================================================
April
18, 2000
URGENT
ALERT
MINNESOTA
WOLVES NEED YOUR IMMEDIATE HELP
On April 18th, 2000, the Minnesota
Senate passed a wolf management
plan that will threaten the long-term
survival of wolves in Minnesota
and the Great Lakes region as a
whole. The bill goes to the House for
a vote on Wednesday, April
19th (where it is expected to pass) and
then lands on Governor Jesse
Ventura. s desk.
PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL GOVERNOR VENTURA BY
FRIDAY,
APRIL 21st AND ASK HIM TO VETO HOUSE FILE
3046.
The most serious
problem with this bill is that it sets very lenient
standards for the taking
of gray wolves. It allows citizens to obtain
. predator control
certification. permits to trap and shoot wolves
within a one-mile radius of
areas where livestock or pet depredation
has occurred. However,
wolf controllers are not obligated to trap only
offending wolves, but are
permitted to kill all wolves in a designated
. predator control area..
In addition, depredation incidents don. t have
to be
current. Anyone who has experienced livestock or pet
depredation
within the past five years can request a predator control
area be opened for
wolves. This system almost guarantees that the
wolves being
killed won. t be the offending animals. Wolf controllers
will be paid $150
per wolf killed, a modern form of bounty and an
incentive to kill as many
wolves as possible.
Also according to the bill, the state will be
divided into two zones, A
and B. Taking of wolves by individuals
is allowed in both zones if
wolves are considered to be a threat, with
threat defined as the
perception that wolves are . stalking, attacking, or
killing livestock, a
guard animal or a domestic pet.. The term .
stalking. is a more
obscure description of behavior than the word .
pursuing,. which is the
term used in other wolf management
plans. Anyone can claim they
believe a wolf is . stalking. their
livestock, just by seeing it in the
vicinity of their farm. Within Zone A,
the alleged wolf protection zone,
wolf control areas can be set up for 60
days and in Zone B, the
timeframe is not regulated at all.
Though at
present the gray wolf still enjoys the protection of the
federal Endangered
Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
hoping to delist wolves
in Minnesota and give management of the
species back to the
state. While the FWS has said that they will not
delist wolves
unless the states have management plans in place that
ensure the long-term
survival of the species, there is no guarantee that
they won. t move forward
with delisting as soon as any plan is passed.
Please call Gov.
Ventura immediately, remind him that he was
elected under the platform of
being the people. s governor and ask him
to veto House File 3046.
*********THE COALITION DOES NOT SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING
ACTION OR
STATEMENT*********
This bill does not reflect the
type of wolf
management desired by the people representing myriad
stakeholders on
Minnesota. s wolf citizen. s roundtable
committee. The passage of this
wolf bill undermines the
democratic process and shows a complete
lack of respect for all those who
reached a good faith compromise on
the management of Minnesota. s gray
wolves during the five months of
intense negotiations last year.
*******************************************************
from Global Response April 20, 2000
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Last year Global Response
conducted 2 successful letter campaigns opposing
Terminator Seed
technology. Our letters to Monsanto helped persuade the
company
to abandon development of terminator technology. And letters to
the General Secretary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
helped persuade him to declare his opposition to the development of
terminator technologies. Here's a report from Rural Advancement
Foundation
International (RAFI) on the latter victory:
FAO'S DIOUF SAYS NO TO TERMINATOR
In a recent
interview, the Director General of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture
Organization (FAO) Jacques Diouf declared FAO's opposition to
Terminator.
Diouf pointed out that the technology would affect farmers in
both the North
and the South. Diouf's public rejection of Terminator
reverses earlier
statements made by one high-ranking FAO official. The
positive change could
be attributed, in part, to the letter-writing
campaign of Global Response (a
US-based non-profit organization) whose
4,000 members in forty countries
wrote to Director General Diouf last year,
asking him to oppose the
Terminator as a matter of global food security. In
publicly rejecting
Terminator, FAO's Diouf has come to the defense of the
1.4 billion people
who depend upon farm-saved seed for their survival. As
the United Nations'
voice for global food security, and in the context of
its Food for All
campaign, FAO member states should now consider a formal
resolution to
reject Terminator.
Now RAFI has released a new report on the status
of Terminator Technology,
and a call for letters to the US Department of
Agriculture which continues
to support Terminator research and
development. Please read the RAFI press
release, below, and write
letters to the USDA!
RAFI
Rural Advancement Foundation
International
www.rafi.org | rafi@rafi.org
USDA Betrays Public Trust with
Two New Terminator Patents
Will USDA's Biotech Advisory Board Demand
Accountability?
The Rural
Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), an international
civil society
organization based in Canada, announced today that the US
Department of
Agriculture (USDA) holds two new patents on the controversial
Terminator
technology, the genetic engineering of plants to render their
seeds sterile.
If commercialized, Terminator would make it impossible for
farmers to save
seeds from their harvest, forcing them to return to the
commercial seed
market every year.
"The US government is advancing research and
squandering taxpayer dollars
on a technology that has been universally
condemned because it is bad for
farmers, food security, and biodiversity,"
says Pat Mooney, Executive
Director of RAFI. "It's an egregious
misallocation of public resources for
the sole purpose of maximizing seed
industry profits," adds Mooney.
"It's disgraceful," says Hope Shand,
RAFI's Research Director. "We were
shocked to discover USDA's new patents
because when we met with US Deputy
Secretary of Agriculture Richard Rominger
on two separate occasions last
year, his staff assured us in no uncertain
terms that there were no more
patents in the works. Why didn't we get the
straight story?" asks Shand.
"Despite mounting opposition from national
governments, United Nations'
agencies, farmers, scientists, and civil
society organizations around the
world, USDA continues to ignore the public
outcry at home and abroad," adds
Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI Programme Officer.
Last month for example, the
Director General of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization
declared FAO's opposition to Terminator. Earlier
this month, the state of
Maryland (US) introduced a bill to ban Terminator
seeds. (See RAFI
Communique, "Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track," Feb./March,
2000,http://www.rafi.org).
According to RAFI, the new patents on genetic seed sterilization were
issued in 1999 (US Patent No. 5,925,808 issued on July 20, 1999 and US
Patent No. 5,977,441 issued on November 2, 1999). The patents are jointly
owned by USDA and Delta & Pine Land (the world's largest cotton seed
company), the owners of the original 1998 patent. The USDA's new patents
share the same titles, inventors, and abstracts as the earlier patent, but
they describe new innovations and demonstrate that USDA scientists are
continuing to refine the technology and advance the research.
On
October 28, 1999 representatives from a broad base of civil society
organizations (CSOs) met with US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to
demand that his agency abandon research and development of genetic seed
sterilization. Participants included the American Corn Growers Association,
Consumers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, Ralph Nader of Public
Citizen, International Center for Technology Assessment, Mothers and Others
for a Livable Planet, Consumer Federation, Sustainable Agriculture
Coalition, RAFI, and RAFI-USA. Less than five days later, USDA won a new
patent on Terminator.
Duped and Betrayed: "We feel duped
and betrayed," says Gary Goldberg, CEO
of the American Corn Growers
Association. "We demand to know why the USDA
continues to invest
taxpayer dollars on anti-farmer research that, if
commercialized, will hold
farmers hostage to giant agribusiness
corporations," said Goldberg.
Destroying National Seed Sovereignty: USDA's growing portfolio of
Terminator patents sends an ominous message to the rest of the world, says
Rafael Alegria, General Coordinator of Via Campesina, the largest
confederation of peasants' and small farmers' organizations in Africa,
Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America. "It amounts to a
declaration of war against the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved
seeds - mainly poor people - and it's an assault on global food security,"
explains Alegria.
Neth Dano, Executive Director of SEARICE, the
Southeast Asian Regional
Institute for Community Education, agrees, "This
technology goes far beyond
intellectual property. A patent expires after 20
years, but if Terminator
seeds are commercialized it will give a handful of
multinational Gene
Giants a monopoly with no expiration date. This
technology aims to
eliminate the right of farmers to save seeds and do local
plant breeding,
and it will destroy the concept of national seed
sovereignty."
Litmus Test for USDA's Biotech Advisory Board: USDA's
newly-appointed
Biotech Advisory Board will hold its first meeting on March
29-30. "It's a
litmus test for the USDA advisory board," explains RAFI's
Shand. Will they
or won't they demand accountability from USDA? There's no
doubt that the
biotech advisory board has a full plate and it's loaded with
controversial
GMO (genetically modified organisms) issues, but Terminator
must be the
number one priority," stresses Shand.
Launching Pad for
Bioserfdom: Without effective action by civil society and
governments to ban
Terminator seeds, RAFI concludes that suicide seeds will
be commercialized,
with potentially disastrous consequences for farmers,
food security and the
environment.
"Terminator has grabbed the spotlight, but we are equally
concerned about
the closely related genetic trait control technologies
(Traitor Tech) which
enables a plant's genetic traits to be turned on or off
with the
application of an external chemical - the company's proprietary
chemical,"
adds Ribeiro. "Although the USDA and Delta & Pine Land are
the high-profile
crusaders, the goal of genetic trait control is
industry-wide," concludes
Ribeiro.
Coming Soon: In May, 2000 RAFI
will release a status report on Terminator
and Traitor patents, which will
examine the current goals of private and
public sector institutions that are
promoting bioserfdom with genetic trait
control technology.
For
more information:
Hope Shand, RAFI
Tel: 919 960-5223
Email:
hope@rafi.org
Rafael Alegria
General Coordinator,
Via Campesina
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A.
email: viacam@gbm.hn
Neth Dano
Executive Director,
SEARICE
The Philippines
Tel: 63-2-922-6710
Email: searice@philonline.com.ph
Gary Goldberg
CEO,
American Corn Growers Association,
Tel:
918 488-1829
http://www.acga.org
Action Needed:
1. USDA should cease negotiations with
Delta & Pine Land on the licensing
of it's jointly held patents, and
abandon all research and patents on
genetic seed sterilization.
2.
USDA should adopt a strict policy prohibiting the use of taxpayer
dollars to
support genetic seed sterilization.
3. USDA should terminate all
research on Terminator seed technology as well
as the closely related
genetic trait control technologies. Remote control
of a plant's genetic
traits, triggered by proprietary chemicals, is grim
news for farmers and the
environment because, if commercialized, farmers
will become more dependent
on chemical inputs manufactured by the
agrochemical/seed industry.
4. USDA should use public research dollars to re-invigorate public plant
breeding for family farmers and sustainable agriculture. Instead of
engineering seeds for sterility, USDA should boost breeding programs that
will lessen farmers' dependency on chemicals, fertilizers, and other
expensive inputs.
Send a Message of Protest to US Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman:
A sample letter to US Secretary of Agriculture
Dan Glickman can be found on
RAFI's web site:
http://www.rafi.org
Secretary Dan
Glickman
USDA
200-A Whitten Bldg.
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20250
USA
Email: agsec@usda.gov
Tel: 202 720-3631
Fax: 202 720-2166
RAFI (the Rural Advancement Foundation
International) is an international
civil society organization based in
Canada. RAFI is dedicated to the
conservation and sustainable use
of biodiversity, and to the socially
responsible development of technologies
useful to rural societies. RAFI is
concerned about the loss of
agricultural biodiversity, and the impact of
intellectual property on
farmers and food security.
--------------------------------------
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
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_________________________________________________________
Enlighten
your in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15
from Sierra Club April 19, 2000
SC-ACTION Vol. II # 195
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
Monday, April 10, 2000
ALL FOREST SPECIAL ** ALL FOREST
SPECIAL ** ALL FOREST SPECIAL
TAKE ACTION:
CALL YOUR SENATOR - STOP CLEARCUTS FOR KIDS BILL
2) NEW WILD FOREST VIDEO AVAILABLE - GET YOURS
TODAY
3) LA TIMES SAYS "SAVE THE GIANTS"
4) Bill TO End Commercial Logging Marches
Forward!
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
My first view of the high Sierra, first
view looking down into
Yosemite, the death
song of Yosemite creek, and its flight over the
vast cliff, each one of these is of itself
enough for a great
life-long landscape fortune
- a most memoarable day of days -
enjoyment
enough to kill if that were possible.
John
Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
1) HELP
STOP THE "CLEARCUTS FOR KIDS" BILL
Almost a century ago, Congress
passed a law requiring the U.S. Forest
Service
to turn over 25 percent of its logging revenues to rural
counties to fund schools and roads. That
outdated law creates a
perverse incentive for
affected communities to support high levels of
logging. Although education funding
is the excuse for supporting this
program,
many counties spend 75% of their payment on roads, not
schools.
In recent years, because of a decrease in
logging in some communities
-- due to both
unsustainable logging practices and various protection
measures -- payments to counties have
declined, and some rural county
budgets have
suffered. The Clinton administration has proposed
de-linking county payments from timber cuts,
to provide stable funding
for schools and
reduce the incentive to continue an unsustainable
logging program.
But Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Larry
Craig (R-ID) are backing a bill
known as S.
1608, the "Secure Rural Counties and Community
Self-Determination Act," that would force the
Forest Service to increase
logging to make
more money and give management decisions on National Forest
lands to local interests. This bill
holds schoolchildren hostage to an
unsustainable logging program. This
bill is moving fast and could be voted
on
soon!!
The bill also ignores the
contributions of National Forests to
recreation, wildlife, fishing and water
quality. Nationally,
recreation generates
nearly $40 to the economy for every dollar
generated by logging, and creates more than 30
times as many jobs. And
increased logging
destroys recreation opportunities. In addition,
rural communities rely on National Forests for
clean drinking water
and logging can clog
streams with silt and run-off. Communities should
not have to sacrifice clean drinking water,
jobs and wildlife habitat
to fund their
children's education.
Rural schools
deserve stable funding and National Forests should be
managed without the pressure to generate money
for county treasuries.
The law should be
changed to separate county payments from ties to
logging. Congress simply needs to
make rural education a priority and
fund
county education programs. The Clinton Administration has made
such a proposal the last three years and
Congress should move to enact
it.
Separating payments to counties from
logging quotas is the right way
to
go. This would free school systems from being forced to rely on a
destructive logging program that pollutes our
water supplies, destroys
wildlife habitat and
eliminates recreational opportunities in our
National Forests. As Michael
Dombeck, Chief of the Forest Service
said,
"There's no reason the richest nation on earth should be funding
the education of rural kids at the expense of
our National Forests."
** TAKE ACTION ** TAKE
ACTION ** TAKE ACTION ** TAKE ACTION
CALL YOUR
SENATORS through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202)
224-3121 and urge them to vote against
S.1608. Tell them that
schoolchildren should not be held hostage to
an unsustainable logging
program!
For more information contact: Sean
Cosgrove, National Forest Policy
Specialist,
at (202) 547-1141.
2) Sierra Club Wild Forest Video Flying Off The Shelves!
Wild Forests provide the
nation's best remaining fish and wildlife
habitat, clean drinking water and outstanding
recreational
opportunities. These
precious areas are still at risk of being
damaged by logging, off-road vehicles, mining
and other destructive
activities. The US Forest Service
will present a draft proposal for
protecting
these areas sometime in late April or May.
Now, Sierra Club's Wild Forest Protection
Campaign has created a hot
new video that you
can use in your outreach and education activities
to help protect 60 million acres of America's
Wild Forests. You can
get yours
today! These high quality 17 minute videos are fabulous
tools to build public support in your
area. Using our other materials
such as informational brochures, lapel
stickers and postcards, you can
make an
exciting and informative presentation to your Chapter or
group. All it will cost you is a phone call!
For copies of your video and other
materials call Julie Hudson at
(202) 547-1141
or write julie.hudson@sierraclub.org
3) LA
TIMES SAYS "SAVE THE GIANTS"
Recent polls say that 83% of all Californians LOVE the Sequoias
and
want them permanently
protected. The LA TIMES agrees as proven by
this editorial that supports a new Sequoia
National Monument:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL
Saturday, March 8,2000
SAVE
THE GIANTS
The majestic
sequoias of the central Sierra Nevada are giants of the
ages. They are among the oldest and largest
living things on
Earth--surviving as long as
35,000 years and growing up to 300 feet
high
with a trunk diameter of 30 feet. The giant sequoias (Sequoia
giganteum) have been overshadowed lately by
the battles over the fate
of old-growth stands
of the taller coast redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens)
But now, President Clinton is considering
the creation of a new
national monument to
grant special protection to 38 sequoia groves
scattered outside of Yosemite and
Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks.
Most are
now part of Sequoia National Forest, east of Fresno.
The future of commercial logging is a
factor in this decision, but the
long-range
value of these lands rests with recreation and appreciation
of a unique environment. These
groves are survivors among many that
have been
cut during the past century. They need the special
protection that monument status would confer.
Clinton had ordered Secretary of
Agriculture Dan Glickman to conduct a
study
and recommend whether to create the monument under authority of
the Antiquities Act of 1906. On
Friday, Glickman recommended that
Clinton
establish a monument of 385,00 acres, giving the president time
for a possible formal announcement on Earth
Day, April 22.
Monument status would grant
greater protection to the trees than at
present, but is less restrictive than national
park status. Mining
and logging
generally are not allowed in a monument, while grazing and
recreation are. Rules can be adjusted to the
specific needs of an
area.
Timber companies have protested the
proposed action, but not so much
because of
the protection for the big trees themselves which--unlike
the tall coast redwoods--do not provide choice
lumber. Conditions
imposed in 1992
by then-President George Bush prohibit logging within
1,000 feet of a sequoia, but that could be
undone by Congress. The
timber
companies are concerned they won't be able to cut other species
in the sequoia areas.
Loggers argue that they keep the forest
healthy by clearing underbrush
and preventing
catastrophic forest fires. Actually, a certain amount
of undisturbed undergrowth and other tree
species are needed as mammal
and bird
habitat. Historically, the fire-resistant sequoias thrived
through periodic fires that cleared the forest
floor. This can be
safely
accomplished with controlled burns. In fact, fire helps tree
seeds to germinate.
There's no question that politics surround
the monument issue. Clinton
is interested in
leaving a legacy of environmental protection. But
the outcome is what's important. In
this case, these unique giants
and their
environment need to be preserved for future
generations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) NATIONAL FOREST PROTECTION AND RESTORATION ACT
MOVES AHEAD!
Due to the
fine work of Sierra Club members and other conservationists
across the nation the National Forest
Protection and Restoration Act
has reached the
level of 80 co-sponsors! Just last week Sierra Club
forest protection leaders stormed Capitol Hill
to push for the
protection and restoration of
America's National Forests.
The ECL
campaign is moving forward with awesome outreach materials
such as an award winning video,
bumperstickers, factsheets, banners
and
incredible energy. You can help with this historic effort by
contacting Sean Cosgrove at (202) 547-1141.
----------------------------------------------------------------
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
Clinton's e-mail -
president@whitehouse.gov
Gore'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.cf
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
SC-Action, Vol. II, #196
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
April 12, 2000
**********************************************************************
1.Featured Action: Thank Senators Who
Voted to Protect the arctic
2.San Francisco
Chronicle Editorial Supports Sequoia Protection
3.Sierra Club Releases Spencer Abraham's
Environmental Record
4. Club Activists Battle
Cincinnati Mega-Mall Proposal
**********************************************************************
1.Senate, House Thank Yous on Arctic
and "It ain't over'til it's over"
Last
week, the Senate voted 51-49 to table an amendment by Senator
Roth (R-DE) (which would have removed the
Arctic Refuge drilling
assumption from the FY
20001 Budget Resolution. Because it was set
aside, the $1.2 billion in anticipated
revenues from Arctic Refuge
drilling remains
in the budget resolution. We are presently trying to
pressure the House-Senate Conference Committee
on the Budget to strike
the provision from the
bill (see details on latest House action
below). Of course, the Budget
Resolution cannot, by itself, mandate
drilling
in the Arctic Refuge. Drilling proponents must also pass
authorizing language through the full Senate
and House and then
overcome a veto by
President Clinton.
It was a narrow
defeat. Eight Republicans voted to protect the Arctic
Refuge while four Democrats voted against
us. Republicans voting
pro-environment: Roth (DE),
Jeffords (VT), Chafee (RI), Bob Smith
(NH),
Snowe (ME), Collins (ME), Fitzgerald (IL), and Lugar (IN).
Democrats voting anti-environment: Akaka
(HI), Breaux (LA), Inouye
(HI), and Moynihan
(NY).
Thanks to everyone who took the time
to make phone calls, write
letters, and
roundup supporters these past weeks. It was a tremendous
showing.
Take Action: Please take the
time to thank those Senators who voted
to
protect the Arctic Refuge and feel Thanks yous are greatly
appreciated by Senate offices as they endured
a tremendous amount of
pressure to vote with
the powerful Alaska delegation and the
Republican leadership.
The Capitol Switchboard phone number is
(202)224-3121
Or write your senator at US
Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Another round
of thanks goes out to 18 Moderate Republicans led by
Nancy Johnson (R-CT) who sent a letter to the
Budget conferees
yesterday urging them to
strike the Senate-inserted language regarding
the Arctic. The House-passed Budget
Resolution contained no such
language. We still stand a shot to
eliminate the Arctic drilling
revenue
assumptions in conference committee because of their efforts.
These Republican heroes
are: Johnson (CT), Shays (CT), Campbell (CA),
Chris Smith (NJ), Leach (IA), Morella (MD),
Porter (IL), Greenwood
(PA), Boehlert (NY),
Ramstad (MN), Lobiondo (NJ), Gilman (NY), Sanford
(SC), Freylinghusen (NJ), Bob Franks (NJ),
Roukema (NJ), and Kelly
(NY) and Bass (NH).
2. San Francisco Chronicle Backs
Sequoia Protection
The following Editorial
Appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
Clinton Should Act To Save the Sequoias
Wednesday, April 12, 2000
SF
Chronicle
FOR THOUSANDS of years,
towering stands of sequoias dotted the high
country of the West, from California to Utah.
Considered the largest
and oldest living
things on the planet, the trees are now found in
some 70 groves, nearly all in the southern
Sierra Nevada above Fresno.
Logging, which
decimated the majestic stands
earlier this
century, thankfully has been curtailed. About half of the
groves lie within the Sequoia-Kings Canyon
National Parks. But the job
of protecting this
natural heritage isn't complete.
The rest
of the giants, some taller than the Statue of Liberty and
over 3,000 years old, remain threatened by
changes in their landscape,
ranging from water
levels in the soil to combustible thickets of
undergrowth.
Logging, even kept at a distance, carries
the potential to injure the
towering trees,
marked by cinnamon- colored bark and diameters up to
30 feet. From the air, some sequoia groves run
up against clear-cut
patches. Protection is
needed to emphasize the importance of these
national treasures.
For eight years, environmentalists have
pushed Congress for a vast
no-cut zone on the
federal land containing the remaining groves. The
cause stalled in the face of a Republican
majority concerned about
further controls and
harm to logging interests.
But Congress
isn't the only path to preservation. Since 1906, the
Antiquities Act has allowed presidents to
safeguard islands off Maine,
the Grand Canyon
and Muir Woods from harm. On Saturday, President
Clinton is expected to declare some 355,000
acres of sequoia habitat
as a national
monument.
This move will push commercial
logging well back from the sequoia
groves, enroll science in
managing the monument land, and accommodate
public uses that don't
disrupt the ancient groves. With Clinton's
action, the enormous trees
will remain as symbols of primeval nature
and this country's
inheritance.
But talk of the president's
move churned up protests that dominated
two angry meetings last month
in Fresno and Visalia. Ranch ers feared
the loss of grazing rights.
Summer camps and lease-holders
with vacation homes worried
about losing their properties. Outdoors
groups, ranging from
horseback riders to off-road vehicle clubs,
wanted assurances their
members would not be barred from favorite
trails.
Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman, whose department oversees the
Forest Service land
containing the sequoias, moved to mollify these
worries last week in
recommending the monument's creation. The
president needs to emphasize
that
longtime uses that
don't harm the trees can continue.
The toughest issue is the
likely job loss from the timber-cutting ban.
The monument area represents
about a third of the Sequoia National
Forest where logging can
continue. But 100 jobs may end and the
region's only saw mill could
close.
To soften this blow, timber
cutting will be allowed for 2 1/2 years.
Retraining should be
considered, and new jobs that may be produced
through the monument
designation should go these forest workers.
Though on the verge of a huge
victory, environmentalists are concerned
about future management of
the sequoias. For decades, natural
wildfires were suppressed,
yet these blazes triggered sequoia seeding
and cleared out competing
species.
It will be a challenge
restoring the health of mature groves. Fire
could be used if it can be
safely contained. Tree cutting may also be
an option, but one that
raises conservationist hackles as a possible
cover for lumber sales. These
issues need specific guidelines in the
presidential decree, lest the
Forest Service fall back on timber cuts
as a management tool.
Republicans claim that
Clinton is acting for maximum political gain,
building his environmental
legacy while buffing his party's appeal for
would-be successor Al Gore.
That may well be.
But nearly every president
this century has used his powers of office
to preserve essential parts
of the nation's natural heritage. Clinton
should be guided by this
tradition in saving the giant sequoias for
future generations.
3.Senator Abraham Strikes Out
on the Environment
Daniel Farough, Michigan
Environmental Voter Education Campaign
Organizer reports a
successful outreach event at Tiger Stadium
(Comerica Park), where
activists passed out scorecards highlighting
Senator Spencer Abraham's
poor record on the environment. Daniel
writes...
"Volunteer turnout was quite
impressive, especially given that it was
a weekday morning/afternoon
and the weather was lousy. All together
we had 25 volunteers from
four local groups - 3 as far afield as Grand
Rapids - a three hour drive
one way! It is worth noting that our
outreach to universities also
produced another 4 volunteers - even
during the crunch before
finals. All said, our people distributed
6,000 Collectors edition
Spence Abraham environmental baseball cards -
leaving a scant 4,000 for
similar events. 9 of our crew were first
time volunteers with Sierra
Club!
Other organizations were
present, but none dominated this opportunity
for outreach like our Sierra
Club volunteers - I am proud to say - who
covered every major access
point to the Stadium. Other organizations
that were present felt an
impact from our effort to continue to raise
the environment as an issue
for our public officials. These groups
ranged from petition signers
to Unions to political parties and
candidates. Needless
to say, Abraham's people did not take at all
kindly to our effort to make
his environmental record a topic of
conversation before the
public. Stabenow and the Dems here in
Michigan were also
present. One got the impression that they - as all
groups - were impressed by
Sierra Club's ability to raise the
environment as a major issue
on the agenda of our public officials.
Very special thanks from
Alison and Dan and our EVEC Steering
Committee to all our
volunteers who traversed from around the state to
help this important
effort. It speaks a lot of your dedication and is
the foundation of the
successes we have in the field. Thank you very
much.
3.
Sierra Club Battles Mega-Mall Proposal in Cincinnati
FROM
THE CINCINNATI INQUIRER
April 12, 2000
Groups mobilize to fight new
mall
Interstate 75
interchange also a target
BY Michael D. Clark, Janet C.
Wetzel and Cindi Andrews
MONROE - Up and down the
Interstate 75 corridor, from north of Dayton
to Northern Kentucky,
opposition to a proposed mall is picking up
speed at a phenomenal rate.
The possibility of what was
initially dubbed a "mega-mall," and the
related push for a new Kyles
Station interchange on I-75, have
galvanized groups and
individuals worried that the Tristate's booming
growth is getting out of
control.
Local development experts say
not in recent memory has a single
proposed commercial
development attracted such broad-based opposition.
"This is the linchpin site.
We are at a critical decision point," said
Glen Brand, director of the
Cincinnati chapter of the Sierra Club. His
organization has been among
the most vocal of the more than two dozen
groups that have publicly
taken a stand against the proposed mall. He
believes it's also crucial to
head off the new interchange, which
would, Mr. Brand says, only
lead to more interchanges and sprawl.
Paul Procee, a University of
Cincinnati instructor in urban
transportation and planning,
said the mall issue indicates public
opinion against unchecked
growth is rising.
"Sprawling development
opposition is not just local anymore," said Mr.
Procee, who is conducting a
study on the long-term, economic impact of
large shopping malls. "There
is now a change of mind in this region
... a questioning of
development."
Monroe's mayor said that,
despite the visible and vocal opposition to
the mall, it has "a silent
majority" in support, especially among
those who would live near the
project.
"I think this mall is
something very positive in this area," and "will
help the tax base and benefit
schools," said Elbert Tannreuther. "It
will be an economic benefit
for the whole area, Butler and Warren
County."
But
where some area leaders see opportunities for creating a
prosperous and connected
"megalopolis" between Cincinnati and Dayton,
critics see unneeded and
harmful commercial over-development.
Moreover, they object to the
possibility that an estimated $11 million
of taxpayer money might go to
creating a new interchange they say is
primarily designed to aid
private developers.
Publicly funded
over-development, opponents claim, damages both
Cincinnati and Dayton city
neighborhoods by drawing away money that
could go to revitalizing
existing malls and urban shopping; and
instead funnels it into the
building of new shopping centers in still
largely undeveloped, rural
areas along the I-75 corridor.
Supporters, however, counter
that a mall would further fuel the
growing prosperity of Monroe
and other communities along I-75, adding
jobs and expanding the tax
base.
Even though the mall exists
only as a proposal, it has spurred public
opposition that has included:
A flood of more than 800
notes sent to the Ohio Transportation Review
Advisory Council, whose
officials will consider the request for $11
million to cover about half
the cost of a new interchange at Kyles
Station Road.
Saturday is the deadline for
the public to forward opinions on public
highway projects being
considered by Ohio Department of Transportation
TRAC officials in Columbus.
Packed public meetings in
Monroe and, most recently, with Warren
County commissioners. The
Residents Association of West Central Warren
County and other mall
opponents last week prompted commissioners to
write a letter to TRAC. That
letter, signed Tuesday, clarifies that
while commissioners want a
new interchange, they "have no allegiance
to any development either
existing or planned" in that area.
Commissioners individually
are more pointed: "I don't want the mall,"
Larry Crisenbery told
opponents.
More than two dozen Southwest
Ohio and Northern Kentucky citizens and
environmental, governmental
and neighborhood groups that have publicly
stated they are against a
mall and a new interchange.
Friday, the Cincinnati
Planning Commission voted unanimously to
forward a resolution against
spending state funds for a new
interchange in Monroe to the
City Council. If approved by council, the
resolution would go to ODOT
officials.
The planning commission joins
other governmental bodies, including the
City Council in Trotwood,
just northwest of Dayton and home of the
troubled Salem Mall; the
Trotwood Chamber of Commerce; and New Lebanon
village officials, west of
Dayton, in coming out against the proposed
interchange and mall. While
chamber and village representatives voiced
concern about sprawl and the
use of tax dollars, they also
acknowledged that a new mall
could erode their customer and tax bases.
In its history, TRAC
officials said they have never seen such a flood
of protests as they have
received regarding the Kyles Station
proposal.
"There's never been this sort
of public outpouring," said Michael
Cull, spokesman for TRAC.
TRAC
officials must wait for an "interchange justification study"
before making their decision
on whether to use taxpayer money to fund
some of the interchange
construction. There are no meetings scheduled
on the Kyles Station
proposal, said Mr. Cull, but public hearings will
be held locally on all
proposed I-75 interchanges between Cincinnati
and Dayton.
Taubman & Co. is the
Michigan developer that wants to invest $200
million in a
1.7-million-square-foot enclosed mall, which company
officials said would
eventually add 10,500 jobs to the area.
Joe Hart, development
director for Taubman, declined to comment on the
growing opposition but
cautioned that any such sentiments are
premature. He said his
company is only considering building on the
360-acre site in Monroe and
has not formally announced any detailed
plan for what he describes as
a "regional shopping center."
Mr. Hart said that, if his
company proceeds with a new mall, it would
likely resemble Taubman's
Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Mich.,
with more than 200 stores.
Mr. Hart said that while an
interchange would make a mall viable at
the site, one is also
necessary for helping improve the area for all
resi dents.
"Based on our preliminary
analysis, we believe an interchange is
important to that region," he
said.
Monroe's mayor agreed. Mr.
Tannreuther added that Trotwood and New
Lebanon are taking a selfish
position to protect their own interests,
without looking at the
benefits to those in the fast-growing area of
Monroe and nearby
communities.
Lisa Miller, who lives on
Tylersville Road about a mile from the
proposed site of the I-75
interchange, has a different viewpoint. She
moved from Sharonville to the
11-acre horse farm in 1991 to revel in
the joys of rural life. Now
she sees the things she's come to treasure
threatened.
"We
don't want all the sprawl that this mall would bring. We don't
want all the development, the
subdivisions. We want to keep our rural
life," Ms. Miller said. "I
think it's all about developers wanting to
make money, not thinking
about the impact on the environment.
"I don't want to see it
become like Tylersville Road, or Route 63 -
with gas stations, fast-food
restaurants, grocery stores, traffic.
There's enough of that," she
said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Clinton's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Gore'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.cf
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
from Sierra Club April 19, 2000
SC-Action, Vol.
II, #196
DEFENDING THE
ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
April 12, 2000
**********************************************************************
1.Featured Action: Thank Senators Who Voted to Protect the
arctic
2.San Francisco
Chronicle Editorial Supports Sequoia Protection
3.Sierra Club Releases
Spencer Abraham's Environmental Record
4. Club Activists Battle
Cincinnati Mega-Mall Proposal
**********************************************************************
1.Senate, House Thank Yous on
Arctic and "It ain't over'til it's over"
Last week, the Senate voted
51-49 to table an amendment by Senator
Roth (R-DE) (which would have
removed the Arctic Refuge drilling
assumption from the FY 20001
Budget Resolution. Because it was set
aside, the $1.2 billion in
anticipated revenues from Arctic Refuge
drilling remains in the
budget resolution. We are presently trying to
pressure the House-Senate
Conference Committee on the Budget to strike
the provision from the bill
(see details on latest House action
below). Of course,
the Budget Resolution cannot, by itself, mandate
drilling in the Arctic
Refuge. Drilling proponents must also pass
authorizing language through
the full Senate and House and then
overcome a veto by President
Clinton.
It was a narrow
defeat. Eight Republicans voted to protect the Arctic
Refuge while four Democrats
voted against us. Republicans voting
pro-environment: Roth
(DE), Jeffords (VT), Chafee (RI), Bob Smith
(NH), Snowe (ME), Collins
(ME), Fitzgerald (IL), and Lugar (IN).
Democrats voting
anti-environment: Akaka (HI), Breaux (LA), Inouye
(HI), and Moynihan (NY).
Thanks to everyone who took
the time to make phone calls, write
letters, and roundup
supporters these past weeks. It was a tremendous
showing.
Take
Action: Please take the time to thank those Senators who voted
to protect the Arctic Refuge
and feel Thanks yous are greatly
appreciated by Senate offices
as they endured a tremendous amount of
pressure to vote with the
powerful Alaska delegation and the
Republican leadership.
The
Capitol Switchboard phone number is (202)224-3121
Or write your senator at US
Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Another round of thanks goes
out to 18 Moderate Republicans led by
Nancy Johnson (R-CT) who sent
a letter to the Budget conferees
yesterday urging them to
strike the Senate-inserted language regarding
the Arctic. The
House-passed Budget Resolution contained no such
language. We still
stand a shot to eliminate the Arctic drilling
revenue assumptions in
conference committee because of their efforts.
These Republican heroes
are: Johnson (CT), Shays (CT), Campbell (CA),
Chris Smith (NJ), Leach (IA),
Morella (MD), Porter (IL), Greenwood
(PA), Boehlert (NY), Ramstad
(MN), Lobiondo (NJ), Gilman (NY), Sanford
(SC), Freylinghusen (NJ), Bob
Franks (NJ), Roukema (NJ), and Kelly
(NY) and Bass (NH).
2. San Francisco Chronicle
Backs Sequoia Protection
The following Editorial
Appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
Clinton Should Act To Save
the Sequoias
Wednesday, April 12, 2000
SF
Chronicle
FOR THOUSANDS of years,
towering stands of sequoias dotted the high
country of the West, from
California to Utah. Considered the largest
and oldest living things on
the planet, the trees are now found in
some 70 groves, nearly all in
the southern Sierra Nevada above Fresno.
Logging, which decimated the
majestic stands
earlier
this century, thankfully has been curtailed. About half of the
groves lie within the
Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. But the job
of protecting this natural
heritage isn't complete.
The rest of the giants, some
taller than the Statue of Liberty and
over 3,000 years old, remain
threatened by changes in their landscape,
ranging from water levels
in the soil to combustible thickets of
undergrowth.
Logging, even kept at a
distance, carries the potential to injure the
towering trees, marked by
cinnamon- colored bark and diameters up to
30 feet. From the air, some
sequoia groves run up against clear-cut
patches. Protection is needed
to emphasize the importance of these
national treasures.
For
eight years, environmentalists have pushed Congress for a vast
no-cut zone on the federal
land containing the remaining groves. The
cause stalled in the face of
a Republican majority concerned about
further controls and harm to
logging interests.
But Congress isn't the only
path to preservation. Since 1906, the
Antiquities Act has allowed
presidents to safeguard islands off Maine,
the Grand Canyon and Muir
Woods from harm. On Saturday, President
Clinton is expected to
declare some 355,000 acres of sequoia habitat
as a national monument.
This
move will push commercial logging well back from the sequoia
groves, enroll science in
managing the monument land, and accommodate
public uses that don't
disrupt the ancient groves. With Clinton's
action, the enormous trees
will remain as symbols of primeval nature
and this country's
inheritance.
But talk of the president's
move churned up protests that dominated
two angry meetings last month
in Fresno and Visalia. Ranch ers feared
the loss of grazing rights.
Summer camps and lease-holders
with vacation homes worried
about losing their properties. Outdoors
groups, ranging from
horseback riders to off-road vehicle clubs,
wanted assurances their
members would not be barred from favorite
trails.
Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman, whose department oversees the
Forest Service land
containing the sequoias, moved to mollify these
worries last week in
recommending the monument's creation. The
president needs to emphasize
that
longtime uses that
don't harm the trees can continue.
The toughest issue is the
likely job loss from the timber-cutting ban.
The monument area represents
about a third of the Sequoia National
Forest where logging can
continue. But 100 jobs may end and the
region's only saw mill could
close.
To soften this blow, timber
cutting will be allowed for 2 1/2 years.
Retraining should be
considered, and new jobs that may be produced
through the monument
designation should go these forest workers.
Though on the verge of a huge
victory, environmentalists are concerned
about future management of
the sequoias. For decades, natural
wildfires were suppressed,
yet these blazes triggered sequoia seeding
and cleared out competing
species.
It will be a challenge
restoring the health of mature groves. Fire
could be used if it can be
safely contained. Tree cutting may also be
an option, but one that
raises conservationist hackles as a possible
cover for lumber sales. These
issues need specific guidelines in the
presidential decree, lest the
Forest Service fall back on timber cuts
as a management tool.
Republicans claim that
Clinton is acting for maximum political gain,
building his environmental
legacy while buffing his party's appeal for
would-be successor Al Gore.
That may well be.
But nearly every president
this century has used his powers of office
to preserve essential parts
of the nation's natural heritage. Clinton
should be guided by this
tradition in saving the giant sequoias for
future generations.
3.Senator Abraham Strikes Out
on the Environment
Daniel Farough, Michigan
Environmental Voter Education Campaign
Organizer reports a
successful outreach event at Tiger Stadium
(Comerica Park), where
activists passed out scorecards highlighting
Senator Spencer Abraham's
poor record on the environment. Daniel
writes...
"Volunteer turnout was quite
impressive, especially given that it was
a weekday morning/afternoon
and the weather was lousy. All together
we had 25 volunteers from
four local groups - 3 as far afield as Grand
Rapids - a three hour drive
one way! It is worth noting that our
outreach to universities also
produced another 4 volunteers - even
during the crunch before
finals. All said, our people distributed
6,000 Collectors edition
Spence Abraham environmental baseball cards -
leaving a scant 4,000 for
similar events. 9 of our crew were first
time volunteers with Sierra
Club!
Other organizations were
present, but none dominated this opportunity
for outreach like our Sierra
Club volunteers - I am proud to say - who
covered every major access
point to the Stadium. Other organizations
that were present felt an
impact from our effort to continue to raise
the environment as an issue
for our public officials. These groups
ranged from petition signers
to Unions to political parties and
candidates. Needless
to say, Abraham's people did not take at all
kindly to our effort to make
his environmental record a topic of
conversation before the
public. Stabenow and the Dems here in
Michigan were also
present. One got the impression that they - as all
groups - were impressed by
Sierra Club's ability to raise the
environment as a major issue
on the agenda of our public officials.
Very special thanks from
Alison and Dan and our EVEC Steering
Committee to all our
volunteers who traversed from around the state to
help this important
effort. It speaks a lot of your dedication and is
the foundation of the
successes we have in the field. Thank you very
much.
3.
Sierra Club Battles Mega-Mall Proposal in Cincinnati
FROM
THE CINCINNATI INQUIRER
April 12, 2000
Groups mobilize to fight new
mall
Interstate 75
interchange also a target
BY Michael D. Clark, Janet C.
Wetzel and Cindi Andrews
MONROE - Up and down the
Interstate 75 corridor, from north of Dayton
to Northern Kentucky,
opposition to a proposed mall is picking up
speed at a phenomenal rate.
The possibility of what was
initially dubbed a "mega-mall," and the
related push for a new Kyles
Station interchange on I-75, have
galvanized groups and
individuals worried that the Tristate's booming
growth is getting out of
control.
Local development experts say
not in recent memory has a single
proposed commercial
development attracted such broad-based opposition.
"This is the linchpin site.
We are at a critical decision point," said
Glen Brand, director of the
Cincinnati chapter of the Sierra Club. His
organization has been among
the most vocal of the more than two dozen
groups that have publicly
taken a stand against the proposed mall. He
believes it's also crucial to
head off the new interchange, which
would, Mr. Brand says, only
lead to more interchanges and sprawl.
Paul Procee, a University of
Cincinnati instructor in urban
transportation and planning,
said the mall issue indicates public
opinion against unchecked
growth is rising.
"Sprawling development
opposition is not just local anymore," said Mr.
Procee, who is conducting a
study on the long-term, economic impact of
large shopping malls. "There
is now a change of mind in this region
... a questioning of
development."
Monroe's mayor said that,
despite the visible and vocal opposition to
the mall, it has "a silent
majority" in support, especially among
those who would live near the
project.
"I think this mall is
something very positive in this area," and "will
help the tax base and benefit
schools," said Elbert Tannreuther. "It
will be an economic benefit
for the whole area, Butler and Warren
County."
But
where some area leaders see opportunities for creating a
prosperous and connected
"megalopolis" between Cincinnati and Dayton,
critics see unneeded and
harmful commercial over-development.
Moreover, they object to the
possibility that an estimated $11 million
of taxpayer money might go to
creating a new interchange they say is
primarily designed to aid
private developers.
Publicly funded
over-development, opponents claim, damages both
Cincinnati and Dayton city
neighborhoods by drawing away money that
could go to revitalizing
existing malls and urban shopping; and
instead funnels it into the
building of new shopping centers in still
largely undeveloped, rural
areas along the I-75 corridor.
Supporters, however, counter
that a mall would further fuel the
growing prosperity of Monroe
and other communities along I-75, adding
jobs and expanding the tax
base.
Even though the mall exists
only as a proposal, it has spurred public
opposition that has included:
A flood of more than 800
notes sent to the Ohio Transportation Review
Advisory Council, whose
officials will consider the request for $11
million to cover about half
the cost of a new interchange at Kyles
Station Road.
Saturday is the deadline for
the public to forward opinions on public
highway projects being
considered by Ohio Department of Transportation
TRAC officials in Columbus.
Packed public meetings in
Monroe and, most recently, with Warren
County commissioners. The
Residents Association of West Central Warren
County and other mall
opponents last week prompted commissioners to
write a letter to TRAC. That
letter, signed Tuesday, clarifies that
while commissioners want a
new interchange, they "have no allegiance
to any development either
existing or planned" in that area.
Commissioners individually
are more pointed: "I don't want the mall,"
Larry Crisenbery told
opponents.
More than two dozen Southwest
Ohio and Northern Kentucky citizens and
environmental, governmental
and neighborhood groups that have publicly
stated they are against a
mall and a new interchange.
Friday, the Cincinnati
Planning Commission voted unanimously to
forward a resolution against
spending state funds for a new
interchange in Monroe to the
City Council. If approved by council, the
resolution would go to ODOT
officials.
The planning commission joins
other governmental bodies, including the
City Council in Trotwood,
just northwest of Dayton and home of the
troubled Salem Mall; the
Trotwood Chamber of Commerce; and New Lebanon
village officials, west of
Dayton, in coming out against the proposed
interchange and mall. While
chamber and village representatives voiced
concern about sprawl and the
use of tax dollars, they also
acknowledged that a new mall
could erode their customer and tax bases.
In its history, TRAC
officials said they have never seen such a flood
of protests as they have
received regarding the Kyles Station
proposal.
"There's never been this sort
of public outpouring," said Michael
Cull, spokesman for TRAC.
TRAC
officials must wait for an "interchange justification study"
before making their decision
on whether to use taxpayer money to fund
some of the interchange
construction. There are no meetings scheduled
on the Kyles Station
proposal, said Mr. Cull, but public hearings will
be held locally on all
proposed I-75 interchanges between Cincinnati
and Dayton.
Taubman & Co. is the
Michigan developer that wants to invest $200
million in a
1.7-million-square-foot enclosed mall, which company
officials said would
eventually add 10,500 jobs to the area.
Joe Hart, development
director for Taubman, declined to comment on the
growing opposition but
cautioned that any such sentiments are
premature. He said his
company is only considering building on the
360-acre site in Monroe and
has not formally announced any detailed
plan for what he describes as
a "regional shopping center."
Mr. Hart said that, if his
company proceeds with a new mall, it would
likely resemble Taubman's
Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Mich.,
with more than 200 stores.
Mr. Hart said that while an
interchange would make a mall viable at
the site, one is also
necessary for helping improve the area for all
resi dents.
"Based on our preliminary
analysis, we believe an interchange is
important to that region," he
said.
Monroe's mayor agreed. Mr.
Tannreuther added that Trotwood and New
Lebanon are taking a selfish
position to protect their own interests,
without looking at the
benefits to those in the fast-growing area of
Monroe and nearby
communities.
Lisa Miller, who lives on
Tylersville Road about a mile from the
proposed site of the I-75
interchange, has a different viewpoint. She
moved from Sharonville to the
11-acre horse farm in 1991 to revel in
the joys of rural life. Now
she sees the things she's come to treasure
threatened.
"We
don't want all the sprawl that this mall would bring. We don't
want all the development, the
subdivisions. We want to keep our rural
life," Ms. Miller said. "I
think it's all about developers wanting to
make money, not thinking
about the impact on the environment.
"I don't want to see it
become like Tylersville Road, or Route 63 -
with gas stations, fast-food
restaurants, grocery stores, traffic.
There's enough of that," she
said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Clinton's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Gore'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.cf
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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To get off the
SIERRACLUB-ACTION list, send any message to:
SIERRACLUB-ACTION-signoff-request@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
from Sierra Club April 19, 2000
SC Action, Vol. II #197
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL
AGENDA
April 14, 2000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The trade unions never
threaten a member of Congress, we never beg,
and we never forget."
--
Organized Labor advocate speaking on April 12 at a rally to oppose
permanent normal trade
relations With China which, if enacted, would
open the door to lower
international environmental safeguards. Sierra
Club members were among the
rally's 10,000 participants.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
1.
TAKE ACTION: Get involved in the Wild Forest Protection Campaign
2. TAKE ACTION: Help Stop the
"Clearcuts for Kids" Bill
3. TAKE ACTION: Urge Your
Rep. to Support the Clean Car Letter
4. Campaign to save the San
Francisco Peaks gets national media
attention
1.
WILD FOREST CAMPAIGN
Our Wildlands campaign to
protect 60 million of unspoiled wild forests
is off and
running! We have lots of materials for your use, building
up to the official Forest
Service announcement about the plan in
early-mid May.
Here's how you can get
involved: Collect official comments that the
Forest Service will count as
a vote to protect wild forests by getting
postcards signed at every
opportunity. Show the "End of the Road"
video to groups to get them
excited and involved and encourage them to
attend the upcoming Forest
Service Hearings in your region mid-May
through
July. Contact your regional conservation chair to arrange for
travel to hearings. Contact
julie.hudson@sierraclub.org for more
postcards & videos.
2)
HELP STOP THE "CLEARCUTS FOR KIDS" BILL
Almost a century ago,
Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. Forest
Service to turn over 25
percent of its logging revenues to rural
counties to fund schools and
roads. That outdated law creates a
perverse incentive for
affected communities to support high levels of
logging. Although
education funding is the excuse for supporting this
program, many counties spend
75% of their payment on roads, not
schools.
But
Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Larry Craig (R-ID) are backing a
bill known as S. 1608, the
"Secure Rural Counties and Community
self-determination Act," that
would force the Forest Service to
increase logging to make more
money and give management decisions on
National Forest lands to
local interests. This bill holds
schoolchildren hostage to an
unsustainable logging program. This bill
is moving fast and could be
voted on soon!!
The bill also ignores the
contributions of National Forests to
recreation, wildlife, fishing
and water quality. Nationally,
recreation generates nearly
$40 to the economy for every dollar
generated by logging, and
creates more than 30 times as many jobs. And
increased logging destroys
recreation opportunities. In addition,
rural communities rely on
National Forests for clean drinking water
and logging can clog streams
with silt and run-off. Communities should
not have to sacrifice clean
drinking water, jobs and wildlife habitat
to fund their children's
education.
** TAKE
ACTION ** TAKE ACTION ** TAKE
ACTION ** TAKE ACTION
CALL YOUR SENATORS through
the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202)
224-3121 and urge them to
vote against S.1608. Tell them that
schoolchildren should not be
held hostage to an unsustainable logging
program!
3.
TAKE ACTION ON EARTH DAY. URGE YOUR REP. TO SUPPORT THE CLEAN CAR
LETTER
Earth Day 2000 is here and
the focus is on global warming. The
biggest single step we can
take to curb global warming and our
dependence on foreign oil is
to raise fuel economy standards for our
cars and light
trucks. By making our cars go further on a gallon
of gas, we can decrease the
40% of our oil and 20% of our CO2
emissions that our cars and
light trucks represent. There is a direct
connection between
automobiles and global warming and no approach to
curbing global warming will
work unless we the pollution coming from
our cars.
Congress is now having a
district work period and Representatives will
be at home in the district
for Earth Day. This provides a wonderful
opportunity to contact your
Representative and encourage him or her to
endorse the Clean Energy
Agenda and to reduce global warming by
supporting increased fuel
economy standards.
PLEASE call or write your
Representative and urge them to sign the
Boehlert-Dicks Clean Car
Letter in support of increased mile per
gallon, or Corporate Average
Fuel Economy (CAFE), standards. The
Boehlert-Dicks letter urges
President Clinton to "work with Congress
to implement" the law setting
automotive fuel economy standards.
Thanks to all the members who
have already been contacting your
Congressmember. Your
calls are working! Currently, over 75
Congressmembers have signed
on to the Clean Car Letter and many of our
recent signers have indicated
that they have been receiving lots of
calls, even stating, "All
those Sierra Club calls have convinced us
we'd better sign
this." Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Unfortunately, the auto
industry to take action as well. The auto
makers have realized that
their "just say no" efforts aren't working,
so they've decided to say
"yes" to something. But what they've
proposed is a wolf in sheep's
clothing and will only further limit
efforts to increase fuel
economy standards. Yesterday, April 13,
friends of the auto industry
introduced a bill that calls for a
lengthy study which will
delay any current action. Tax incentives are
also created which could
erode CAFE standards. This bill is not an
approach to address
environmental concerns, but is designed to get
around fuel economy standards
and delay action. The auto makers have
realized that their "just say
no" efforts aren't working, so they've
decided to say "yes" to
something. But what they've proposed is a
wolf in sheep's clothing and
will only futher limit efforts to
increase fuel economy
standards.
Some quick facts about the
issue:
*Cars and light trucks alone
guzzle 40% of the oil we use every day in
the US -- about 8 million
barrels every day!
*The average fuel economy of
new vehicles sold in 1999 was at its
lowest point since 1980,
largely due to gas guzzling SUV's and other
light trucks. The
standard for automobiles is currently 27.5 mpg.
*The CAFE standard for light
trucks -- SUV's, minivans and pickups --
has stagnated for 19
years. It is a low 20.7 mpg.
*The CAFE standard for cars
has not changed in 14 years and was set in
the original CAFE law in
1975.
*OPEC has once again reminded
us that we are dependent on foreign oil.
55% of the oil we use is
imported. The oil industry and their
friends in Congress are using
high oil prices as an excuse to drill in
the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge -- our last pristine wilderness
area. The Arctic
is our Serengeti. We should dill under Detroit NOT
the Arctic.
*Raising CAFE standards will
save more oil than we import from the
Persian Gulf, can expect to
get from the Arctic and off-shore
California COMBINED!
Every year since 1995 friends
of the auto industry have attached an
anti-environmental rider to
the bill that funds the Department of
Transportation freezing CAFE
standards. This is a back door gag rule
on the agency responsible for
studying and setting new fuel economy
standards for cars and light
trucks. With this rider in place, the
Department of Transportation
can't even study new fuel economy
standards!
It
is time to stop the CAFE-freeze rider so we can stop guzzling
gasoline and slash
pollution! Please urge your representative to sign
the Boehlert/Dicks Clean Car
letter.
For more information contact
jeffrey.bourne@sierraclub.org
4.
Sierra Club, others speak for peaks against pumice mine expansion
STEVE DiMEGLIO
04/10/2000
Gannett News Service
(Copyright 2000)
WASHINGTON -- On the flank of
the San Francisco Peaks, which rise to
the highest point in Arizona,
miners unearth frothy volcanic rock
called pumice that is used to
give a soft and faded feel to stone-
washed jeans.
The White Vulcan Mine --
nearly 100 feet deep and 100 acres in size --
lies between the Sunset
Crater National Monument and the Kachina Peaks
Wilderness in the Coconino
National Forest about 12 miles northeast of
Flagstaff, Ariz.. The mine
has produced nearly a million cubic yards
of pumice - most which has
gone to denim factories in Los Angeles and
El Paso, Texas.
Now owners of the mine --
Tufflite Inc. of Glendale, Ariz. -- want to
expand. That doesn't wash
with Navajo activist Sammy M. James, who
wonders how a fashion trend
justifies the carving away of dozens of
acres on the flanks of
mountains. The proposal to expand the mine by
30 acres has been met with a
round of critical resolutions by the
Flagstaff City Council,
Coconino County and Indian tribes throughout
northern and central Arizona.
James, two other members
of American Indian tribes and the Sierra Club
were in Washington this week
to lobby government agencies on behalf of
the peaks, which attract
thousands of hikers, mountain bikers and
other outdoor enthusiasts
each year. The mountains also have long been
sacred to 13 American Indian
tribes, including the Navajo, Apache,
Hopi and Hualapai.
"We are doing this for our
elders, our generation, and the unborn,"
said James, part of the group
that met with representatives from the
Forest Service, Department of
the Interior, Department of Agriculture,
the Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation, and the office of Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz.
"It is one of the world's
most powerful peaks," James added. "We have
to educate the white man's
society that we cannot alter the ecology.
If we do, it will harm us."
The mountains are home to
a diverse number of species including
Mexican Spotted Owls,
mountain lions and bears. Various plants found
in the peaks are used in
healing and American Indian religious
ceremonies.
Volcanic eruption 600,000
years ago laid down a deposit of pumice
stone, which is also used to
make lightweight concrete and for
horticulture purposes. All
trees, vegetation, topsoil and rocks are
stripped to expose the
pumice. The mine had a large expansion in the
mid-1980s when the
stone-washed jeans fad took off, but no one paid
much attention to the mine,
which isn't visible from nearby U.S. 89.
The Sierra Club has listed
the peaks among the 10 most threatened
landmarks in the nation.
Along with tribal organizations, the Sierra
Club is pushing to have the
federal government designate the area as a
Traditional Cultural
Property, a designation that could greatly
restrict mining. Such a
listing means the Hopi, Navajo, Havasupai and
Zuni tribes would help the
Forest Service manage existing uses of the
mountain.
The Forest Service proposes
to withdraw all forms of mining, including
pumice, from 74,000 acres
that would include the peaks and the rest of
the forest between U.S. 89
and U.S. 180, the highways leading to the
Grand Canyon.
But Tufflite has a formidable
ally -- a federal mining act passed by
Congress 128 years ago. The
Mining Law of 1872 was intended to
encourage the development of
the West. The mining of precious metals
like gold and silver was
crucial to building the wealth of a fledgling
nation.
The law allows private mining
firms to stake claims and mine land
owned by federal taxpayers
for $5 an acre if they can prove there are
marketable minerals on site.
In most cases, federal land managers are
unable to stop mining under
the 1872 act, even if the public favors
other uses for the land.
The law has survived numerous
court challenges.
Mine
owner Ed Morgan said if the mining law is changed, he would abide
by it. But until that
happens, he will continue to mine.
"If they want us out, they
can buy us out," he said.
But Bucky Preston of the Old
Village of Walpi on the Hopi Reservation
said the mountains "are not
for sale."
"I am speaking
for the things that cannot speak," he said. "The
mountains must be protected."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Clinton's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Gore'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.cf
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
from Sierra Club April 19, 2000
SC-ACTION Vol. II, #198
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
April 17, 2000
_____________________________________________________________________________
Quote of the Day:
We abuse
land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we
see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to
use it with love
and respect.
-- Aldo Leopold, The Quiet Crisis
by Stewart L. Udall, 1963
_____________________________________________________________________________
Contents:
TAKE
ACTION: Help Build Support for an Amendment to Fix CARA
VICTORY: WORLDS LARGEST TREES FINALLY PROTECTED!
NEWS: Newsweek's Earth Day Poll
_____________________________________________________________________________
TAKE
ACTION: Talk to Your Congressman - Help Build Support for a Crucial
CARA Amendment!
The Congress is considering landmark legislation that would
provide historic
levels of funding for crucial land and
wildlife conservation programs. The
"Conservation and Reinvestment Act," or "CARA" (H.R. 701),
has broad support
in Congress, and will most likely
come up to bat in the House as soon as
mid-May. CARA presents Congress with an
excellent opportunity to provide
full and permanent
funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
and other valuable programs -- but only if critical
amendments to fix the
bill are adopted by the House
when it considers CARA.
Representatives Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Ed Markey
(D-MA) plan to offer
an amendment on the floor that
will address some of CARA's problems. This is
a promising, bipartisan amendment -- but we still need to
build all the
support for it that we
can. From now until May 2, Congress is in recess,
which means your Representative is at home in the
district. It's a great
time to meet with him
or her to discuss this important issue and urge his or
her support for the Boehlert/Markey amendment.
While CARA would provide permanent
funding for an array of important
conservation
programs, in its current form it still has some critical flaws.
First, the bill would create a "coastal impact assistance"
program that
contains incentives for new oil and gas
leasing in sensitive coastal areas,
particularly in
Alaska. And it would allow any amount of that funding to be
used on projects that are actually harmful to the
environment. In addition,
the bill would NOT ensure
that money set aside for the Land and Water
Conservation Fund is actually spent by Congress.
The amendment penned by Reps.
Boehlert and Markey would largely eliminate
incentives
for new offshore oil and gas development. It would also cap the
amount of funding that could be used for damaging onshore
infrastructure
projects, and would ensure that the bulk
of "coastal impact" funding would be
used for ocean and
coastal restoration purposes. In addition, the amendment
would allow the Administration to spend federal LWCF money
that the Congress
fails to spend in any given year,
helping to ensure the protection of our
precious
National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Forests and other protected areas.
Please call your Representative's
local office and see if you can set up a
meeting in the
district office. If the schedule is booked, see if the
Representative will be at a town hall meeting, where you
could pose a
question regarding CARA, and urge the
Representative to vote in favor of this
critical
amendment.
CARA has truly
historic potential -- the Boehlert/Markey amendment will help
ensure this promising bill does not end up damaging our
fragile coastlines.
VICTORY: WORLDS LARGEST TREES FINALLY PROTECTED!
President Clinton permanently
protected the world's largest trees and
hundreds of
thousands of acres of ancient forest by designating the "Giant
Sequoia National Monument" last Saturday. Sierra
Club members have been
working to protect this
magnificent ecosystem since the days when John Muir
strode the mountains of the Sierra
Nevada. Congrats to all who have written,
called and worked to bring protection to one of nature's
true wonders!
``We are
thrilled to see President Clinton start the 21st century by giving
the giant sequoia forests the protection they deserve,''
said Joe Fontaine, a
Sierra Club past president who has
worked 40 years to protect the trees.
The monument, Clinton's way of marking the 30th anniversary
of Earth Day in a
week, will be split into northern and
southern sections separated by Sequoia
National Park.
Protected will be 34 of the 75 or so remaining groves. The
entire Monument is 328,000 acres.
Commercial timber logging will be
banned from all land within the boundaries
of the
monument.
While no logging of
the giant sequoias has occurred for about 25 years (small
sequoias and other trees such as fir and pine have been
cut), logging is
hazardous to the fragile ecosystem
supporting the giant trees.
Previously agreed upon timber sales will continue,
providing a 2 1/2-year
timber supply under the new
monument designation. Thinning of trees would be
allowed for fire management.
Recreational access for hunting, fishing and camping would
continue and two
existing camps will continue to
operate subject to normal permit processes.
See the Sierra Club's website at www.sierraclub.org for
more information.
NEWS: Newsweek's Earth Day Poll
A national poll cited in NEWSWEEK
this week found that 52% of people believe
that "minor
progress" has been made on cleaning up the environment. When
asked to choose from a list of environmental problems,
those polled cited air
and water pollution as "most
important." More than 30% of those polled said
that environmental issues are important in determining how
they vote. This
year, it is VITAL that we continue our
efforts to educate voters on the
environmental records
of those running for Congress.
The poll was conducted by Princeton Research Associates,
April 13-14; 752
adults surveyed; margin of error 4%
(release, 4/15).
Since the
first Earth Day 30 years ago, how much progress -- if any -- has
been made solving environmental problems?
Major
progress 18%
Minor
progress 52
No
progress 7
Environmental problems
have
gotten worse 16
D/K 7
Which Is The Most Important
Environmental Problem?
Air
pollution 19%
Water
pollution 19
Garbage and
landfills 17
Loss of the ozone
layer 13
Global
warming 12
Endangered or vanished species 5
Acid
rain 3
Some other environmental
problem that I haven't
mentioned 4
D/K 8
(Asked of 584 RVs; 4%)
In general, how important are environmental issues in
determining your vote
for major political offices?
All GOP Dem Ind
Very
important 32% 19% 41% 34%
Somewhat
important 41 46 42 40
Not too
important 14 21 9 13
Not at all important in
determining your
vote 9 12 5 11
D/K 4 2 3 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---
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
Clinton's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Gore'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.cf
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
from Global Response April 20, 2000
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response
Network:"
Last year Global
Response issued three calls for letters in support of
Indian organizations that oppose the construction of large
dams on India's
Narmada River. (See our
website www.globalresponse.org for the text of
Action
#6/99: Stop Dam Construction/Narmada Valley, India)
Now US-based Odgen Corporation plans to invest in
construction of the
Maheshwar Dam, where thousands of
local people have conducted non-violent
protests for
years.
Please join
International Rivers Network in this campaign to persuade Odgen
to withdraw from the Maheshwar project.
********************************************
ACTION ALERT!
STOP THE MAHESHWAR
DAM IN INDIA'S NARMADA VALLEY!
********************************************
The NY-based Ogden Corporation
signed a Memorandum of Intent on March 23 to
take a 49%
equity share in the Maheshwar Dam on India's Narmada River. The
project will be a social and economic disaster. If we act
together, we can
stop this unjust project.
We urge you to CALL, FAX, or EMAIL
OGDEN ON APRIL 25 and tell them to
withdraw from the
Maheshwar Dam. Urge them to decline involvement in a
project that will potentially destroy local communities and
their
livelihoods.
BARRAGE OGDEN DAY - TUE, APRIL 25
Tell NY-Based Ogden Corp. to Get Out of the Maheshwar Dam
Project!
Scott Mackin
President and CEO, Ogden Corp.
tel: 212-868-6000
fax:
212-868-5714
email: scott_mackin@ogden-energy.com
Kent Burton, VP, Policy &
Communications, Ogden
tel: 703-246-0833
fax: 703-246-0808
email:
kent_burton@ogden-energy.com
Background on the Maheshwar Dam Project:
The dam would affect more than
35,000 farmers, wage laborers, fisher and
crafts people
in 61 villages and submerge about 1,100 hectares of rich
agricultural land. Many of these people would lose part or
all of their
lands. There is not enough land available
to rehabilitate the dispossessed.
The Madhya Pradesh
(MP) State Government has admitted that it has no land
to resettle people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Project
downstream of
Maheshwar. People displaced by the Bargi
and Tawa Dams are still fighting
for resettlement 10
and 25 years, respectively, after the dams were
completed.
The affected people, led by the Narmada Bachao Andolan
(Save the Narmada
Movement), are determined that they
will never let the project be
built. The NBA has
spearheaded a non-violent movement for 15 years to stop
dams on the river Narmada. Over the last two years,
thousands of farmers
whose lives and livelihoods will
be destroyed by the Maheshwar Dam have
occupied the dam
site nine times, barricaded all roads leading to the dam
for three months, and held mass demonstrations and hunger
strikes opposing
the dam.
Since its inception, the project has been plagued by
financial problems.
Electricity generated by the dam is
projected to cost four to five times
more than
electricity currently produced by the state of Madhya Pradesh
(MP). The MP Electricity Board, which is supposed to
purchase power from
the project, is on the verge of
bankruptcy and is likely to default on its
payments.
Due to the project's serious financial risks and intense
opposition from local people and Indian and international
environmental and
human rights groups, U.S. power
utility PacifiCorp backed out of the
project in 1998,
and German utilities Bayernwerk and VEW Energie pulled out
in April 1999.
In 1998, the MP Government had constituted a Task Force to
review the
project. As per the recommendations of the
Task Force, the MP Government
has decided to halt
further construction of other dams on the river Narmada
and look for alternatives. However, it is proceeding with
the Maheshwar
project, even though the Task Force
report has detailed better and cheaper
alternatives to
the Maheshwar Project.
Ogden's
involvement in the Project:
In
December, the people of the Valley wrote to Ogden outlining the problems
with the project and asked Ogden not to proceed with the
investment before
visiting the Valley and meeting with
the people who will be affected by the
project. Having
not received any reply from Ogden, more than 300 newly
elected representatives from the Valley passed a resolution
opposing the
project and sent it to Ogden. In spite of
this, Ogden signed a Memorandum
of Intent on March 23
to take a 49% equity share in the Maheshwar Dam
Project. Not only were Ogden's representatives not able to
meet with and
talk with the affected people, to add
salt to the wounds, they also claim
that they visited
the villages and that ".. most families we saw were
pleased and appreciative of the project" .
CALL, FAX, or EMAIL OGDEN ON APRIL
25
TELL OGDEN TO WITHDRAW FROM MAHESHWAR DAM !!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit
www.narmada.org or www.irn.org
International Rivers Network
1847
Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Tel: 510-848-1155;
Fax: 510-848-1008; E-mail: swong@irn.org
--------------------------------------
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
To unsubscribe from this email
list, send a blank message to globresmembers-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com
_________________________________________________________
Enlighten your
in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15
from Greenpeace April 20, 2000
You may be
interested in this issue of Frontier News. It has a good
description of why we are targeting BP.
By the way, the final shareholders
voting results did not change very much
from what I
sent out last week. The final numbers are on the Arctic Action
website (http://greenpeace.org/arctic).
Cheers,
Kevin
> ******* Frontier News *******
>
> Greenpeace UK's
e-bulletin on fossil fuel issues
>
> http://www.greenpeace.org.uk
>
> Volume 2 Issue 9
>
> Thursday 20th April 2000
>
> IN THIS ISSUE:
>
> 1. FAREWELL EDITORIAL:
> BP at a crossroads - investors lay bare the
challenge to a fossil fuel
> giant
>
> 2. FRONTIER NEWS:
> Subscription details
>
> *********************************************
>
> FAREWELL EDITORIAL:
> BP at a crossroads - investors lay bare the challenge
to a fossil fuel
> giant
>
> Over the last ten
editions of Frontier News you've had a ring side seat
> for a show which we suspect will be repeated many
times in years to come.
>
> A large fossil fuel company assumed that government
consent gives it the
> right to open up a new oil
frontier in the Arctic. In the last two months
> an
unlikely coalition of investors and environmentally conscious citizens
> have shaken that assumption.
>
> Tens of thousands of
individuals have written letters to BP CEO Sir John
> Browne, calling for him to stop Northstar. Fifteen
people have put their
> freedom and safety on the
line by bearing witness and trying to stop
>
construction at the Northstar site. To cap it all, thousands of their most
> conservative stakeholders - the people who own shares
in BP - have
> endorsed the concerns of the public
and Greenpeace ice campers.
>
> At the BP AGM last week it was revealed that eight
billion pounds worth of
> stock was cast in favour
of a shareholder resolution to switch BP
> resources
from Arctic oil exploration to solar manufacturing. Such support
> for an environmental resolution is
unprecedented. A combination of
>
individuals and institutions on two continents sent a clear message to BP
> - 'we don't want you to make money from opening up new
Arctic frontiers,
> we do want you to invest more
money in renewable energy'.
>
> Many people in BP are puzzled about why it is the
target of such concerns.
> After all, they do have a
large solar subsidiary and they have committed
> to
reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. 'Why don't you pick on Exxon?'
> is the common refrain from BP loyalists. The short
answer is that
> deception is far more offensive
than disagreement. We all know that Exxon
> are
rednecks - and we will fight their opposition to climate protection
> every inch of the way - but it hurts far more to watch
consumers and
> investors being misled.
>
> BP has made a very
deliberate decision to position itself as different to
> the rest of the oil industry. It has pushed a vision
of an environmentally
> responsible energy company,
but by failing to deliver on that vision it
> has
deceived its shareholders and customers. Whilst they believe BP is
> committed to protecting the climate, BP's increase in
oil production is
> wiping out its commitment to
carbon savings many times over. It may claim
> to be the leading solar company, but it has the least
ambitious investment
> plans of the top six solar
companies. BP not only has no strategy for
> getting
out of oil, it is actually speeding up its search for fossil
> fuels.
>
> The significant thing is that environmentalists are
not alone in their
> scepticism about its delivery
on green issues, but have been joined by
> consumers
and investors. BP is at a crossroads. It has chosen to place
> itself centre stage on the environment. It either has
to abandon its green
> brand building and accept
it's no different than the rest of Big Oil, or
> it
has to formulate a business strategy to begin the transition away from
> carbon.
>
> At the moment BP is trying to ride out the storm,
desperately hoping that
> its position on Arctic oil
exploration doesn't draw more political flack
> in
the US and the UK. But it is in a vulnerable position. It has two
> choices - either deliver on its green promise and reap
the rewards that
> come with such leadership, or
risk a reputation meltdown.
>
> Frontier News is going off air with this edition, but
we'll be back. We're
> confident that before we next
hit the e-waves we'll have seen some
> movement from
the BP giant. Thank you for tuning in.
>
>
> FRONTIER NEWS:
> Subscription details
>
> This is the last edition of Frontier News Volume 2. If
you want to receive
> Volume 3 issues when we are
back on air, do nothing. If you do not want to
>
receive future issues of Frontier News, send the following message to
> majordomo@xs2.greenpeace.org
>
> unsubscribe
frontier-news
>
>
Similarly, if you wish to subscribe with different address, send the
> following message:
>
> subscribe frontier-news [address]
> Frontier News is edited by Matthew Spencer and
produced by Tom Baker. It
> is written by Rob
Gueterbock, Matthew Spencer, Stephanie Tunmore, Ian
> Taylor and Tom Baker.
>
> Editorial queries to
Owner-frontier-news@xs2.greenpeace.org
> Greenpeace
UK
> Canonbury Villas
>
London N1 2PN
> Tel: 020 7865 8100
> Fax: 020 7865 8200
> http://www.greenpeace.org.uk
------- End of forwarded message -------
----------------------------------------------
Greenpeace Arctic Activists List
NO NEW OIL
http://greenpeace.org/arctic
from Nature Conservancy April 20, 2000
*THIS IS AN
AUTOMATED LIST MESSAGE. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY*
NATURE CONSERVANCY Nature News
for
April, 2000
Welcome to Nature Conservancy Nature News! We hope you
have enjoyed our site's new look. If you haven't seen
it yet, please stop by http://www.tnc.org! In our efforts to
enhance our site, we've fallen behind on our monthly
newsletters.
We apologize! They will arrive monthly
moving forward and will
keep you up-to-date on our
activities, as well as let you know
where to find more
on the subjects you care about.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Earth Day/
Conservation Update
2. Fun & Free
3. "Precious Heritage" Book Release
4. Read All About It
5. Nature
Facts
6. Thought for the Month
********************************************************
1. EARTH DAY / CONSERVATION
UPDATE
At The Nature
Conservancy, every day is Earth Day! So feel
free to browse around our Web site and learn what we're
doing to save the planet, day by day, acre by acre, all
year
round.
To date, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than
11 million acres of habitat in the U.S. and 60 million
acres in Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and
the
Pacific.
Check out some of our new and exciting conservation success
stories on The Nature Conservancy's site at:
http://www.tnc.org
********************************************************
2. FUN & FREE!
That's right. Two of the nicest words in the
English
language. Go to http://www.tnc.org and click
on the "Fun
& Free" button. You'll find out some of
the fun and free
ways you can add a touch of nature to
your day and spread
the word about The Nature
Conservancy's work. Send an
e-card ... download a
screen saver ... order a set of
notecards.
Once you're there, check out this
month's "Hot Property"
- an incredible parcel of nature
in St. Croix that is
on the Conservancy's priority list
to rescue.
********************************************************
3. "PRECIOUS HERITAGE" Book Release
How healthy are the lands and
waters of America? Which
species have been lost and
found? Where is nature holding
its own ... and where is
it starting to give way?
Those
are the questions that Nature Conservancy scientists
seek to answer in their new book, "Precious Heritage: The
Status of Biodiversity in the United States."
Drawing on more than 25 years of
biological data compiled
in all 50 states, "Precious
Heritage" provides the most
comprehensive look yet at
our nation's overall biological
health. And it offers
scientists and policy makers a
critical tool for
determining where conservation dollars
should be spent
in the coming decades.
To read
more, click on "Latest News" at:
http://www.tnc.org
********************************************************
4. READ ALL ABOUT IT!
* Six of America's hottest biological hot spots
* An essay from noted conservationist Edward O. Wilson
* The story of an eccentric Greenwich Village artist who
spends his summer holidays recording and illustrating
species in the backwoods of his native North Carolina
Those are just a few of the
intriguing items you'll find in
the May/June 2000 issue
of Nature Conservancy magazine.
For a preview, click on "What's News" at:
http://www.tnc.org
********************************************************
5. NATURE FACT
Fronds of giant kelp in the
Pacific Ocean can grow up to
10 feet per week after
being cut - the fastest growth rate
of any known
plant.
********************************************************
6. THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
With spring and summer
approaching, now might be a good
time to replace your
worn-out home appliances with energy-
efficient models.
And while you're at it, consider
replacing your
standard light bulbs with energy-efficient
fluorescents.
ENS News April 22, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
NEW REPORT: EUROPE NEEDS 85
NEW NUCLEAR PLANTS TO BEAT GLOBAL WARMING
By Helen
Andre
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-21-02.html
******************************************************************
BIOTECH CROP PROTESTERS WIN IN
UK COURT
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-21-03.html
******************************************************************
MAKAH WHALE HUNT PROTESTS TURN
UGLY
By Drew Snider
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-21-06.html
******************************************************************
EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY FOR
CENTRAL AMERICAN GENIUSES
By Diane Jukofsky
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-21-01.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
AMERISCAN: APRIL 21, 2000
Boise Cascade Chairman Warns Enviros Against Defamation
New 16 Group NGO Website Offers
One Click to Action
U'wa
Leaders Spend Earth Day in L.A., Far from Home
Rappahannock River to Run Free
Department of Energy to Buy Green Power
Renewables Will Power Santa
Barbara
Wastewater from
Military Facilities Injected into Oil Wells
How the Atmosphere Cleanses Itself
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-21-09.html
Copyright Environment News
Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
***************************************************************************
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:
Postal Service
Celebrates Earth Day With Green Power
For Full Text
Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/21April0003.html
***************************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ECOMALL ANNOUNCES A REVOLUTION IN
GREEN SHOPPING THIS EARTH DAY ON NATIONAL
PUBLIC RADIO
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/21April0002.html
***************************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
TO AUTO AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Earth Day 2000 Finds
Trucks With Lower Diesel Emissions
For Full Text Visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/21April0001.html
******************************************************************
TRANSMIT YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON
E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
******************************************************************
from Defenders of Wildlife April 21, 2000
DENlines Issue #13 (Extended Earth Day Issue)
Defenders Electronic Network (DEN)
Friday, April 21, 2000
1. DOLPHINS: Federal
Judge Strikes Down Weakened Tuna Label
2. WOLVES I: Minnesota
Legislature To Pass Anti-Wolf Bill
3. WOLVES II: Defenders
Exposes Farm Bureau
4. CONGRESS: Arctic
Drilling Provision Stripped from Budget Bill
5. CREATURE FEATURE:
Octopus
6. EARTH DAY
I: Titanic Star To Interview President Clinton
7. EARTH DAY II: Send
Free Earth Day E-Card to Your Friends
=================================================================
1. DOLPHINS:
Federal Judge Strikes Down Weakened Tuna Label
A federal judge struck down a
recent U.S. Department of Commerce
decision last week
that would have allowed the existing "dolphin safe"
label to apply to tuna caught by intentionally chasing,
harassing and
setting nets on dolphins. The ruling came
in response to a lawsuit
filed by nine conservation
organizations, including Defenders of
Wildlife. We
argued that the Commerce Department ignored scientific
information that setting nets on dolphins would have an
adverse
impact on dolphin populations. The court ruled
that the department
cannot make any label change until
it reviews the results of scientific
studies that will
look at the impacts of using nets on dolphins.
The court's decision is an important victory for dolphin
conservation,
but the federal government could appeal
the decision. Over the past
four months, more than
120,000 DEN activists have e-mailed President
Clinton
urging him to reconsider the Department of Commerce's decision
to weaken the "dolphin safe" label. Thanks to all of you
who responded.
Defenders also is awaiting judgement on
a separate lawsuit targeting
recent regulations for
importing dolphin-netted tuna into the United
States.
For reasons not fully
understood, schools of large yellowfin tuna
swim under
groups of dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
For almost ten years, the "dolphin safe" label has excluded
tuna
caught by chasing, harassing and netting dolphins.
Since the advent
of this popular consumer label in
1990, dolphin deaths in the eastern
tropical Pacific
Ocean have declined by 97 percent.
2. WOLVES I:
Minnesota Legislature To Pass Anti-Wolf Bill
The Minnesota Legislature is
expected to approve legislation that
would threaten the
long-term survival of wolves in Minnesota and
the Great
Lakes region. The bill would establish "predator control
areas" throughout the state where citizens can obtain a
permit to
trap and shoot wolves where livestock and pet
depredation have
previously occurred. The state would
also pay a $150 bounty for
each wolf killed by a permit
holder, creating an incentive to kill
as many wolves as
possible. The legislation is an attempt to produce
a
state wolf-management plan, which is a precondition before the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service can remove the eastern timber
wolf in
Minnesota from the list of threatened and
endangered species. Wolf
numbers statewide have made a
modest recovery from less than 1,000
animals in 1960 to
more than 2,500 today.
However, the bill ignores consensus recommendations put
forth by a
state committee of environmentalists,
farmers and landowners, and
fails to assure the
long-term survival of the wolf in Minnesota. If
passed,
the bill (House File 3046) will await Governor Jesse Ventura's
signature or veto. Hundreds of DEN activists in Minnesota
have sent
faxes to the governor urging him to veto the
legislation. Stay tuned
to DENlines for future updates.
3. WOLVES II:
Defenders Exposes Farm Bureau
As many of you know, the American Farm Bureau Federation
was the
leading force behind a four-year effort to
remove all wolves in and
around Yellowstone National
Park after that endangered species was
successfully
reintroduced to the park in 1995. Defenders of Wildlife
fought the Farm Bureau and prevailed on the wolves' behalf.
But
Defenders decided to find out more about this
politically powerful
organization and make its findings
available to the public.
On
the heels of a CBS News "60 Minutes" investigative report on
the American Farm Bureau Federation that was encouraged by
Defenders
and broadcast earlier this month. Defenders
recently released an
in-depth report showing how the
Farm Bureau promotes an agenda that
does more to hurt
than help the family farmers it claims to represent.
The report, "Amber Waves of Gain," concludes that the Farm
Bureau
is a wide-ranging business conglomerate with its
own extremist
political agenda. In addition, despite
claiming that it is the
"voice of agriculture," only a
small fraction of the organization's
"membership" are
actually farmers. To learn more about the Farm
Bureau investigation and to view or download Defenders'
report,
visit our website at http://www.defenders.org/fb .
4. CONGRESS:
Arctic Drilling Provision Stripped from Budget Bill
DEN activists sent more than 2,000
faxes urging selected senators to
oppose oil drilling
in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and protect
the
nation's most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears.
While the full Senate narrowly voted to support drilling in
the
refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain by a vote
of 51 - 49, the
controversial provision has now been
removed from the budget resolution
by a House-Senate
conference committee. The Senate floor vote was
the
closest on this issue in more than five years and included several
senators who, for the first time, voted to protect the
refuge. That
vote sent a strong message to the House of
Representatives who later
fought to remove the
provision in conference. Thanks to all who sent
faxes
to your senators. You helped win this battle! Drilling proponents
have said they will continue to push for drilling later in
the
congressional session, so stay tuned to DENlines
for further updates.
5. CREATURE FEATURE:
Octopus
Inhabiting all of the world's temperate oceans, the octopus
ranges
in size from the 30-foot long North Pacific
octopus to the diminutive
inch-long California octopus.
They belong to a class of animals
called Cephalopoda
(literally "head foot") along with squids,
cuttlefish
and the chambered nautilus. The octopus can be identified
by its distinct eight tentacles and bag-shaped body, which
is
referred to as a mantle. Each tentacle contains many
extremely
sensitive suckers that the octopus uses to
help grip prey. Primarily
hunting at night for crabs,
molluscs and crayfish, the octopus camouflages
itself
by changing color to blend in better with its surroundings.
Regarded by many scientists as the most intelligent of all
invertebrates,
the octopus has been observed solving
problems by trial-and-error
and can remember the
solution when the problem arises again. In
preparation
for breeding, the octopus builds a protective shelter
with walls of rocks and discarded shells. The female
octopus will
stay in its lair for up to six weeks as
she guards her eggs, which
can number as many as
200,000. Approximately four to six weeks after
breeding, the soft, fleshy eggs will hatch into miniature
versions
of their parents. Incredibly, only one or two
of the up to 200,000
eggs will successfully reach
adulthood. (Source: Wildlife Fact File)
6. EARTH DAY I: Titanic
Star To Interview President Clinton
Film star Leonardo DiCaprio sat down with
President Clinton to talk
about the environment and the
upcoming Earth Day 2000 celebration.
ABC will air the
interview as part of an hour-long special on Saturday,
April 22 at 8 p.m. EDT. As chairman of Earth Day 2000,
DiCaprio
will act as host and emcee during an all-day
event on the National
Mall in Washington, D.C. The
event will feature such celebrities as
Melanie
Griffith, Chevy Chase, David Crosby, Ted Danson, Ed Begley Jr.,
Edward James Olmos, Mary Steenburgen and musical performers
Third Eye
Blind and James Taylor. Defenders President
Rodger Schlickeisen will
be a featured speaker and
Defenders will host an information booth
at the event.
Stop by and see us if you are in town.
7. EARTH DAY II:
Send A Free Earth Day E-Card to Your Friends
Defenders invites all DEN
subscribers to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of Earth
Day this Saturday, April 22. In the six months
since
DEN was launched we have had a positive impact on conservation
issues ranging from supporting wolf recovery in Yellowstone
and the
Southwest to protecting dolphins from lethal
fishing practices. As
a thank you for taking action and
staying informed on conservation
issues, we invite you
to send a free e-card to your friends. The
e-cards
feature a photo of a wolf or dolphin and a personal message
from you. Send your free dolphin or wolf e-card today and
tell your
friends about DEN!
To send a free Dolphin e-card go
to:
http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/ecard.pl?dir=defenders&group=dolphins
To send a free Wolf e-card go
to:
http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/ecard.pl?dir=defenders&group=wolves
*
TELL YOUR FRIENDS!! FORWARD THIS ISSUE AND SPREAD
THE
NEWS ABOUT WILDLIFE AND CONSERVATION *
====================================================================
To subscribe, visit Defenders' website at
http://www.defenders.org/den
or send an e-mail to
denlines@defenders.org and put
the word SUBSCRIBE in
the subject line.
====================================================================
DENlines is a biweekly
publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a
leading
national conservation organization recognized as one of the
nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its
habitat and
known for its effective leadership on
saving endangered species such
as brown bears and gray
wolves, Defenders advocates new approaches
to wildlife
conservation that protect species before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit
501(c)(3)
organization with 400,000 members and
supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
Copyright
(c) 2000 by Defenders ofWildlife.
from Environmental Defence Fund April 22, 2000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE DISPATCH
Saturday, April
22, 2000
More than 300,000 strong
* Earth Day 2000: Be a Part of It *
To celebrate Earth Day, we look back on a
year of Environmental Defense
and highlight some of our
most important stories.
1. Last Chance to Win a Toyota Prius and Support Clean Cars
2. Our New Poll Compares Generational Attitudes on
Environment
3. Since Earth Day 1970: What's the Story
with Global Warming?
4. Curbing the Corps and
Protecting the Mississippi
5. Environmental Scorecard
Pinpoints Polluters
6. Make A Difference. Join our
Action Network.
7. Conservation Program Helps
Landowners Protect Wildlife
******************************
1.
SIGN UP TO WIN A BRAND NEW TOYOTA PRIUS
Stand up for clean cars by taking our Clean Car Pledge,
then sign up to
win one! The Prius is a
cutting-edge gasoline/electric hybrid -- and it
could
be yours, absolutely free.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/programs/ppa/vlc/pledge_form.html
*****************************
2. BOOMERS AND INTERNET GENERATION: IS THERE AN ECO
GAP?
How do baby boomers, aged
18 to 25 at the first Earth Day in 1970, judge
environmental progress, compared to today's
18-to-25-year-olds? The
results of our poll may
surprise you.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/earthday/
*****************************
3. FROM 1970 TO 2000: THIRTY YEARS OF GLOBAL WARMING
As Earth Day 2000 approaches, our
analysis shows that, since 1970,
global temperatures
are up nearly a full degree. Find out what else has
changed since the first Earth Day.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/reports/30years/
*****************************
4. ARMY CORPS IS SUBJECT OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER SCANDAL
In February we posted evidence
on this web site that the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers
had "cooked the books" on a study to justify an
environmentally destructive $1 billion navigation project
on the upper
Mississippi River. Subsequent revelations
by other whistleblowers made
it clear that the "cooked"
study was only the tip of the iceberg. Find
out
the latest.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/programs/ecosystems/mississippi/
******************************
5. WHO'S POLLUTING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
To find out who's polluting in
your community, what they're putting
into your
environment and what you can do about it, all you have to do
is type in your zip code at our Environmental Defense
Scorecard web
site.
http://www.scorecard.org/
******************************
6.
TAKE ACTION. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
With one click at our Environmental Defense Action Network
web site, you
can tell your elected representatives and
other policymakers exactly
what you think before they
make their decisions.
http://www.actionnetwork.org/add.tcl?domain=EDF_Action_Network&source=mainsite
******************************
7. 'SAFE HARBOR' PROTECTS SPECIES AND LANDOWNERS
Completing its fifth year,
our Safe Harbor program has worked with
numerous
landowners to improve habitats for endangered species such as
endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers that dwell on
privately-owned land.
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/newsreleases/2000/apr/k_safe.html
******************************
8. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
To stop receiving Environmental Defense Dispatch, please
send e-mail to
listserv@www.edf.org,
with
SIGNOFF *
in the body (NOT the Subject) of
the message.
To start
receiving your own Environmental Defense Dispatch, just fill in
this simple form on the web:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/Join4Free/
******************************
Don't forget to check out past Dispatches in our archive.
http://plaza.environmentaldefense.org/dispatches.nsf
******************************
Earth Day 2000 explicitly incorporates environmental
justice as part of
its agenda. Latino,
African-American, Asian-American, indigenous and
many
other communities are working together to reduce toxic air
pollution, fight for equitable access to improved public
transportation,
and ensure a sustainable planet for
future generations. For a listing of
Earth Day news,
especially in the Los Angeles area, in Spanish:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/bienvenidos/edalertsp.html
******************************
Thanks for checking in often! More news daily at:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org
Copyright 2000 Environmental
Defense. All rights reserved.
ENS News April 24, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
GERMAN WETLAND THREATENED BY
DAIMLERCHRYSLER AIRCRAFT PLANT
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-24-04.html
******************************************************************
GREEN POWER WEB TRADING OPENS
IN MIDWEST
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-24-05.html
******************************************************************
UK NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS AIM
FOR 70 PERCENT RECYCLED CONTENT
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-24-02.html
******************************************************************
CLINTON MOVES TO SHRINK
ECO-IMPACT OF FEDERAL WORKER TRANSPORTATION
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-24-03.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
AMERISCAN: APRIL 24, 2000
Clinton Orders Federal Agencies to Green Up
New York State Earmarks $67
Million for Clean Water
Texas
Shrimp Plan Can Help Save Sea Turtles
Pesticides Invade Bodies of Washington Farm Children
Audubon Honors Timber Giant
Weyerhaeuser for Bird Protection
Virginia Anglers Help Measure Acid Rain
Genetically Doctored Gungi
Improving Tree Health
Vanishing Pintail Ducks Tracked on New USGS Website
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-24-09.html
Copyright Environment News
Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
***************************************************************************
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:
Environ.com and
HVACjob.com Form Alliance to Bring Environmental Compliance
and Career Information to HVAC Professionals
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/24April0001.html
***************************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL
EDITORS:
Summit Reports the
Successful Testing of FlameOut(R) at the ANSUL Fire
Testing Facility
For Full Text
Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/24April0002.html
***************************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KAFUS. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER,
MR. TONY VALENTINE, ANNOUNCES
FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR
YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1999
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/April00/24April0003.html
******************************************************************
TRANSMIT YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON
E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
******************************************************************
from Rainforest Action Network April 24, 2000
News from
Rainforest Action Network
April 24, 2000
*******
NEW ACTION ALERT!
WRITE TO 84 LUMBER!
84 Lumber--the
fifth largest home improvement retailer in the country--
refuses to respond to the changing values of the American
public by
phasing out its use of old growth wood.
Demand that they develop a
reasonable timetable to
phase out products from endangered old growth
forests.
http://www.ran.org/info_center/aa/aa149.html
*******
RAN LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TARGETING CITIGROUP'S LENDING
POLICIES
We're in the very initial
stages of the campaign, but you can find out
more about
how Citigroup and its subsidiaries Salomon Smith Barney,
Citibank, and Travelers Insurance are involved in
environmental
destruction and human rights abuses
worldwide at
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/main.html.
*******
U'WA WIN INJUNCTION AGAINST OXY IN COLOMBIAN COURTS!
Handing the U'wa an important victory, a
Colombian court has ordered
Occidental Petroleum to
halt all construction work on the well site on
sacred
ancestral land of the U'wa tribe.
http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/press_release/000331_uwa.html
*******
Join RAN online!
Your financial support is critical to our success.
http://www.ran.org/scripts/ran/join_start.pl
*******
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
To
subscribe to this list, send a blank message to: ran-updates-subscribe@igc.topica.com
To read archived messages, go to http://igc.topica.com/lists/ran-updates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainforest Action Network
221
Pine Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94104
tel: 415-398-4404
fax:
415-398-2732
URL: http://www.ran.org/
_________________________________________________________
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