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Environment Action
Alerts for
July 16 - July 24, 2000
Senate Approves Mifepristone NRDC Action Alert Sierra Club Action #235
Sierra Club Action #233
Nature Conservancy News
Urgent Alert! to help
Indigenous Pakistanis
LCV Update July 18 ENS News July 19 News from RAFI
Coke Spotlight Campaign
NRDC Legislative Watch
Global Warming
Threatens Wildlife
ENS News July 17
Urgent Alert! concerning
Save Our Environment
Pak Mun Dam in Thailand
Action Center Update
ENS News July 18 LCV Update July 20 ENS News July 21
Sierra Club Endorses Gore
California's Zero
Help Protect Bears from
Emission Program
Illegal Trade and Poaching
Sierra Club Action #236 ENS News July 24
from Zero Population Growth July 17, 2000
On Monday, July 10th the
House voted by a slim margin to
reject (187-182) an amendment offered by
Rep. Tom Coburn.
The amendment would have prohibited the FDA
from approving
any drug that induces medical abortion and was specifically
intended to block approval of Mifepristone or RU-486.
The House
voted in favor of this amendment in both 1998
(223-202) and 1999
(217-214). Because the Senate never
agreed to it, though, it
never became law.
Thank you for faxing your Representative and asking
her/him
to oppose this amendment. Your efforts payed off and we
won!
Find out how your Representative voted:
http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/issue.pl?dir=zpg
If you have any questions, please contact Scott McNiven
(scott@zpg.org) or call
1-800-POP-1956.
from Sierra Club July 17, 2000
SC-ACTION Vol. II, #233
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
July 14, 2000
------------------------QUOTE OF THE
DAY-----------------------------
"My sense
is there are few issues that are less partisan or less
geographic, because the National Forests
belong to all Americans."
- Representative
Jim Leach, a Republican from Iowa and a lead sponsor
of legislation to end the commercial logging
program on federal public
lands.
(See item #4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURED ACTION ITEM: INTERIOR FUNDING
BILL COMING UP EARLY NEXT WEEK!
1) URGENT
ACTION:
TIME RUNNING OUT TO PROTECT WILD
FORESTS: SEND A FAX TODAY!
2) URGENT
ACTION:
WEIGH IN ON SPRAWL IN YOUR
NEIGHBORHOOD
3) URGENT ACTION:
MEXICO'S ATTORNEY GENERAL USES BACKHANDED
COURT TACTIC TO SEEK THE
CONVICTION OF MEXICAN
EARTH DEFENDERS
4) TAKE ACTION:
PROTECT OUR WILD HERITAGE - STOP LOGGING OUR
NATIONAL FORESTS
5) TAKE ACTION:
SENATE VICTORY ON CAFE
6) TAKE ACTION:
PROTECT OUR WATER FROM ANIMAL FACTORIES
______________________________________________________________________
FEATURED ACTION:
ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS POLLUTE INTERIOR
DEPARTMENT FUNDING BILL
TAKE
ACTION: Please call your senators and urge them to oppose
anti-environmental riders to the Interior
Appropriations bill.
Debate on the bill to
fund the Interior Department and other related
programs will resume on Monday, July 17, with
votes occurring on
Tuesday. We
expect a number of important votes on amendments that
would undermine protections for endangered
species, new National
Monuments, and our
National Parks.
Please urge your senators
to oppose anti-environmental riders.
Specifically urge you senators to vote
against:
A rider to be offered by
Senator NICKLES ON NATIONAL MONUMENTS. We
believe his amendment may be similar to the
rider that was stricken on
the House
floor. It would block any funding for the study, planning
or implementation of new National Monuments
designated by the
President after 1999.
SENATOR DOMENICI EXTINCTION RIDER to ban
the implementation of
emergency conservation
measures to prevent extinction of an endangered
species, the silvery minnow. The
amendment would block actions by the
Bureau of
Reclamation designed to maintain water in a certain stretch
of the Rio Grande.
SENATOR THOMAS SNOWMOBILE RIDER- We think
this rider would block funds
for the
implementation of the new regulations aimed at reducing
snowmobile activity in our National
Parks. However, the latest rumor
is
Senator Thomas will offer his amendment, have a colloquy on the
floor, and then withdraw it.
Two other pro-environment amendments--a
Senator Boxer amendment
dealing with
pesticides and a Senator Feingold amendment regarding a
wilderness study area--are expected to be
debated on Tuesday. We also
support an
amendment by Senators Bryan and Fitzgerald to shift money
from the Forest Service timber budget and
place it into fire
reduction.
Please urge your Senators to oppose
anti-environmental riders and
support
amendments to improve environmental protection. Thanks for
your work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1) TAKE ACTION:
ONLY 72 HOURS LEFT TO COMMENT. SEND A FAX WITH
YOUR COMMENTS TODAY
Please take the time
to write a hand written, personal letter to the
Forest Service calling for the protection of
all of our last wild
forest roadless areas
from all damaging activities. If you have
already written a letter - encourage your
family, friends, children,
neighbors and
colleagues to write a letter too! The comment period
ends this Monday, July 17th!
Here are some points to address in your
letter: Over half of our
National Forests have
already been hammered by road building, logging
and other damaging activities - we should
protect the still-wild areas
that
remain. Put these roadless areas of our National Forests
off-limits to roadbuilding, logging and other
destructive activities.
Please protect our
nation's last temperate rainforest -- the Tongass
National Forest in Alaska, from logging and
road building. Letters
should also
address why wild forests are important to you.
Since time is running out, sending a fax
is your best bet. E-mails are
still good,
however the Forest Service has been overwhelmed with
e-mails lately so your message might get
returned. If it does please
keep trying. The
fax number and e-mail address are below.
By e-mail to: roadlessdeis@fs.fed.us
By fax to: 877-703-2494
For more information, visit our
website
http://www.sierraclub.org/wilderness/WildForest/Index.asp
___________________________________________
2) URGENT ACTION:
WEIGH IN ON SPRAWL IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
What does sprawl mean to you? What about
smart growth?
As part of our Challenge to
Sprawl Campaign, we are asking you to
nominate
projects and developments that exemplify sprawl or smart
growth to you for inclusion in an upcoming
sprawl report. Sprawl and
smart growth are
relatively new additions to the environmental
community's vocabulary.
Please visit the sprawl section of the
Sierra Club website at
www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/ and click 'Nominate
a development'. Please
fill answer
as many questions in the survey as you can. It should
take you no more than 20 minutes to fill out.
Please read all
directions and provide as much
detail as possible. If you don't have
all the information requested below please
submit what you do have and
we'll contact you
if we need more. ***We have extended the deadline
for submissions to FRIDAY, 7/14*** Please send
us your nominations as
soon as possible.
If you have any questions, or want to find
out more about our
Challenge to Sprawl
Campaign, please call Deron Lovaas at 202-547-1141
or by e-mail at deron.lovaas@sierraclub.org;
or George Sorvalis at
202-547-1141 or by
e-mail at george.sorvalis@sierraclub.org
-----------------------------------
3) URGENT ACTION:
MEXICAN ANTI-LOGGING ACTIVISTS NEED YOUR
SUPPORT: WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL
NEWSPAPERS AND
URGE THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT TO RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
On June 20, the Mexican Attorney General's
office filed its final
conclusions, urging the
Judge to convict Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro
Cabrera on charges concocted by local
landowners and soldiers. To
date,
the only evidence that the prosecution has been able to produce
are "signed confessions", which the two
environmentalists signed after
two days of
continued torture by the military.
Montiel
and Cabrera have spent the last 14 months in prison since
their arrest May 2, 1999. After their
detention, they were beaten and
tortured until
they confessed to concocted charges of drug-trafficking
and illegal possession of weapons. In reality,
their only "crime" was
organizing their
community to protest excessive and possibly illegal
logging of old growth forests
in the Southern Sierra Madre.
Learn more about this case:
Read John Ross' article on the July/August
2000 issue of Sierra!
TAKE
ACTION: Since the Mexican Attorney General has responded to our
well-reasoned arguments for
the immediate and unconditional release of
Montiel and Cabrera with
detestable court trickery, we are asking
concerned activists write or
call your local papers urging them to
cover this story.
Environmental activism is not a crime and
environmentalists are not
criminals.
For a copy of talking points
and a letter to the editor, please call
or e-mail Sam Parry at (202)
547-1141 or sam.parry@sierraclub.org. You
can refer to our Web site at
www.sierraclub.org/human-rights
------------------------------------------------------------------
4) TAKE ACTION:
PROTECT OUR WILD HERITAGE -
STOP LOGGING OUR NATIONAL FORESTS
Protecting forests make
environmental and economic sense. The Forest
Service predicts that in the
year 2000, recreation, hunting and
fishing in National Forests
will contribute 38 times more income to
the nation's economy than
logging, and will create 31 times more jobs.
More than 3,000 species of
fish and wildlife and 10,000 plant species
-- including 230 endangered
plant and animal species -- rely on
National Forests for habitat.
The National Forest
Protection and Restoration Act would eliminate the
commercial logging program on
federal public lands, promote
restoration, and help
communities that receive logging revenue develop
a more diverse and stable
economy.
** Call your
Member of Congress through the Capitol switchboard at
(202) 224-3121 and urge them
to cosponsor HR 1396, the National Forest
Protection and Restoration
Act. **
___________________________________________
5) TAKE ACTION:
SENATE VICTORY ON CAFE
A
victory in the Senate has resulted in a proposal to kick-start a
study of CAFE
standards. Congress has directed the Department of
Transportation (DOT) and the
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) do a
joint study on miles per
gallon standards and make a recommendation to
Congress by July 1,
2001. DOT can recommend a CAFE increase in FY
'01, and barring further
barriers, DOT can promulgate new standards in
FY '02.
This
is a huge victory for the environment and consumers, and is a
direct result of your
relentless phone calls and letters to your
senators. The
study would not have happened without the outstanding
efforts of all of you telling
the Senate to get moving on cleaner
cars. The auto
industry knew that we were going to get more votes
than last year-- and now
we've got the ball rolling on better CAFE
standards. WE WON,
THEY LOST!
TAKE ACTION: Call and write
the White House and urge them to take
advantage of the opportunity
that Congress has given them to improve
miles per gallon
standards. State that you're counting on them to
make sure that this study
leads to tougher miles per gallon standards
and you hope they will take
the lead on the biggest single step we can
take to curb global warming,
raising CAFE standards. Raising CAFE
standards will reduce our
dependence upon foreign oil, slash pollution
and will save us money at the
gas pump.
___________________________________________
6) TAKE ACTION: PROTECT OUR
WATER FROM ANIMAL FACTORIES
The EPA is in the process of
developing a "Guidance Document" for a
permitting system for large
concentrated animal feeding operations
(CAFOs). These massive animal
factories have fouled America's water
and air from coast to coast,
and have run family farmers off the land.
Several court cases have
clearly found that these facilities,
including land application of
wastes, are to be regulated under the
federal Clean Water Act.
But
the US EPA seems not to understand the import of the court
decisions or the impact of
the CAFOs on water quality. There are
three major positions that
the Sierra Club (and allied groups) have
been asserting:
1)
Every CAFO with more than 1000 "animal units" (2500 hogs, 30,000
chickens, and 750 dairy cows)
must OBTAIN a federal wastewater
discharge permit.
2)
The permits must contain binding, enforceable and water-quality
protective conditions.
3)
CAFOs must land apply wastes at agronomic rates, as determined by a
soil test and the optimal
rate of growth (or production) of the
specific crop. (EPA is
proposing to allow rates of application based
on "soil assimilation" which
essentially means wastes can be applied
right up to the point where
runoff occurs).
Please call EPA Administrator
Carol Browner at 202-564-4700 (FAX -
202-501-1450) and urge her to
issue a Guidance Document incorporating
the above points.
------------------------------------------------------------
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.cfm
To contact your
representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
from League of Conservation Voters July 18, 2000
===================================
LCV. s Weekly Congressional Update
Week of July 17th, 2000
===================================
The League of Conservation Voters
(LCV) continues to monitor Congressional
activity and
hold members of Congress accountable for their actions on
important environmental issues. See the information below
for a concise
look at what happened in Congress last
week and what we anticipate for the
coming week.
===================================
SUMMARY
===================================
Last week the Senate killed Sen.
Craig's anti-environment rider to stop the
administration's roadless policy. This week the
Senate will continue
voting on amendments to the fiscal
year 2001 Interior Department funding
bill. They will also markup land conservation
legislation similar to House
bill H.R. 701, the
Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999, in the Senate
Energy and Environment committee. A Senate
Energy subcommittee will hold a
hearing on Clinton's
roadless policy initiative. The House is not
scheduled to take up any major environment actions or
votes this week.
===================================
ACTIONS AND VOTES LAST WEEK
===================================
**SENATE**
SENATORS REACH COMPROMISE ON LANDS
FUNDING BILL
Senator Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the
Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, and
Senator Bingaman (D-NM) ranking minority member of
that
committee, last week reached a compromise on legislation that would
provide hundreds of millions of dollars for land
acquisition and wildlife
conservation. The
House passed a similar bill, H.R. 701, in May; since
that time, Murkowski and Bingaman have been working to find
a compromise
between their respective bills. S. 25 and
S. 2181. Their compromise will go
to markup
before the Senate Energy committee on Tuesday and Wednesday of
this week.
SENATE UPHOLDS GRAZING RIDER; CRAIG ROADLESS RIDER FAILS
Last Thursday the Senate rejected a Durbin (D-IL)
amendment to strike a
provision that would allow BLM to
renew grazing permits without new
environmental review
by a vote of 38-62. There is no need for this
automatic renewal of grazing permits, as the Bureau of Land
Management will
complete the processing of all permits
set to expire in 2001 by the end of
that
year. Further, this provision could actually encourage permit holders
with poor environmental records to delay compliance
with permit
requirements in order to take advantage of
this automatic renewal.
Also
last Thursday, Sen. Larry Craig (D-ID) offered an amendment that would
have interfered with the administration. s proposed policy
to protect
roadless areas. However, Senators
Pete Domenici (R-NM), Jeff Bingaman
(D-NM), and Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA) offered a substitute amendment dealing
with fire prevention which passed by voice
vote. The Domenici substitute
earned some
criticism from environmental groups who fear that the timber
industry could use the guise of fire prevention to justify
increased
commercial logging on federal lands; however,
the Senate. s failure to pass
the Craig roadless policy
rider should be considered an environmental
victory. Craig said that he may still offer his
rider later this year.
**HOUSE**
HOUSE PASSES FOREIGN OPERATIONS BILL
On Thursday July 13 the House passed its bill to fund U.S.
foreign aid
programs for fiscal year
2000. During debate of the bill, Rep. Greenwood
(R-PA) offered an amendment to strike so-called . gag rule.
language that
would preclude U.S. family planning aid
going to organizations that use
their own funds to
provide legal abortion services or participate in public
debates over abortion laws or
policies. Long-standing restrictions already
prevent the use of U.S. foreign assistance funds to fund
abortion-related
activities.
LCV regards global population
stabilization as crucial for environmental
sustainability. Rapid population growth
exacerbates pollution and
accelerates the depletion of
natural resources. The global gag rule
restriction would interfere with the ability of private
organizations to
participate in the political process
in their own country using their own
funds. LCV believes that using the leverage of
U.S. assistance to silence
discussion of any issue that
is a legitimate subject of public debate is
inconsistent with American values. Greenwood. s
amendment to strike this
language failed to pass by a
vote of 221-206.
During
consideration of the foreign operations bill the House agreed to a
Waters (D-CA) amendment to increase funds for debt relief
to developing
nations by $156
million. Severe debt burdens can lead poor countries to
slash environmental protection budgets and liquidate
natural resources.
The Waters amendment
passed by a vote of 216-211.
HOUSE PASSES AGRICULTURE FUNDING BILL
On Tuesday, July 11, the House passed its bill to fund
Department of
Agriculture programs by a vote of
339-82. The House rejected a DeFazio
(D-OR)
amendment to cut funding for the Wildlife Services livestock
protection program, under which more than 100,000 coyotes,
black bears,
mountain lions, and other predators are
killed each year. The amendment
failed to
pass by a vote of 190-228.
===================================
ON THE FLOOR THIS WEEK
===================================
**SENATE**
The Senate has set an ambitious
schedule for itself this week. hoping to
clear a number
of funding bills for fiscal year 2001 as they move towards
the August recess, set to begin on July 31.
SENATE TO FINISH CONSIDERATION OF
THE INTERIOR BILL
The Senate last week began
consideration of the bill to fund Department of
Interior and U.S. Forest Service programs for fiscal year
2001. Several
amendments have not yet been
considered. These include a Bryan
(D-NV)/Fitzgerald (R-IL) amendment to reduce funding for
the wasteful and
damaging timber program and use the
funds for fire planning and
preparedness in our
national forests. Proposed anti-environment amendments
include a Nickles (R-OK) amendment to restrict funding to
manage new
national monuments such as the new Sequoia
National Monument and a Domenici
(R-NM) rider to
prevent the Bureau of Reclamation from going forward with
plans to increase water flows in the Rio Grande River to
help the
endangered silvery minnow.
SENATE AGRICULTURE FUNDING BILL
MAY FINALLY REACH THE FLOOR
The Senate is scheduled to
vote this week on its version of a bill to fund
the
Department of Agriculture for 2001 (although this bill has been on the
Senate calendar for a number of weeks, consideration has
been postponed
several times). The bill
includes three anti-environment . riders.. One
rider will prevent any efforts to reform the Army Corps of
Engineers, which
has been the topic of investigative
articles in The Washington Post in
recent months for
alleged financial and regulatory mismanagement. Another
rider will prevent the administration from putting new
regulations on the
environmental impact of hardrock
mining into effect. these regulations would
protect
groundwater from contamination, ensure that mining companies have
the money to pay for toxic cleanup when mining is
completed, and allow BLM
to refuse mining permits when
it would harm the wildlife and resource
values of the
land. A third rider would remove land from Pea Island
National Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Hatteras National
Seashore in North
Carolina for the building of two
massive, environmentally unsound jetties.
**HOUSE**
No major environmental legislation is scheduled for
consideration in the
House this week.
===================================
IN COMMITTEE THIS WEEK
===================================
**SENATE**
CONSERVATION BILL GOES TO MARK-UP
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will
mark-up legislation
to provide for a permanent source
of conservation funding derived from
off-shore oil
drilling receipts. The legislation under consideration is a
compromise reached between Senators Murkowski (R-AL) and
Bingaman (D-NM)
and is similar to legislation (H.R.701)
that passed the House earlier this
summer. (See the description above for more
information)
FUNDING FOR NOAA,
ENERGY AND WATER PROGRAMS UNDER REVIEW
The Senate
Appropriations Committee will consider legislation to provide
funds for the Department of Commerce, including the
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). A variety of environmental initiatives
are included in this annual appropriation
bill. The Committee will also
consider
legislation to fund Energy and Water programs for next year.
HEARING ON CLINTON. S ROADLESS
POLICY
The Senate Energy forests and public land
management subcommittee will hold
a hearing on the
administration's proposal to ban road construction in 43
million acres of inventoried roadless areas on federal
lands.
**HOUSE**
RESOURCES COMMITTEE TO HOLD
HEARING ON SNOWMOBILE USE
The House Resources parks and
public lands subcommittee will hold a hearing
on the
administration's proposal to ban snowmobile use in most national
parks.
===================================================================
LCV's Weekly Congressional Update is compiled using
various sources,
including Congressional Quarterly and
Congressional GreenSheets.
LCV-Update is brought to you
by the League of Conservation Voters, the
nonprofit
political voice for the national environmental and conservation
community. LCV is the only national organization dedicated
full-time to
informing the public about the
environmental records of federally elected
officials
and candidates.
LCV publishes
annually the National Environmental Scorecard, which rates
members of Congress on the most critical environmental
votes cast during
that year.
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League of Conservation Voters
1920 L Street, NW Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
(202)785-8683
fax: (202)835-0491
email:
lcv@lcv.org
from Greenpeace July 18, 2000
Thank you for supporting the CokeSpotlight campaign. You
and
thousands of others worldwide have helped achieve a
tremendous
victory for the planet.
Yesterday Coca-Cola announced that
it would meet Greenpeace demands
by adopting a new
refrigeration policy to reduce its impact on global
climate change before the world's first Green Games.
Coca-Cola's new policy is to phase
out potent greenhouse gas
hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) in
refrigeration by the Athens Olympic Games
in 2004. It
will expand its research into refrigeration alternatives
and insist that suppliers announce specific time schedules
to use
only HFC-free refrigeration in all new cold
drink equipment by 2004.
This
result couldn't have happened without your support of our global campaign.
Coca-Cola's policy change shows
that big industry can be made to
abandon dirty
practices when people raise the alarm.
The announcement by Coca-Cola fulfils most of the demands
we set and
sets a strong environmental benchmark for
other industries.
Greenpeace will work to ensure that
Coca-Cola delivers on its new
policy and provides
adequate verification and independent monitoring
of
action. While it does not address our concerns relating to
refrigeration equipment at the Olympic site and shift in
global
policy, it will have a huge effect and
substantial longterm benefits
for the planet.
Check out Coca-Cola's new policy
at http://www.thecocacolacompany.com
We will update the CokeSpotlight
very soon.
Once again many
thanks,
Rupert Posner
Greenpeace Olympics campaigner
from Environment News Service July 17, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
HOSPITAL PLASTICS MAY PUT SICK
INFANTS AT RISK
ARLINGTON,
Virginia, July 17, 2000 (ENS) - A government panel has expressed
"serious concern" that chemicals used in vinyl medical
products may harm the
reproductive organs of critically
ill male infants exposed during medical
treatments.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-07.html
******************************************************************
QUEBEC CHEMICAL FIRE FORCES
THOUSANDS FROM THEIR HOMES
By
Neville Judd
MONTREAL, Quebec,
Canada, July 17, 2000 (ENS) - Thousands of people were
evacuated Sunday night after noxious fumes were released by
a chemical
plant blaze in Vaudreuil-Dorion, about 40
kilometers (25 miles) west of
Montreal. The fire
continues to blaze today as firefighters work to contain
it.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-10.html
******************************************************************
BIPARTISAN SENATE COMPROMISE
PLEDGES $3 BILLION FOR CONSERVATION
WASHINGTON, DC, July 17, 2000 (ENS) - Royalties generated
by underwater oil
and gas development on the outer
continental shelf around the United States
may soon be
flowing into coastal and inland conservation programs now that a
breakthough has occurred in a formidable political logjam.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-06.html
******************************************************************
PROTECT MEDITERRANEAN BEFORE
SPECIES ARE LOST, WARNS WWF
ROME, Italy, July 17, 2000 (ENS) - The cradle of European
civilization, the
Mediterranean Sea, needs protection
from over fishing, pollution and coastal
construction
if its unique environmental heritage is to survive, says a new
report from the international conservation organization
Worldwide Fund for
Nature (WWF).
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-11.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
AMERISCAN: JULY 17, 2000
Chemical Company Will Pay $250,000 for Fatal Hazwaste
Shipment
Sheep Found With
Disease Similar to Mad Cow
40
New Superfund Redevelopment Projects Chosen
GAO Report Criticizes EPA. s Radiation Standards
Fisheries Council Votes For
Tortugas Ecological Reserve
Michigan to Preserve 80,000 Acres of Farmland
Electric Postal Vehicle Debuts in
Los Angeles
New Hunting,
Fishing Programs Proposed for Wildlife Refuges
Marine Conservationist Named Environmental Hero
Student Mural Depicts Recovering
Anacostia River
For full text
and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-09.html
Copyright Environment News
Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
***************************************************************************
SEND
NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
***************************************************************************
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LAS
VEGAS, NV July 18, -/E-Wire/-- NTS Development Corporation has
announced the return of GlobeEx 2000 Conference and
Tradeshow, the first
truly integrated conference on
energy in the Americas, being held July 23
through 28
at the Riveria Hotel and Convention Center.
CONTACT:
Elizabeth Trosper of MassMedia (702) 433-4331, email:
Elizabeth@massmedialv.com
/Web site: www.GlobeEx.com
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/17July0002.html
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TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND
TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
Pratt
& Whitney Joins Blue292's Early Adopter Program With The IT Group
Environmental Business-to-Business
e-Marketplace to Help Streamline Pratt
& Whitney's Environmental, Health & Safety
Procurement and Processes
DURHAM, N.C., July 17
-/E-Wire/-- Blue292, the world's leading
business-to-business e-marketplace for environmental,
health and safety
(EHS) products and services, today
announced that Pratt & Whitney, a
division of
United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), has joined its
Early-Adopter Pilot Program. Pratt & Whitney
is a leader in the design,
manufacture and support of
aircraft engines, industrial engines, and space
propulsion systems. Pratt & Whitney will
participate in the program in
conjunction with The IT
Group (NYSE: ITX), a leading environmental
consulting
and engineering firm, with whom Pratt & Whitney has an existing
e-Business agreement.
/CONTACT: Anita
Bose, 212-484-7699, or abose@rlmnet.com, for Blue292/
(UTX ITX)
/Web site: http://www.blue292.com
/Web
site: http://www.theitgroup.com/
For
Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/17July0001.html
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from Environment News Service July 18, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
BRAZILIAN OIL GIANT APOLOGIZES
FOR 2ND SPILL IN SIX MONTHS
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 18, 2000 (ENS) - Workers in
the southern
Brazilian state of Parana are trying to
contain the country's worst oil
spill in 25 years.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-18-12.html
******************************************************************
THOUSANDS OF PORPOISES LOST IN
UK's "HAUL OF SHAME"
LONDON,
United Kingdom, July 18, 2000 (ENS) - Europe's harbour porpoises
are dying by the thousand and may not live to see another
century if fishing
practices are not changed, says a
report released by the world's largest
animal welfare
agency.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-18-11.html
******************************************************************
DEATH DUMP POLLUTING MANILA'S
DRINKING WATER
By Michael
Bengwayan
MANILA, Philippines,
July 18, 2000 (ENS) - The garbage slide and fire July
11 at the Payatas garbage dump in the northern Manila
suburb of Quezon City
has now claimed 193 lives. At
least 760 other people are still missing and
presumed
dead.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-18-02.html
******************************************************************
EUROPE TO BAN POWERFUL
INSECTICIDE ON CROPS BUT NOT IN HOMES
BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 18, 2000 (ENS) - The controversial
insecticide
lindane could be subject to a partial ban
by the Europe Union's 15 member
countries within 18
months.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-18-10.html
******************************************************************
RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE LAS
VEGAS SPOTLIGHT
LAS VEGAS,
Nevada, July 18, 2000 (ENS) - A five day international conference
on renewable energy that starts this Sunday in Las Vegas is
expected to draw
700 delegates from more than 70
countries.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-18-03.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
AMERISCAN: JULY 18, 2000
Motor
Vehicle Emissions Tests to be Performed from Space
Attack on Free Speech Hidden in Fish & Wildlife Service
Bill
Congress Considers
Oversight Review for Army Corps of Engineers
Bluewater Network Tries Legal Maneuver to Limit Ship
Emissions
Climate Change Puts
Health of Washington State Residents at Risk
New York City Gets Cleaner Buses in 2001
Real Time Smog Movies for
California
Internet Index to
Minimize Impact of Animal Waste
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-17-09.html
Copyright Environment News
Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
***************************************************************************
SEND
NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
***************************************************************************
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Griffin Supplies Biodiesel for Bus
Fleets
CINCINNATI, OH. July
18, -/E-Wire/-- Griffin Industries has been
selected to supply TANK and Metro buses with biodiesel, an
environmentally
friendly fuel throughout the
summer. 500,000 gallons of B20, a blend of 20%
biodiesel mixed with 80% petroleum diesel will power over
280 buses through
July and August. The buses
are expected to run 2,500,000 miles on tri-state
roadways using the alternative fuel.
CONTACT: Rick Geise, Director of Marketing, Griffin
Industries, (859)
572-2558
/Web site: http://www.griffinind.com
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/18July0004.html
***************************************************************************
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RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
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TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND
SCIENCE EDITORSS:
Apyron Hires
Another Leading Scientist to Boost Product Development,
Commercialization
A Holder of Three Patents, Dr. Wei-Chih W. Chen Joins
Science Technologies
Company
ATLANTA, July 18
-/E-Wire/-- Apyron Technologies, Inc., the developer
of next-generation science technologies, has hired Dr.
Wei-Chih W. Chen as
director of product
development. Dr. Chen holds three U.S. patents and
brings more than 13 years in product development for the
water industry to
Apyron.
CONTACT: Sherry Odom of Apyron, 678-405-2707, or
slodom@apyron.com /
/Web
site: http://www.apyron.com /
For
Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/18July0001.html
***************************************************************************
E-WIRE PRESS
RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Texaco's Chief Technology Officer,
Jim Metzger, To Address Delegation At
GlobeEx 2000,
Conference and Tradeshow
LAS VEGAS, NV, July 18,
-/E-Wire/-- Jim Metzger, Vice President and
Chief
Technology Officer of Texaco Inc., will be addressing a delegation
comprised of dignitaries and celebrities at the GlobeEx
Conference and
Tradeshow, being held July 23 through 28
at the Riveria Hotel and Convention
Center in Las
Vegas, NV. The dinner banquet will be held during the course
of the conference. Invited guests include Vice President Al
Gore, Secretary
of Energy Bill Richardson and President
Jimmy Carter as well as various
International Ministers
of Energy.
CONTACT: Elizabeth Trosper,
MassMedia (702) 433-4331, Email:
Elizabeth@massmedialv.com
/Web site: http://www.GlobEx.com
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/18July0002.html
***************************************************************************
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RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
***************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Free Online Resource Helps
Companies Merge Environmental and Economic
Success
OAKLAND, CA, July 18
-/E-Wire/-- A new online resource center is
offering a wealth of free information to help
companies "align
environmental responsibility with business
success," say its creators.
CONTACT: Joel Makower,
President, Green Business Network:
510-451-1300, or
makower@greenbiz.com
/Web
site: http://www.GreenBiz.com
For
Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/18July0003.html
******************************************************************
TRANSMIT YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON
E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
******************************************************************
from Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council's
CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK ACTION
ALERT
NRDC's California
Activist Network was formed to mobilize and provide action tools to Californians
and others concerned with protecting the state's extraordinary wealth of natural
treasures and the health of its citizens.
July 19, 2000
******************************************
Contents
1) alerts
a) Join the "Don't Mess with ZEV" campaign to fight air
pollution and global warming
b) Tell the Department of
Pesticide Regulation to refuse test results obtained from human experimentation
c) Urge your state representatives to vote for clean,
affordable, reliable energy
d) Tell Los Angeles Mayor
Riordan to turn a rail yard into an urban park instead of industrial warehouses
e) Urge the Forest Service to protect the Sierra
Nevada's national forests
f) Help create ocean
wilderness reserves around the Channel Islands
2) STATUS OF PREVIOUS alerts
3) ABOUT OUR BULLETINS
4) ABOUT NRDC
You will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action
Center (http://www.nrdc.org/action), which includes tools for
taking action easily online.
******************************************
1) alerts
Join the "Don't Mess with ZEV"
campaign to fight air pollution and global warming
As we all know, traditional fuel-powered automobiles
contribute to air pollution, global warming and our dependence on foreign oil.
In 1990, the California Air Resources Board first instituted the Zero Emission
Vehicle (ZEV) regulation, requiring major automakers to offer for sale vehicles
that produce no exhaust emissions. The board reviews this regulation every other
year, and in each of the past two reviews the big oil and auto companies
successfully pressured the board to delay and weaken the ZEV program.
Nonetheless, 20,000 new electric vehicles and 30,000 gasoline-electric hybrids
would be produced by 2003 under existing law.
In September, the Air Resources Board again will review the
ZEV mandate and the car and oil companies are once again teaming up to further
weaken or even to kill the ZEV program. If Governor Davis and the board stand
firm against industry pressure, however, automakers would have little choice but
to begin serious production of the 2003 models in order to meet the ZEV mandate.
That means the September board meeting is the last chance for the auto and oil
industries to try to bury the clean car requirement.
The "Don't Mess with ZEV" campaign
is staffing public information tables throughout the state, asking concerned
members of the public to sign a short letter to Governor Davis in support of the
ZEV mandate. So far the response has been very encouraging, but the campaign
needs your help.
== What to do
==
Please volunteer a few hours of your time and help
staff one of the "Don't Mess with ZEV" public information tables. Contact Ken
Masterton to sign up today. Even if you aren't able to volunteer, please send a
message to Governor Davis.
==
Contact information ==
To volunteer:
Ken Masterton
Phone: (415)
868-1431
Email: campmw@well.com
To send a message to Governor
Davis:
You can email Governor Davis directly from
NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information and sample letter below to send your own message.
Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol Bldg.
Sacramento, CA
95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 445-4633
Email:
graydavis@governor.ca.gov
==
Sample letter ==
[Date]
Dear Governor Davis:
I am writing to urge your support
for California's Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program, which is critical to
reducing California's air pollution, global warming emissions and costly
dependence on foreign oil.
Motor vehicles cause the majority of California's air
pollution and global warming emissions. Gasoline contaminates our water supplies
and puts the state's coastline at risk of oil spills. In addition, gas-guzzling
motor vehicles cost consumers billions of dollars a year at the gas pump and
make the state vulnerable to oil price increases.
California needs a strong ZEV program to move the state
away from its costly and harmful dependence on oil. As the number of vehicles
and vehicle miles double in the next few decades, the costs will only increase.
California can avoid those costs by encouraging the development and sale of
cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The ZEV program can take credit for bringing battery
electric and hybrid electric vehicles to market and is helping spur the
development of fuel cell vehicles. Continuing a strong ZEV program will
encourage automakers to improve existing technologies, develop new technologies
and put more of these clean, advanced vehicles on the road.
For all these reasons, I strongly
urge you to support a strong ZEV program.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
..
Tell
the Department of Pesticide Regulation to refuse test results obtained from
human experimentation
The
California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is about to endorse
unethical and unscientific human testing of hazardous pesticides. The proposed
decision concerns a toxic organophosphate pesticide known as Guthion, a close
relative of Dursban, which was banned last month by the U.S. EPA due to
unacceptable toxicity to children.
Although not allowed for home use, Guthion is among the
most toxic of chemicals to farmworkers. One way to protect farmworkers and
consumers from excessive exposures to this chemical is the 'reentry interval,'
or the amount of time that must pass after the pesticide is applied to a crop
before anyone can enter the field to pick the fruit or vegetables. The longer
the reentry interval, the lower the residues of the chemical on the plants the
workers handle and the food we buy. Of course, growers and chemical corporations
oppose long reentry intervals as they usually mean less use of the pesticide.
The California DPR had planned
to extend the allowable reentry interval for Guthion from 14 to 45-50 days. This
month, however, DPR reversed its decision based on a test, submitted by Bayer
Corporation, Guthion's manufacturer, on young adult human subjects purporting to
show no effects from the chemical. NRDC medical doctors reviewed reports from
this test and find it both scientifically and ethically bankrupt. The tests were
performed in Scotland, most likely because no ethics committee in the United
States would approve such a study. Ten young adults were paid to swallow pills
containing various doses of Guthion, and their blood was tested for indications
of acute organophosphate poisoning. Neither neurological testing nor long-term
medical follow-up was done. Scientifically the study was too small and too
poorly designed to draw any meaningful conclusions. Ethically the study was
abhorrent.
== What to do ==
Contact DPR Deputy Director Paul Gosselin telling him
that for both scientific and ethical reasons DPR should refuse to consider any
human testing of pesticides for the purpose of setting regulatory levels.
== Contact information ==
You can email Deputy Director Gosselin directly from NRDC's
Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information and sample letter below to send your own message.
Paul Gosselin, Deputy Director
Department of Pesticide Regulation
830 K St.
Sacramento, CA
95814-3510
Phone: 916-445-4000
Fax: 916-324-1452
Email:
dpr99003@cdpr.ca.gov
== Sample
letter ==
Dear Mr. Gosselin,
I am very concerned about the
Department of Pesticide Regulation's proposed reentry intervals for
azinphos-methyl (Guthion). The current proposal rests completely on human
testing that is questionable both scientifically and ethically. From a
scientific point of view, no guidelines exist for studies that purposely dose
humans with pesticides. Such studies have not been validated or standardized and
do not follow any established government guidelines. The Bayer study on Guthion
is bad science - it used tiny sample sizes and failed to adequately assess for
neurological effects.
From an
ethical viewpoint, studies purposely dosing humans with toxic chemicals are
abhorrent. These studies offer no conceivable benefit to anyone other than the
company that manufactures the chemical. The people who agree to participate in
these studies are in an economic situation where the money they are paid renders
them unable to give true informed consent. These people should not be the guinea
pigs of multinational chemical companies.
Use of the Bayer study will open the floodgates for other
pesticide manufacturers to feed their products to other unwitting 'volunteers'
around the world. We must stop this trend before it becomes established.
I urge you to refuse to accept
studies that purposely expose humans to pesticides. At a minimum, this issue
should be reviewed by the State Science Review Panel before any such studies are
used in rulemaking.
Sincerely,
[your name and address]
..
Urge your state representatives to vote for clean,
affordable, reliable energy
The restructuring of California's utility industry in 1996
jeopardized investments in new clean energy research and technology. In
response, the Public Benefits Charge (PBC) was established to ensure investment
in energy efficiency, renewable energy, low income energy services, and research
and development of clean energy technologies. Since 1996, the PBC (usually less
than three percent of consumers electric bills) has generated about $645 million
per year which has enhanced electricity reliability and substantially benefited
the state's environment and economy.
Senator Sher (D-Palo Alto) and Assemblyman Wright
(D-South-central Los Angeles) have introduced legislation to continue
California's leadership in affordable, safe, reliable, and environmentally
sustainable electricity service by extending the PBC for the next ten years. The
bill, however, scheduled for a vote in July or August, requires a two-thirds
majority in both houses to pass.
== What to do ==
Contact your
state senator and assemblyperson and urge them to vote "Yes" on SB 1194/AB 995.
== Contact information ==
You can send an email directly to your state legislators
from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/alertpr.pl?dir=nrdc&alert=26&_state=ca
..
Tell Los Angeles Mayor Riordan to
turn a rail yard into an urban park instead of industrial warehouses
Los Angeles is park poor, with
fewer acres per thousand residents than any other major city in the country. Now
an extraordinary multicultural coalition of community, environmental, civil
rights, historic preservation and business interests has offered a proposal to
turn the so-called "Chinatown Cornfield" -- a former rail yard located between
Chinatown and the Los Angeles River and the last vast open tract of land in
downtown Los Angeles -- into a 48-acre urban parkland of open space,
playgrounds, a school, a bikeway, and, at the same time, restore a critical
section of the Los Angeles River.
Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Planning Department recently
gave the green light to a proposal, supported by Mayor Richard Riordan, for
industrial and warehouse development of the Cornfield. Without requiring an
environmental impact report, and without even considering the community
coalition's alternative proposal, Los Angeles city planners illegally approved a
site plan submitted by Majestic Realty Corporation and Union Pacific Railroad
for 32 acres of industrial development.
Instead of warehouses and industry, the community
coalition's alternative would create a badly needed park in a city in desperate
need of more parkland. It would also provide land for a middle school or high
school and recreational facilities for the neighboring communities, protect
historic resources like the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail,
recently recognized as a National Millennium Trail, and be a major building
block in a long-term plan to reclaim and restore the Los Angeles River. Plus,
thanks to the voters' approval last March of Propositions 12 and 13 -- the parks
and water bonds -- funding is available to purchase the land.
== What to do ==
Contact Mayor Riordan and urge him to reverse the city
planners' decision and to instead support the community coalition's proposal to
convert the Cornfield into an urban park.
== Contact information ==
You can
email Mayor Riordan directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information and sample letter below to send your own message, and feel free to
add your own reasons for wanting a park instead of warehouses in downtown LA.
Mayor Richard Riordan
200 N. Main Street
City Hall East,
Room 800
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 847-2489
Fax: (213)
485-1286
Email: rriordan@mayor.ci.la.ca.us
== Sample letter ==
Dear Mayor Riordan:
I urge you to oppose the proposal
by Majestic Realty Corporation for 32 acres of warehouses and industrial
facilities at the Chinatown Cornfield. I also urge you to support creative
alternatives, such as that proposed by the Chinatown Yard Alliance to convert
the Cornfield into a 48-acre urban parkland of open space, playgrounds, a
school, a bikeway, and, at the same time, restore a critical section of the Los
Angeles River.
Los Angeles is
park poor, with fewer acres per thousand residents than any other major city in
the country. The Chinatown area suffers not only from a lack of parks, but also
from a lack of schools, and the William Mead housing project is desperately in
need of recreational facilities. And the Cornfield is an essential building
block in plans to reclaim and restore the Los Angeles River and adjacent
properties.
Please do all you
can to take advantage of available federal, state, and local funding to convert
the Cornfield from urban blight to an urban parkland that can serve the needs of
the surrounding communities and the residents of all of Los Angeles.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
..
Urge the Forest Service to protect the Sierra Nevada's
national forests
Decades of
logging, livestock grazing, and development have taken a heavy toll on the
national forests in California's Sierra Nevada. Old growth forests, which once
blanketed the Sierra's western slopes, now cover only 13 percent of the Sierra's
national forests. As a result, wildlife that live in these forests, such as the
California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher (a secretive forest carnivore that
dwells in deep woods), are threatened with extinction. The Sierra's rivers and
streams are also at risk.
After years of delay, the U.S. Forest Service has released
a proposal for managing national forests throughout the Sierra Nevada, from the
Sequoia National Forest in the southern Sierra to the Modoc National Forest in
northeastern California. When finalized, the plan will dictate the fate of the
Sierra's old growth forests and wildlife and will have a major impact on tourism
and recreation throughout the range. NRDC and other environmental groups have
developed an alternative proposal for managing the Sierra's national forests
that would preserve all remaining old growth forests and roadless areas, provide
strong protection for aquatic ecosystems, and restrict logging to thinning of
small trees in order to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire while
protecting and restoring wildlife habitat. Public support for this proposal,
described by the Forest Service as Alternative 5, is essential to convince the
Forest Service to adopt an environmentally protective plan, rather than !
one favoring logging and other destructive activities.
== What to do == The Forest
Service is accepting public comments on its proposed management plan through
August 11, 2000. Write and urge the agency to adopt a plan that will protect all
remaining old growth forests and roadless areas and provide the strongest
possible protection for streams and rivers. Use the sample letter we've
provided, edit it, or write your own.
== Contact information ==
You can
email the Park Service directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/cgi-bin/alertpr.pl?dir=nrdc&alert=28.
Or use the contact information and sample letter below to send your own message.
USDA Forest Service - CAET
Sierra Nevada Framework Project
Att'n: Brad Powell, Regional Forester
P.O. Box 7669
200 E. Broadway,
Room 301
Missoula, MT 59807
Fax: 406-329-3021
Email:
mailroom_wo_caet@fs.fed.us [if you send your comments via email, be sure to
include "SNFP Comments" in the subject line]
== Sample letter ==
Re: Sierra Nevada Management Plan
Dear Mr. Powell,
I am writing to urge you to
strengthen the existing proposals for protecting the Sierra Nevada's national
forests. Any plan for the Sierra Nevada should protect all remaining old growth
forests and roadless areas, and protect rivers, streams, and aquatic ecosystems
from logging and road building. Of the alternatives under consideration,
Alternative 5 should be adopted because it provides the greatest protection for
environmental values.
The
Forest Service's two "preferred alternatives" are both flawed. Alternative 6
would weaken existing protection for the California spotted owl, increasing the
risk of extinction. Alternative 8 is preferable to Alternative 6 but would still
allow logging of old growth forests, while failing to include the strongest
possible protection for rivers and streams.
The time has come for the Forest Service to manage the
national forests primarily for their environmental values, not for the purpose
of commodity production. Alternative 5 would best achieve that goal and should
be the basis for the Forest Service's final plan for managing the Sierra's
national forests.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
== Background ==
For information on Alternative 5 and the Sierra Nevada
national forests:
Sierra Nevada Forest Protection
Campaign at www.sierraforests.org
For information on
the Forest Service's proposal:
Forest Service web site
at www.r5.fs.fed.us/sncf/
..
Help create ocean wilderness
reserves around the Channel Islands
Currently, less than one-hundredth of one percent of U.S.
waters are closed to mining, drilling, and commercial and recreational fishing.
Environmentalists and concerned scientists and citizens have long pressed for
laws that would protect ocean areas from further devastation in much the same
way that our wildlands are protected in national parks, monuments, and
wilderness areas. In 1999, California passed such a law. The Marine Life
Protection Act establishes a system for creating marine reserves in California
waters, which extend three miles from the state coastline. Within these
reserves, pollution would be tightly controlled, and taking marine life -- from
fish to clams to coral -- would be prohibited. To date, however, no reserves
have been established.
Just
off the coast of southern California, the Channel Islands National Marine
Sanctuary is a veritable eden of marine life. Its kelp forests are home to sea
bass and garibaldi (the state fish), sea stars and sea urchins, octopus and
squid. Visitors come year-round to see dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions,
and in July, they witness migrating humpback whales, one of the dozens of marine
mammals which either live in or migrate through the islands' waters. But
although it is called a sanctuary, fishing is allowed almost everywhere, and
pollution levels are increasing while fish stocks are going down. To reduce
pollution and restrict destructive activities, NRDC and other groups are calling
for a network of reserves to be created around the Channel Islands before the
end of this year.
== What to
do ==
Contact the Marine Reserves Working Group and
urge the agency to create a network of marine reserves in the Channel Islands
National Marine Sanctuary that will protect and preserve California's ocean
waters and marine life.
==
Contact information ==
You can email the Marine
Reserves Working Group directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information and sample letter below to send your own message.
Matt Pickett, Channel Islands
National Marine Sanctuary
Patricia Wolf, California
Department of Fish and Game
Co-Chairs, Marine Reserves
Working Group
113 Harbor Way, Suite 150
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Fax:
805-568-1582 (Matt Pickett)
562-590-5192 (Patricia
Wolf)
Email: Matt.Pickett@noaa.gov
pwolf@hq.dfg.ca.gov
== Sample letter ==
Dear Mr. Pickett and Ms. Wolf:
I support establishing marine reserves to help protect the
full range of ocean life around the Channel Islands. The islands' unique ocean
ecosystem is one of California's greatest natural treasures. The Channel Islands
National Marine Sanctuary supports a rich diversity of life, including
productive kelp forests and reefs, over two dozen kinds of whales and dolphins,
and vibrant fish such as the garibaldi, our state fish. But fishing is allowed
virtually everywhere in the sanctuary, and heavy fishing pressure and other
activities have depleted fish species and put the unusual diversity of this area
at risk.
Like wilderness areas
on land, marine reserves protect natural resources from harmful human activities
by excluding destructive practices. Once habitats and fish are fully protected,
they recover and thrive. All around the world marine reserves have been shown to
contain more and larger fish and greater diversity than unprotected areas. I
urge you to create sizable ocean wilderness areas inside the Channel Islands
National Marine Sanctuary before the end of this year.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
..........
2) STATUS OF PREVIOUS alerts
DIESEL POLLUTION
In the past couple of months, we've asked you to take a
number of actions to help reduce toxic diesel pollution in southern California.
We're thrilled to report the following two important victories:
On May 25 the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Transit Authority voted unanimously to buy 370 compressed natural
gas transit buses, rejecting a staff recommendation to switch to diesel buses.
This great victory was made possible by your many hundreds of e-mails, letters
and calls to MTA board members urging that they only purchase clean alternative
fuel buses. Your voices were heard, as evidenced by both Supervisor Yvonne
Braithwaite Burke's leadership in moving to buy the clean fuel buses contrary to
the staff recommendation, and by Mayor Richard Riordan's switch of his previous
vote for diesel to a clean fuel vote, which ultimately helped sway the board to
support the purchase of clean fuel buses. These purchases will bring the MTA's
fleet of clean natural gas buses to over 1,000, making it the largest clean fuel
transit fleet in the country.
And on June 16th the South Coast Air Quality Management
District adopted three new rules governing public vehicle fleets in the South
Coast Air Basin that will help rid the region (including Los Angeles, Orange,
Riverside and San Bernardino counties) of toxic diesel pollution. The first rule
requires public fleets to buy only "low emitting" (i.e., gasoline or alternative
fuel) cars and light and medium duty trucks. The second requires all cities and
transit agencies to buy only alternative fuel buses, and the third requires all
public entities and their contractors to buy only alternative fuel garbage
trucks. The alternative fuel provisions alone will impact over 10,000 heavy duty
vehicles.
These are major
victories for clean fuels and public health. Once again, your actions made a
huge difference. Thank you!
..........
3) ABOUT OUR BULLETINS
This bulletin is distributed to members of NRDC's
California Activist Network. If this message was forwarded to you and you would
like to receive the bulletin directly, visit NRDC's Save Wild California website
at http://www.nrdc.org/wildcalifornia or see the
subscription instructions at the end of this bulletin.
In addition to our California
Activist Network Action Alert, the Natural Resources Defense Council distributes
EARTH ACTION, a biweekly bulletin calling out urgent environmental issues at the
national level and from around the country. To subscribe to EARTH ACTION, send a
blank email message from the email address at which you wish to receive the
bulletin to nrdc-action-subscribe@igc.topica.com.
NRDC also publishes another biweekly bulletin, LEGISLATIVE
WATCH, which tracks environmental bills moving through Congress. To subscribe to
LEGISLATIVE WATCH, send a blank email message from the email address at which
you wish to receive the bulletin to nrdc-news-subscribe@igc.topica.com.
..........
4) ABOUT NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense
Council is a nonprofit environmental organization with 400,000 members
nationwide and a staff of scientists, attorneys and environmental experts. Our
mission is to protect the world's natural resources and improve the quality of
the human environment.
For
more information about NRDC or how to become a member of NRDC, please contact us
at:
Natural Resources Defense
Council
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-727-2700
General email: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Save Wild California email: wildcalifornia@nrdc.org
from the Nature Conservancy July 20, 2000
NATURE CONSERVANCY Nature News for July 2000
Welcome to Nature News - our once
a month peek into the
state of the planet. Learn what
lands, waters, plants
and animals The Nature
Conservancy is working to save
and where to find more
information. For general information
about The Nature
Conservancy, please visit our Web site:
http://www.tnc.org.
************************************************************
CONTENTS
1. Good Cow, Bad Cow
2. Komodo Dragons Disappearing Lair
3. Old Growth, New Insights
4.
Visit the Waters and the Wild
5. Fast Fact - Coral
Reefs
************************************************************
1. Good Cow, Bad Cow
Are cows bovine bullies or
catalysts for grassland ecosystems?
The answer may be
both. No longer is the blame for the beaten
range to be
pinned solely on the four-legged beast of burden.
Rather the solution ultimately lies with the two-legged
keeper
walking behind it.
To read more, visit: http://www.tnc.org/magazine/story1p_nav.html
************************************************************
2. Komodo Dragons Disappearing
Lair
Indonesia's Komodo
National Park is home to a living dinosaur:
the Komodo
Dragon. The park also includes islands, coral reefs,
and mangroves. The cool Indian Ocean also meets warmer seas
here,
creating a rich mix of marine life. However,
pollution and
destructive fishing practices threaten
these beautiful waters.
Thanks to the Conservancy's
partnership with the park authority,
however, solutions
are being developed to help preserve this
pristine
place.
To learn
more, click:
http://www.tnc.org/infield/intprograms/asiapacific/facts/komodo_nav.htm
************************************************************
3. Old Growth, New Insights
The Conservancy recently
protected 2,000 acres of hardwood forest
in northern
Minnesota. Sugar maples, lakes, and uncommon plants
are
all found in this old growth forest. Some trees here are
200 years old and require the arm length of two people to
encircle
their trunks. Such old growth forests are
increasingly rare and
provide important laboratories
for research on how forests function.
Find out more by going to: http://www.tnc.org/success/index_nav.html
************************************************************
4. Visit the Waters
and the Wild
Jabiru stork,
capuchins monkeys, and pink and gray dolphins are
your
likely neighbors on The Nature Conservancy's Peruvian Amazon
voyage. This is just one of several international trips
sponsored
by the Conservancy that allow members to
experience firsthand,
the Last Great Places they help
to protect.
To view upcoming
international trips, click:
http://www.tnc.org/infield/intprograms/intrips/00trips_nav.htm
************************************************************
5. Fast Fact - Coral Reefs
Komodo National Park's coral reefs
are being destroyed by dynamite
fishing and cyanide
used to stun and capture fish for aquariums.
Globally,
10 percent of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed
and another 20 percent are in grave peril.
************************************************************
from Environment News Service July 19, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
INTERIOR BUDGET PASSES SENATE,
MINUS RIDER BLOCKING MONUMENTS
WASHINGTON, DC, July 19, 2000 (ENS) - By a narrow margin,
the U.S. Senate
has voted against blocking presidents
from using their executive authority
to set aside lands
as national monuments. The measure, a proposed rider on
the fiscal year 2001 budget bill for the Department of
Interior, was narowly
defeated 50 to 49.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-19-07.html
******************************************************************
COLOMBIAN COCA CROP TARGETED
FOR FUNGAL CONTROL
NEW YORK,
New York, July 19, 2000 (ENS) -Cocaine, an addictive drug linked
to crime and human tragedy, is also bad for the
environment. The United
Nations is considering
developing a natural herbicide that could destroy
coca
crops and prevent the release of tons of toxic substances into the
environment of Columbia, the largest coca producer in the
world.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-19-06.html
******************************************************************
PENGUINS RETURN TO SOUTH
AFRICAN ISLANDS AFTER OIL SPILL
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 19, 2000 (ENS) -
</b>African penguins that
were evacuated and treated after the world's
worst oil spill to affect
coastal birds, are
returning to clean nesting grounds off the southern
coast of South Africa.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-19-10.html
******************************************************************
AUSTRIAN TRANSIT FIGHT CENTERS
ON ECOPOINTS
BRUSSELS,
Belgium, July 19, 2000 (ENS) - The European Commission has
threatened chaos for haulage firms crossing Austria by
refusing to hand out
new transit permits until EU
transport ministers agree to a general
reduction in the
number of "ecopoints."
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-19-03.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
AMERISCAN: JULY 19, 2000
Energy, Water Budget Bill Passes Senate Committee
Pennsylvania Mandates Big Cut in
Smog-Causing Emissions
Washington Scientists Study Ecosystem Changes in Africa
Patented Process Packs Depleted
Uranium in Plastic Nutrient
Pollution in Lakes Creates Complex Problem
Minnesota Battles Rising Tide of
Waste, Runoff
Public Private
Partnership Keeps Pesticides Off Wisconsin Potatoes
Lake Sturgeon Reintroduced to French Broad River
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-19-09.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All
Rights Reserved.
***************************************************************************
SEND
NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com
******************************************************************
TRANSMIT YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON
E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
******************************************************************
from Natural Resources Defense Council July 20, 2000
Natural Resources Defense Council's
LEGISLATIVE WATCH
July 20, 2000
******************************
Contents:
1) LEGISLATIVE WATCH
2) ABOUT OUR
BULLETINS
3) ABOUT NRDC
The information in this bulletin -- and more -- is also
available at our website -- http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/legwatch.asp. The web
version links to the text of bills and Congressional web pages. If you'd like to
take action on legislative and other environmental issues, see below for
instructions on subscribing to EARTH ACTION, our biweekly activist bulletin, or
visit NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action, where you can contact
legislators and other decisionmakers directly from our website.
1)
LEGISLATIVE WATCH
This is a
status report on Congressional action on the environment. To make the changes
from week to week easy to find, we've highlighted them with:
= N O T E ! =
7/20/00
During the past couple of weeks, a number of
anti-environment provisions made their way through the Congressional
appropriations process. Legislative riders attached to recently advanced funding
bills would block EPA enforcement of new water protection rules, allow
environmental damage from grazing on public lands to continue, and potentially
impede international efforts to address global warming. Also worth noting, the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is currently considering a major
land and water conservation bill that would authorize substantial funds for
federal and state land acquisition and coastal and marine protection.
..
Budget
=
N O T E ! =
This week, the Senate is expected to vote
on its version of the Agriculture spending bill. The bill contains provisions
that would block new hardrock mining regulations and transfer land from a
coastal wildlife refuge and a national seashore to allow the construction of
environmentally damaging jetties.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/18, the Senate
passed the Interior spending bill, which fails to adequately fund conservation
programs. Moreover, it contains provisions that would allow grazing to continue
on public lands without environmental review and could interfere with efforts to
combat global warming. The bill would also allow mining in a national forest in
the Ozarks and impede the creation of a wildlife refuge on the border of Indiana
and Illinois. On a positive note, an amendment offered by Sen. Nickles (R-OK) to
prohibit funding for national monuments designated by President Clinton was
rejected by the Senate on 7/18. A similar provision was removed from the House
bill on 6/16. An amendment to block the President. s roadless forest protection
plan was also withdrawn, representing an additional victory for
environmentalists.
= N O T E !
=
Also on 7/18, the Senate Appropriations Committee
considered the Energy and Water spending bill. The bill includes a rider that
would block implementation of emergency conservation measures aimed at
preventing the extinction of the silvery minnow in the Rio Grande, one of the
river. s last remaining endemic species. Both House and Senate bills also
eliminate all funding for the California Bay-Delta Restoration program. The
House passed its version of the bill on 6/28.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/13, President
Clinton signed the Military Construction spending bill into law. After the bill
had passed both the House and the Senate, and while it was being considered in
conference committee, several members of Congress managed to slip a provision
into the bill that blocks implementation of the EPA. s new clean water rules
meant to reduce levels of polluted runoff in rivers and streams.
= N O T E ! =
Also on 7/13, the House passed the Foreign Operations
spending bill, which includes provisions that could burden international efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the federal government. s
participation in international efforts to curb global warming. The Senate will
begin consideration of its version of the bill sometime this week and is
expected to pass the bill before the August recess.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/11, the House
passed the Department of Agriculture funding bill. The full House approved an
amendment offered by Rep. Kelly (R-NY) and Rep. Kanjorski (D-PA) to remove a
rider that would have prohibited funding for the American Heritage Rivers
Initiative, a Clinton administration initiative to coordinate local, state, and
federal river management. Rep. Knollenberg (R-MI) was forced to substitute more
narrow language in place of broad restrictions on domestic and international
climate change activities funded by the Department of Agriculture that he and
Rep. Emerson (R-MO) had tried to attach this year to the House Agriculture bill.
On 6/21, the House passed the
VA/HUD spending bill, which inadequately funds the EPA. In particular, funding
for enforcement action has been cut. Efforts to remove provisions in the bill
that could block new protections against arsenic in drinking water and prevent
the cleanup of contaminated sediments in rivers across the country were
unsuccessful. The bill also contains a provision that would impede stronger
clean water protections. In addition, the House added a provision offered on the
floor by Rep. Linder (R-GA) and Rep. Collins (R-GA) that would delay the EPA's
implementation of the Clean Air Act.
On 6/15, the Senate passed the Transportation spending
bill, which includes language encouraging Congress to authorize a study on the
impacts of raising fuel efficiency standards for cars. This language is a
response to a rider included in the House Transportation funding bill, passed on
5/19, which would prohibit the federal government from considering the
possibility of raising these important standards. The bill awaits consideration
by the House-Senate conference committee.
..
Clean
Air and Energy
= N O T E ! =
In a move applauded by environmentalists, Reps. Lazio
(R-NY) and Boehlert (R-NY) introduced a bill (H.R. 4861) designed to reduce
mercury, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide emissions from old
coal-fired power plants. Rep. Lazio. s bill joins several other bills that would
reduce these four pollutants.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/18, Sen.
Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Gramm (R-TX) introduced a comprehensive electricity
restructuring bill. Environmentalists have criticized this bill for its failure
to address the environmental impacts of electricity generation, the largest
industrial source of air pollution in the country. Although electric power
plants create over two-thirds of sulfur dioxide pollution and about one-third of
the pollution from carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury, the bill lacks
national emissions standards for these pollutants. It also lacks provisions for
energy efficiency and fails to promote the use of renewable resources. In the
House, Rep. Bliley (R-VA) recently postponed consideration of a similar bill to
deregulate the electric power industry (H.R. 2944). This bill also lacks
environmental protections.
On
6/30, the Senate unanimously passed S. 2071, a bill that seeks to improve the
reliability of the national electric grid to avoid brownouts and power failures.
The bill contains no environmental safeguards or energy-efficiency provisions.
Environmentalists are pressing for provisions to protect air quality and
encourage the use of renewable energy sources in any electricity legislation
that advances this year.
On
6/13, Sen. Smith (R-NH), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, introduced a bipartisan bill to provide tax incentives for
energy-efficient schools and commercial and residential buildings (S. 2718). The
Smith bill is supported by environmental groups because it could dramatically
reduce energy use in buildings, saving consumers and building owners money. It
would also cut emissions of air pollutants in the United States by 6 percent by
the year 2010, which is the equivalent of removing 40 percent of the cars from
the nation's roads.
..
Coast and Ocean Protection
On 6/15, the Senate Commerce
Committee approved S. 1534, which reauthorizes a popular program that provides
federal grants to states for coastal management. Environmentalists support the
Senate bill because it provides dedicated funding to reduce coastal nonpoint
pollution -- pollution not from a single industrial source but from diffuse
sources such as agricultural runoff and city sewer overflows. The House
companion bill, H.R. 2669, which passed the House Resources Committee in
November, does not include a nonpoint pollution provision. Further, it contains
a provision that would severely undermine the coastal zone program by altering
the legal standards that apply to the taking of private property in coastal
areas.
..
Environmental Enforcement
= N O T E ! =
On 7/13, the Senate passed the Department of Defense
authorization bill after reaching a compromise on a contentious provision that
would have impeded the ability of federal and state governments to assess fines
and penalties for environmental violations at military facilities. At the urging
of Sen. Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Stevens (R-AK), who authored the original provision,
agreed to compromise language that ensures that military facilities will pay
fines for violations of state environmental laws. Congress would nonetheless
have the right to a three-year review period for federal fines over $1.5
million. While this is an improvement over the original provision, the
environmental community opposes language that undermines the ability of the EPA
to enforce large environmental fines at military facilities.
..
Everglades
On 6/28, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
approved legislation (S. 2797) authorizing a massive public works project led by
the Army Corps of Engineers that includes water projects that may help restore
the Everglades. The Clinton administration's Everglades plan, if properly
implemented, could restore waterflows and bolster declining wildlife populations
in south Florida and represent a significant step toward reversing severe
ecological damage that has been caused by water diversion. To be effective,
however, Everglades legislation must ensure adequate water flow for the
restoration and authorize the Department of Interior to play a central role in
overseeing the project, which S. 2797 does not yet do.
..
Forests
=
N O T E ! =
On 7/12, the House passed a Senate bill to
authorize the purchase of the 95,000-acre Baca Ranch in New Mexico. The bill (S.
1892), introduced by Sen. Domenici (R-NM) and Sen. Bingaman (D-NM) and passed in
the Senate on 4/13, would authorize the Forest Service to purchase the ranch as
a national preserve. Environmentalists are concerned about provisions in the
bill that would create a multi-member "trust" to manage the ranch and impose a
requirement of financial self-sufficiency, which could lead to increased
economic exploitation of the ranch. The bill would also establish a new program
for disposal of federal lands.
On 5/9, the Department of Agriculture released its plan to
protect up to 60 million acres of national forests from roadbuilding. This plan
has two huge loopholes that could leave millions of wild forest acres open to
development. First, the plan does not prohibit logging in these "protected"
areas. Second, it exempts the crown jewel of the national forest system and the
forest most in need of protection, the Tongass rainforest in southeast Alaska.
..
Hazardous Waste
On 6/29, a Senate subcommittee
held a hearing on S. 2700, a bipartisan bill introduced on 6/8 by Sens. Smith
(R-NH), Baucus (D-MT), Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Chafee (R-RI) that would fund
cleanup of brownfields, which are former industrial sites contaminated with
toxic waste. Environmentalists generally support brownfields cleanup when it
encourages revitalization and redevelopment in urban areas without creating
risks to public health and the environment.
..
Public
Health
On 6/15, the Senate
Commerce Committee passed Sen. McCain. s (R-AZ) pipeline safety bill, S. 2438.
Although modest improvements were made to the bill, environmentalists remain
concerned that the bill does not go far enough to provide strict liability and
strong penalties for pipeline ruptures, allow citizen suits for pipeline
accidents, develop federal guidelines for hazardous liquid pipelines, enhance
community right-to-know laws, and add enforcement and whistleblower protections.
..
Public Lands
= N O T E ! =
On 7/19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
began consideration of S. 2567, a compromise bill that would provide funding for
state and federal land and water conservation programs. Although provisions on
federal land acquisitions have been improved, environmentalists are still
concerned about negative impacts on coastal areas including incentives for
increased oil and gas drilling off the coast of Alaska, and the potential for
funding environmentally destructive activities such as beach nourishment
projects and the construction of bulkheads and coastal roads.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/13, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
passed S. 2048 to establish the San Rafael Western Legacy District and
Conservation Area in a unique and starkly beautiful area in southern Utah known
as the San Rafael Swell. The legislation omits numerous spectacular parts of the
Swell and does not adequately curb the extensive off-road vehicle activity that
is damaging the area's fragile resources. Further, as introduced, the bill would
not designate a single acre of wilderness. On 6/17, the House began
consideration of the companion bill, H.R. 3605, introduced by Rep. Cannon
(R-UT). But because the House could not agree on amendments to the bill, it was
withdrawn from consideration.
On 6/7, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
approved S. 729, introduced by Sen. Craig (R-ID), which seeks to impede the
President from designating new national monuments. The momentum for this
legislation was undercut by a recent Senate vote defeating a similar proposal to
limit funding for national monuments designated by President Clinton.
On 5/11, the House passed the
Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 2000 by a vote of 315-102. Developed as a
compromise between Rep. Young (R-AK) and Rep. Miller (D-CA), the bill would
provide landmark levels of critically needed funding for land, wildlife, marine
coastal, historic and cultural conservation needs. The bill was amended to
eliminate the provision that would create significant incentives for increased
oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and to establish a framework for
acquisition of non-federal lands of regional or national interest. However, a
number of problems remain in the bill that need to be fixed before it is signed
into law, including removing remaining incentives for offshore drilling and
ensuring that the millions of federal dollars that will flow to coastal states
are spent in ways that help, not harm the environment; ensuring that non-game
and vulnerable wildlife species receive funding; and guaranteeing that all
eligible federal land and water!
conservation funds
will be spent and that new procedures established for land acquisition will not
hamper agency efforts to protect important areas. The Senate version of this
bill is discussed above.
..
Regulatory Reform
On 6/29, the House Government
Reform Committee approved by a party-line vote a bill (H.R. 4744) to add an
additional review by the General Accounting Office of major rules proposed by
federal agencies. H.R. 4744 is opposed by environmentalists because it could
create significant obstacles to the rulemaking process that could be used to
delay important new public health and environmental protections. It calls on the
GAO to conduct its own analysis of the costs and benefits of an agency's rules
rather than evaluating the agency's analysis. On 5/9, the Senate unanimously
passed a less damaging version of this bill (S. 1198).
..........
2) About Our Bulletins
The Natural Resources Defense
Council distributes four bulletins by mailing list:
EARTH ACTION is sent biweekly and calls out urgent
environmental issues requiring individual action. To subscribe, visit the Earth
Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action or send a message to
nrdcaction@nrdc.org with SUBSCRIBE EARTH ACTION BULLETIN in the subject line. To
unsubscribe from the EARTH ACTION BULLETIN, send an email message to
nrdcaction@nrdc.org with UNSUBSCRIBE EARTH ACTION BULLETIN in the subject line.
LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent
biweekly when Congress is in session and tracks environmental bills moving
through the federal legislature. To subscribe to Legislative Watch, send an
email message to nrdcaction@nrdc.org with SUBSCRIBE LEGISLATIVE WATCH in the
subject line. To unsubscribe, send an email message to nrdcaction@nrdc.org with
UNSUBSCRIBE LEGISLATIVE WATCH in the subject line.
The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK ACTION ALERT is distributed
bimonthly to members of NRDC's California Activist Network and provides action
tools to Californians and others concerned with protecting the state's natural
resources and the health of its citizens. To join the network, visit NRDC's Save
Wild California website at http://www.nrdc.org/wildcalifornia or send an email
message to wildcalifornia@nrdc.org with SUBSCRIBE CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK in
the subject line. To unsubscribe, send an email message to
wildcalifornia@nrdc.org with UNSUBSCRIBE CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK in the
subject line.
The
EARTHSMARTCARS BULLETIN is distributed bimonthly by request to people who have
joined NRDC's earthsmartcars campaign by signing our petition urging automakers
to manufacture hybrid gasoline-electric cars. To sign the petition and receive
the bulletin, visit our website at http://www.nrdc.org/earthsmartcars. To unsubscribe from
the EARTHSMARTCARS BULLETIN, send a blank email message to
leave-earthsmartcars@earth.lyris.net.
..........
3) About NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
environmental organization with 400,000 members nationwide and a staff of
scientists, lawyers and environmental experts. Our mission is to protect the
world's natural resources and improve the quality of the human environment.
For more information about NRDC or
how to become a member of NRDC, please contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense Council
40 West 20th Street
NY, NY
10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
from Global Response July 20, 2000
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
In early June we issued a
first call for letters in support of thousands of
non-violent protesters in Thailand who oppose construction
of World
Bank-financed Pak Mun dam. Police
attacks and arrests continue. Please
join
this letter campaign requested by Southeast Asia Rivers Network.
URGENT ACTION ALERT! ELDERLY WOMEN AND OTHERS
BEATEN, TEAR-GASSED, AND
ARRESTED IN THAILAND FOR
BRINGING GRIEVANCES TO THE GOVERNMENT!
Please fax and email Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and the
Thai Ambassador
to the U.S., Nitya Pibulsonggram, Fax:
202 944-3611.
Let them know
that the Assembly of the Poor and other villagers from Pak
Mun are not alone in their fight for survival and dignity!
Let them know
that we are watching as Thai police
arrest children and tear-gas eldery
women...but we are not going to just stand-by!
Demand an immediate
solution to the problem by
implementing the recommendations of the plenary,
and
open the gates of the Pak Mun dam!
For more information about the Pak Mun dam, see
www.irn.org/programs/mekong.
Email addresses for the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington,
D.C.:
thai.wsn@thaiembdc.org, consular@thaiembdc.org,
officedma@dma.thaiembdc.org,
officedma@dma.thaiembdc.org, inquiries@oca.thaiembdc.org
SAMPLE LETTER TO MR. CHUAN
LEEKPAI:
INSERT DATE
The Honorable Mr. Chuan Leekpai
Prime Minister of Thailand
Fax: 662-2475417 or 662-2801443
Dear Mr. Chuan,
I am writing to express my outrage
at the treatment of members of the
Assembly of the Poor
and other villagers at the Government House on July
17,
in which hundreds were arrested, beaten, and tear-gassed, including
children and many elderly women.
This conduct is unacceptable and
deserves international condemnation. The
mere fact that
a two-year-old-child was among those arrested, and that
elderly women were gassed with chemical agents should be a
source of
immense shame.
The Assembly of the Poor and the other protestors are
acting out of
desperation because your government has
still failed to implement the
recommendations of the
panel which met on June 14. This panel recommended
that
the sluice gates of the Pak Mun dam be opened for at least four months
to allow fish migrations in the river to occur. The panel
also deliberated
on 15 other grievances of the Assembly
of the Poor.
Were the panel's
recommendations heeded, the Pak Mun villagers and the
Assembly of the Poor would be able to concentrate their
activities on
making a living, rather than having to
struggle for their survival and
their future.
I urge you to open the gates of
the Pak Mun dam immediately, and to comply
fully with
the recommendations of the of the committee set up to address
the 16 conflicts under the banner of the Assembly of the
Poor. I also urge
you to immediately release all those
arrested in connection with this
incident.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXX
***************************************
Thai Government Denying Human
Rights!
Arrest of 200 Villagers at Government House
July 17, 2000
At 14:45 (2:45 p.m.) today (Monday, 17 July 2000), the
Chuan government
ordered more than 1,000 policemen to
forcibly remove protesters of the
Assembly of the Poor
from the area around the Government House. One group
of
200 protesters inside the grounds of the Government House were arrested
and
removed by about 600 policemen
and women from the area in more than ten
vehicles.
Somparn Kuendee, advisor to the
Assembly and a staff member of the
Southeast Asia
Rivers Network (SEARIN), reported by cell phone just prior
to herself being arrested, that a representative of the
police announced to
the protesters that they had
tresspassed onto government property and would
be
arrested. While making the arrests, Somparn said that some police
harranged the protesters. At this moment, the police took
the arrested
protesters to the Police Officer Academy
located at Klong Hok in Pathum
Thainai and the Police
Officer Academy located at the Region One Border
Patrol
Police Headquarters in Salaya in Nakorn Pathom.
Most of those arrested were senior citizens, women, and
children, one of
them being only two years old.
The other group of 500 protesters
were pushed and beaten back across the
Prempracha canal
by about 500-600 police armed with batons and shields and
their the vehicle with their loudspeaker was confiscated.
About 30
villagers were injured. Two of them were so
seriously injured that they
were sent to Wachirat
Hospital for treatment.
At
3:15 p.m., a press conference was held at the SEARIN office by the
Academics for the Poor led by Professor Nidhi Iaosriwong
from Chiang Mai
University and Mr. Somchai Sirichai of
the Northern Farmer's Network.
Professor Nidhi argued
that we need to understand the historical context of
the protest staged by the Assembly of the Poor,
particularly the Pak Moon
villagers who have been
waiting for an acceptable resolution by the
government
for 16 months. But the government has shown its indifference to
the suffering of the people despite the recommendations
made by the
committee set up by the government itself
to investigate the issue.
The
actions taken by the government indicate the govenrment's apathy and
the
consistent preference for
violence in resolving conflicts with the poor.
Professor Nidhi urged that the people in Bangkok and in
Thai society in
general recognize the government's
illegitimate use of violence and the
narrow-minded and
undemocratic attitude prevalent in the Democrat-led
government. This can be used against other powerless
segments of Thai
society any time. The fact that the
affected people occupied the premises
of the Government
House should be seen as their attempt to negotiate with a
government that refuses to listen to their long-standing
problems. Denied
any other avenues to have their
grievances heard, they are given only this
limited
choice. The middle class should understand that the protesters are
not initiating any violence or merely agitating. They have,
on the
contrary, been ignored and deprived of their
right to register their
grievance.
Mr. Somchai condemned the
government and demanded the immediate release of
the
detained villagers.
We call
upon our international network of friends and those concerned to
take action. First, please stage a protest at any Royal
Thai Embassies,
especially in Washington, D.C., Tokyo,
Sydney and any country of the
European Union. Second,
please send a fax to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
or to
any Royal Thai Embassy abroad.
The message of any protest or fax should speak against the
use of violence,
demand the immediate release of the
arrested protesters, and call for the
government to
comply fully with the recommednations of the committee set up
to address the 16 conflicts under the banner of the
Aseembly of the Poor.
Most immediate is the opening of
the gates at Pak Mun Dam. However, the
government must
also immediately address the remaining 15 unresolved
issues, seven covering dams, another seven concerning land
rights, and a
final one concerning the negative effects
of the Chong Mek Development
Project.
South-East Asia Rivers Network
(SEARIN)
--------------------------------------
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.
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Boulder CO, USA 80306-7490
Fax: 303/449-9794
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ATT00002.html
(Text attachment)
from League of Conservation Voters July 20, 2000
================
LCV-Update 7/20
================
Senate Interior Appropriations Update: "Monuments" rider
defeated
On Tuesday, July 18,
during consideration of the Senate Interior
Appropriations bill, Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) introduced
a damaging
amendment to strip the President's authority
to designate national
monuments.
Under the Antiquities Act of 1906,
the President has the ability to create
protected areas
on lands owned by the federal government. For example, the
current administration has designated the 328,000-acre
Giant Sequoia
National Monument in northern California
to safeguard century-old trees
from development.
Sen. Nickles's proposed rider
would have curtailed the President's powers
to protect
open spaces, exercised by nearly every President since Teddy
Roosevelt's designation of the Grand Canyon National
Monument in 1908. The
environmental community was
strongly opposed to the Nickles amendment,
which was
defeated by a vote of 49-50 (see vote below; "+" is the
pro-environment vote).
LCV encourages you to write or call your Senators about
their vote on this
issue, thanking them for supporting
the environment or objecting to their
anti-environment
position. Check the list below to see how your Senators
voted.
Capitol Switchboard number: 202-224-3121
Address: Your Senator, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20515
Don't know who your U.S.
Senators are or how to contact them? Use the
Congressional look-up feature on LCV's Web site at:
http://www.lcv.org/actioncenter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key: + indicates a
pro-environment vote, - indicates a vote against the
environment, ? indicates an absence, 0 indicates an
ineligibility to vote.
Nickles
monument amendment
Alabama
Shelby (R) -
Sessions, J.
(R) -
Alaska
Stevens
(R) -
Murkowski
(R) -
Arizona
McCain
(R) -
Kyl (R) -
Arkansas
Hutchinson, T.
(R) -
Lincoln
(D) +
California
Feinstein
(D) +
Boxer (D) +
Colorado
Campbell, B.
(R) -
Allard (R) -
Connecticut
Dodd (D) +
Lieberman
(D) +
Delaware
Roth (R) +
Biden
(D) +
Florida
Graham, B.
(D) +
Mack (R) -
Georgia
Coverdell
(R) ?
Cleland
(D) +
Hawaii
Inouye
(D) +
Akaka (D) +
Idaho
Craig (R) -
Crapo
(R) -
Illinois
Durbin (D) +
Fitzgerald
(R) +
Indiana
Lugar
(R) +
Bayh (D) +
Iowa
Grassley
(R) -
Harkin (D) +
Kansas
Brownback
(R) -
Roberts
(R) -
Kentucky
McConnell
(R) -
Bunning
(R) -
Louisiana
Breaux (D) +
Landrieu
(D) +
Maine
Snowe
(R) -
Collins, S.
(R) -
Maryland
Sarbanes
(D) +
Mikulski
(D) +
Massachusetts
Kennedy, E.
(D) +
Kerry, J.
(D) +
Michigan
Levin, C.
(D) +
Abraham
(R) -
Minnesota
Wellstone
(D) +
Grams, R.
(R) -
Mississippi
Cochran
(R) -
Lott (R) -
Missouri
Bond (R) -
Ashcroft
(R) -
Montana
Baucus, M.
(D) +
Burns (R) -
Nebraska
Kerrey, R.
(D) +
Hagel (R) -
Nevada
Reid, H.
(D) +
Bryan (D) +
New Hampshire
Smith, R.C.
(R) -
Gregg (R) -
New Jersey
Lautenberg
(D) +
Torricelli
(D) +
New
Mexico
Domenici
(R) -
Bingaman
(D) +
New
York
Moynihan
(D) +
Schumer
(D) +
North
Carolina
Helms
(R) -
Edwards, J.
(D) +
North
Dakota
Conrad
(D) +
Dorgan (D) +
Ohio
DeWine (R) +
Voinovich
(R) -
Oklahoma
Nickles
(R) -
Inhofe (R) -
Oregon
Wyden (D) +
Smith, G.
(R) -
Pennsylvania
Specter
(R) -
Santorum
(R) -
Rhode
Island
Reed, J.
(D) +
Chafee, Lincoln
(R) +
South
Carolina
Thurmond, S.
(R) -
Hollings
(D) +
South
Dakota
Daschle
(D) +
Johnson, T.
(D) +
Tennessee
Thompson, F.
(R) -
Frist (R) -
Texas
Gramm, P.
(R) -
Hutchison, K.
(R) -
Utah
Hatch
(R) -
Bennett
(R) -
Vermont
Leahy
(D) +
Jeffords
(R) +
Virginia
Warner (R) -
Robb
(D) +
Washington
Gorton, S.
(R) -
Murray (D) +
West Virginia
Byrd (D) -
Rockefeller
(D) +
Wisconsin
Kohl (D) +
Feingold
(D) +
Wyoming
Thomas, C.
(R) -
Enzi (R) -
===================================================================
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==================================================================
from Sierra Club July 20, 2000
SC-ACTION Vol.
II, #235
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
July 19, 2000
------------------------QUOTE OF THE
DAY-----------------------------
"I never worry about action, only inaction."
- Sir Winston Churchill
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Representative to Sign a Letter
on Behalf of
Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera
2) Global Warming and Energy: Auto
Industry Research Demonstrates Psyche of
SUV Drivers
3) CARA on the move in the
Senate, But Still In Need of Repair
4) VICTORY FOR NATIONAL MONUMENTS!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1)
TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Representative to Sign on to Rep. Pelosi's Letter
to Mexican Judge on Behalf of Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro
Cabrera
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA), a Congressional champion on human rights and the
environment, is circulating a letter addressed to Judge
Maclovio Murillo
Chavez on behalf of Mexican
environmental defenders Rodolfo Montiel and
Teodoro
Cabrera.
Montiel and Cabrera
have been imprisoned since early May 1999 for their
efforts to stop forest destruction in Mexico's Southern
Sierra Madre. When
Montiel and Cabrera were successful
in halting the rampant logging in the
area, they were
detained by soldiers of Mexico's 40th Infantry Battalion and
were subsequently tortured and forced to sign confessions
of concocted
charges of illegal possession of weapons
and drug trafficking.
Judge
Murillo is expected to rule on Montiel and Cabrera's case in the coming
weeks. Rep. Pelosi's letter expresses concern about the
arrest and the legal
proceedings against Montiel and
Cabrera and urges Judge Murillo to remain
impartial in
rendering his judgment in the case.
In April of this year, Montiel was awarded the Goldman
Environmental Prize,
often referred to as the Nobel
Prize for environmental activism. Also in
April,
Amnesty International declared Montiel and Cabrera Prisoners of
Conscience, which triggers Amnesty's call for them to be
immediately and
unconditionally released.
Over the past 12 months, the
Sierra Club's Human Rights and the Environment
Campaign
has mobilized tremendous grassroots support on behalf of Montiel and
Cabrera. Thousands of activists around the country have
mailed postcards and
letters to Mexican officials and
have organized rallies and attended meetings
at Mexican
Consulates from coast to coast. Despite our best efforts, we have
received disturbing reports in recent weeks that the
conditions for Montiel
and Cabrera have become worse as
they have been reportedly denied medical
attention for
severe injuries suffered during their torture more than a year
ago.
Please take a moment to contact your Representative to urge
him/her to sign
on to Rep. Pelosi's letter. The
deadline for signing on is Friday, July 21st,
at 5:00
p.m. Please have your Representative contact Jonathan Stivers in Rep.
Pelosi's office at (202) 225-4965.
For more information, please
contact Sam Parry at (202) 547-1141, or
sam.parry@sierraclub.org. You can also visit our Web site
at
www.sierraclub.org/human-rights.
2) Global
Warming and Energy: Auto Industry Research Demonstrates Psyche of
SUV Drivers
The New York Times has reported that there is a
psychological difference
between those who drive SUVs
and those who drive minivans. According to a
July 17, 2000 article, the auto industry has paid
researchers handsomely to
examine these customers'
inner urges. In fact, automakers have been using
this research to help determine the way their cars and
trucks are designed
and advertised. (So much for the
argument that they are "merely following the
market
with the vehicles our customers demand.") Research has shown that,
among other differences, minivan drivers are more
"other-oriented" - more
involved with family, friends
and their community, where as SUV drivers are,
in the
automakers words, more "self-oriented."
SUVs are designed to appeal to our fears of violence and
crime, according to
Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, a medical
anthropologist who has advised Ford,
DaimlerChrysler
and General Motors. He states that SUVs are designed to be
masculine and assertive with vertical slats across the
grilles to give the
appearance of teeth and flared
wheel wells meant to resemble bulging muscles.
Honda's Thomas Eliott, vice president of North
American operations states,
"They are buying the image
of the SUV first and then the functionality."
According
to DaimlerChrysler's director of market research, Peter Bostwick,
safety during an accident isn't the real reason people are
buying SUVs.
"It's not safety as the issue, it's
aggressiveness."
In contrast,
those who drive minivans are more likely than SUV drivers to
take part in conversations with their friends, attend
family gatherings,
read, do volunteer work and
participate in church functions. Minivan drivers
are also less likely to balk at being
parents. Minivan drivers "want to be
in
control in terms of safety, being able to park and maneuver in traffic,
being able to get elderly people in and out", according to
Fred J. Schaafsma,
a top GM development engineer.
Not surprisingly, auto market
research company Auto Pacific has found that,
SUV
drivers show less courtesy on the road than minivan drivers. Those who
drive SUVs were more likely to agree with the statement,
"I'm a great
driver," and claimed to drive faster than
the average motorists.
3) CARA on the move in the Senate, But Still In Need of
Repair
The Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee began consideration today
of a major conservation funding bill, the "Conservation and
Reinvestment
Act," or "CARA." The committee
spent the day making opening statements and
explaining
the details of the bill, and will begin debate on the bill and
amendments tomorrow. The "vehicle" for mark-up
is a compromise version of
CARA, agreed to last week by
Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and
Ranking
Member Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
Since CARA's introduction, we have maintained serious
concerns that it
creates incentives for new offshore
oil and gas leasing in sensitive coastal
areas, could
provide hundreds of millions of dollars for damaging
infrastructure projects, and could actually weaken the
federal Land and Water
Conservation Fund. In some
regards, the compromise bill represents an
improvement
over the original CARA bill, but it also takes a few steps back
in comparison to the bill approved by the House of
Representatives in May.
We
made progress in the House last May in largely removing the incentives for
new offshore leasing; but unfortunately Senate leaders on
this bill chose not
to follow that
lead. While the incentives are reduced under the new
substitute bill, some states and local committees still
stand to gain a lot
if the amount of oil and gas
leasing and production off their coasts is
increased,
particularly in Alaska. In addition, under the new compromise
bill, close to $100 million could be spent each year on
infrastructure
projects that could actually be harmful
to our fragile coastlines.
On
the other hand, the Murkowski/Bingaman compromise adds a new "trigger"
mechanism to help guarantee that federal LWCF money is
spent. The new bill
requires that the entire
$450 million for federal LWCF projects (those are
the
land acquisition projects that are crucial for the protection and
improvement of our National Parks, Forests, Refuges and
other protected
areas) is approved for spending by
Congress each year before ANY of the
almost $3 billion
provided under the bill is made available.
Tomorrow, the committee will surely encounter amendments to
undo the federal
LWCF program by Senators with
misguided "private property rights" concerns.
But bill
leaders feel confident they will have the votes to move the bill
forward. The Sierra Club continues to work to remove
troubling provisions
from the bill to ensure any final
bill contains the best of the House and
Senate bills
and represents a true environmental victory - and not just a
public works bill disguised as "conservation."
4)
VICTORY FOR NATIONAL MONUMENTS!
Yesterday the Senate voted down an attack on National
Monuments when it
rejected Senator Don Nickels' (R-OK)
amendment by a vote of 49 to 50. The
amendment to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill
would have
undermined the President's authority to
protect spectacular American
landscapes by prohibiting
the designation of any new National Monuments
unless
authorized by Congress.
A
similar measure was defeated in the House defeated last month. President
Clinton has already used his authority under the
Antiquities Act to protect
threatened places in the
Sequoia National Forests and red-rock canyons of
southern Utah. Please check votewatch (see web address
below) to see how your
Senators voted.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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.cfm
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
from Global Response July 21, 2000
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Please help Pakistani
environmental groups in their opposition to
construction of the Kalabagh Dam. This is their
Action Alert:
Subject: Letter of Protest on Kalabagh Dam
>
>Dear Colleagues:
>
>We invite you to join us
in urging Pakistani Government, WCD and
>International Donors to shelve out the environmentally
disastrous
>Hydropower Dam Kalabagh and to
promote fundamental human rights in Indus Basin by
>protecting the indigenous people from this
controversial project in their
>region.
One simple, concrete action you can take in solidarity with the
>people of Indus valley: Please sign, post and forward /
distribute to any
>and all individuals and groups
that support environment, ecology,
democracy and Human
Rights.
>
>Send your
protest message to:
>
>CE@pak.gov.pk, javedjabbar@pak.gov.pk,
irn-wcd@netvista.net,
psrc@hyd.paknet.com.pk,
sindhorg@egroups.com
>FOR
FAX NOS: http://www.pak.gov.pk/public/govt/ministerlist.htm
>
>
>Regards
>Ayaz Latif Palijo
>SRC (Sindhi Research Council) and SST (Sindhi
Students Movement),
Pakistan
>
> TEXT OF
THE LETTER
>
>To,
>
>The President of Pakistan
Mr. Rafik Tarar.
>President House, Islamabad
Pakistan.
>
>The Chief
Executive of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf.
>Islamabad Pakistan.
>
>The President World Commission of Dams (WCD), Dr. Kader
Asmal.
>
>CC.
>Mr Omar Asghar Khan Federal Minister
>Mr. Javed Jabbar Federal Minister
>All concerned Donors.
>International Rivers Network (IRN)
>
>Dear Sir,
>
>We are deeply concerned
with the intentions of Federal Government of
>Pakistan and Water and Power Development Authority
(WAPDA) regarding
>proposed construction of
controversial mega hydro power dam Kalabagh. We
>appeal to implement environmentally sound and
economically effective
>alternatives -- such as
reducing water wastage by lining the canals and
>introduction of more efficient irrigation techniques.
It appears that In
>spite of rejection of Kalabagh
Dam Project by the environmental and
>irrigation
experts and by the three out of four peoples and provinces
>(Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan) of Pakistan through their
duly elected
>Provincial Assemblies, your government
and ministry of water and power are planning
to start
with this environmentally and ecologically disastrous project. You
>know that during the last 15 years Sindh and NWFP
(Pakhtunkhwa) and
>Balochistan Provinces have been
erupting in protest and millions of people
>have
come to streets in different cities and towns raising slogans against
>this disastrous decision. Six complete general strikes
have taken place,
an Anti-Kalabagh Dam Front (AKDF) and
PONM (Pakistan Oppressed Nations
>Movement) have
been formed and different political, social, religious and
>environmental organizations have started protest
marches, hunger strikes
>and demonstrations.
>
>Sir, The area
of present-day Sindh province was the center of the ancient
>Indus Valley / Mohen-jo-daro Civilization (2300 BC-1750
BC), it was named
>after Indus, the great
Trans-Himalayan river of South Asia and one of the
>world's longest rivers, with a length of 2,900 km.
Therefore the threat to
>Indus valley and Indus
river is a threat to the ancient Indus /
>Mohen-jo-daro Civilization.
>
>The proposed Kalabagh dam
will not only store 6.7 MAF water of Indus but
>12.8
MAF water will be diverted to left bank and right bank canals for the
>irrigation in Mianwali, Khushab, Jhelum and Dera Ismail
Khan districts.
>Therefore the KB dam will be
consuming 19.5 MAF water of Indus and the
>quantity
of 10 MAF which has been provisionally earmarked for out flow to
>sea under the provisions of Water Accord of 1991, will
not be available
>after storage at Kalabagh dam.
There is already a deep distrust created
>between
Sindh and Punjab on the two irrigation links. Chashma-Jhelum link
>(21000 cusecs) and Taunsa-Panjnad link (12000 cusecs)
have been kept open
>for the last several years
without prior consent and permission of the
>Sindh
provincial government in flagrant violation of the inter-provincial
>agreement. Due to their past malpractice's and breaches
of trust people of
>Sindh do not trust WAPDA and
Punjab irrigation department. People believe
>that
the aim of Punjab regarding building a dam is to keep a life and
death grip on the life line of Sindh, in this way the
ruthless and unscrupulous
>ruling coteries would be
able to control the very existence of four crore
>(40 million) Sindhis. As far as the environmental and
ecological aspects
>and threats are concerned the
shortage of water for out flow to sea has
already
caused reduction in the volume of silt. Indus river once brought down 600
>million tones of silt out of which half reached the sea
and half
fertilized the alluvial plain. Today, just 36
million tones passes the upstream
>barrages and
dams. The Indus delta was spread over in 350 sq. km before
the partition, it also had more than nine perennial
streams, now it has only
>two perennial streams and
covers just about 25 sq. km. This reduction has
>resulted in the erosion and degradation of the delta,
elimination of 0.6
>million acres of riverine
forests and destruction of mangrove forest area,
>which has reduced from 263,000 hectares in 1977 to
158,500 hectares in
>1990.
>>From aquatic conservation point of view the famous
Palla fish,
>Bulahan(Indus dolphin), Khagga (Sea
cat) and other aquatic species have become nearly
>extinct due to water shortage. The annual production of
Palla has been
>reduced from 5000 tons to just 500
tons. Further reduction of fresh water
>flows below
Kotri will be a disaster for the common people & fishermen
>(Munhanas) who depend upon agriculture and fisheries in
coastal Sindh.
>
>Sir,
Indus river plays a vital role in the formation of psyche, society
and culture of the Sindhi people. The construction of the
dam is likely to
keep
>Indus below Sukkur dry most of the year. Many fishermen
living on the
Indus will become homeless and the Indus
that is the Darya Shah (living legend)
>for Sindhis
will be polluted and reduced from once mighty river to mere
>expanse of shallow water. This is equal to the cultural
invasion and
>devastation of the thousands year old
cultural heritage of Sindhi people.
>Kalabagh Dam
will be a grave threat to the fertile Peshawar valley and
>thousands of acres of NWFP's most fertile agricultural
land will be
>destroyed. According to govt.'s own
figures a total of 35,000 acres of
land will be
inundated/submerged by the Dam, out of which 3,000 acres are
>irrigated while 27,000 acres are barani. As a result of
rise of water
level due to pounding up at Kalabagh, the
water level in Kabul river will rise
>due to back
water effect, thus posing serious threat to the Nowshera (a city
of >about 200000 people) which will be fully waterlogged
within few years.
>Water quality will be polluted by
salinity due to nearness of Khewra and Kohat
>salt
formations. As the KB Dam will cause the displacement of 250,000
>people, there will be an issue of implementing
compensation and
>resettlement of the thousands of
men, women, and children who will lose houses and
lands
submerged by KB. The province of Balochistan has been irrigating about
>300000 acres with the supply from Pat feeder of Guddu (
a barrage of
Indus) which will be affected by the
shortage of water. The destruction of
>wildlife/bird
Sanctuaries, riverine forests and natural lakes like
Manchar, Kinjhar, Hadero, Haleji and Chotiari will affect
biodiversity, specially
>the migratory birds of
Siberia and Kazekustan and endangered aquatic as well
as terrestrial species. KB Dam will trap an estimated
two-thirds of the
>sediments of the Indus River,
which has the fifth highest sediment load in
>the
world and the Dam will increase salinity and waterlogging and will
>further degrade agricultural productivity of the Indus
Basin. Shortage of
>water near, and in, the river's
estuary would cause a lot of environmental
>degradation in the coastal areas, destroying Tamar
(mangroves) and marine
>life as well as causing
considerable ecological damage to the Indus in its
>lower reaches. Reduced river discharge, combined with
raised sea levels
due to global warming, will enable
the estuarine salt wedge to extend much
>further
upstream than it previously did at the river mouth. The resultant
>salinisation will have a disastrous effect on the
ecology and agricultural
>productivity and Arabian
sea water might travel upwards for considerable
>distances submerging/immersing large regions of lower
Sindh.As for as the
>irrigation of Punjab's Seraiki
areas are concerned, the lands along the
>proposed
canal sites are already owned/purchased by the settlers and
>absentee landlords and it will result in adverse
demographic change in
>Seraiki belt, starting a
powerful process of reducing the Seraiki-speaking
>people to a tiny minority in their thousands year old
homeland.
> As for as the existing water position is
concerned The province of Sindh
>needs adequate water for April May period to ensure
initial irrigations
for major Kharif
crops. But despite that fact that province's share for
>April, according to water accord of 1991 is 121,400
cusecs, it just received only
>30,275 cusecs for
April 2000. In fact there is no shortage of water in
the country. The only shortage is of fairness.
The Chashma-Jhelium and
>Taunsa-Panjnad
link canals were built under Indus Water Treaty to supply
>dry beds of eastern rivers, surrendered to India in a
disastrous accord
and it was agreed that the canals
would operate only under surplus flows in
>Indus and
with prior permission of Sindh government. But the agreement has
>been continuously violated since late seventies. It is
this catastrophic
>situation which forced the
minister of irrigation and power, government of
>Sindh Mr. A.N.G. Abbasi to say that it is not a matter
of simply "choree"
>(theft) but it is "seena zori".
Before this the then Governor of Sindh Mr.
>Daudpota
also complained that Punjab is stealing 11000 cusecs water of
>Sindh 's share.
>
>The construction of Kalabagh Dam may offer prospects of
lucrative
kickbacks for our rulers and may bring some
land under cultivation in Punjab but
only at the cost
of inundation and displacement in NWFP, ecological and
>environmental disaster in Indus basin and at the cost
of destruction &
>desertification of green and
fertile lands of Sindh and some parts of
>Balochistan and NWFP. Ultimately there will
not only be a net loss of
food production in Pakistan
but many areas of Sindh will even be deprived of
>drinking water. Therefore, we urge you to
halt all the planning,
>preparations and surveys of
Kalabagh Dam. We further urge you to take
>immediate
action to save the lives, livelihood and habitats of millions
of the people of Indus Basin and terminate this
>project at once forever.
>
>
>Name-----------------------------Org-------------------------------
City /
>Country
--------------------------------------
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
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___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite
Topics
from Rural Advancement Foundation International July 21, 2000
RAFI Geno-Types
17 July 2000
www.rafi.org
Earmarked for Extinction?
Seminis
Eliminates 2,000 Varieties
Summary: Seminis, the world's largest vegetable
seed corporation, announced on 28 June that it would eliminate 2,000 varieties
-- or 25% of its total product line -- as a cost-cutting measure. Seed industry
consolidation is dramatically narrowing the availability of non-hybrid vegetable
varieties and a wealth of seed diversity is being lost forever.
Back in 1980, seed activists and
conservationists protested when the European Community amalgamated its member
states' National Lists (plant varieties approved by governments for commercial
sale) into a "Common Catalogue." When Brussels'
bureaucrats proposed a common seed roster, the seed companies obliged by
providing a "hit list" of over 1,500 variety "names" they claimed were only
national synonyms of other named varieties. The 1,500 "synonyms"
became "illegal" by decree. The deletions were not, of
course, "synonyms." When the Catalogue was finalized,
nearly 1,000 distinct vegetable varieties were wiped out of commercial existence
simply because they represented low-profit competition in the form of non-hybrid
or non-proprietary varieties.
Today, after decades of consolidation in the seed industry,
it is corporate financial officers, not government bureaucrats, who are wiping
out genetic diversity at the stroke of a pen.
Seminis -- At a Glance
* Subsidiary of Mexico-based conglomerate Savia.
* 1999 seed revenues: US $531
million
* World's
largest vegetable seed company
* World's fifth ranking seed company.
* Controls 40% of US vegetable
seed market.
* Presence in 120 countries; 70 research
stations in 19 countries and production sites in 32 countries.
Seminis, a subsidiary of the
Mexican conglomerate Savia, controls nearly one-fifth of the worldwide fruit and
vegetable seed market and is the source of approximately 40% of all vegetable
seeds sold in the United States. The company built its seed empire by acquiring
a dozen or so seed companies ñ most notably, the garden seed division of Asgrow,
Petoseed and Royal Sluis. As a result of its buying binge, Seminisí offerings
grew to approximately 8,000 varieties in 60 species of fruits and vegetables. On
28 June 2000 Seminis announced that it would eliminate 2,000 varieties -- or 25%
of its varieties, as part of a "global restructuring and optimization plan."
No one knows for sure which
varieties will be dropped from Seminis' commercial line, but the older,
less-profitable open-pollinated varieties will be the first to go. Seed
corporations favor hybrids because profit margins are greater, because gardeners
and farmers can't save hybrid seed (thus encouraging repeat customers), and
because the newer varieties are more likely to be patented or protected by plant
variety protection laws. Thirty years ago, most North American and
European seed companies were small, family-owned businesses that specialized in
varieties adapted to regional climates, with resistance to local pests and
diseases. Today, just 10 companies control 30% of the commercial seed market
worldwide. And just 5 vegetable seed companies control 75% of the global
vegetable seed market.
Operating on a global scale, it's more economical for
transnational seed companies to breed genetically-uniform varieties suited to
the needs of commercial agribusiness, rather than the regional needs of small
farmers or backyard gardeners. Corporate breeders are more likely to develop
varieties that perform adequately over vast geographic areas, rather than breed
for local climates, or for resistance to local pests or diseases. Vegetable
gardeners are looking for better-tasting, more nutritious varieties, but the
corporate breeder is more likely to provide tomatoes with longer shelf-life, or
vegetables that can withstand mechanical harvesting and long-distance
shipping. And most importantly, the seed corporation wants monopoly
control over its varieties -- and that means high-tech, patented varieties.
Seminis is a leader in the development of genetically engineered vegetables. The
company has 79 issued or allowed patents, and is seeking patents related to
beans, bean sprouts!
, broccoli, cauliflower, celery,
corn, cucumber, eggplant, endive, leek, lettuce, melon, muskmelon, onion, peas,
pumpkin, radish, red cabbage, spinach, squash, sweet pepper, tomato, watermelon,
and white cabbage.
Monitoring
Erosion: US-based Seed Savers Exchange (SSE, Decorah, Iowa) is the worldís
largest grassroots network devoted to rescuing garden diversity. SSE concludes
that seed industry consolidation and the profit-motivated shift to hybrid
varieties is the leading factor behind the disappearance of garden seed
varieties in North America.
"It's impossible to predict how much irreplaceable
vegetable diversity is earmarked for extinction as a result of corporate
cost-cutting and consolidation," says Kent Whealy, Executive Director of Seed
Savers Exchange. "The seed varieties deemed obsolete and unprofitable by Seminis
are now part of the companyís private gene bank, and that rich diversity is lost
to the public," adds Whealy.
According to Jodi Smith of Seminis, "Products that are
removed from commercial sale will remain available to our plant breeders through
our large bank of germplasm, maintaining biodiversity as a key part of our
research and development strategy." From Decorah, Iowa, Kent Whealy
is doubtful. "That's not our experience," Whealy regrets. "Conserving
diversity in ex situ gene banks is expensive, especially re-growing older seed
samples that are losing germination. If they're into cost-cutting, it
won't be long before they jettison these 2,000 varieties."
Seed Savers Exchange has been
monitoring the loss of non-hybrid garden diversity in the US and Canada since
1981. SSE's Garden Seed Inventory (now in its Fifth Edition) not only provides
an inventory of all non-hybrid vegetable seeds available in mail order catalogs,
it also serves as an "early warning system" to identify varieties that are about
to be dropped from commercial sources, thus allowing seed conservationists to
rescue endangered varieties.
The Fifth Edition of the Garden Seed Inventory reveals that
of the nearly 5,000 non-hybrid vegetable varieties available in 1981 mail-order
catalogs, 88% had been dropped by 1998.
From 1984 to
1987, nearly one-quarter of the mail-order seed companies in the US and Canada
(54 out of 230) went out of business or were acquired by larger companies.
Transnational agrochemical companies went on a buying spree, purchasing small
seed companies and replacing their regionally adapted collections with more
profitable hybrids and patented varieties. According to SSE, irreplaceable
genetic resources were thoughtlessly destroyed by marketing decisions to
maximize the short-term profits of corporations.
But thereís also encouraging news. The latest Garden Seed
Inventory reports that 1,899 entirely new non-hybrid varieties were introduced
during the last four years, thanks largely to a handful of small, specialized
seed companies devoted to promoting vegetable diversity, and a renewed interest
by backyard gardeners and farmers in diverse, non-hybrid vegetables. But SSE
warns that the gains in vegetable diversity are fragile. Only 10% of the 225
companies inventoried in the latest Garden Seed Inventory account for 56% of the
total unique varieties offered.
SSEís inventory is based on companies that sell garden
seeds through mail-order catologs. But there's no systematic way to monitor what
varieties the largest seed corporations are deleting from their commercial
collections, because the corporate giants don't distribute their catalogs to the
public.
The Cost of
Consolidation: Kent Whealy explains what's at stake when we lose vegetable
diversity:
"If our vegetable
diversity is allowed to die out, gardeners will become ever more dependent on
transnational seed companies and the generic and hybrid and patented varieties
that those companies choose to offer. And that means giving up our right to
determine the quality of the food our families grow and consume, and also the
ability of gardeners and farmers to save their own seeds, which is the reason
that much of this incredible diversity exists in the first place." Garden Seed
Inventory: Fifth Edition, p. 15.
Action Call
Seminis can take
immediate steps to prevent "commerciogenic erosion" by making available a list
of all discontinued varieties, and by insuring that duplicate samples of its
retired vegetable varieties are made available to a network of international
gene banks, where they can be held "in trust" for the international community.
Under the terms of the 1994 agreement between the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research and the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, "in trust" germplasm is maintained in the public domain and is
off-limits to intellectual property claims. More importantly, the
germplasm is made freely available to plant breeders worldwide, enabling a rich
genetic legacy to be conserved and utilized for the public good.
"Seminis is proving on a grand
scale that ever-increasing corporate consolidation and cost-cutting that only
focuses on the bottom line, invariably prevent responsible genetic stewardship.
Seminis could win some positive PR, however, by repatriating vegetable seed
through public domain gene banks. Just because Seminis owns the varieties
shouldnít mean they have the right to allow them to die," concludes
Whealy.
RAFI, the
Rural Advancement Foundation International, is an international civil society
organization headquartered 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.
To receive more
information about the Seed Savers Exchange, or to order a copy of the Garden
Seed Inventory, contact: Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Rd., Decorah,
Iowa 52101, USA.
Tel: (319) 382-5990 Fax: (319)
382-5872 Call to request SSE's free, 64-page color catalog (including
membership information) or access SSE on the internet: http://www.seedsavers.org
from World Wildlife July 21, 2000
Dear WWF Conservation Action Network Activist:
Global warming threatens wildlife and ecosystems across the
planet.
To solve this problem, we must
significantly reduce the carbon
pollution that causes
global warming.
Unfortunately, U.S. negotiators are seeking to weaken our
commitment to curb emissions under the Kyoto climate
treaty. They
are not supporting environmental
safeguards needed to prevent
ecologically rich natural
forests from being converted to sterile tree
plantations used to meet carbon storage targets.
Please go to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to send a free
message
urging President Clinton's top climate change
negotiator, Under
Secretary of State Frank Loy, to
pursue a global warming strategy that
won't put our
forests needlessly at risk. The Administration will
finalize its position soon, in preparation for a world
climate summit
this November, so please act now.
Forward this alert to your friends
and colleagues and encourage them
to enroll in the
Network by visiting http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/
Thanks!
from Save Our Environment Action Center July 21, 2000
SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT ACTION CENTER UPDATE
By using the Save Our Environment
Action Center [www.saveourenvironment.org],
you are
working together with the nation's most influential environmental
advocacy groups in the crucial battles to protect our air
and
water, forests and oceans, climate, wilderness, and
wildlife.
July 21, 2000
******************************************************************
Your help is urgently needed
on several new campaigns at the
Save Our Environment
Action Center. Please visit www.saveourenvironment.org
today and take action (with one simple click) on the
following
critical issues:
DUMP DIRTY DIESELS!
Pollution from
diesel trucks and buses causes lung cancer, asthma
attacks, and more than 40,000 premature deaths every year.
The
EPA has proposed new rules that would slash diesel
pollutants,
but major oil companies are pressuring
Congress and the Clinton
administration to weaken these
rules. Visit the Save Our Environment
Action Center to
send a message urging the EPA to resist oil company
pressure and clean up the air we breathe.
STOP ANTI-ENVIRONMENT RIDERS!
The fiscal year 2001 budget process is underway on Capitol
Hill
and, despite overwhelming citizen support for
environmental protection,
anti-environment forces in
Congress have launched a succession
of back-door
attacks by burying destructive
provisions -- called
riders -- in must-pass budget bills. At
this moment,
damaging anti-environment riders threaten such fundamental
issues as the protection of clean air and water, threatened
wildlife,
and our national forests and parks. Send a
message from the Save
Our Environment Action Center to
your senators and representative
urging them to stop
the sneak attack on our environmental laws.
RESTORE SNAKE RIVER SALMON!
Over
the years, the Pacific Northwest's Snake River salmon populations
have been reduced by habitat loss and over-fishing. But
four dams
built on the lower Snake River have driven
salmon runs to the
brink of extinction. Visit the Save
Our Environment Action Center
and send a one-click
message to President Clinton and Vice President
Gore
urging them to remove the dams and restore the salmon.
CALIFORNIANS: SUPPORT
ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLES!
If you live in California, you
probably know that motor vehicles
cause three-quarters
of the state's air pollution and that oil
and gas
contaminate your drinking water and coastline. California's
Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program has been the driving
force
behind the development of clean car alternatives
and is critical
to reducing the state's air pollution
and global warming emissions,
but car and oil companies
want to kill the program. Send a message
from the Save
Our Environment Action Center to Governor Davis
telling
him to reduce California's pollution by maintaining and
expanding the ZEV program.
Remember, you can increase the impact of your support by
encouraging
your family and friends to visit the Save
Our Environment Action
Center as well. We've made it
easy for you with our "Tell a Friend"
feature which
allows you to send an electronic postcard right
from
the site.
Once again, thanks
for being part of the Save Our Environment
activist
network and for taking action to help preserve and protect
the Earth's natural treasures and quality of life.
Save Our Environment Action Center
--
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/
from Sierra Club July 22, 2000
To: Sierra Club Leaders
From: Bruce
Hamilton, Conservation Director
Today the Board voted to
endorse Al Gore for President and to embrace
specific steps to clean up
American politics. Below is the Club press
release followed by the Board
resolutions, and a comparison of Gore
and Bush.
Thanks to all of you who
participated in the helpful internal process.
FYI 39 Chapters supported a
Gore endorsement and 1 supported a Nader
endorsement. The
Political Committee voted unanimously to support a
Gore
endorsement. These actions led up to the Board action this
weekend detailed
below.
For Immediate
Release Media
Contact:
July 22,
2000 Allen
Mattison, 202-675-7903
SIERRA
CLUB:
ELECT
AL GORE; CLEAN UP AMERICAN POLITICS
WASHINGTON - The Sierra Club
today endorsed Vice President Al Gore to
be the next President of the
United States.
The Sierra Club Board of
Directors also voted today to clean up
American politics by:
including serious third party candidates,
including Ralph Nader, in the
Presidential debates; getting big money
out of politics by closing
loopholes in current campaign-finance laws;
establishing effective
spending limits; adopting public financing for
Senate and congressional
candidates; and supporting the
free-television-time proposal
developed by the Alliance for Better
Campaigns.
"The Sierra Club endorses
Vice President Gore because he is committed
to cutting air and water
pollution and protecting our nation's
treasured forests and
wildlands," said Dr. Robert Cox, Sierra Club's
volunteer
President. "As Vice President, Al Gore helped strengthen
clean air health standards,
sped clean up of Superfund toxic waste
sites, reduced automobile
tailpipe pollution, and protected America's
spectacular landscapes. This
is the kind of leadership the American
people are seeking in our
next President.
"Governor Bush, on the other
hand, has said that if he's elected, he
will weaken toxic-waste
clean-up standards, allow oil drilling in the
Arctic Refuge, and increase
logging in National Forests," Cox
continued. "When
it comes to protecting our environment, Al Gore is
by far our best shot at a
President committed to a sustainable future,
tested as a political leader,
and qualified to lead America into the
next century."
The Gore endorsement capped a
6-month process in which the grassroots
organization surveyed each of
its chapters and thousands of its
volunteer
leaders. Thirty-nine chapters, representing 413,854
members, favored a Gore
endorsement; one chapter, with 3,006 members,
supported an endorsement for
Ralph Nader; 16 chapters, with 138,236
members, did not respond.
"When the Sierra Club asked
our local chapters and thousands of
volunteer leaders whether to
endorse a Presidential candidate, the
response was overwhelming:
They want Al Gore in the White House,
protecting America's
environment," Cox said. "Our members believe that
a vote for Gore is the best
way to protect our families from pollution
and safeguard our nation's
landscapes for future generations to enjoy."
The Sierra Club Board of
Directors recognized consumer-advocate Ralph
Nader's record of work for
the environment, but emphasized the urgency
of defeating Texas Governor
George Bush as an additional reason for
endorsing Vice-President
Gore.
"Our members looked at the
records of all the candidates," said Cox.
"We looked at their
positions, their records, and their experience.
Al Gore is our overwhelming
choice."
The Sierra Club, with over
600,000 members, is the nation's oldest and
largest grassroots
environmental organization. The Board voted to
endorse Vice President with
12 in favor, two against, and one
abstention.
Resolution
endorsing Gore:
"The Sierra Club endorses Al
Gore for President of the United States.
We will do everything in our
power to help Mr. Gore win the
presidency. Mr.
Gore has a long history as an advocate for the
environment and we look
forward to his Presidency and a new beginning
for strong environmental
protection in this country."
Resolution
on cleaning up politics:
"Working on the current
election is not enough. The single-round,
winner-take-all political
process has problems. We support
alternative electoral methods
that better reflect the diversity of
public opinion. We
need to get big money out of politics by closing
loopholes in current campaign
finance laws, establishing effective
spending limits, and adopting
public financing for Senate and
congressional
candidates. We support the free television time
proposal developed by the
Alliance for Better Campaigns. It is
unrealistic to believe that
such changes can be accomplished in this
election, which will be over
in a few months. It's too large a job,
and the time is too short.
"Important issues relating to
globalization, trade agreements,
democracy and the environment
have been raised in a substantive way by
Ralph
Nader. Sierra Club supports many of Mr. Nader's environmental
and campaign finance reform
proposals. While the Sierra Club does not
endorse Ralph Nader in this
election, we believe that serious third
party candidates, including
Mr. Nader, should be included in
presidential debates."
#
# #
COMPARISON
OF VICE PRESIDENT GORE AND GOVERNOR BUSH
ON
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
_________________________________
ISSUE: TOXIC POLLUTION
GORE
· Expanded Community Right to
Know program requiring companies to
report toxic chemical
emissions.
· Sped up and
increased Superfund cleanups.
BUSH
· Seeks to weaken Superfund
cleanups.
· Texas leads
the nation in injecting toxic waste into underground
wells, disposing 60% more
toxic waste into injection wells than any
other state.
_________________________________
ISSUE: CLEAN AIR
GORE
· Strengthened soot and smog
clean-air health-standards, fighting
legal challenges to those
protections.
· Adopted
strictest ever emissions standards for cars, SUVs and light
trucks.
· Required elimination of 90%
of sulfur from gasoline.
· Called on power plants to
cut their air pollution and global warming
emissions.
· Proposed slashing sulfur
levels in diesel fuel.
BUSH
· Texas leads the U.S. in
toxic industrial air pollution, but Bush
chose not to require outdated
facilities to clean up.
·
Texas state officials sought to weaken Clean Air Act.
· Houston passed Los Angeles
last year as America's smoggiest city.
· When came to office in
1995, cancelled auto emissions testing
program in Houston.
_________________________________
ISSUE: CLEAN WATER
GORE
· Expanded funding for clean
water programs.
·
Proposed slashing arsenic levels in drinking water.
BUSH
· Proposed weakening Texas
clean-water standards.
·
Texas leads the U.S. in violation of clean water discharge
standards.
_________________________________
ISSUE: PROTECT WILD LANDS
GORE
· Has a stronger position
than the Administration on protecting
roadless, wild areas of our
National Forests. Called for an end to
all logging in those
unspoiled places and immediate protection for the
Tongass National Forest in
Alaska.
· Enacted the
California Desert Protection Act, largest public lands
protection bill ever in the
lower 48 states.
·
Opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
· Created or expanded 10 new
National Monuments to protect landscapes
threatened by development.
· Reduced logging in
National Forests by 80% since 1993.
· Extended offshore oil
leasing moratorium in California and Florida
for 10 years.
· Proposed Lands Legacy
Initiative.
· Supports
expanding the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
BUSH
· Seeks to increase logging
in National Forests.
·
Would allow oil companies to drill in Arctic Refuge.
· Aims to reverse President
Clinton's plan to protect wild, roadless
National Forest areas.
· Opposes newly created
National Monuments.
·
Supports funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
_________________________________
ISSUE: CAMPAIGN FINANCE
REFORM
GORE
· Supports McCain-Feingold
bill to ban soft-money donations to
political parties.
· Supports quasi-public
financing of Congressional elections.
BUSH
· Opposes McCain-Feingold
reforms.
· Opposes public
financing of elections.
#
# #
from Environment News Service July 21, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
G7 LEADERS URGE BANKS TO FUND ENVIRONMENTAL
RESTORATIONOKINAWA, Japan, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Leaders of the
world's seven most industrialized nations, the Group of Seven (G7), opened their
annual economic summit in Okinawa, Japan today with a call for the multilateral
development banks to fund environmental restoration.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-02.html
******************************************************************
GREENLAND ICE SHEET MELTING
AWAY
WASHINGTON, DC, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Greenland. s ice
sheet, which holds almost 10 percent of the world. s frozen water, is melting at
a rate of more than three feet a year in places, a new survey reveals. The study
by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provides the first
evidence that melting in the massive ice sheet is contributing to a rise in sea
level.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-06.html
******************************************************************
JUDGE BANS
TRAWLING IN CRITICAL SEA LION HABITAT
WASHINGTON, DC, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Endangered sea lions
got a boost Thursday when a federal judge temporarily banned groundfishing in
much of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Environmentalists call the decision
one of the most important rulings ever under the Endangered Species Act, but
fishers warned it could cost their industry billions of dollars.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-07.html
******************************************************************
FRENCH NUCLEAR FACILITY MUST CLOSE OR RISK
EARTHQUAKEPARIS, France, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - A seismological survey
produced by France's nuclear safety institute six years ago but made
public only this week has intensified pressure on the nuclear firm
Cogema to shut its mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at
Cadarache, southern France.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-11.html
******************************************************************
TUNNELING BEYOND TRAGEDY TOWARDS BOSTON HARBOR
CLEANUPBOSTON, Massachusetts, July 20, 2000 (ENS) - Nine and half
miles out into Massachusetts Bay from Boston's Deer Island sewage treatment
plant, a barge was put in place last week over the end of the world's longest
one way tunnel. An crucial fan aboard that barge is drawing fresh air into the
tunnel from Deer Island.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-01.html
******************************************************************
CANADA'S FORESTS: SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OR SUBSIDIZED
DESTRUCTION?OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Canada is a
champion of sustainable forest management according to a government
report released Wednesday. Environmental groups disagree.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-10.html
*****************************************************************
GREAT LAKES TO
BENEFIT FROM MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CLEANUP
MIDLAND,
Ontario, Canada, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - Contamination entering the Great Lakes
from the Canadian side will be reduced within five years as communities utilize
new funding offered today by the federal government. Canada's Environment
Minister David Anderson announced C$30 million (US$20.5 million) would be made
available to clean up the Great Lakes.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-12.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 21, 2000
Placing a Price on Ecosystems Could Encourage Conservation
W.R. Grace Buys Back
Mine, Bans EPA
Pesticides Here to Stay, But Alternatives On the Way
Precedent Setting Deal Refunds Nuclear Plant for Waste
Storage
Migratory Bird Act Promotes International Conservation
Famous Donors Post
Bond For Headwaters Activists
DOE Offers $15 M Plus for Biomass Research
Environmentalists,
Recreators Square Off Over Parks Access
Sea Otters At Risk from Federal Relocation Program
Developer Barred
From Stripping Gnatcatcher Habitat
Maryland Spends $5.45 M for Chesapeake Bay Watershed Acres
Virginia Birding
Trail Gets $400,000 in Grants
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21-09.html
******************************************************************
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENTARY
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D
SUCH INTENSE
CRUELTY
For thousands of years, parts of animals have been used in
Eastern medicine, especially the medicine of East Asia. Possibly no single
animal has suffered more than the bear, whose body parts are used for many
remedies for contitions ranging from cancer and burns to pain.
For Full Text and Graphics
Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-21g.html
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights
Reserved.
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TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EarthAmerica(TM) Signs First Distributor Contract
DALLAS, July 21
-/E-Wire/-- EarthCare Company (Nasdaq: ECCO) announced today that its
wholly-owned subsidiary EarthAmerica has signed a distributor contract with AMI
Associates, Ltd. (AMI), who will provide EarthAmerica septic and cesspool
service programs on Long Island, N.Y. and in the five boroughs of New York
City. AMI was recently formed by merging three service companies into
one operation with service locations in central Suffolk County, Nassau County
and in New York City. AMI will initially provide only septic service
programs, but it has plans to expand services to include restaurant and food
service customers.
/CONTACT: Lew
Nevins, Vice President, Investor Relations of EarthCare Company,
972-858-6025/ (ECCO)
For Full
Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/21July0002.html
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TO
BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
EarthAmerica(TM) Exceeds 1000 Customers on New Service Programs
DALLAS, July 21 -/E-Wire-- EarthCare Company (Nasdaq: ECCO) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary EarthAmerica has now signed up over 1,000 service program customers in both its residential septic and restaurant and food service businesses. The new programs were offered to customers beginning in February, 2000. These programs support EarthCare's strategy to move the industry from emergency and event driven services to proactive service programs.
/CONTACT: Lew
Nevins, Vice President, Investor Relations of EarthCare Company, 972-858-6025/
(ECCO)
For Full
Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/21July0001.html
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-- NEWS ADVISORY -- TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Latest EPA Developments
The following are some EPA developments which may interest
you.
If you need
more information on any of these
subjects, call the appropriate contact.
MAXIMUM BENZENE PERFORMANCE
REQUIREMENTS
PROPOSED FOR GASOLINE 1999
BEACH SURVEY RESULTS RELEASED
NINE
COMMUNITIES SELECTED TO RECEIVE
BROWNFIELDS
CLEANUP LOAN FUNDS
$17
MILLION CLEANUP CONTRACT AWARDED TO MINORITY BUSINESS
HEALTHY
INDOOR PAINTING PRACTICES BROCHURE AVAILABLE
STANDARDS
PROPOSED FOR NEW COOLING WATER INTAKE
STRUCTURES
TO PREVENT LARGE FISH KILLS
ENFORCEMENT
WRAP-UP
FLORIDA
MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CFC SMUGGLING CHARGES
MASSACHUSETTS
MAN CHARGED WITH CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATION
MINING
COMPANY AND SUPERINTENDENT PLEAD TO WATER VIOLATION
SEWER
PLANT OPERATOR SENTENCED
LOUISIANA
LABORATORY AND PRESIDENT PLEAD GUILTY
CONTACT: Cathy Milbourn,
202-564-7824; or Robin Woods, 202-260-4377; or
Lauren
M. Mical, 202-564-7831; or Martha Casey, 202-564-7842; or Tanya
Meekins, 202-564-7841, all of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
-/E-Wire/-- July 21/
/Web site: http://www.epa.gov/
For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/21July0003.html
Copyright
Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
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TRANSMIT
YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS
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from Environmental Defense July 24, 2000
This September, the State of California will decide the
fate of its path-breaking Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV)
program. The continuation of the ZEV program in
California
has tremendous implications across the
country. Clean air
regulations set by the
California Air Resources Board
(CARB), for example,
have led the way for national
standards that benefit
all of us.
The ZEV
program's effectiveness in bringing cleaner
vehicles to
market, however, is being challenged by the
auto
industry. In response to this challenge, California
signatories of the Clean Car Pledge have the opportunity to
send a message to their governor urging him to maintain
and
strengthen the state's ZEV program. You
can help ensure
that a strong message is sent to
California's governor.
TELL FAMILY MEMBERS,
FRIENDS, AND COLLEAGUES IN CALIFORNIA
TO TAKE ACTION ON
THIS OPEN ZEV ALERT.
(http://www.actionnetwork.org/cleancarcampaign)
BACKGROUND
Motor vehicles cause the majority of California. s air
pollution and global warming
emissions. Transport and
storage of oil and
gas contaminate our drinking water and
lead to offshore
oil spills. Gas-guzzling motor vehicles
also waste more
than $20 billion a year at the gas pump.
Thanks to the ZEV program, which was first adopted in 1990,
there are alternatives. The ZEV program is the only
program
in the country that requires carmakers to
develop pollution-
and gasoline-free motor vehicles
such as battery electrics
and fuel cell
vehicles. The program can also take credit
for bringing hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles to market.
But just as ZEVs are beginning
to hit the market, the car
companies are trying to kill
the ZEV program. They have
fought the
program every step of the way, just as they did
with
seat belts and air bags. We need to show that the
public stands behind the program and wants to move toward
zero-emission vehicles.
You can show your support by contacting Governor Davis and
asking him to strengthen the ZEV program when it comes
up
for review in September. Let him know
that backsliding is
not acceptable and that California
needs ZEVs now. Join
the Clean Car Campaign
-
http://www.actionnetwork.org/cleancarcampaign - and
send a
message now. The Campaign has crafted
a form letter that
you can customize and fax directly
to Governor Davis -
simply follow the directions give
on the web site. Or, you
can call him at
916-445-2841 or write him at 1st Floor,
State Capitol,
Sacramento, CA 95814
from Defenders of Wildlife July 24, 2000
DEN ALERT:
Protect Bears from
Illegal Trade and Poaching
An
important measure pending in Congress would protect America's
bears from poaching and illegal trade. The Bear
Protection Act
would prohibit the import, export, and
interstate commerce of the
bear's internal organs, such
as the gallbladder. Faced with
dwindling
bear populations in Asia, poachers are now turning to
North America to fuel the increasing demand for bear parts
used as
medical remedies in many Asian countries. The
bill has been stalled
in a Senate committee and we need
your help to get it moving.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please take a minute to send a fax to your Senators urging
them to
pass this important piece of legislation
without delay. Senators
will consider the
Bear Protection Act soon, so please send your fax
TODAY!
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE
WEB:
If you have access to the web, simply click on the
link below which
will take you to the DEN Action Center
web site:
http://www.denaction.org
====================================================================
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to
denlines@defenders.org and put the
word UNSUBSCRIBE in
the subject line.
====================================================================
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.
====================================================================
If your e-mail address has changed, send an e-mail to
changeaddress@defenders.org and put your new e-mail
address in the
subject line. Make sure you put nothing
in the subject line other
than your new e-mail address.
====================================================================
Defenders of Wildlife is 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 nearly 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
from Sierra Club July 24, 2000
SC-ACTION Vol. II, #236
DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
July 21, 2000
------------------------QUOTE OF THE
DAY-----------------------------
''We're definitely No. 1 in No. 2.''
- Reggie James, director of
Consumers Union in Texas, referring to a report
issued
by the Sierra Club and Consumers Union which showed that farms in
Texas generated more animal waste than those in any other
state
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURED ACTION ITEM:
International Family Planning Debate Continues into
Conference Committee
1) URGENT ACTION: Human Rights and the Environment I -
Mexico
2) URGENT ACTION: Human
Rights and the Environment II - Russia
3) TAKE ACTION: Help Curb Sprawling Development
4) TAKE ACTION: Protect Our Wild
Heritage - Stop Logging Our National Forests
5) TAKE ACTION: Write the EPA about New Diesel Regulations
6) TAKE ACTION: Protect Our
Water from Animal Factories
______________________________________________________________________
FEATURED ACTION:
International
Family Planning Debate Continues Into Conference Committee
International family planning
funding continues to be contentiously debated
within
the House and Senate foreign operations appropriations. Late last
year, Congress and the White House imposed restrictions on
U.S. family
planning assistance
overseas. The policy, the Global Gag Rule, disqualifies
overseas family planning associations from receiving U.S.
funds if they, with
their own money, lobby to change
laws on abortion or provide abortion
services in their
own countries where it is legal to do so.
On July 13th, the House of Representatives defeated an
amendment offered by
Reps. Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and
Nita Lowey's (D-NY) to remove the Global Gag
Rule from
the Fiscal Year 2001 Foreign Operations bill (H.R. 4811). By a
narrow margin of 206-221, the House voted to maintain the
restrictions. In
the House, the bill passed
with funding levels of $385 million for
international
family planning assistance and $25 million for the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). These represent
no increase from the
funding levels of last year.
The Senate passed their Foreign
Operations, Export Financing and Related
Programs
Appropriations Act of 2001 (S.2522) with increased funding levels
and removed the Global Gag Rule restrictions from the
legislation. The
Senate requested $425
million for international family planning assistance
through the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) and
$25 million for UNFPA.
Now, the House and Senate versions
will go to a conference committee. The
joint
committee of Representatives and Senators has to work out the
differences between the House and Senate versions of the
foreign
appropriations bills, and send it on to the
President. At that point the
President can
either sign the bill into law or veto it. President Clinton
has threatened a veto if the Global Gag Rule restrictions
and low funding
levels remain.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Senators
Leahy (D-VT), Inouye (D-HI), Lautenberg (D-NJ),
Harkin
(D-IA), Mikulski (D-MD), and Murray (D-WA) on the conference committee
who are supportive of the Senate version. It is necessary
for these Senators
to voice strong support for the
Senate language and funding levels. Capitol
Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
Tell them: U.S. funding for voluntary family planning and
other reproductive
health programs not only save lives
and improves human health, but also helps
slow
population growth and protect the environment. Attempts to interfere
with the delivery of these vital health services
undermine the prospects for
conserving natural
resources, protecting wildlife habitat, and ultimately,
for ensuring a healthy and prosperous future for our
children.
___________________________________________________________________
1) TAKE ACTION: Human Rights
and the Environment I
URGE
YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE TO SIGN ON TO REP. PELOSI'S LETTER TO
MEXICAN JUDGE ON BEHALF OF RODOLFO MONTIEL AND TEODORO
CABRERA
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) is circulating a letter addressed to Judge Maclovio
Murillo Chavez on behalf of Mexican environmental defenders
Rodolfo Montiel
and Teodoro Cabrera. Montiel and
Cabrera have been imprisoned since May 1999
for their
efforts to stop forest destruction in Mexico's Southern Sierra
Madre. Montiel and Cabrera were detained by soldiers in
Mexico's 40th
Infantry Battalion and were subsequently
beaten and tortured, a charge
confirmed in a news
report by the Mexican National Commission on Human
Rights.
Judge Murillo is expected to rule on Montiel and Cabrera's
case in late
August. Rep. Pelosi's letter expresses
concern about the arrest and the legal
proceedings
against Montiel and Cabrera and urges Judge Murillo to remain
impartial in rendering his judgment in the case. Please
take a moment to
contact your Congressional
Representative to urge him/her to sign on to Rep.
Pelosi's letter. The deadline for signing on has been
extended to Friday,
July 28, at 5:00 p.m. Please have
your Representative contact Jonathan
Stivers in Rep.
Pelosi's office at (202) 225-4965.
For more information, please contact Sam Parry at (202)
547-1141, or
sam.parry@sierraclub.org. You can also
visit our Web site at
www.sierraclub.org/human-rights.
___________________________________________________________________
2) TAKE ACTION: Human Rights
and the Environment II
IN A
SHOCKING NEW DEVELOPMENT, RUSSIA'S PROSECUTOR GENERAL APPEALS NIKITIN'S
ACQUITTAL AGAIN
Former Russian navy captain, Aleksandr Nikitin, whose
contributions to a
groundbreaking report documenting
the risks of radioactive contamination of
the Arctic
Ocean from decaying Russian nuclear submarines made him a target
of Russia's secret police, will have to defend himself
again before the
Russian Supreme Court.
In a Kafkaesque tactic, the
Russian Prosecutor General has appealed the
decision of
a three judge panel of Russia's Supreme Court to uphold Nikitin's
acquittal citing, among other issues, the absurd notion
that Nikitin's human
rights have been so harshly
violated that his trial was not a fair one. The
full
Russian Supreme Court will review Nikitin's case on August 2, 2000.
Please take a moment to write to
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing
your
support for Nikitin and criticizing the obvious scare tactics employed
by the Prosecutor General. Send your letters to the Russian
Embassy in
Washington, DC.
President Vladimir Putin
c/o
Ambassador Yuri V. Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian
Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
p: (202)
298-5700
f: (202) 298-5735
__________________________________________________________________
3) TAKE ACTION: Help Curb Sprawling Development
Call, write, or email your
Senators and tell them to cosponsor S. 1558, the
Community Open Space Bonds Act.
On Tuesday, July 25th the Senate
Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the
Community
Open Space Bonds Act. This bill, introduced by Senators Baucus
(D-MT) and Hatch (R-UT) will help local communities by
financing smart growth
measures, revitalizing urban
areas and removing open space from the path of
development. Tell your Senator their support is needed so
that communities
can participate in a voluntary program
allowing them to carry out their own
conservation
priorities by using zero interest bonds to purchase open space,
protect water quality, improve access to parks, and
redevelop abandoned
industrial city centers.
For more information on this bill
as well as a sample letter and email visit
http://www.sierraclub.org/takeaction/sprawl/
___________________________________________________________________
4) TAKE ACTION:
PROTECT OUR WILD HERITAGE - STOP LOGGING OUR NATIONAL
FORESTS
Protecting forests
make environmental and economic sense. The Forest Service
predicts that in the year 2000, recreation, hunting and
fishing in National
Forests will contribute 38 times
more income to the nation's economy than
logging, and
will create 31 times more jobs. More than 3,000 species of fish
and wildlife and 10,000 plant species -- including 230
endangered plant and
animal species -- rely on National
Forests for habitat.
The
National Forest Protection and Restoration Act would eliminate the
commercial logging program on federal public lands, promote
restoration, and
help communities that receive logging
revenue develop a more diverse and
stable economy.
** Call your Member of
Congress through the Capitol switchboard at (202)
224-3121 and urge them to cosponsor HR 1396, the National
Forest Protection
and Restoration Act. **
______________________________________________________________________
5) TAKE ACTION: Write the EPA
about New Diesel Regulations
You know that big, dirty cloud that comes from the
tailpipes of buses, trucks
and construction
equipment? That's soot and other cancer-causing
particulates being pumped into the air because diesel fuel
is so dirty.
Diesel trucks also spew smog-forming
pollution that envelops our cities in a
clouded
haze. The EPA is proposing new standards to help clean diesel
exhaust and is accepting public comments now through August
14, 2000.
TAKE ACTION: Write
the EPA and voice your support for cleaning up dirty
diesel exhaust. Your support is vital as the EPA
is facing stiff opposition
from the petroleum, trucking
and diesel engine industries. Tell the EPA that
sulfur can and should be virtually eliminated from diesel
fuel. Also state
your opposition to a
phase-in period for new diesel engines. The new
proposed standards will take effect in seven years giving
engine
manufacturers plenty of time to implement the
new technologies.
Talking
Points on Dirty Diesel:
* Smog sends more than 150,000 Americans to the
emergency room each year and
40,000 Americans die
prematurely from breathing particulate pollution.
Diesel pollution is also linked to 125,000 cases of cancer
each year.
* Diesels produce 27% of the smog-forming
pollution and 15% of the carbon
dioxide (CO2)
emissions, yet only 2% of all vehicles on the road run on
diesel fuel.
* A single diesel truck can produce as much
pollution as 150 cars.
Please
write your comments today! When writing, be sure to reference docket
number: A-99-06.
Comments are due August 14 and should be sent to:
Margaret Borushko- Docket no.
A-99-06 US Environmental Protection Agency
Office of
Transportation and Air Quality 2000 Traverwood Dr., Ann Arbor, MI
48105
_____________________________________________________________________
6) TAKE ACTION: PROTECT OUR
WATER FROM ANIMAL FACTORIES
The EPA is in the process of developing a "Guidance
Document" for a
permitting system for large
concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
These
massive animal factories have fouled America's water and air from coast
to coast, and have run family farmers off the land. Several
court cases have
clearly found that these facilities,
including land application of wastes,
are to be
regulated under the federal Clean Water Act.
But the US EPA seems not to understand the import of the
court decisions or
the impact of the CAFOs on water
quality. There are three major positions
that the Sierra Club (and allied groups) has been
asserting:
1) Every CAFO with
more than 1000 "animal units" (2500 hogs, 30,000 chickens,
and 750 dairy cows) must OBTAIN a federal wastewater
discharge permit.
2) The
permits must contain binding, enforceable and water-quality protective
conditions.
3) CAFOs must land apply wastes at agronomic rates, as
determined by a soil
test and the optimal rate of
growth (or production) of the specific crop.
(EPA is
proposing to allow rates of application based on "soil assimilation"
which essentially means wastes can be applied right up to
the point where
runoff occurs).
Please call EPA Administrator
Carol Browner at 202-564-4700 (FAX -
202-501-1450) and urge her to issue a Guidance Document
incorporating the
above points.
______________________________________________________________________
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.cfm
To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep/
from Environment News Service July 24, 2000
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
(ENS)
http://ens-news.com
"We
Cover the Earth For You"
******************************************************************
G8 LEADERS PLEDGE TO SLOW
GLOBAL WARMING, COMBAT POVERTY
NAGO CITY, Okinawa, Japan, July
24, 2000 (ENS) - The Group of Eight (G8) major powers' communique, issued at
the end of their July 21-23 summit in Okinawa, sets a goal of reducing the share
of the world's population living in extreme poverty to half the level of 1990 by
the year 2015, reflecting the emphasis given to development at this year's
gathering.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-01.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-01.html
******************************************************************
URANIUM FOR POWER PLANTS AVAILABLE ONLINE
NEW YORK, New York, July 24,
2000 (ENS) - U.S. utilities that generate electricity from nuclear power
plants are entering the world of e-commerce to buy fuel for their reactors. New
York Nuclear Corporation, a nuclear fuel brokerage company founded in 1982, is
now operating the world. s only nuclear fuel electronic marketplace.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-06.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-06.html
******************************************************************
SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES VP GORE AS ENVIRO CANDIDATE
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, July 24,
2000 (ENS) - The Sierra Club, one of America. s oldest and most respected
environmental groups, has thrown its weight behind Vice President Al Gore in his
campaign for President. In its formal endorsement of Gore today, the Sierra Club
called Gore the "best chance" to beat Republican candidate George W. Bush, which
the group criticized as "anti-environmental."
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-07.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-07.html
******************************************************************
NATIONS STEP UP ALBATROSS TALKS
HOBART, Tasmania, July 24, 2000
(ENS) - A pioneering international agreement to protect southern hemisphere
seabirds is being developed, despite the absence from the talks of major fishing
countries.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-10.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-10.html
******************************************************************
FINE THREATENED OVER ILLEGAL DUTCH GM POTATO
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 24,
2000 (ENS) - The Dutch company Avebe faces fines unless it succeeds in
clearing the last traces of living genetically modified (GM) potatoes from land
where the variety was commercially grown last year without an environmental
permit.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-11.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-11.html
******************************************************************
UK PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS COUNTRY'S TOP GREEN AS ADVISOR
LONDON, United Kingdom, July 24,
2000 (ENS) - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has appointed one of the country's
best known environmentalists as his key advisor on sustainable development.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-12.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-12.html
******************************************************************
EU ATTEMPTS TO SMOOTH PATH FOR NEW MEMBERS
BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 24, 2000
(ENS) - Funding worth 470 million euros (US$440 billion) was approved Monday
for 18 environmental and transport projects aimed at preparing Central and
Eastern European nations for European Union membership.
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-13.html">http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-13.html
******************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 21, 2000
EPA Admits Fault, Starts Investigation of Asbestos in
Libby;
Clinton, Blair Speak Out on Biotechnology
13 Greenhouse Gas Sequestration
Projects Funded
DOE Sponsors Oil Spill Workshop in Black Sea Region
Treatment Started on Polluted Runoff from Leviathan Mine
Draft International Plan Aims
to Protect Fish Stocks
Gravel
Mine Near Appalachian Trail Prompts Lawsuit
Jeff Bridges Joins Clean Oceans Campaign
Students Join Researchers Studying
Underwater Volcanoes
Gastrobot
Munches Sugar Cubes for Energy
href="http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-09.html">http://ens.lycos.co
om/ens/jul2000/2000L-07-24-09.html
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TO href="mailto:news@ens-news.com">news@ens-news.com
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TO BUSINESS, AUTO AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Acura
and American Forests Partner to Aid Yellowstone Ecosystem
New 2001 Acura MDX Online
Promotion Helps Restore Forests Across America
TORRANCE, Calif., July
24 -/E-Wire/ -- The environmental advantages of the new 2001 Acura MDX sport
utility vehicle has inspired a unique promotional concept that will restore
forest habitat across the United States in areas like the Yellowstone ecosystem.
CONTACT: Dalin
Clark of Genex, 310-736-2018, Dclark@genex.com
For Full
Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/24July0001.html
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TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDITOR:
The RPCC, the Emerging Voice in the Reusable Industry, Doubles Membership in Twelve Months!
WASHINGTON, July 24 -/E-Wire/ -- The RPCC's June industry symposium held in Washington, DC attracted a sell-out crowd of White House, agency and industry representatives who came to hear the latest on industry technology, consumer safety, and environmental issues and solutions.
CONTACT: Jeanie Johnson of Reusable Pallet and Container Coalition, 202-625-4899, or headquarters@rpccreusable.org/
For Full Text Visit:href="http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/24July0002.html">http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/24July0002.html
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TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
BP Solarex to Become BP Solar
BALTIMORE, July 24 -/E-Wire/ -- BP Solarex announced
today that it will now be known as BP Solar. This move comes in conjunction with
BP Amoco's decision to form a single, global brand, under the new corporate
brand name -- BP.
CONTACT: Bo Harmon
of BP Solar, 410-981-0256
For Full Text Visit: href="http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/24July0003.html">http://ens.lycos.com/
/e-wire/July00/24July0003.html
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TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:
Honda Globally Adopts World's Most Stringent Emissions Policy
TOKYO, July 24 -/E-Wire/ --
Honda Motor Co., Ltd., announced that by late 2001 most of its worldwide line-up
of gasoline general purpose engines will meet the world's most stringent
emissions levels of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Phase 2
emission standards for the final phase in the year 2006.
CONTACT: John Lally of American Honda Motor
Co., Inc., Power Equipment Division, 678-339-2561
For Full Text Visit: href="http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/July00/24July0004.html">http://ens.lycos.com/
/e-wire/July00/24July0004.html
Copyright
Environment News Service (ENS) 2000 All Rights Reserved.
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