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========================================
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin for Environmental Activists
August 8, 2001
========================================
In This
Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. WILD FORESTS PROTECTION: Tell the
Bush administration to uphold the
rule preserving our last wild national
forests
2. ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION: Urge your representative to
oppose
the Army's expansion into endangered desert tortoise habitat
--Updates on Previous alerts--
1. ENERGY LEGISLATION/ARCTIC
DRILLING
2. HUDSON RIVER PCB DREDGING
3. DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK
======================================================
You will also
find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action Center, which
includes tools for
taking action easily online, at
http://www.nrdc.org/action
=============
Action alerts
=============
1.
WILD FORESTS PROTECTION
Tell the Bush administration to uphold the rule
preserving our last
wild national forests
Earlier this year, we
reported on the landmark rule adopted by the
outgoing Clinton administration
that banned logging and roadbuilding
in over 58 million acres of wild
roadless areas in our national
forests. Since then, however, the Bush
administration has launched a
stealth attack on the largest nationwide
public land conservation
decision in America's history. First, Bush
officials delayed
implementing the roadless rule, then they refused to
defend a lawsuit
brought by industry and its allies challenging the rule.
Now, while
proclaiming its commitment to wilderness values, the
administration
has started a formal process to gut the rule by allowing
individual
national forests to opt out of it, one roadless wildland at a
time.
That would turn back the clock to the old piecemeal decision process
that allowed millions of pristine acres to be developed every decade.
Our forest wildlands serve as vital habitat for threatened and
endangered species, provide priceless recreational opportunities, and
ensure clean drinking water. The roadless rule currently protects all
roadless areas from damaging activities including logging, mining and
oil and gas development. If the administration's proposed change goes
forward, however, millions of acres of our last wild lands will be at
risk -- including the Tongass rainforest, the heart of the world's
largest remaining temperate rainforest. The Tongass, with more
roadless
back country than any other national forest, spans 500
awe-inspiring miles
of Alaska's coast and is home to towering groves
of ancient trees, the
world's largest concentrations of grizzly bears
and bald eagles, and wild
rivers that teem with salmon.
An official
comment period is currently underway; comments must be
received by September
10th.
== What to do ==
Send a message to the Forest Service before
the September 10th comment
deadline, insisting that the rule be implemented
-- and defended -- as
it now stands.
== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment 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
please include
your own reasons why protecting these last wild forest lands
from
logging, mining and drilling is important to you.
Roadless ANPR
Comments
USDA-Forest Service - CAT
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City,
Utah 84122
Fax: 801-296-4090
Email: roadless_anpr@fs.fed.us
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Roadless ANPR comments - Preserve the current rule protecting
our last wild national forests
Dear Forest
Service Chief Bosworth,
I
strongly oppose any change to the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
The current rule protects our last, best forests, as well
as nearby
communities, homes, and property, and strikes
a balance between
preserving our remaining wildlands
and accommodating competing uses;
there is no need to
amend the rule in any way. I particularly oppose
allowing individual national forests to opt out of the rule
and decide
to go back to logging, building roads in, or
otherwise developing
these pristine wild areas, above
all those in Alaska's Tongass
rainforest.
A million and a half Americans
have already gone on record supporting
this rule --
don't ignore this huge outpouring of public sentiment.
Implement the original rule immediately, and defend it
against
industry and other lawsuits, so these last wild
forest lands will
remain a legacy for future
generations.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
2. ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION
Urge your representative to oppose the Army's expansion
into
endangered desert tortoise habitat
Last week the House Armed Services
Committee approved a provision in
the Defense
department authorization bill that would give the U.S.
Army 110,000 acres of public lands and critical desert
tortoise
habitat for expanded tank training exercises.
The bill would add this
area to the Army's sprawling
642,000-acre Fort Irwin National Training
Center in
California's Mojave Desert.
The proposed expansion area includes 45,000 acres of
Wilderness Study
Areas -- home to desert bighorn sheep,
sacred Native American sites
and part of the historic
Old Spanish Emigrant Trail -- that would be
sacrificed
to tank maneuvers. Tanks would also overrun irreplaceable
habitat for the threatened desert tortoise -- California's
state
reptile -- including thousands of acres
designated as "critical" for
its survival. What's more,
the bill would "fast-track" the expansion,
giving these
lands to the Army before it complies with environmental
laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act and
the
Endangered Species Act.
The bill will be sent to the House
floor shortly after Congress
returns from its August
recess.
== What to do ==
Send a message to your representative urging him or her to
oppose this
devastating legislation and to demand that
environmental laws be
complied with before any
expansion is authorized.
== Contact information ==
You can
email or fax your representative directly from NRDC's Earth
Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. If you prefer to call
your representative, the Capitol Switchboard number is
202-224-3121.
==========================
Updates
on Previous alerts
==========================
1. ENERGY LEGISLATION/ARCTIC
DRILLING
In our last alert we asked you to urge your
representative to reject a
proposal to allow oil
drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge
and to pass an energy bill that would protect the refuge, close
the SUV fuel efficiency loophole, and promote clean,
renewable energy
sources. Despite our best efforts,
however, on August 1st and 2nd the
House passed a
grossly unbalanced energy bill that would open the
refuge to oil and gas drilling, subsidize the worst
polluting energy
industries to the tune of tens of
billions of dollars, despoil public
lands and
exacerbate global warming. Congress is on recess this month,
but after Labor Day the fight will move to the Senate. In
the
meantime, we'll be asking you in future alerts to
hold your reps
accountable for their votes and to tell
your senators you expect them
to undo the damage
wrought by the House -- so stay tuned.
2. HUDSON RIVER PCB DREDGING
In
March we asked you to send comments to the EPA as it considered a
plan to dredge the Hudson River of toxic PCBs, urging it to
move
forward with the clean-up and to require General
Electric (which had
dumped the chemicals into the river
over a period of 30 years) to foot
the bill. On August
1st, the EPA announced it will proceed with
dredging,
and will further order GE to pay the costs, estimated at
nearly half a billion dollars, even though the company
spent nearly
$15 million on lobbying and advertising in
opposition to the clean-up.
Overwhelming public support
clearly helped counter GE's money and
influence --
THANK YOU to all who helped achieve this victory for one
of America's greatest rivers.
3. DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK
In
April we asked you to urge Interior secretary Gale Norton to
approve the proposed management plan for Florida's Dry
Tortugas
National Park that set aside a portion of the
park as an ecological
reserve. On July 27th, Secretary
Norton signed off on the plan,
clearing the way for the
country's largest (nearly 200 square nautical
miles)
marine reserve and establishing America's first true Ocean
Wilderness Area. The newly designated area will also
comprise the
third largest coral reef protected area in
the world. Over the next
several months NRDC will
monitor the management plan's implementation
process,
but in the meantime, thanks to everyone who wrote to
Secretary Norton in support of boosting protections for
this amazing
marine environment.
==================================================
About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
==================================================
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==========
About NRDC
==========
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
environmental
organization with over 500,000 members
nationwide and a staff of
scientists, attorneys and
environmental experts. Our mission is to
protect the
planet's wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and
healthy environment for all living things.
For more information about NRDC or
how to become a member of NRDC,
please contact us at:
Natural Resources Defense
Council
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-727-4511
(voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
General email:
nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Earth Action email:
nrdcaction@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org
Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving
Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural
Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
===========
Care2's alerts newsletter features important steps YOU can
quickly
take to help make the world greener, such as
sending letters to
political representatives or doing
something to green your home. We're
pleased to share
with you a special action opportunity from Care2's
nonprofit partner, the Heritage Forests Campaign.
I. NEW ALERT: Don't Clear-Cut
America's National Forests
Right now, the Bush Administration is trying to undo the
Roadless Area
Conservation Rule -- an immensely popular
forest conservation measure
that protects America's
last wild national forests from logging, mining, and
drilling.
In order to preserve our forests, we must generate as many
public comments
as possible by September 10, 2001. Time
is of the essence. Please send
your official comment to
U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth today.
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/2277
Big timber, mining, and oil
companies are lobbying the Bush Administration
to open
up millions of acres of precious forest lands for logging, mining,
and drilling. Make your voice heard to:
- Protect vital habitat for
threatened and endangered species,
- Preserve camping
and hiking trails from logging roads,
- Safeguard clean
drinking water,
- Insure that pristine forests near
YOUR home are not destroyed!
Take action now!
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/2277
Because once our forests are
gone... they're gone forever.
II. ACTIVIST TIPS
** Support local farmers by shopping locally at your
farmers market. You'll
get fresher, tastier foods with
fewer chemicals and pesticides applied to them,
even
if they're not organic. (Of course eating organic, locally produced
food
is even better!)
** Pick up after your pets. Animal waste on lawns or on the
street is flushed
into waterways and pollutes our
water.
III. INSPIRATIONAL
QUOTE
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love,
we will love only what we
understand, and we will
understand only what we are taught."
- Baba
Dioum, Senegalese conservationist
| THREAT TO ARCTIC REFUGE MOUNTS: Special interests turn up pressure on Senate |
| SPILLING OIL: Bald eagles, sea otters, whales at risk |
| GLOBAL WARMING: Shrinking sea ice devastating whale population |
| STIFFING FAMILY FARMERS: Will Congress abandon conservation programs? |
| ROLLING BACK: Bush administration targets clean air, water |
| TAX RRRRRRRRRRREBATE: Give yours to help save wildlife |
| WOLF GUARDIANS: Volunteers protecting wolves in Idaho |
| 1. THREAT TO ARCTIC REFUGE MOUNTS: Special interests
turn up pressure on Senate
The battle to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is moving to the Senate, and powerful special interests are cranking up the pressure to drill for oil America's last great untouched wilderness. If the issue were taken up today, drilling proponents would win by a single vote in the key Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, according to a survey by the publication Congress Daily. Big Oil and the Teamsters and AFL-CIO labor unions rammed the proposal through the House last week as part of the Bush energy plan. That plan also hands billions of dollars in subsidies to the worst polluting industries, despoils public lands and worsens global warming. And the House rejected attempts to save oil by increasing auto fuel efficiency standards. Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen called it "a staggeringly irresponsible energy bill." He said, "This was the best vote that Big Oil's money could buy."
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut are promising to filibuster any legislation that sacrifices the Arctic refuge to for-profit exploitation. But with special interests lobbying hard, the future of America's greatest wildlife preserve is in grave doubt. Send a free email urging your senators to vote to preserve the Arctic refuge for future generations. It just isn't worth it to destroy this magnificent wilderness. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there's only enough oil there to last six months. Go to http://www.SaveArcticRefuge.org to take action. 2. SPILLING OIL: Bald eagles, sea otters, whales at risk A sunken fishing boat is dumping diesel oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, threatening seabirds and other wildlife -- including bald eagles, sea otters and humpback whales. Endangered Steller sea lions have been spotted in the diesel sheens. The boat contains 35,000 gallons of oil, and officials are calling it the biggest oil spill since the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. It's happening as concerns are increasing about safety and spills caused by corroded oil pipelines on Alaska's North Slope. The Wall Street Journal reports that to shave costs, oil corporations are skimping on replacement parts. And the Alaska Legislature gutted state agencies that are supposed to make sure the oil fields are safe, according to the Journal. The Journal points out that 100,000 gallons of crude oil and saltwater spilled across delicate tundra the size of two football fields on April 15. That was just one of 50 spills attributed to worn-out pipelines in the past five years, Alaska regulators told the newspaper. 3. GLOBAL WARMING: Shrinking sea ice devastating whale population The world's population of minke whales has collapsed, and scientists are blaming global warming. Here's why: The earth's rising temperature is causing sea ice in the Antarctic to shrink. The whales feed on krill, which live at the edge of sea ice, so their abundance depends on its circumference. The latest counts suggest there are only 380,000 minke whales left. That means that in less than a decade, their population has crashed by half. Minkes are the most hunted whales in the world. Japan and Norway are defying an international ban on whale hunting. The Japanese whaling fleet has just returned from the north Pacific after killing 158 whales – 70 more than last year. Included in the take were 100 minke whales. 4. STIFFING FAMILY FARMERS: Will Congress abandon conservation programs? Just a day after the House handed Big Oil another $33 billion in tax breaks, the Senate yielded to pressure from the White House and stripped three vital conservation programs from a major farm spending bill last week. But when Congress returns to session after Labor Day, there's still hope that the Senate could include funds for the programs in next year's federal budget. With help from these three popular programs, America's farmers have been protecting wildlife – by protecting wildlife habitat. But the Bush administration proposed that the government deny funding for all three -- the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, Wetlands Reserve Program and Farmland Protection Program. Thousands of farmers have volunteered to participate in the programs, and thousands more are asking to help. They have restored nearly a million acres of our vanishing wetlands and saved more than 125,000 acres of farmland from urban sprawl. For more information, go to http://www.familyfarmer.org 5. ROLLING BACK: Bush administration targets clean air, water, public lands The Bush administration is rolling back yet more environmental protections. Under pressure from corporate polluters, the White House is balking at cleaning up thousands of the country's contaminated lakes, rivers and streams. And the administration has decided against making dozens of older coal-fired power plants obey the Clean Air Act. Those plants broke the law by expanding their facilities without adding modern anti-pollution devices to reduce dangerous emissions. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, meanwhile, promised oil and gas producers this week that she would work harder to cut through environmental safeguards to open more public land to drilling. Then she appointed another special-interest lobbyist, this one from the mining industry, to a high-level post in the Interior Department. 6. TAX RRRRRRRRRRREBATE: Donate yours to help save wildlife Many supporters have expressed their outrage over the special interests' enormous influence with the Bush administration -- especially the clout enjoyed by the oil, mining and timber industries. These powerful lobbies are attacking wildlife, habitat and environmental protections. Millions of dollars are being spent alone on the effort to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- America's greatest wildlife sanctuary.
7. WOLF GUARDIANS: Volunteers protecting endangered wolves in Idaho Volunteers from across the country are fighting to protect endangered gray wolves in the rugged Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho. They are the Wolf Guardians, organized and equipped by Defenders of Wildlife. Operating from encampments deep in the backcountry, they are working to ease traditional hatreds against predators in the Old West and to forge a new spirit of cooperation between environmentalists and ranchers. Wolves need good-will ambassadors. Law officers are investigating what the Denver Post now is describing as an "illegal poisoning campaign" by extremists against the Idaho wolves. Click here http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/new/wolves/rescue.html to read a special report from the Sawtooth Mountains on the work of the Wolf Guardians.
* FORWARD
THIS ISSUE TO A FRIEND.
DENlines is a bi-weekly publication of Defenders of
Wildlife, a leading national conservation organization recognized as one
of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat.
It is known for its effective leadership on endangered species issues,
particularly predators such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders also
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 more than 400,000 members and supporters. To
unsubscribe, send an e-mail to denlines@defenders.org
and put the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Defenders of Wildlife Copyright Defenders of Wildlife 2001 |
UCS NEWS - a monthly guide to news you can use
from The Union of Concerned Scientists' website
http://www.ucsusa.org
Friday, August 10, 2001
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Closing the SUV
Loophole
2. Invasive Species
3. UCS in News and Opinion
4. Bill Nye Climate
Videos
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. CLOSING THE SUV LOOPHOLE
The energy bill passed by the
House of Representatives
earlier this month doesn't
require automakers to meet even
the modest fuel-economy
improvements for SUVs and
light trucks that they have
already pledged. The Senate is
likely to act in
September on their own energy legislation.
Let your
Senators know that it's imperative that these
vehicles
meet the same average fuel economy standards
as cars.
Visit our Action Center and make your voice heard.
http://www.ucsusa.org/act/?act-home.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. INVASIVE SPECIES
They may look pretty, but invasive
plant species can take
over your garden and render
other species extinct. Learn
about this emerging threat
to biodiversity at
http://www.ucsusa.org/environment/?bio_invasives.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. UCS IN NEWS AND
OPINION
Increasingly, when
newspapers, television, and radio news
organizations
need incisive analysis of issues such as
energy policy,
global warming, and national missile defense,
they turn
to UCS experts. National newspapers recently
featured
Op-Ed articles by Kevin Knobloch, UCS Executive
Director, and Tom Collina, Director of UCS's Global
Security
Program. Read them at
http://www.ucsusa.org/?releases/oped_kk_05-20-01.html
and
http://www.ucsusa.org/?releases/oped_tzc_06-21-01.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. BILL NYE CLIMATE VIDEOS
Bill Nye was UCS's special
correspondent at the COP-6
climate conference last fall
in the Hague. His streaming videos
from COP-6 are a
good introduction to this and other climate
change
issues. Check them out at
http://www.ucsusa.org/?hague/hague-home.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Union of Concerned
Scientists is a nonprofit
partnership of scientists and
citizens combining rigorous
scientific analysis,
innovative policy development and
effective citizen
advocacy to achieve practical
environmental solutions.
http://www.ucsusa.org
****************************
*
WILD ALERT
* Friday, August 10, 2001
****************************
Dear WildAlert Subscriber:
We are forced by the Bush Administration to once again ask
you to
take action to help save roadless areas on our
national forests. As
we've mentioned here
before, the Bush Administration is ignoring over
a
million public comments in support of roadless area protection and
has set up a fast-track, technically-focused comment
period. This
process was designed to
disenfranchise the typical American who is
concerned
about his or her forests and wishes to speak out in support
of roadless protection.
But we're determined to make it simple for you to take
action and to
send your comments to the Forest Service,
stating, in no uncertain
terms, that you want
protection for the last remaining 58 million
acres of
wild places on our national forests.
If you are already a WildAlert member, please just REPLY to
this
message and then hit your SEND button and a letter
similar to the one
below will be emailed automatically
to the Forest Service on your
behalf. If you
have received this email from a friend, please follow
this link to take action on this issue:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=584
BACKGROUND
An historic number of
Americans took part in the original, 3-year
public
process determining how the last of the best of our national
forests should be managed. Both the scientific
community and the
majority of the American public want
these remaining wildlands
protected from industrial
development. The Bush Administration
quickly determined that the roadless conservation rule did
not fit
with its agenda to open national lands to Big
Oil and other
developers. First, the
Administration failed to defend the Rule in
court
(we're appealing). Now, the Administration is asking for
detailed comments within an impossibly short timeframe.
TAKE ACTION
Please don't let the Bush Administration subvert your
wishes in the
future protection of roadless
areas. Hit REPLY to this message and
then
hit your SEND button and a letter similar to the one below will
be emailed automatically to the Forest Service on your
behalf. Or go
to our site to take action and
tell your friends:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=584
You can also use the sample letter below as a model for
comments you
send yourself.
SAMPLE LETTER
USDA-Forest Service-CAT
Attention: Roadless ANPR Comments
P.O. Box 221090
Salt Lake City,
Utah 84122
EMAIL
TO: roadless_anpr@fs.fed.us
Dear Chief Bosworth,
I am writing to ask, as an
official comment to the Advanced Notice of
Proposed
Rulemaking, that the Forest Service's Roadless Area
Conservation Rule be implemented in full and without
exception, as
published in the Federal Register on
January 12, 2001.
Modifying
the Roadless Area Conservation Rule through individual
forest plans would return the management of these vital
wild areas to
a decision-making process that has not
adequately protected or
conserved roadless areas in the
past.
QUESTION 1: What is the
appropriate role of local forest planning as
required
by NFMA in evaluating protection and management of
Inventoried Roadless Areas?
Forest planning has clearly failed to provide adequate
protection of
roadless areas and will continue to do so
in the future, especially
given that the Administration
is also weakening forest planning
regulations. Under current forest plans, about
60 percent of the
remaining roadless areas are
available for road construction and
logging. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is
needed to prevent
further incremental loss of roadless
areas. The appropriate role for
forest
planning is to provide additional protection of roadless
areas, such as preventing off-road vehicle damage, and
identifying
roadless areas omitted from Forest Service
inventories.
QUESTION 2: What
is the best way for the Forest Service to work with
the
variety of States, tribes, local communities, other
organizations, and individuals in a collaborative manner to
ensure
that concerns about roadless values are heard
and addressed through a
fair and open process?
The Roadless Area Conservation
Rule was developed through the most
extensive public
involvement in the history of federal rulemaking,
with
more than 600 public hearings nationwide. More than 1.6 million
Americans submitted official comments, 95% of which
supported
strongest possible protections for remaining
roadless areas. States,
tribes, communities, and the
general public had ample opportunity to
review and
comment on the proposal. The final Rule addressed many
views expressed during the public comment period and
incorporated
many suggested changes.
QUESTION 3: How should
inventoried roadless areas be managed to
provide for
healthy forests, including protection from severe
wildfires and the buildup of hazardous fuels as well as to
provide
for the detection and prevention of insect and
disease outbreak?
The best way
to maintain healthy roadless areas is to keep them
roadless. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule
already provides
exceptions for roadbuilding and
logging to address wildfires and
forest
health. According to the Forest Service, less than 2% of
inventoried roadless areas are at combined risk of insects,
disease,
and fire. The Forest Service has successfully
controlled 98% of
wildfires in inventoried roadless
areas without building roads into
those
areas.
QUESTION 4:
How should communities and private property near
Inventoried Roadless Areas be protected from the risks
associated
with natural events, such as major wildfires
that may occur on
adjacent federal lands?
See answer to Question 3,
above. Also, the rule gives forest
managers discretion, on a site-specific basis, to thin
small-diameter
trees where needed to restore ecological
processes, provide habitat
for endangered species, and
avert catastrophic wildfire. Wildfires
are
much more likely to start in areas with roads, due to increased
public access.
QUESTION 5: What is the best way to implement the laws that
ensure
States, tribes, organizations, and private
citizens have reasonable
access to property they own
within Inventoried Roadless Areas?
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has no effect on access
to state
and private land
inholdings. Roadless areas are no different from
any other national forest lands regarding inholding
access. The Bush
administration should not
be perpetuating the myth that the Rule
denies access to
property inholdings.
QUESTION
6: What are the characteristics, environmental values,
social and economic considerations, and other factors the
Forest
Service should consider as it evaluates IRAs?
The Forest Service has already
identified roadless area values
through the public
process for the Roadless Area Conservation Rule,
including clean drinking water, fishing and swimming, rare
wildlife
habitat, large undisturbed landscapes,
barriers to weeds and pests,
scientific research, open
space and unspoiled vistas, Native American
religious
and cultural observances.
The
real economic value of National Forests comes from recreation and
environmental quality of life. Approximately 85 percent of
the
revenue generated from America's national forests
comes from
recreational activities, more than five
times the amount generated by
logging.
QUESTION 7: Are there
specific activities that should be expressly
prohibited
or expressly allowed for Inventoried Roadless Areas
through Forest Plan revisions or amendments?
Road building and commercial
logging should generally be prohibited
in roadless
areas, with exceptions for forest health and public
safety. Allowing forest plans to make additional
exceptions would
completely undermine the Rule, causing
continued incremental
destruction of roadless
areas. Roadless areas should receive
additional protection through the forest planning process,
especially
from destructive off-road vehicle use and
hard-rock mining.
QUESTION 8: Should Inventoried Roadless
Areas selected for future
roadless protection through
the local forest plan revision process be
proposed to
Congress for
wilderness designation, or should they be
maintained under a specific
designation for roadless
area management under the forest plan?
By law, forest plans must evaluate the wilderness potential
of all
roadless areas and make recommendations for
wilderness designation by
Congress. The Rule doesn't
change that. Forest plans also designate
roadless areas for continued roadless management,
regardless of
wilderness recommendations.
QUESTION
9: How can the Forest Service work effectively with
individuals and groups with strongly competing views,
values, and
beliefs in evaluating and managing public
lands and resources,
recognizing that the agency can
not meet all of the desires of all
the parties?
The Roadless Area Conservation
Rule enjoys the overwhelming support
of the American
people, which the Bush administration needs to
respect. The Rule represents a balanced approach
to managing
National Forests, most of which are already
open to logging, mining,
and drilling, while just 18
percent is designated wilderness. The
Rule
will protect the remaining 31 percent for future generations.
QUESTION 10: What other concerns,
comments, or interests relating to
the protection and
management of inventoried roadless areas are
important?
The Roadless Area Conservation
Rule should be retained and
implemented as
is. The Bush administration needs to do all that it
can to ensure protection of America's remaining roadless
areas. In
particular, the Forest Service
should stop preparing timber sales in
the Tongass
National Forest in violation of the Rule. The
administration should also stop undermining the legality of
the Rule
and vigorously defend it against
lawsuits. In addition, the
administration
should call off its efforts to weaken the
environmental
safeguards and public participation opportunities in
the forest planning regulations.
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
***************************************************************
An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
***************************************************************
WildAlert is an email action alert system brought to
you by The
Wilderness Society to keep you apprised of
threats to our wildlands --
in the field and in
Washington. WildAlert messages include updates
along with clear, concise actions you can take to protect
America's
last wild places. You are welcome
to forward Wildalerts to all those
interested in saving
America's wildlands.
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subject line.
Founded in 1935,
The Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild
lands through
public education, scientific analysis and
advocacy. Our goal is to
ensure that future
generations will enjoy the clean air and water,
wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that
pristine forests, rivers, deserts and
mountains provide. To take
action on behalf of
wildlands today, visit our website at
http://www.wilderness.org
Yesterday's (August 10) New York Times reports that 5 bombs
were
placed in Banamex branches; three of which went
off. No injuries were
reported, but the event is
indicative of the growing rage in the
global South
regarding foreign corporate takeover of national
resources.
At the center of the anger is the takeover of Mexico's
largest bank
(Banamex) by none other than
Citigroup. The Banamex merger means
that not
only is Citi the world's most destructive bank they are now
the largest financial institution on the
planet.
These
bombings are only one tiny example of the massive public
outcry the merger has provoked from the people
of Mexico. People
from all sectors of
society ranging from elected officials, to
community
advocates to religious and cultural leaders have spoken out
against this deal which would give Citi unprecedented
controls over
the Mexican economy and
resources.
Additionally, numerous American individuals and NGO's,
including
Rainforest Action Network, Inner City Press,
the California
Reinvestment Coalition and the
Greenlining Institute (and some of you
individually),
called for the Federal Reserve to hold hearings before
approving the merger. It is clear that we cannot
allow Citigroup to
grow to such a historic and perverse
size without exploring the
impact on social,
environmental, and economic rights in the over one
hundred countries where Citi operates.
In a shocking example of how far
the American regulatory system is
from being either
transparent of democratic our collective appeal for
basic democratic process was flatly denied and last week
the Federal
Reserve rubber stamped the merger in record
time without even the
facade of public
hearings.
For
background information on the Banamex merger and the efforts to
get the Federal Reserve to stop it please consult the posts
from 6/7
and 6/25 in the stop-citi list archives at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopciti-updates/messages
PLEASE NOTE
: Rainforest Action Network does not engage in or
promote property destruction and we work to confront
violence in all
its forms. The information
below is passed on for educational
purposes only and is
not intended as an endorsement of any specific
tactic.
For More information on the Campaign Against Citigroup
check
out :http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/
or contact Rainforest Action Network at
415-398-4404/1-800-989-RAIN
*
* * *
Mexican Leftist Group
Plants Bombs
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:39
p.m. ET MEXICO CITY (AP)
-- A
small leftist group said it planted explosive devices at five
Mexico City branches of a bank bought last week by
Citigroup, a deal
that angered taxpayers who had bailed
out the Mexican bank only to
see it sold to foreigners
at a huge profit.
Three small
explosives contained in tin cans detonated and two more
were defused late Wednesday -- the birthday of the
revolutionary hero
Emiliano Zapata. There were no
reports of injuries or major damage.
An unexploded
grenade was found outside a branch hours later on
Thursday.
``These were very homemade devices that weren't intended to
cause
destruction, serious damage, or to injure
anyone,'' said Bernardo
Batiz, Mexico City's chief
prosecutor. ``The intention was clearly to
call
attention to this group.''
The
leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People, or FARP,
claimed responsibility for the attacks in calls to Mexican
news
media. FARP also warned that explosives were
planted at the Italian
Embassy in Mexico City and at
the Senate but none were found, police
said.
Batiz said witnesses described the
bombers as ``youths ... who warned
some kids playing
soccer nearby to clear out'' before planting the
devices. No suspects have been arrested.
Banamex released a brief statement
Thursday condemning the bombings.
Business at the banks
continued as usual, the statement said.
Earlier Wednesday, Congress had released details of fraud
and insider
loans -- including the names of bankers
involved -- in a $100 billion
rescue program that
bailed out Banamex and a dozen other Mexican
banks
after a 1995 currency crisis.
An audit showed that taxpayers absorbed losses from about
$7.3
billion in insider or fraudulent loans.
Under the slogan ``support
transparency,'' Mexico's most influential
newspaper,
Reforma, ran a front-page appeal Thursday asking readers
to help identify deadbeat debtors and locate their assets.
Anger has mounted over the
Citigroup deal, the latest in a series of
buyouts that
has placed almost all of Mexico's financial sector in
foreign hands.
Banamex President Roberto Hernandez, a friend and campaign
donor of
President Vicente Fox, may have gotten as much
as $3 billion for
selling his stake in the bank -- none
of which he has to pay back to
taxpayers who spent more
than $3.4 billion to bail out his bank when
it was
drowning in bad loans in 1995.
Mexican bankers said the release of the names, as well as a
general
hostility toward them, could lead to a violent
campaign against banks
and their owners.
``They're attempting to create an
atmosphere of lynching against the
thousands of people
and businesses that appear on the list'' of
delinquent
loans, said Hector Rangel, president of the Mexican
Bankers Association.
< http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Mexico-Explosions.html?ex=9
You can take action on this alert either via email
(please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nwhi/wkxwk74h78xt8e
We encourage you to take
action by August 17, 2001
Ocean Action: Help Protect the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands Coral Reefs
----------------------
Protection for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral
Reef Ecosystem Reserve (Reserve) is at risk of being
weakened by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. After an
extensive public review process, a marine protected
area around the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
was established last year. It is the world's second
largest marine protected area - second only to Australia's
Great Barrier Reef - and includes approximately 70
percent of U.S. coral reefs and vital habitat for monk
seals, sea turtles, birds and fish. The Bush Administration
is currently reconsidering the protections for the
Reserve and may buckle under the pressure of some members
of the fishing industry. You can help save precious
marine life by sending a message to the Secretary of
Commerce asking him to maintain full protection for
this incredible ecosystem.
Last year, thousands of ocean
activists sent a clear
message to the White House in
support of strong protections
for coral reefs, marine
life, sea birds, and cultural
resources in ocean waters
off the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands. President Bill
Clinton responded by designating
the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem
Reserve and
complementing a similar action by President
Theodore
Roosevelt in 1909 when he established a National
Wildlife Refuge in the area.
Likened to a "Yellowstone of the
Sea," the shoals,
atolls and reefs in the Reserve
comprise the second
largest marine protected area in
the world. The Executive
Order that established the
reserve puts in place safeguards
to protect coral reefs
and wildlife in the area. Still,
commercial and
recreational fishing is allowed to continue
at recent
levels of catch and activity throughout 99.8
percent of
the reserve. Due to its great distance and
rough seas,
the existing commercial fishing activity
consists of
ten bottom-fishing boats.
In the last few months, some representatives of the
fishing industry have pressured President Bush and
Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans to weaken the
protections
for the Reserve. They are urging the
Administration
to accept an alternative plan that
allows potentially
harmful levels of fishing effort and
the use of currently
prohibited fishing gear types that
damage the ocean
habitat.
We need your help to make sure the Reserve continues
to be protected. This incredible area is scientifically
unique, holds a tremendous cultural significance to
Native Hawaiians, and is home to the greatly endangered
monk seals, sea turtles and millions of sea birds.
Please take a moment to urge Commerce Secretary Donald
L. Evans to maintain the integrity of the Executive
Order and protect this unique marine protected area.
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE
WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take
action
on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nwhi/wkxwk74h78xt8e
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email
program, and edit the letter below as you wish.
Do
not delete "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and
"-END
OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and
address
to your letter. Our system automatically does
this
for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
our sample letter below, and put the alert talking
points into your own words. An individualized letter
is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,
hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large
impact, so please reply even if you don't have time
to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Secretary Donald Evans
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER
BELOW---------
I understand
that the Executive Order establishing
the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem
Reserve is
currently "under review." I am writing to
strongly urge
that the Executive Order not be weakened
in any way and
that it continues to be the basis for
the protection of
the coral reef ecosystem. The Reserve
was established
after massive public input, debate,
and
compromise.
Reaching 1,200 miles off the coast of Kauai, atolls
and shoals form an isolated and remote network of coral
ecosystems and pristine waters. Due to low rainfall
and minimal vegetation, resources are replenished at
an extremely slow rate, making the ecosystem extremely
vulnerable to external impacts.
Recreational and commercial
fishing activities in the
Reserve have been
grandfathered into the Reserve area
at existing levels
of catch and in over 99% of the
areas accessed prior to
the Executive Order. Consequently,
the economic impacts
of the Reserve will be minimal.
Due to the remoteness
and rough seas in the Reserve
for much of the year,
there are only10 commercial vessels
that actively fish
in this vast area.
Maintaining
the current level of protection for this
rich and
fragile area will provide a long-term benefit
in
several ways. These Islands hold profound importance
to
the Native Hawaiian people, as they are deeply part
of
their culture. They are rich in history, artifacts,
and
legend. The area is also home to highly endangered
monk
seals, sea turtles and millions of sea birds.
Last year, thousands of individuals provided public
comments in support of strong protections for the Reserve.
There continues to be very broad public support for
this Reserve not only in Hawaii, but also throughout
the continental United States and the world.
I urge you to recognize the
importance of protecting
these extremely fragile and
isolated reefs. Please
do not weaken the Executive
Order that protect the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Coral Reef Ecosystem
Reserve. Thank you for considering
my views on the
need to fully protect this unique
area.
-------END
OF LETTER-------------------------
To: All Activists
Fr: Lisa Dix
Date: August 13, 2001
National County Payments Committee Formed
Activists Needed to Attend Oregon Meetings
On August 20 & 21 the newly
created National Advisory Committee on
Forest County
Payments will hold their first meeting to begin working on
long term recommendations to Congress about the future of
payments to
States from National Forest
receipts. The Fiscal Year 2001 Interior
Appropriations bill (Public Law 106-291) authorized the
creation of this
Committee, which is made up of seven
members all federal, state, or
county employees and is
subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA). The public will have a chance to speak
at all of the meetings
and all public testimony
(written or verbal) will be submitted into the
record. There will be time where members of the
public can ask
questions of the
Committee. The meeting times are:
· August 20, 2001. Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway, Portland,
Oregon.
8:30-5:00 p.m. Public
Testimony will be accepted 1:00-5:00 p.m.
·
August 21, 2001. 304SE Nye Avenue, Pendleton, Oregon. 1:00-5:00
p.m.
Public testimony will be accepted
1:30-5:00 p.m.
Why
the National Committee?
The Secure Rural Schools and
Community Self-Determination Act of 2000
(County
Payments) that passed last year will expire in 2006. The County
Payments bill mostly separates payments to for schools and
roads from
timber receipts, but only if the Counties go
into the new payment
system. The counties
that stay in the old system will still receive
their
funds for schools and roads from the revenues generated from
timber and other National Forest receipts. Since
the system is not
uniform at this time, and the bill
will expire, Congress directed this
National Committee
to come up with recommendations for how States will
get
paid in the future. Essentially, the National Committee is starting
to write the next payments to states legislation for
2006.
Bush Needs to Keep His
Old Allies
For Counties choosing the new system under
the County Payments bill, no
trees on the National
Forests need to be cut in order for those Counties
to
get their payments. However, the new system begins to breaks apart a
very politically powerful coalition that always worked
together to
increase logging on the National Forests so
schools can get their
funding and counties can get
their roads. The Coalition included
members
of the Boards of Education, County Commissioners, school
superintendents, the timber industry, and other related
local
businesses.
If the new system is eliminated,
and this Committee has the power to
determine that,
then this coalition can get back in the business for
increased logging on National Forests. This is
why it is important to
go to the meeting and publicly
testify that National Forest receipts
need to be
delinked from payments to counties for schools and roads.
What If I Can Not Attend the
Meeting?
If you are unable to go to the meeting but
want to submit written
comments you can email comments
to Randy Philips, Director of Programs
and Legislation,
from the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C.
mailto:rphillips01@fs.fed.us.
For more information contact Lisa
Dix, American Lands Campaign,
mailto:ldix@americanlands.org.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street
SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Take Action! Save the coral reefs and wildlife of the
NW Hawaiian Islands.
You can take action on this alert either via email
(please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/NWHI_2/wk8bxn4q78xt8d
Spread the word about efforts
to save the NWHI. Visit
the web address below and tell
your friends to take
action on this important campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/NWHI_2/forward/wk8bxn4q78xt8d
We encourage you to take
action by August 31, 2001
Help
Protect NW Hawaiian Islands!
----------------------
Bush Threatens to Rescind Protections for Largest Coral
Reef Reserve in U.S.
Take Action!
Save the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Coral Reef
Ecosystem Reserve
***************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense.
Finding the ways that work.
***************************
The Bush Administration threatens
to weaken protection
for 84 million-acre coral reef
reserve in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands (NWHI).
The Secretary of Commerce
has ordered a "review" of
Executive Orders establishing
the NWHI Coral Reef
Ecosystem Reserve. Take action
and help protect these
vulnerable coral reefs, fragile
atolls and important
Hawaiian cultural resources. We
STRONGLY encourage you
to personalize the letter below.
Tell the Secretary of
Commerce: Hands Off the NWHI!
Mahalo nui loa.
BACKGROUND
**************************
Last
year, many of you sent a clear message to the
White
House in support of strong preservation measures
for
the vast, remote, unique and fragile Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). Then-president Clinton responded
by designating the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve,
completing a process begun by Theodore Roosevelt in
1909. Or so we thought...
Alarmingly, the Bush administration and Secretary of
Commerce, Donald L. Evans have placed the Northwestern
Hawaiian Island Reserve on the chopping block! The
NWHI needs your help again.
"Yellowstone of the Sea:"
These
shoals, atolls, and reefs comprise the most remote
archipelago in the world, stretching 1,200 miles off
the coast of Kauai. The NWHI are home to 70% of all
coral reefs in the U.S., as well as highly endangered
monk seals, sea turtles, and millions of sea birds.
They are of profound importance to the Native Hawaiian
people and play a significant role in Hawaiian culture.
They are extremely vulnerable to external impacts.
The Bush administration is ready
to weaken the protection
measures in the Executive
Orders that created the Reserve,
based on false claims
that fishermen and consumers
will be economically hurt
by Reserve restrictions.
To
the contrary, Hawaii's Recreational Fishing Alliance
strongly supports the Reserve and the Executive Orders.
The final plan represented a substantial weakening
of the initial conservation measures first proposed
and included far smaller "protected areas" (only 5%
of the Reserve); the opening of 95% of the "protected
areas" to sportfishing and commercial fishing; and
the placing of NWHI protection under the Department
of Commerce rather than the Department of Interior.
All waters outside the tiny "protected areas" are open
to fishing. A mere one fifth of a percent (0.2%) of
the NWHI Reserve is now closed to bottomfishing and
recreational fishing.
Any further weakening of the
Reserve will seriously
compromise critically important
protection measures.
Please help preserve this fragile
ecosystem.
Take action!
Contact the Commerce Secretary Don Evans
and let him
know you oppose weakening protections for
this natural
marine treasure. For more information
about the NWHI,
please visit:www.kahea.org or http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/NewsReleases/2001/Jul/n_NWHIreview.html
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE
WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take
action
on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/NWHI_2/wk8bxn4q78xt8d
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email
program, and edit the letter below as you wish.
Do
not delete "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and
"-END
OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and
address
to your letter. Our system automatically does
this
for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
our sample letter below, and put the alert talking
points into your own words. An individualized letter
is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,
hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large
impact, so please reply even if you don't have time
to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Secretary Donald L. Evans
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER
BELOW---------
I urge you to
allow the Executive Orders which established
the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) Coral Reef
Ecosystem Reserve to continue to be the basis for the
protection of that vast and remote ecosystem. I understand
that these Executive Orders (EO) are currently "under
review." The EOs were issued on the basis of a century
of efforts aimed at protecting the "Yellowstone of
the Sea" and after much public input, debate, and
compromise.
The EOs provide minimal protection for the
NWHI ecosystem
while allowing fishing to continue at
current levels.
The most
remote archipelago in the world, stretching
1,200 miles
off the coast of Kauai, the NWHI form an
isolated
network of coral ecosystems and pristine waters.
They
are home to highly endangered monk seals, sea
turtles
and millions of sea birds. The NWHI are of
profound
importance to the Native Hawaiian people and
play a
significant role in Hawaiian culture. They are
rich in
legends, artifacts, and burial sites. This
fragile
ecosystem is extremely vulnerable to external
impacts.
The Hawai'i Recreational Fishing Alliance strongly
supports the Reserve and the Executive Orders. Due
to great distance and rough seas, the existing commercial
activity in the NWHI consists of ten active bottomfish
boats and a handful of recreational vessels. These
boats are grandfathered into the Reserve at current
reported levels of catch and activity in over 99% of
the areas they accessed prior to Reserve establishment.
A mere one fifth of a percent (0.2%) of the Reserve
is closed to bottomfishing and recreational fishing.
The viewing of sea turtles, which nest in and migrate
from the NWHI, is a major component of the $800 million
ocean recreation industry in the Main Hawaiian Islands.
There is broad public support for
this Reserve throughout
Hawai'i, nationally, and
internationally. In 2000,
Congress passed a unique bill
that provided a special
protected status and allowed
for restrictions on activities
that would negatively
impact the NWHI. As part of the
Reserve establishment
process, a series of ten public
hearings and meetings
were held throughout the Main
Hawaiian Islands. In
addition to overwhelming public
testimony in support of
strong protection measures
at the hearings, over 9,000
people submitted written
comments. The EOs reflect this
public input. In addition,
the final EO reflected
detailed input from the State
of Hawai'i and the
Western Pacific Regional Fishery
Management Council,
some of which led to the weakening
of initially
proposed protection measures. Any further
weakening of
existing protection measures would seriously
compromise
the Reserve.
Please support
the existing Executive Orders and the
protections for
the ecosystem and for fishing that
they embody. Please
keep in place all of the protection
measures that
prevent the degradation of the ecosystem
of these
island habitats.
-------END OF
LETTER-------------------------
Positive Energy
August 2 - 9, 2001
v1.07
Our greatest apologies for not sending out last week's
issue
of Positive Energy. Making some software
improvements took
a bit longer than expected, but we
are online and back
again with another issue of
Positive Energy - the Clean
Energy Now Campaign's
(almost :)) weekly good news update!!!
TELL GOVERNOR
DAVIS TO INVEST $2 BILLION IN RENEWABLE
POWER
GENERATION AND PUBLIC POWER ENTITIES
Recently a law was passed in the state creating the
California
Power Authority - a government body in
charge of financing and
developing infrastructure to
ensure stable electricity supply.
Due to the Authority's potential influential role in the
future
of California, it is critical that Governor
Davis appoints
representatives with experience in
consumer advocacy and
environmental protection to the
Board of Directors. The
California Power Authority also
has $5 billion in bond
issuing authority. Clean Energy
Now believes that at least
$2 billion should be
allocated for clean energy - wind,
solar and geothermal
power.
Support Clean Energy
Now's demand for responsible
representation on the
Power Authority's Board of Directors
and mandatory
allocation of $2 Billion for clean energy
by sending a
message to Governor Davis.
To
send an email and a fax now, go to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/takeaction/cpa.html
CONFLICT OF INTEREST?!
Need more evidence that top Californian officials
have been
taking advantage of consumers at the cost of
the environment?
Check out the recent San Francisco
Chronicle article,
"State power regulator holds energy
stocks: Commission chief
William Keese made 20 trades
last year."
It appears that
Keese held as much as $510,000 of stock last
year in
companies his agency oversaw and made important
decisions on, such as Duke Energy Corp. and Edison
International.
With this in mind, building a
responsible and public-interest
minded Board for the
California Power Authority becomes
more and more
important.
Read
the article on the SF Gates News web site:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/01/MN201486.DTL
PEACE ON EARTH AND IN SPACE
Over one hundred people took part in a rally and
non-violent
direct action commemorating the 56th
anniversary of the
U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan at
Livermore in Northern California.
The annual "Peace on Earth and
in Space" rally and non-violent
direct action was held
at the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab,
a facility
managed by the University of California, on Monday,
August 6, 2001 at 7am. Over 30 individuals were
arrested while
attempting to enter the laboratory
gates. Speakers included
Dial Keju of the Marshall
Islands, where Livermore and
Los Alamos Labs conducted
above-ground nuclear testing.
For more information about the annual event
contact Tri-Valley CAREs at: (925) 443-7148
JOIN IN ON A 2001 ANNUAL STATEWIDE ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE CONFERENCE
California Communities Against Toxics invites you to
participate in the 2001 Annual Environmental Justice
Conference on Saturday, August 18 - Sunday, August 19
at St. John's Church in Bayview Hunters Point.
By attending this very important
conference, you will be
able to join with people living
in urban, rural, desert,
and native communities who are
fighting for environmental
justice. United, the
conference participants will share
experiences from
community struggles against environmental
racism and
injustice. Learn new skills and develop new
strategies
to protect our health and environment.
For more information contact:
CCAT
at (661) 273-3098 or
Greenaction at (415) 252-0822.
For more information on the Youth
program,
call Literacy for Environmental Justice
at (415) 508-0475.
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and the
web site, http://www.cleanenergynow.org, will give
you good news about ways to achieve clean air, climate
justice and renewable energy solutions to our current
energy crisis.
Want to do more? Become a Greenpeace member today!
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
Green Party of New York State E-News Vol. 1, No. 9, August
14, 2001
In this issue:
1. Introduction
2. Action and Activity alerts (AAAs)
- Noam Chomsky Appeal for Free Speech Radio News
- Fast Track Do or Die Time!
-
One-Minute Action Alert End Child Slave Labor
- How You Can Help Jane Wood and Defend Tenant Rights
- Greens Legislative Alert on EPA Registration of BT Crops
- Support NYC Sustainable Wood Product Purchasing
Policy
- Rochester Volunteers Needed for Susan B
Anthony Parade August 26
- Vote in the September 11
Green Primary
- E-News Wants You
- E-News CONTEST: Tell Bush What to Do With That "Tax
Rebate"
3. Meetings and Events:
- Emergency Alert: Demonstrate to Support Mumia,
August 17, Philadelphia
- Hip Hop Against Sweatshops:
Tell Old Navy "Stop Using Sweatshops", August 18, NYC
-
Greenpeace Celebrates 30th Anniversary, August 26-28, NYC
- Beyond The Thin Blue Line: Militarizing The Police, Sept.
25, NYC
- Mobilization during the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank
Joint Annual
General Meetings, September 28 October 4, Washington DC
4. News, News Links, Resources
NEWS
- NYC and State - N.Y.
Governor Plan to Provide $215 Million for New NYSE Draws Fire
- SUFFOLK - Babylon Grapples Over Open Seats
- SEATTLE - 'Dirty Tricks' Are Denounced by Green Party
- NATIONAL - Politics of Self-Destruction by Mumia
Abu-Jamal
- NATIONAL - Tim Robbins explains "What I
Voted For"
- NATIONAL - Greens Say They Will Fill
Political Void
- EUROPE - Statement of the European
Federation of Green Parties
- EUROPE - Obituary - Rene
Dumont
RESOURCES
- Genoa
Information
- Rachel's Environmental & Health News
- Green Ark
- Democracy
University Video Tapes Available
5. Letters to the
Editor
- On the Green Party nomination process,
by Mark Dunlea (Rensselaer County)
- Early report on
the super rally at the campus greens convention, by
Anne-Bernadette Weiner,
6. Opinons
- Survival of the
Greenest?
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
1. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to another issue of the Green Party of New York
State's
E-News! Our goal is to update Greens
across the state about important
issues, news, events,
and resources. We hope you will find E-News
informative, and entertaining. We welcome your comments,
contributions and
assistance. We now have an editorial
staff! Hurrah! Here's contact
information
for sending news, alerts, letters, and so on.
Cathy
Sadell csadell@prodigy.net. Action alerts, meetings,
resources, letters
Ann
Link eastst@hotmail.com. News articles, Green local
activities stories
Masada
Disenhouse masada@akula.com. Subscribe and unsubscribe information
Mark
Dunlea dunleamark@aol.com. Upstate Green news, legislative
news.
Gregg
Zukowski gzuke@mindspring.com. News on local Green
candidates,
general hellos.
Note that E-News will print
letters to the editor from Greens, Nader
supporters,
and people with something interesting to say. Deadline for
submissions to next issue: Friday, September 7, 2001. If
you would prefer
not to receive the newsletter, please
notify Masada Disenhouse at
masada@akula.com. To learn
more about green issues work in New York or to
contact
your local Green chapter please visit www.greens.org/ny. For
information about green party electoral work in New York,
including state
committee news, representatives and
elections, please visit
http://www.gpnys.org/
********************************************************************
2. ACTION AND ACTIVITY alerts ( AAAs)
NOAM CHOMSKY'S APPEAL FOR FSRN
Dear Friends,
Thank you for a moment of your
time.
You may know that in
January, 2000, dozens of freelance reporters from
across the Americas, Europe and Asia went on strike against
Pacifica
Network News (PNN) to protest a wave of
censorship engulfing the nation's
oldest,
listener-sponsored radio network. This labor action is part of a
broader, national effort involving thousands to save
Pacifica from an
elite, corporate-style take-over from
the top.
The stringers demand
that Pacifica return to its founding principles: free
speech, editorial independence and true grassroots,
noncorporate coverage
of urgent social and political
issues. They also demand the freedom to
report on the
controversies within the network itself. Hoping to compete
with the corporate drift in PNN's content, the strikers
also began
producing Free Speech Radio News, a
half-hour, alternative newscast. Over
70 reporters from
twenty American states and six continents now file
stories with FSRN, heard coast to coast on 48 community
radio stations from
Seattle to Little Rock, Santa
Barbara to Boston. FSRN is also carried
globally via
short wave and over the Internet.
The 20-month-old cast regularly features breaking stories
and crucial
investigative pieces often absent from the
corporate press and PNN.
Features have included:
* Controversies surrounding U.S. drug companies and AIDS
medications in
Africa;
* The
Palestinian Intifada and Israeli military occupation, seen from
inside Gaza Strip refugee camps;
*
The Zapatistas' historic caravan from Chiapas to their historic rally in
Mexico City;
* A controversial
U.S. railway project for transporting cheap coal, amid
environmental calls for less use of fossil fuels;
* Nigeria's resistance to IMF policies making cooking and
heating fuel
unaffordable for the working class in this
oil-rich country.
These are
vital stories, but they will continue to be heard only if you
lend support.
Producing and distributing Free Speech Radio News costs
roughly $30,000
monthly. Many of FSRN's striking
reporters - some of the finest alternative
journalists
in community broadcasting - have made serious financial
sacrifices to participate in this strike and support the
struggle to
reclaim Pacifica.
Verna Avery-Brown, veteran PNN
host forced out in December of 1999, is now
anchoring. Many of the stations carrying FSRN
are Pacifica affiliates, and
many have cancelled PNN to
air the strike cast. FSRN started as a weekly
effort,
but recently starting broadcasting daily to put maximum pressure on
Pacifica's national board. And that pressure is
working. The striking
reporters are hoping
to go to a 3rd month of daily programs, but they can't
do it without you. Your donation is needed right
now to keep the Pacifica
struggle and Free Speech Radio
News alive. Please honor the integrity of
these
reporters and show your commitment to the survival of truly
independent, critical media.
Your donation of any size will be greatly
appreciated. Checks can be made
payable to
the Agape Foundation with the words "Pacifica Reporters Against
Censorship" on the memo line and mailed to Pacifica
Reporters Against
Censorship, c/o Kevin Brower, 2210
Curtis Street,
Apt. A, Berkeley, CA 94702. All
contributions are tax deductible. If you
have
questions, would like to hear the cast or pledge a monthly amount,
please write to pnnstrikers@igc.org or go to www.fsrn.org.
Please do it today.
In solidarity,
Noam Chomsky
P.S., Again, these striking reporters need your
support. The strike
against PNN has been one
of the most historic acts of resistance since the
fight
to save Pacifica began. Help keep truly free and independent media a
reality by supporting Free Speech Radio News. If Pacifica
is lost, the
silence will be deafening. Any
amount you give will do a great deal.
********************************************************************
FAST TRACK DO OR DIE TIME!
From: Public Citizen Global Trade Watch, www.tradewatch.org
The August Congressional
Recess is in full swing - meaning members of
Congress
are at home and desperately need to hear from YOU (repeatedly over
this month) in opposition to Fast Track. It was thanks to
the hard work
done by all of you that we were able to
keep a vote from happening before
the Recess - now we
need to use the month while we have them at home wisely
- because when they get back to D.C. it will be High Noon
in Gucci Gulch
with every corporate lobbyist piling on
every Congressmember to get a fast
September vote for
Fast Track. Now they are all yours and will be until
September the 4th - so go after them! Many Members need to
be thanked, some
need to be convinced, and quite a few
are wrong on the issue and need to
hear from their
constituents how disappointed they are. We are happy to let
you know how your Member is leaning - just contact us at
202-546-4996 or
mstrand@citizen.org.
When you call your Member
(especially Democrats) and ask about Fast Track,
you
are likely to hear from quite a few of them that: "The Member opposes
the Crane Fast Track Bill or H.R. 2149." Your inclination
might be to say
"...whew - thanks" and get on with your
life. BUT, NO...CRANE WILL NOT BE
THE ACTUAL FAST TRACK
BILL THE MEMBERS WILL FACE IN A VOTE - BEING AGAINST
CRANE DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE THE MEMBER'S VOTE! Members will
likely face a
revised version of the bill on the floor.
For complete information on how
to speak with members
and other actions you can take to stop Fast Track, go
to http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/activism/DOorDIE.htm
********************************************************************
ONE-MINUTE ACTION ALERT END CHILD SLAVE
LABOR
From Molly Brewton. Note: This
"one-minute action" is located on
ActForChange.com,
Working Assets' advocacy web site.
Help End Child Slave Labor (Submitted by American
Anti-Slavery Group)
Nearly half of all cocoa beans --
chocolate's essential ingredient comes
from the Ivory
Coast. On 600,000 small farms, young boys pick cocoa beans
from dusk to dawn. Recently, a number of factors, including
razor-thin
profit margins, have combined to tempt
unscrupulous cocoa bean growers into
renewing an
age-old cost-cutting method: child slave labor. The use of
forced child labor isn't limited to the cocoa industry; the
cotton and
tobacco industries also use child slaves to
harvest and process their
crops. The House
recently approved a bill that could help end this tragedy
by funding the Food and Drug Administration to establish a
labeling system
to certify that cocoa beans, chocolates
and other derivative products are
not tainted with
child slave labor. Alarmingly, Bob Dole and other
Washington lobbyists for the cocoa, cotton and tobacco
industries seem
intent on blocking any Senate
legislation. Don't let this happen. Urge the
cocoa bean and chocolate industry to immediately commit to
work with child
labor experts among trade unions,
non-profits, and governments to adopt a
comprehensive
action plan to end child slavery. To write your legislators,
go to http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=11630
********************************************************************
HOW YOU CAN HELP JANE WOOD AND DEFEND TENANT RIGHTS
From: Jeanie Dubnau, Northern Manhattan Greens
Jane Wood is the founder of
Chelsea Coalition of Housing in New York City,
and even
at 94, she continues her tenant advocacy. A July 22 article from
the New York Times reported (see News) that Jane's
landlord, Mark
Scharfman, removed the building's
elevator without taking precautions for
the tenants.
The elderly and disabled tenants of this building have
experienced grave hardships due to the removal of their
elevator. They are
prisoners in their own homes, and
unable to leave their apartments to take
care of their
personal business. The tenants have pleaded with the
landlord, circulated petitions and have tried to meet with
the landlord
without success. We are urging everyone to
write and/or call Mark
Scharfmann to voice your
concerns about this situation. His address is 280
N.
Central Park Avenue, Hartsdale, NY 10530 and his telephone number is
(914)997-2435. Please let him know that he has a legal
obligation to keep
the building habitable.
Jeanie Dubnau, PHRI, 455 First Ave; NY, NY 10016; Tel:
212-576-8424; Fax:
212-578-0804
********************************************************************
GREENS LEGISLATIVE ALERT ON EPA REGISTRATION OF BT
CROPS
From Mark Dunlea, Rensselaer County, a
Genetically Engineered Food Alert.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently
determining
whether genetically engineered insecticidal
crops should continue to be
grown in the United States.
Because the permits under which the agency
first
approved insecticidal corn and cotton expire in 2001, EPA must decide
in the near future whether or not, or under what
conditions, to allow
farmers to plant the crops in 2002
and beyond.
We urge to contact
the EPA and tell them NOT TO ALLOW growth of genetically
engineered crops. Your comments must be received by the EPA
not later than
August 31, 2001.
To date, all commercialized
genetically engineered insecticidal plants
produce a
type of Bt toxin, one of a family of related molecules produced
by a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Many
nongovernmental
organizations, scientists and farmers
around the world are opposed to the
use of Bt crops,
because Bt crops: 1) may pose serious long term risks to
butterflies such as Monarchs and the endangered Karner
Blue; 2) may cause
allergic reactions; 3) can
contaminate organic and conventional cropsl;
and, 4)
widespread use of can lead to loss of Bt spray as an effective pest
management tool.
Send emails to opp-docket@epa.gov, with OPP-00678B in the
subject line, or
send a letter referencing Docket No.
OPP-00678B to:
Christine Todd
Whitman, Administrator
Public Information and Records
Integrity Branch
Information Resources and Services
Division (7502C)
Office of Pesticide Programs
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460.
Genetically Engineered Food Alert supports the removal of
genetically
engineered ingredients from grocery store
shelves unless they are
adequately safety tested and
labeled. Find out more about the campaign at
http://www.gefoodalert.org
********************************************************************
SUPPORT NYC SUSTAINABLE WOOD PRODUCT PURCHASING POLICY
From Roger Miller, Rainforest Action Network
New York City Council Speaker
Peter Vallone has introduced legislation,
Int. 784, to
promote the use of recycled, biobased (agricultural products)
and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood products in
NYC procurement.
Similar to recent anti-sweatshop
initiatives, the bill uses markets, and
the role large
consumers play in them, to promote forest conservation and
good labor practices throughout the world. Problems
associated with
unsustainable timber harvesting include
child and forced labor, illegal
logging, abuse of
indigenous land rights, unsafe working conditions and
ecosystem destruction. Along with the global impact, this
legislation also
helps the people of NY. Promoting
recycled materials helps promote urban
economic
development and the State of NY, under the leadership of Governor
Pataki, has certified over 700,000 acres of its state
forest lands under
the Forest Stewardship Council
program. Please call your City Council
member and the
mayor and ask them to support Int. 784, New York City's
"Good Wood" bill.
To find out who your Councilmember is and get contact
information, got to:
http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/webmaps/MyGovernmentNYC.htm
For questions, please contact: Ned Daly Forest Policy
Director Consumer's
Choice Council 2000 P St. NW Suite
540 Washington, DC 20036 v. 202.785.1950
f.
202.452.9640 daly@attglobal.net www.consumerscouncil.org
For further information about the
Rainforest Action Network, visit:
www.ran.org
********************************************************************
ROCHESTER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR SUSAN B ANTHONY PARADE
AUGUST 26
From Timothy Saunders, Rochester Greens
Sunday August 26th is the annual
SUSAN B ANTHONY parade in the heart of
Rochester's
historical district. The Susan B Anthony House Association is
co-host with the neighborhood group. Activities include a
block festival
and the unveiling of a statue of
Frederick Douglass another Rochester
historic figure. There is a historic re-enactment element
that leads the
parade and organizers are seeking men
and women to participate as
suffragette league folk.
Political candidates and community groups can
march in
21st -or whatever- century garb behind the historical section.
Back in the day, men from both NY and Texas had support
groups that marched
with the women. Greens here have
two women running for City Council and
four men running
for various offices. Come help us carry the Green Party of
Monroe County banner, whether you're from Rochester or not.
Contact Timothy
for more info at wnysgp@juno.com.
********************************************************************
VOTE IN THE SEPTEMBER 11 GREEN PRIMARY
********************************************************************
E-NEWS WANTS YOU
Yes, this E-Nes! NYS Green E-News
is looking for:
**Writers, reporters, and Greens who
just have something to say. We
especially need members
of Green locals to tell the world what your local
is
doing. By doing so, you will inspire and fire up others, and maybe just
pass on some good ideas for action. Don't worry about
perfect writing send
us the info and we will
help with the words, if needed.
**Resources, such as
Web sites (especially Green local web sites) and
newsletters that will be useful to Greens around
the state.
Green E-News is
distributed every 3-4 weeks to over 7,500 Greens and former
Nader supporters throughout the state, and the list is
growing. If you are
interested in writing
brief (please!) articles, news items, columns,
letters,
or whatever, e-mail Cathy Sadell at csadell@prodigy.net. If you
have e-mail addresses of people who want to receive E-News,
or if you are
one of those very people, send them to
Masada Disenhouse at
masada@akula.com. And,
if you have resources (web sites, newsletters,
etc.) or
news articles from other publications that everyone should know
about, send the info to Ann Link at eastst@hotmail.com.
Thank you!
********************************************************************
E-NEWS CONTEST: TELL BUSH WHAT TO DO WITH THAT "TAX
REBATE"
From Masada Disenhouse, Downtown Brooklyn
Greens.
OK, so we probably
don't need to convince you that Bush's little giveaway
of $300-$600 in tax rebates is part of a tax cut package
mainly serving the
very rich, that $300 is worth
nothing compared to the value of clean air
and water,
public transit, health care, and decent schools just to name a
few issues he seems to need some clarification on....
So, what should you do with the
money to really let Bush know what you
think of his
rebate? Well, if you want to take the armchair approach and
donate all or part of your rebate to an organization that
will put those
dollars to good use fighting Bush's
policies, we let you know (see below)
how to do this -
there's a website taking pledges to make the overall point
and Working Assets' Work for Change web site is matching
all rebate
donations dollar for dollar through
November. I think this a great use of
the funds.
However, as Greens, we wanted to
see what creative ideas there are out
there to make it
REAL clear to the President just how bad this idea is. Of
course, you can donate to the Green Party and we'll use the
funds to
further our work in all areas, but we wanted
to see what you think...
The
Contest: submit your idea to Masada at masada@akula.com by August 31,
2001. Please put "Tax Rebate Contest" in the subject so I
can identify
these easily, and make sure to provide
your name and address. Our panel of
judges will select
what we think are the best, most creative, most
effective uses for the rebate. Each winner (we think there
will be 5) will
receive a Green Party button and we'll
post the ideas and winners in the
next E-News. Good
Luck!
Here's some ideas that
came to me in the shower this morning to get you
thinking:
1. Donate your rebate to
a local Green candidate or save it (it will
collect
interest) until we ask you for it for the gubernatorial in a few months
2. Use the money to help low-income greens travel to demos
like the
IMF/World Bank demonstrations coming up in
Washington this fall.
3. Send Bush a condom every day
for a year with a note reminding him that
most
Americans are pro choice.
4. Rent a billboard that says
"George Bush is not my President", "Ralph
Nader for
President 2004", etc.
============= ============= ============= =============
Here's the info and web sites:
To read Ruth Coniff's column Keep
the Change in this month's Progressive
where Ralph
Nader talks about what he has planned for his tax rebate and
some suggestions for who to give to use Bush's bribe to
fight his policies
go to: http://www.progressive.org/0801issue/rc0801.html
Other good tax rebate web sites:
*** Give For Change ***
Working Assets Long Distance's web site has a
matching program - donate
exactly $300 or $600 to any
nonprofits on GiveForChange between July 4 and
November
1 -- and your donation will be matched! You can even send
President Bush a gift card to thank him for the rebate and
to let him know
about your donation! http://www.giveforchange.com/
*** Tax Rebate Pledge ***
A
grassroots project to get people to pledge their tax rebate checks to
organizations fighting President Bush's conservative
agenda, which has
received over $360,000 in pledges so
far. http://www.taxrebatepledge.org/
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
3. MEETINGS AND EVENTS
EMERGENCY ALERT: DEMONSTRATE TO
SUPPORT MUMIA, AUGUST 17
The
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal have
announced that the world-renowned political prisoner and
Pennsylvania
death-row inmate will be in state court in
Philadelphia on Aug. 17. The
ICFFMAJ has put out a call
to the movement to mobilize a support
demonstration at
9 a.m. outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center,
directly across from the east side of City Hall at Broad
and Market
streets. In response to the emergency call,
the International Action Center
will mobilize as many
people as possible to go to this demonstration,
including buses from NYC and other East Coast cities.
Volunteers are
urgently needed to help with
phone-banking and leafleting. Download the
leaflet at
www.Mumia2000.org. Another demonstration has been tentatively
set for the following day, Saturday, Aug. 18.
NYC BUSES: Buses leave IAC office
(39 W. 14th Street) at 6 a.m., Friday,
August 17.
When: August 17,
9:00 AM
Where: Philadelphia
Info: ICFFMAJ 415-476-8812
IAC (for bus info or to volunteer with organizing and
transportation)
212-633-6646
********************************************************************
HIP HOP AGAINST SWEATSHOPS: TELL OLD NAVY: "STOP USING
SWEATSHOPS."
From: Brian Campbell, EastVillageGreens
FREE HIP HOP MUSIC
Up and
coming MC Hom (Stimulated Records), hot off the Rocksteady Reunion,
will team up with DJ Mr. Len from Company Flow at this
unprecedented
collaboration of forces as hip hop holds
Old Navy responsible for its use
of sweatshops.
WHY OLD NAVY?
Young people buy from Old Navy more than any other age
group.The company's
profits depend on us. As a giant US
Retailer, Old Navy must take
responsibility for the
conditions in the factories that make their
clothing.
This rally mobilizes our consumer power to demand that the
workers producing Old Navy clothing are treated with
dignity and respect.
In
addition to the music: SEW-IN.To the side, a mock "sew-in" (worker +
sewing machine) will
symbolize the
workers who produce clothing for Old Navy. GUERILLA THEATRE.
See what happens when the sewer presents a garment to an
Old Navy CEO!
When: August 18,
2pm
Where: Old Navy, 34th Street between 6th
and 7th Avenue in NYC
Info: 212-265-7000, x 323
********************************************************************
GREENPEACE CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY, AUGUST 26-28
As part of the celebration,
the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior II,
will be on
the East Coast for an 8 week tour visiting 10 cities. Come on
board for an open boat tour! The Rainbow Warrior II was
launched in
Hamburg, Germany, on July 10, 1989. The
Warrior's first tour of duty was to
continue her
namesake's mission to stop French nuclear testing. Since then
she has sailed the world, from Moruroa to Mexico, from New
York to New
Zealand, to participate in protests of
international whaling, ocean
dumping, pirate fishing,
nuclear transport, and ancient forest destruction.
The
original Rainbow Warrior was sunk July 10, 1985, in Auckland Harbor,
New Zealand by French agents, killing one activist aboard.
When: August
26-28
Where: NYC,
Info: Craig Culp at 202-251-6296; Matt
Stembridge at 202-319-2404; or
Greenpeace at
202-462-1177.
Free
********************************************************************
BEYOND THE THIN BLUE LINE: MILITARIZING THE POLICE,
SEPT. 25
A public symposium
examining the growing influence of the military on
domestic policing.
"Beyond The Thin Blue Line" will address the
growing impact the US
military is having on domestic
police work in the United States, as well as
the impact
that militarized policing is having on American civil liberties.
Speakers include Paul Richmond, author of the National
Lawyer's Guild
Report on the WTO, a case study of how
paramilitary force was used against
one of the most
densely populated areas of the West Coast; Frank Morales, a
regular contributor to "Covert Action Quarterly"; Diane
Cecilia Weber,
author of the CATO Institute Position
paper "Warrior Cops", a thorough
examination of how
military weapons and training are being transferred to
police agencies around the country; and, Gene Wheaton, a
former police
officer, military CID officer, and
security contractor who has become a
knowledgeable and
well-regarded investigator and critic of covert activity.
When: Tuesday,
September 25, 7:00 PM
Where: Judson Church.
55 Washington Square South NYC
Info: Matt Ehling; mattehling@yahoo.com;
651-335-2037
Paul Richmond;
pauldavidrichmond@yahoo.com; 206-989-2673
********************************************************************
MOBILIZATION DURING THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
(IMF) AND WORLD BANK
JOINT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
The 50 Years Is Enough Network
& many other groups call on activists from
all over
the world to come to Washington during that week to protest and
expose the illegitimacy of the institutions and officials
who continue to
claim the right to determine the course
of the world economy. The IMF and
the World Bank are
the primary architects of neo-liberal globalization.
Their meetings in Washington are the most significant
gathering of the
proponents of corporate-led
globalization in the U.S. in 2001. It is
imperative that supporters of global economic justice send
a clear message:
the movement for global justice
continues to grow, and will not stand for
continuing
efforts by these institutions and the G-7 governments to
structure the world for the benefit of corporations and the
wealthy and to
deny basic justice to the majority of
the world's people.
When: Sept. 28-Oct. 4
Where: Washington DC
Info: www.50years.org;
http://www.aflcio.org/globaleconomy/global_justice.htm;
http://www.globalizethis.org/s30/index.html
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
4. NEWS, NEWS LINKS, RESOURCES
N.Y. GOVERNOR PLAN TO
PROVIDE $215 MLN FOR NEW NYSE DRAWS FIRE
Bloomberg News
New York, July 20 (Bloomberg)
-- Opponents of subsidies for a new New York
Stock
Exchange building in Manhattan are crying foul over a plan by
Governor George Pataki to bypass the state legislature in
allocating $215
million for the project.
The governor plans to assign $14
million a year from revenue the state gets
from the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to finance the subsidy,
said Andrew Rush, a spokesman for the state Division of
Budget.
The funding plan, part
of about $1 billion in city and state subsidies to
keep
the world's largest stock exchange on Wall Street, drew fire from the
Campaign for Corporate Accountability, an affiliate of the
New York State
Green Party, which said it may violate
the state constitution and finance law.
``The taxpayers, through their elected representatives,
have a right to
vote on whether or not this is a good
public investment,'' Mark Dunlea, an
attorney for the
Albany, New York- based group said in a press release.
``Pataki can't find funds for . . . education funding, but
he has no
problem paying off wealthy Wall Street
brokers as part of this re-election
effort.''
The annual payments in question
reimburse New York for early termination of
leases for
offices it once occupied at the authority's World Trade Center
in lower Manhattan, Rush said. The state legislature
authorized the $1
billion in subsidies last year,
including the state contribution and bonds
sold through
New York City's Industrial Development Agency.
Pataki's use of the port authority payments for the stock
exchange is part
of an effort to minimize public
scrutiny of the project, said Frank Mauro,
executive
director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, an organization that
monitors state and local government actions.
Quick Vote
The subsidy bill was passed in June ``on the last day of
last year's
legislative session, utilizing a `message
of necessity' from the
governor,'' said Mauro, a former
secretary to the New York State Assembly's
budget
committee. ``Then he didn't sign it till December. Why did he wait
if it was such a necessity?''
A message of necessity enables the legislature to bypass
the requirement
that bills be introduced at least three
days before they are put to a vote,
Mauro said.
Assemblyman Martin Luster, a
Democrat from Ithaca who is sponsoring a bill
to make
private companies more accountable for subsidies they receive, said
he and many of his colleagues didn't know the subsidy was
in the
legislation, which passed unanimously.
``It was part of a larger budget
bill, they didn't give out a lot of
information about
it,'' he said. ``Nowhere were the facts discussed,
nowhere was there public discussion, not one public
hearing. It's not a
good way to do business.''
'Power over the Purse'
Now, said Mauro, lawmakers should object to the fund
transfer ``because
this undercuts their general power
over the purse.''
The
governor's office referred questions to the Empire State Development
Corp., which is spearheading the stock exchange project.
Maura Gallucci, a
communications officer for the
agency, said she couldn't address why Pataki
chose to
use the Port Authority money for the project, yet took issue with
critics who said the legislature has been kept in the dark.
"The legislature has signed
off on numerous aspects of this project: the
city
bonding, allowing the ESDC to proceed with condemnation'' and a $10
million appropriation last year, she said. "They are fully
apprised of this
project.'' The $1 billion subsidy --
which the Fiscal Policy Institute said
would be the
largest given to a private entity in New York -- has
bipartisan support.
50-Story Tower
The leadership of
the Democrat-controlled state Assembly won't oppose
Republican Governor Pataki's plan, according to spokesman
Dan Weiller. The
state's 1990 agreement with the port
authority permits the governor to
direct the revenue
wherever he sees fit, Weiller said.
The plan calls for
a 600,000 square-foot trading and administrative complex
for the stock exchange across Broad Street from its present
location, which
it has used since 1903. A 1.1
million-square-foot tower, to be occupied by
private
tenants paying market rents, would rise 50 stories above the new
stock exchange. Rents would be used to at least partially
defray the cost
of the city bonds. The stock exchange
will get its new facility rent-free,
yet will have to
make an as-yet undetermined payment in lieu of taxes,
according to a July 2000 memorandum on the project by the
Empire State
Development Corp.
********************************************************************
BABYLON GRAPPLES OVER OPEN SEATS; Newcomers vie for
supervisor, town board
jobs, by Sumathi Reddy, Long
Island Newsday, 7/23
In the
basement of a Wheatley Heights house, a group of African-American
Democrats plots its strategy to challenge the powerful
Babylon Democratic
Party.
Across town at Democratic headquarters, the party that's
been in control
for 14 years plans to keep it that way.
For the first time in nine years,
the race for town
supervisor is wide open. Supervisor Richard Schaffer is
stepping down from the job he's held for nine years to
focus on his
position as Suffolk County Democratic
chairman.
Also up for grabs in
the fall elections are two town board seats being
vacated by the board's lone Republican, Francine Brown, and
by Democrat
Steve Bellone, the party's endorsed
candidate for supervisor.
But
before battling the Republicans and the Green Party, the Democrats have
to fend off an internal challenge, spearheaded by the
chairman of the
county and town's Democratic Black
Caucus, Eugene Burnett.
"I'm
not afraid of a primary," said Babylon Democratic Party chairman Jeff
Casale. "I just don't think it's going to do anyone any
good." After the
June 13 deadline to submit petitions
to the Suffolk County Board of
Elections to run for
town office, the Democratic Party had 3,800
signatures,
while Burnett's slate had 2,032, and the Republicans had 2,635
signatures of the 1,250 required from each. The Green
Party, making its
first foray into Babylon politics,
had 19 signatures, though it needed only
four, which
equals 5 percent of registered Green Party voters.
If a challenge from Casale fails to disqualify the
Democratic Black Caucus'
petition, Bellone will run
against Randolf Tobias in September in an
unprecedented
Democratic primary for supervisor. Tobias, a Deer Park school
board trustee and Queens College professor, ran
unsuccessfully for state
Senate in 1998.
The winner will face the
Republican candidate, Paul Sauberer, and the Green
Party candidate, Ian Wilder, in the general election.
Sauberer, a
self-employed financial consultant, and
Wilder, an attorney, are making
their first bids for
public office.
Tobias
acknowledges that going against the Democrats will not be easy. Just
getting the 2,032 signatures was an effort, he said.
"We don't have the money and the
contacts that my opposition has, so we
have to work
harder," said Tobias, 61, of Deer Park. "So the probability
that I will win this election doesn't look good ... But
there is the
possibility that we can really upset
them." Tobias is running on a platform
of conducting a
townwide reassessment of property values; working more
closely with school boards on budgeting issues; cleaning up
communities by
repaving roads, among other things; and
developing community centers to
serve families.
Bellone pledged to continue the
Schaffer administration's policies of tight
fiscal
management and improving parks and recreation facilities, as well as
pursuing economic development opportunities.
"I'm ready for a primary," said
Bellone, 31, a Lindenhurst resident who has
served on
the town board since 1997. "I think it'll actually give us a
boost going into the general election." Not so, said
Republicans, who see a
chance to gain the supervisor
seat for the first time in 14 years.
"The primary shows that there are problems with the way
that the town has
been managed," said Sauberer, 38, of
North Babylon. "It's not just a
partisan point of view,
saying something's wrong, because there are people
in
their own party saying things aren't being done correctly." Sauberer
cited as an example a new bathhouse at Cedar Beach that he
found flooded
recently.
"No one follows things up," Sauberer said. "You look at the
roads in the
town and they haven't been maintained
properly. It seems to come down to a
lack of management
sense." Current officeholders could not be reached for
comment.
Wilder, who was a Democratic committeeman for 10 years and
registered with
the Green Party just last year, said
his goal is to educate Babylon
residents about the
Green Party.
"We want people
to know it's not just about ecology," said Wilder, 35, who
lives in Amity Harbor. "We'd like to give town hall
government more to the
people." Wilder said his party
has agreed on three goals: working to end
pesticide
spraying, exploring alternative power sources and preserving open
space.
For town board, the Democratic Party has endorsed Deer Park
resident Carol
Quirk, who works with special education
students at Western Suffolk BOCES,
and Michael Johnson,
a technician with Long Island Bus and a Copiague Fire
District commissioner.
Burnett's group, the Democratic Black Caucus, is running
political
newcomers James Crawford of North Babylon, a
substitute teacher in
Wyandanch, and Deer Park resident
Lisa Coalmon, a senior internal auditor
at American
International Group in Manhattan.
The Republicans have endorsed brothers-in-law Lindsay Henry
of Babylon
Village and Ed McCabe of North Babylon, both
attorneys.And the Green Party
is running Aida Rivera of
North Babylon, an engineering manager for a
lighting
manufacturing company, and Michael Accurso, a salesman for an auto
dealership who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor of
Amityville this year.
There
are only two candidates for town clerk. Incumbent Janice
Tinsely-Colbert of Deer Park, a Democrat, will run against
Republican
Suzanne Beccaria of Deer Park, an
administrative assistant to town board
member Brown.
********************************************************************
'DIRTY TRICKS' ARE DENOUNCED BY GREEN PARTY
by Frank Vinluan, Seattle Times, 8/8
Standing outside the Seattle
offices of the King County Republicans
yesterday, Green
Party leaders decried what they called Republican "dirty
tricks" to manipulate upcoming elections and tip the
balance of power in
the Legislature.
Green Party members say one of
their candidates was unwittingly recruited
by
Republicans into a highly contested race to lure votes away from
Democrats. But Young Han of Mountlake Terrace, running as
the Green Party
candidate for Snohomish County's 21st
Legislative District, vowed to return
the donation of
Stan Shore, a GOP campaign consultant who paid Han's filing
fee.
"I
am now returning Mr. Shore's contribution," Han said, waving the $250
check. "My campaign is about elevating the political
discourse and
representing productive values, not being
used as a political pawn."
Han
is challenging Mukilteo Republican Joe Marine, who is running in a
special election in November to keep the seat he was
appointed to last
year. Shore has said he is not
working for Marine. Yesterday, Marine issued
a
statement saying that Shore does not work for him and that the two have
never met.
With the state House of Representatives deadlocked in a
49-49 tie, the 21st
District race could determine the
balance of power. A Marine loss could tip
power in the
House to the Democrats.
Shore,
who is working for state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, has said he
helped Han because he supports diversity of candidates on
the ballot. He
also said he sympathizes with some of
the Green Party's issues.
Shore paid for legal notices in The Herald in Everett
announcing the
party's nominating convention and he
rented a room for the event at a
Lynnwood hotel.
But Washington state Green Party
Chairwoman Kara Ceriello said Shore had
misled Han and
other Green Party members in hopes that votes for a Green
candidate would pull votes from a Democratic challenger to
Marine.
She also accused
Shore's wife, Leslie Donovan, of attempting the same
tactic in the Metropolitan King County Council race for
South King County's
13th District, where Roach is
running for the GOP nomination against
Councilman Les
Thomas, R-Kent. State Sen. Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, is
also running for the seat.
The County Council now has seven Republicans and six
Democrats. Donovan
sent e-mails to the South King
County Green Party saying she represented
environmentalists and Muckleshoot Indians trying to find a
Green candidate.
The e-mail announced a nominating
convention at a SeaTac restaurant on July
7. There,
Michael Jepson, a 21-year-old computer-systems operator from Des
Moines, was nominated.
Ceriello insists Jepson is not a Green Party member and
does not have the
endorsement of the party.
State Republican Chairman Chris
Vance said the GOP leadership was not
involved in
recruiting Green Party candidates or in organizing Green Party
nominating conventions. But he said it has long been common
practice for
parties to help candidates that could
steal votes from opponents.
"This happens every year in every election," he said. "But
it's especially
possible in our state where anyone can
file for any office under any party.
In this state, the
parties have no ability to keep candidates that aren't
members of their party off of the ballot."
But Ceriello said the Green Party
is gaining support because voters are
opposed to such
tactics.
"We will not have the
dice rolled for us; we will be rolling it, we will be
moving our own game pieces, and we will be passing 'Go' and
collecting $200
because we are a major political party
nationwide and statewide," she said.
For more stories on this issue, see:
http://www.tribnet.com/ (go to NEWS, then TOP STORIES)
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/34407_green08.shtml
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/hatcher/34408_candy08.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/08/national/08GREE.html
http://heraldnet.com/Stories/01/8/8/14176275.cfm
http://news.theolympian.com/stories/20010808/SouthSound/85767.shtml
To read the opinion of the Seattle Green Party Facilitator
in the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, go to:
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/opinion/34639_greenop.shtml
********************************************************************
WHAT I VOTED FOR
by Tim
Robbins
In mid-June Tim
Robbins spoke at the annual dinner of the Liberty Hill
Foundation, which funds grassroots organizing in Los
Angeles. In
recognition of his politically engaged
films and his activist commitments,
the foundation gave
him its Upton Sinclair Award. Following is an edited
version of his remarks. -- The Editors
About a month ago in a New York
theater, I was approached by an agitated
older couple.
"We hope you're happy now," they said. "With what?" I said,
suspecting the answer they gave. "Your Nader gave us Bush."
Now, this
wasn't the first time since the election that
I had been attacked by irate
liberals who saw my
support of Ralph Nader as a betrayal, as blasphemy, as
something tantamount to pissing on the Constitution. Before
the election
Susan [Sarandon] and I had been attacked
in the Op-Ed pages of the New York
Times; we'd received
intimidating faxes from a leading feminist admonishing
us for our support for Nader. A week before the election
we'd gotten a
phone call from a Hollywood power broker,
who urged us to call Nader and
ask him to withdraw from
the race. If he did so, this mogul said, he would
contribute $100,000 to the Green Party. I told him that no
phone call from
us would sway this man, that this was
not a politics of personal influence
and deal-making,
and that the Green Party probably wouldn't take his
contribution. After the election I read an article in which
a famous actor
criticized supporters of Nader, calling
them limousine liberals of the
worst kind, unconcerned
with the poor.
It was not easy
to support Nader. In no uncertain terms the message sent to
us by colleagues and business associates was that our
support of Nader
would cost us. Will it? I don't know.
After the election one of our kids
was admonished in
public by the aforementioned Hollywood mogul. And who
knows what fabulous parties we haven't been invited to.
So, what to make of all this? As
someone who has voted defensively in the
past and at
one time recognized all Republicans as evil incarnate, I
completely understand the reactions of these people. I like
these people.
Eight years ago I would have said the
same thing to me. But a lot has
happened that has
shifted the way I think. After talking with friends in
Seattle after protests there, after going with Susan to
Washington, DC, and
talking with activists at the
IMF-World Bank protests, after talking with
13-year-olds handing out pamphlets on sweatshops outside a
Gap on Fifth
Avenue, after watching the steady drift to
the right of the Democratic
Party under Clinton, I have
come to the realization that I would rather
vote my
conscience than vote strategically.
There is something truly significant happening today. A new
movement is
slowly taking hold on college campuses,
among left-wing groups in Europe
and human rights
groups throughout the world. The protests in Seattle in
1999, the IMF-World Bank protests in Washington, DC, in
2000, and the
continuing presence of agitation wherever
corporate entities gather to
determine global economic
and environmental policies do not, as the media
portray
them, merely reflect the work of fringe radicals and anarchists.
Such events arise out of a broad-based coalition of
students,
environmentalists, unions, farmers,
scientists and other concerned citizens
who view the
decisions made in these cabals as the frontline in the battle
for the future of this planet. This is a movement in its
infancy that I
believe is as morally compelling as the
early abolitionists fighting to end
slavery in the
eighteenth century; as important as the labor activists
advocating workplace safety and an end to child labor in
the early 1850s;
as undeniable as the scientists who
first alerted the American public to
widespread abuse
of our environment by corporate polluters. All of these
movements met with overwhelming condemnation by both
political parties,
were ignored and then criticized by
the press, while their adherents were
harassed,
arrested and sometimes killed by police and other agencies of the
government. But because of their tenacity, we were
eventually able in this
country to create laws that
ended slavery and established a minimum wage,
Social
Security, unemployment insurance, environmental responsibility and
workplace safety.
Despite years of progress in our own country on all these
issues, we now
face a resurgence of child and slave
labor, of unsafe working conditions,
of sweatshops and
of wanton environmental destruction in the Third World
wrought by the very same corporate ethos that resisted for
years the
progressive gains in the United States. In
the interest of profit margins
and economic growth, our
corporations have reached out to the global
economy and
found a way to return to 1850 on all of these issues. Enabled
and emboldened by free trade and the protections granted by
NAFTA, GATT and
the WTO, we have farmed these problems
out to other countries. Amid our
booming economy this
is an uncomfortable concept to embrace. It certainly
is
not being written about in our official journals. But it is being
shouted on the streets, and the protesters' arguments bear
an
incontrovertible moral weight. Ralph Nader was the
only candidate to talk
about these issues and to
embrace this new movement as his own. That is why
Susan
and I voted for him.
Last
year's election brought us to an important crossroads. The closeness
of the race lifted a rock to expose the corrupt,
manipulative and illegal
way in which elections are run
in this country. Indeed, the election year's
most
surreal and humorous moment was when Fidel Castro offered to send
observers to monitor our election. Aside from the obvious
voter fraud in
Florida, a brief spotlight was focused
on the racist practices that have
accompanied elections
for years. Whether it's the roadblocks outside
polling
places in African-American voting districts or the disappearance of
African-American names from voting registers, the
ineffective and
antiquated voting machines in
low-income voting districts or the exposure
of the
Supreme Court as a partisan political institution, the picture is
the same. Powerful people in the American ruling class fear
democracy.
There was a time
when I would have said that it is the "evil" Republicans
who fear democracy. But the sad realization I have come to
after the 2000
election, and after experiencing the
reactions to our support for Nader, is
that you can
count the Democrats in that bunch, too. Not only do they fear
democracy but many in the Democratic Party elite fear, if
not outright
despise, idealism. I have lost a great
deal of respect for a party that
admonished its
progressive wing, that had no tolerance for dissension in
its ranks and sought to demonize the most important and
influential
consumer advocate of the past fifty years.
But we shouldn't be surprised. A
similar reaction
occurred earlier in this century when another leading
advocate, Upton Sinclair, was running for governor of
California. The power
brokers of the Democratic Party
did everything they could to isolate him.
If they gave
any support at all to his candidacy, it was halfhearted, while
some even endorsed his Republican opponent, Frank Merriam.
And the press?
They demonized him, said he was
anti-business, said he was an egomaniac.
Sound
familiar?
Most of the Nader
supporters I met were the real deal, people who have
dedicated their lives to advocacy. These were the people at
the center of
the struggle around controversial,
difficult issues; their political
engagement was way
beyond and deserving of much more respect than that of
many people who would wind up criticizing them.
The judgmental and patronizing
attitude of those in the generation that
fought to end
the Vietnam War and work for women's rights is disappointing
and discouraging, but understandable. But I am not of the
opinion that Bill
Clinton was the best this generation
had to offer, and I would like to
believe there is a
dormant power still left in these progressives who have
yet to acknowledge the importance of the new movement
growing around them.
I would like to believe that the
children of the Vietnam era who protested
that unjust
war were concerned with more than self-preservation, with
issues beyond not losing their lives to the war. I would
like to believe
that feminists--recognizing which
gender works predominantly in sweatshops
and which
gender is predominantly sold into slavery--would acknowledge
these issues as their own, and begin looking beyond
reproductive rights as
the only litmus test for a
candidate. I would like to believe that higher
ideals
drive all of us, ideals that have to do with the world at large.
The young people who have helped
launch a quest for an alternative party,
one that will
not compromise this planet's future for campaign donations
from corporate sugar daddies, believe the Democratic and
Republican parties
are united on the major issues of
our time. This new movement is a
rejection of politics
as usual, a rejection that has frightening
implications
when you consider the progressive community's reaction to it.
Have we become our parents? Are we the Establishment? Are
we now the status
quo that so cynically rejects those
with ideals and dreams, that says to
the idealist that
there is no room for that in this election, that one must
vote strategically, that we can't afford our dreams, that
we must accept
the lesser of two evils? The couple in
the theater, the Op-Ed columnist,
the Hollywood mogul
and the actor beat their drums once every four years
for their candidate and talk about their opponents as if
their election
will end civilization as we know it.
This is a gay Op-Ed columnist who
would not vote for
the one candidate who unashamedly supported same-sex
marriage; this is a mogul who would not be having any more
sleepovers and
private screenings in a Republican White
House; this is an actor professing
to care about the
poor who couldn't seem to find his way to the picket line
to support his own union's strike.
I don't respect armchair
activists. I respect the kids outside The Gap who
don't
compromise. I'm not ready to cede their idealism and passion and
vision, to compromise their integrity for a Democratic
Party that aspires
to be centrist, for a Democratic
Party that supports the death penalty,
that dismantled
the welfare system while increasing corporate welfare, that
helped create the economic system that tears at the heart
of the labor
movement.
How embarrassing it must be for Democratic senators that
the embodiment of
political courage in this country is
now a Republican from Vermont. Maybe
it's time to stop
demonizing people for their political affiliations and to
follow the example of the man who risked his political
future to follow the
voice inside him. To reject
politics as usual and follow our grassroots
hearts; to
form alliances in unlikely places.
It's a long struggle for justice. It is grassroots
movements that create
real change, and no grassroots
movement ever got anywhere compromising its
ideals.
Real change won't happen at Washington cocktail parties or in the
Lincoln Bedroom. It is arduous and messy, and takes
relentless agitation.
It took over a hundred years of
advocacy to eliminate slavery, over a
hundred years to
put an end to child labor and over a hundred years to
establish the minimum wage. This movement is in its
infancy, but it is
alive and it's not going away. Its
door is wide open to you. It's a
frightening threshold
to cross but an essential one.
********************************************************************
STATEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF GREEN PARTIES
Dear Fellow American Greens,
The European Federation of
Green Parties would like to congratulate you on
this
special and important day, when you will be becoming the Green Party
of the USA. We have been working and collaborating together
for the past
few years now and we have had the
opportunity to witness the seriousness of
your
commitment during all this time. Working together on common projects
such as, for example, the drawing up of the Global Green
Charter, which was
adopted in Canberra last April, has
been of benefit to greens all over the
Globe. Following
your important results during the last presidential
elections we are convinced that, as the Green Party of the
USA, you will
achieve even greater successes in the
future. We look forward to the day,
in the very near
future, when the US Greens will break the two party system
in your country and enter Congress. This will be a most
meaningful day for
us greens all over the world. In the
meantime, in the name of the EFGP
Committee, I wish you
the most fruitful of work on this important day.
Arnold Cassola, Secretary General
********************************************************************
OBITUARIES - RENE DUMONT Forefather of French Green
Party; 97 (AP)
The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/28/01
Rene Dumont, the first candidate
ever to run for president on an
environmental platform
and whose influence helped shape the French Green
Party, died June 18 in suburban Paris. He was 97.
Mr. Dumont ran for president in
1974 -- nine years before France's Green
Party was
founded -- and won about 1.3 percent of the vote, losing to
Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
"We trace the debuts of Green politics to Rene Dumont's
presidential
campaign in 1974," French Environment
Minister Dominique Voynet said. "For
many, he was our
model."
Mr. Dumont was a
champion of healthy farming, redistribution of wealth and
international cooperation to help poor nations.
He spent much of his career as a
professor of agricultural sciences, was an
expert with
the United Nations and other organizations and wrote nearly 30
books.
In
a statement, France's Green Party called Mr. Dumont "the man who made it
possible to bring environmental policies in a direct and
natural manner
into the political world.
"The Greens owe him ... a large
part (of) their existence," the party said.
Mr. Dumont is survived by his companion, Charlotte Paquiet,
the Green Party
said.
********************************************************************
RESOURCES
GENOA INFORMATION
From Fred Nagel,
Dutchess Greens
http://italy.indymedia.org/
http://www.zmag.org/day_two.htm
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=bello20010721
--- --- ---
RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS
This is a long standing, informative environmental
e-newsletter. Rachel's
is published by the
Environmental Research Foundation, P.O. Box 5036,
Annapolis, MD 21403, Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail:
erf@rachel.org. Back
issues are available at http://www.rachel.org. To learn how to subscribe to
the
Spanish edition of the Newsletter, send the word AYUDA in an E-mail
message to info@rachel.org. To subscribe, send E-mail to
listserv@lists.rachel.org with the words, SUBSCRIBE
RACHEL-NEWS YOUR FULL
NAME in the message.
--- --- ---
GREEN MAN ARK
From John
Miller, Roosevelt Island Greens
Green Man Ark is a New
York City based website with a focus on civil
dissent
and democratic change with a strong environmental bent. Besides
daily news from the internet, mainstream and alternative,
on the human
content of social, political and economic
developments, it has several
pages centered on the
Green Party. New content added daily. Go to:
http://quicksitebuilder.cnet.com/applemag/greenmanark/
--- --- ---
DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY VIDEO TAPES AVAILABLE
Ralph Cole, a California resident, distributes videotapes
of political
and educational events and
speeches, with a particular focus on Green
issues. His
most recent tapes include the Beyond Biodevastation Conference
in San Diego, and speakers such as Amy Goodman, Winona
LaDuke, Vandana
Shiva, Medea Benjamin, and Noam
Chomsky. Many tapes are available for as
little as $5.
For more info and a catalogue, contact Ralph at 213-747-6345,
or DemocracyU@aol.com.
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
5. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Greens:
I am proposing to the Executive
Committee of the State Committee of the
Green Party of
NYS that we establish a process related to how to handle the
nomination and designation of Green candidates in the
future. There were
clearly communication and
implementation problems in the recent round. With
a
little better discussion and establishing better procedures for
communication, we should be able to substantially improve
the process in
the future. I would appreciate hearing
specific proposals related to how we
could strengthen
the process in the future. I would also appreciate copies
of any materials that you using in your recent campaigns,
including the
endorsement process, candidate
questionnaires, and election materials. I am
also
interested in receiving contact information, news releases, etc.
related to the campaigns this year. I would like to help
establish a list
serve to exchange this information
among candidates and campaign
coordinators. It would
also be a place to ask questions, seek advice and
share
resources. Perhaps do a joint fundraiser of some sort. Feel free to
circulate this to other Greens.
Thanks,
Mark Dunlea, Rensselaer County
Vice-Chair, Green Party of NYS State
Dunleamark@aol.com 156 Big Toad Way Poestenkill NY 12140
518 286-3411
EARLY REPORT ON THE SUPER RALLY AT THE CAMPUS GREENS
CONVENTION
I just got back
from delivering Winona LaDuke to her host family... A long
day/week just ended!
The Chicago Campus Greens Event went very very well. I
stage-managed the
show, and was able to observe the
audience and the speakers.
Everyone seemed very moved, motivated, and happy. The
speakers and
performers were great:
Medea Benjamin, Jello Biafra, Cornell West, Ralph Nader,
Winona LaDuke,
Campus Greens, Patti Smith, etc...
The place was packed, people
signed up to keep in contact -- the Edgewater
Uptown
Greens (my local) got something like 40 signatures of people asking
for information about our group....
At moments like this, you really
do begin to believe a new, strong, and
truly
international movement has been formed. We just need to build it and
move forward.
Anne-Bernadette Weiner, nausicaaproductions@usa.net
********************************************************************
********************************************************************
7. OPINIONS
SURVIVAL OF THE
GREENEST?
by N. E. Koligiste
On 8 August the New York Times, in
its National Report, proffered its own
take on the
travails of a young Green Party candidate running for
Legislature in Washington State under the headline "Green
Party Candidate
Finds He's a Republican Pawn," on the
heels of a similar report in the
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer. The paper reported that a Republican campaign
consultant, Stan Shore, apparently in an effort to split
the
liberal/environmental vote in the district's
"special election" next month
and help the GOP
candidate, not only met with the Green candidate, the
appropriately named Young S. Han (he is only 18 years of
age), to allay any
doubts he might have about running
for office; he also wrote out a
relatively hefty
campaign donation of $250 to jump start the candidate's
nascent campaign. (It may be worth while to note that the
state House in
Washington is currently evenly
represented by Democrats and Republicans, 49
to 49,
making this race particularly heated.)
Now as everybody in the know knows, the noxious
neo-liberals at the Times
have it out for the Green
Party here in the U.S., not to mention the
possibility
of a political system beyond our present two-party duopoly.
(One only need peruse the Times's scathing editorial
comments on Ralph
Nader from the most recent
presidential election cycle to unassailably
confirm
this assertion.) And the article serves only to further press the
Times's subtle yet undeniable political weltschauung. What
the report also
does, however, is unwittingly present
the de facto oligarchy
(corporate-capitalist Democrats
and Republicans) that rules this country
with an iron
fist under the pretense of democracy and the hypocrisy with
which it rules (pressed for comment, a local Democratic
operative cried,
"It's not appropriate. It's not
ethical," as if appropriate behavior and
ethics
mattered in politics), as well as the election process that supports
it, in all their glory. To wit, our "winner-take-all"
election process,
like slavery and prohibition before
it, is a patently undemocratic (and
un-American?)
practice that, despite seeming like a good idea to a select
group of elites of a by-gone time, has proven itself far
more damaging than
enlightening to all but the most
monied elites. And the casualties of this
outdated
electoral process are too many to even begin to list in this
(relatively) short column; however, what is of importance
to we Greens
presently is that we do not become just
another pawn in this chess game in
which the winner
finds itself holding the reigns of power in this country.
It is to this end that I propose that the only electoral
system in this
"land of plenty" in which the Green
Party may survive and subsequently
thrive is
Proportional Representation. Until PR is the norm from Calais to
California, I truly believe we Greens will not be able to
prosper as a
movement; nor will democracy, for that
matter. What do you think?
TO: FAN MEMBERS
FROM: Marcia
Lesky, Population Policy Analyst
DATE: August 15, 2001
RE: CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE AND
REMINDER
I would like to start
by saying thanks to all those who, both back in May with the House activities
and in July with the Senate, worked to let their elected officials know the
importance of international family planning. Many Hill staff members have told
me how important your letters and calls have been.
Following is an update of all the activities of the past
couple of months.
HOUSE
In May, while working on the State
Department Authorization Bill, the House of Representatives International
Relations Committee voted to remove President Bush's global gag rule. However
when the bill went to the House floor, the language to remove the global gag
rule was removed from the bill by a vote of 218-210, a margin of only 4 votes.
The House passed the 2002
Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2506) which includes $425 million
in funding for international family planning assistance, the same level as this
fiscal year. It also includes a $25 million U.S. contribution to the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), also the same as this year.
SENATE
The Senate Appropriations
Committee approved their version of the 2002 Foreign Operations Appropriations
bill. The bill calls for $450 million for voluntary family planning and $39
million for the UN Population Fund. Both levels are higher than the Presidents
request and higher than the House version. In addition, Senators Leahy and
Mikulski successfully offered the language of the Global Democracy Promotion Act
as an amendment to the bill. Once the bill passes the Senate, the differences in
the bill will be worked out in conference committee.
In addition, the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee voted the Global Democracy Promotion Act, S. 367, out of
committee by of margin of 12-7.
Once the fall schedule is available we will give you more
information regarding the upcoming votes.
DON"T FORGET! During recess Representatives and Senators
are back in their home districts and states. Many hold public meetings or have
office hours in their local offices. This is the perfect time to speak with them
in person. Tell them how important family planning is to the health of both
people and the planet. If you would like talking points, or any addition
information regarding these issues to be able to take on a meeting, please
contact me at 202-797-6800 or at lesky@nwf.org.
Also, please let us know of any communication with your Representative or
Senator and their response. Working together, we can make a
difference!
In the past few months thousands of you sent in comments
opposing the Gravina Timber Sale. Thought you would find this frontpage piece
from today's Washington Post interesting.
In Alaska, Logging Ban And Local Hopes Collide
Island Typifies Bush's Tough Choice
A Forest Service district ranger
and his staff survey the potential
timber sale at
Gravina Island from the shore of Bostwick Lake. Harvesting timber from the
island would mean a road built around the now-pristine lake and clear-cut
forests in the distance.
_________________________________________
By William Booth
Washington Post
Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2001; Page A01
KETCHIKAN, Alaska -- From a float plane high above rugged
Gravina Island,the crowns of spruce, hemlock and cedar interlock in a canopy
unbroken, a forest thick, green and very old.
Hidden below, black bears are growing fat on summer berries
and gray wolves are stalking fawns. There are pink salmon in the streams and
chocolate lilies on the bogs. Wild and nearly untouched, Gravina Island is
pretty much as it always has been, without scars. Without roads.
But if President Bush alters his
predecessor's ban on logging in the
national forests,
as the administration has signaled, Gravina Island will come under the ax.
Not long ago, the Forest Service
was in the final stages of preparing stands of timber in this small corner of
the Tongass National Forest for sale to the highest bidder. That effort ground
to a halt when President Bill Clinton ordered an end to all logging on federal
forests not yet reached by roads.
It was one of Clinton's most far-reaching and controversial
environmental legacies, offering protections to forests that together equal a
land mass the size of Florida, about 60 million acres.
But Bush and his agriculture and
interior secretaries have criticized the "roadless rule" as too broad and
insensitive to regional economic dependence on the national forests, and they
have vowed to amend the policy.
Within the next few months, the administration will decide
the future of
Gravina and the rest of America's
roadless acres, which account for more
than a third of
all the national forests. It will be one of the most
important decisions ever made on the use of federal
forests.
If the ban is lifted,
the first cut will fall on Gravina. But the island is not merely first in line;
it is a bellwether.
Gravina
Island lies across a narrow fjord from Ketchikan, the "gateway to southeastern
Alaska" and a city that draws about 600,000 cruise ship
visitors a year. From the island, you can hear the
megaphones on the
floating hotels announcing the next
port of call. Local businesses have
designs on more
than Gravina's timber.
"In a
lot of ways, the sale on Gravina is a microcosm of what is happening in the
Tongass and the nation overall," said Owen Graham, executive director of the
Alaska Forest Association, a timber trade group that has been pushing for the
sale of more trees. "It's got all the same controversies, the same players, the
same decisions to be made."
The fight over America's public forests is often cast as a
struggle between environmental extremists and rapacious loggers. It is not that
simple.
The Forest Service --
and by extension American taxpayers -- probably won't make a dime from the sale
of Gravina's spruce and hemlock. The opposing law firms will almost surely make
more money battling over the trees in court.
In the new century, the fight is less about timber than
about jobs and
federal subsidies and the hopes of
developers who dream of homes and
factories and resorts
on Gravina Island. It's not about the trees. It's
about
the roads.
After the Island's
Trees
> his waterfront home
in Ketchikan, Steve Seley proudly surveys his
marina,
his boats and barges, his vacation island, his helicopter hangar and his new
sawmill, Pacific Log and Lumber.
Wearing a white hard hat, a knife strapped to his belt and
a two-way radio, Seley is a go-getter. What he wants to go get now are those
trees on Gravina Island.
"If
there's not a harvest of reasonable size on federal lands," Seley
warned, "we're through." His father built roads for
Ketchikan Pulp Co. in the 1950s, when the federal government offered 50-year
contracts and billions of board feet of timber to attract settlers to southeast
Alaska, part of a postwar strategy to populate
the
region as a bulwark against the Soviets. But the Cold War ended, and the Timber
Wars began.
Tongass National
Forest is the nation's largest, covering about 17 million acres of southeast
Alaska, an area the size of West Virginia.
Environmentalists worship the Tongass as the great American
rain forest.
"We've got
wilderness areas inside the Tongass as big as the state of
Connecticut," said Jerry Ingersoll, the district ranger who
oversees the
lands around Ketchikan, including Gravina
Island.
Ingersoll is careful
not to argue for or against the roadless policy. But he will recite the numbers,
which tell the tale of a shrinking timber industry.
Of the 17 million acres in the Tongass National Forest,
only 3.7 million
have quality timber stands. Most of
that land is not reached by roads.
"So if the roadless
rule goes into effect, about two-thirds of our timber base goes with it,"
Ingersoll said. "We're left with about 1.1 million acres of land suitable for
harvest."
A generation ago,
the lumber companies were extracting 600 million board
feet of timber a year from the Tongass (1 million board
feet is enough to build 100 average-sized houses). Today, the Forest Service's
objective is to offer about 155 million board feet a year for sale. Most years,
it does not reach that goal.
If the roadless rule remains in place as Clinton signed it,
the harvest in the Tongass National Forest would probably drop to about 50
million board feet a year -- a figure that would sustain perhaps one or two
large sawmills in southeast Alaska, not the half dozen in operation today.
Given those realities, when
Ingersoll and his team go looking for places to sell timber, they find
themselves increasingly limited. Gravina Island offered possibilities and
problems.
The potential timber
sale area on Gravina lies within a few miles of two
sawmills, which makes the cut more economical for the
logging companies. The Forest Service proposed to sell 38 million board feet
from 2,200 acres of land on Gravina Island. To do that, it would allow the
logging companies to build 23 miles of new road.
According to Forest Service predictions, the timber would
sell to a
successful bidder for about $2 million at
today's prices.
But the state
of Alaska is entitled to at least $500,000 from the sale, and the Forest Service
will spend an additional $1.7 million on environmental impact studies and
supervision. So the sale of timber from Gravina will end up costing U.S.
taxpayers $200,000.
The
economics of the Gravina sale are typical throughout the Forest Service. So why
cut? "Recognizing that the point is not to add money to the federal treasury,"
Ingersoll said, "we're managing timber to provide jobs for the local economy.
That is the purpose of this program."
The Forest Service estimates that the Gravina timber sale
will support 346 jobs, direct and indirect, in the region for several years, and
pump about $15 million into the regional economy.
But critics of the Gravina sale, and national forest timber
sales in
general, question the benefits of such
subsidies to average workers and
regional economies.
"They're willing to spend
almost any amount of money to save a dying
industry,"
said Wayne Weihing, a former employee of the Ketchikan pulp mill and now a
member of the Tongass Conservation Society, a grass-roots group that opposes the
Gravina sale. "They keep saying they have to save the economy. But you know
something? The economy here isn't that bad."
Seley will almost certainly bid in the Gravina Island sale.
"We'd be asleep at the wheel if we didn't win it," he said.
But Seley's existence as a
lumberjack is contingent on government largess. He operates his sawmill on land
leased from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the local government, at favorable
rents and without paying taxes on the land. He was also awarded $600,000 in
low-interest loans from the borough to develop his mill site and provided loan
guarantees by the Department of Agriculture to help him purchase saws and
equipment. Seley employs 22 full-time workers at his mill.
The other mill in Ketchikan that
will likely compete for the Gravina Island timber is Gateway Forest Products,
which recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Gateway owes its creditors,
including government lenders, $32 million.
The company attributes its problems to construction cost
overruns and delays at the mill, and a depressed lumber market worldwide.
Currently, there is a glut of timber, and Gateway's sawmill is idle.
A Tribe's Opposition
In 1887, an Anglican missionary
named William Duncan brought 800 members of the Tsimshian tribe from their homes
in Canada's British Columbia to Annette Island. They pulled their long, graceful
cedar canoes up on the beach and built a new village called Metlakatla, just
across Nichols Passage from Gravina Island.
"The first thing they built was a sawmill," said Tom Lang,
an elder and
retired commercial fisherman. "We've been
timber people for a long time."
The tribe harvested its trees, and the Tsimshian people
benefited. There
were two major mills on their island.
Hundreds of villagers had work, and tribal members received annual checks of
$500 or $1,000 from the sale of their trees.
But the cut was not sustainable. The timber harvest ended,
the mills closed and unemployment among the Tsimshian is now the highest in
southeast Alaska, more than 80 percent.
Some tribal members say the intense harvest also smothered
salmon streams and filled the bays around their island with toxic pulp and bark.
"We're not against logging.
But we have experience in logging our own island and damaging it beyond repair,"
Lang said. "In the next year or two, we are going to become a welfare state."
The Tsimshian are opposed to
the Forest Service plans to cut timber on
Gravina
because the nearby island feeds their children.
"We had a very difficult winter," said Solomon Atkinson,
mayor of
Metlakatla. "Our council had to scramble to
make sure everybody had food. The social service workers were checking on the
kids. Next year, we fear it is going to be worse."
For as long as they can remember, the tribe has traveled to
Gravina Island to hunt deer, catch salmon and halibut, and collect berries,
mussels, crabs and seaweed. It is estimated that each person in Metlakatla
consumes 71 pounds of wild food from Gravina each year.
Forest Service archaeologists have
found evidence of human activity on
Gravina Island
dating back about 3,000 years. There are Indian middens,
petroglyphs and, even today, the remains of a carefully
constructed wall of stones that was used to herd salmon into the shallows.
"That is our food locker, our
grocery store," said Arnold Booth, an elder of the Tsimshian. "It is what we put
into our mouths It is our life."
The Tsimshian fear that the timber sale will rob them of
the ability to
successfully hunt and fish on the island
after it is logged -- especially after roads are built to allow more access to
the forests and shorelines.
"That logging over there means more to Ketchikan than meets
the eye," said Casey Nelson, a former mayor in Metlakatla. "They'll log it
despite what Indian people say, and then it will come out."
Political, Business Support
Though Gravina Island is in
faraway Alaska, it is, in many ways, "an urban forest." The island sits just a
five-minute ferry ride across the Tongass
Narrows from
Ketchikan, with its population of 14,000 people.
The early pioneers in Ketchikan were miners, lumberjacks
and fishermen --
people who loved the great outdoors
and wanted to make their living there.
Now their
children increasingly serve the summer tourist trade.
Along with the cruise ships that
bring so many visitors, an international
airport is
located on Gravina's eastern shore, the only strip of development
on the island, except for a dozen scattered cabins along
the beaches.
Like Tom Lang and
Steve Seley, Mike Sallee is a son of Alaska. His
grandmother homesteaded on Gravina, where Sallee maintains
an island cabin.
Sallee, a member of the Ketchikan
Borough Assembly, is adamantly opposed to
the timber
sale.
"I would like to see
Gravina left as some kind of alternative to the rabid
development, to the status quo, as a place just to be left
alone," Sallee
said.
But Ketchikan's political and business leaders have designs
for Gravina.
There are about 61,000 acres on the
island; the Forest Service owns about
two-thirds of
that acreage. The rest is held by the local government in
Ketchikan and by the state of Alaska, which manages its
timber holdings to
support state universities and
mental health services. If the Forest Service
cuts, it
is likely the state will also allow harvests on some of its land.
The island could be developed for
recreation. It will still be beautiful,
but tamed.
There will be picnic tables. Restrooms. Camp sites.
The Ketchikan civic boosters also envision heavy industrial
facilities on
land not owned by the Forest Service, and
beachfront homes, motels, stores,
churches and gas
stations.
"I think it is a
dandy opportunity," said Cliff Skillings, spokesman for the
bankrupt Gateway Forest Products and president of the local
Chamber of
Commerce. "To build the roads, you need some
kind of financial incentive,
and timber can pay for
that." Skillings envisions a golf course, maybe even
a
ski slope.
The Ketchikan
government is also exploring the construction of a bridge
linking the city to Gravina. To allow modern cruise ships
to pass
underneath, the bridge's height would need to
approach that of the Golden
Gate in San Francisco.
Alaska's congressional delegation would likely seek
federal funding for the project's construction, as it has
already for
studies.
With mining, grazing, timber and private property
advocates, along with
Western governors and
legislators, especially Republicans, already lining up
to support an end to the roadless rule, all eyes are on the
Bush
administration.
The mandate of the Forest Service is to manage its lands
for many uses, to
provide a place for eagles and a job
for lumberjacks, to preserve pretty
views for the
cruise ships and to supply red cedar for a porch in Potomac.
"Gravina just shows how difficult it can be," said
Ingersoll, the district
ranger. "Sometimes you're just
not going to make anyone happy."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
(907)747-8292
bmcnitt@akrain.org
You can take action on this alert either via email
(please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/channelislands/wkxwk74r78xtk7
We encourage you to take
action by August 22, 2001
Ocean Action: Support Threatened Marine Life in the
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
----------------------
You can help save fragile marine
ecosystems within
the Channel Islands National Marine
Sanctuary. Tell
the California Fish & Game
Commission to put in place
the adequate protection
needed to sustain healthy populations
of marine life.
Please e-mail the attached letter.
----------------------
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INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
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Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
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Do
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"-END
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We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
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Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
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-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER
BELOW---------
I am writing to
voice my concern about the on-going
threats to healthy
marine ecosystems within the Channel
Islands National
Marine Sanctuary. With this in mind,
I very strongly
favor implementing a scientifically
based network of
marine reserves within the Sanctuary.
After a long and
arduous process, the Sanctuary managers
have reached a
compromise that reasonably balances
the short-term
economic displacement of fishers against
the long-term
value of protecting the nation's natural
heritage. As
my trustee, I implore you to implement
the proposal
drafted by the Sanctuary managers and
the Department of
Fish and Game without any further
diminution in
conservation values.
Marine
life stewardship is an important public responsibility.
Government agencies authorized to the regulate the
use of the ocean and its bounty are under a duty to
manage our natural heritage for the benefit of every
citizen - that is; fishers, non-extractive users, as
well as those of us who place an inherent value on
the conservation of marine life for its own sake. The
Channel Islands have been recognized as a natural wonder
that is worthy of special protection. Nonetheless,
the regulations currently in place have been ineffective
in preserving the abundance and diversity of marine
life that make this area so unique and precious.
There is a general agreement in
the scientific community
that marine reserves are an
effective tool in restoring
depleted populations of
marine life, increasing bio-diversity
within the
reserve's boundary, and protecting habitat
and
ecological interactions. It is imperative that
the
Commission implement a scientifically sound network
of
marine reserves to make the Channel Islands National
Marine Sanctuary the type of refuge that the name implies.
I understand that the
managers' proposal will create
short-term economic
displacement of the fisheries currently
operating
within the sanctuary. I support the managers'
efforts
to mitigate these short-term hardships. However,
the
implementation of marine reserves must first reflect
sound scientific judgment and secondarily be adjusted
to minimize the economic impact. The current proposal
being offered by the managers has diminished the
conservation
benefits to the bare minimum and has
weakened the insurance
value against future threats.
That is why I insist
that the current proposal be
endorsed by the Commission
without any further
reductions to the area being protected.
-------END OF
LETTER-------------------------
Natural Resources Defense Council's
LEGISLATIVE WATCH
August 15, 2001
******************************
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Contents:
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3) About NRDC/How to Contact Us
The information in this
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http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/legwatch.asp.
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and other environmental issues, visit NRDC's Earth
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http://www.nrdc.org/action, where you can
use our online activism
tools or subscribe to Earth Action, our biweekly
activist bulletin.
1) LEGISLATIVE WATCH
This is a status report
on congressional action on the environment. To
make new or updated sections
easy to find, we've highlighted them
with:
= N O T E ! =
8/15/01
In its final two days before the August recess, the House passed an
energy bill that would provide tens of billions of dollars in
subsidies
to the energy industry, open the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil and
gas drilling, and fail to adequately raise vehicle
fuel economy standards.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed the Environmental
Protection Agency's funding
bill.
Congress returns from its recess after Labor Day; Legislative
Watch
will resume publication shortly thereafter.
...
Budget/Appropriations
= N O T E ! =
On 8/2, the Senate
passed, by a vote of 94-5, its $7.75 billion EPA
funding bill (S. 1216),
which includes full funding for the agency's
federal enforcement efforts.
The bill was amended by Sen. Boxer (D-CA)
to require the EPA to take
immediate action to protect children from
arsenic in drinking water. In
addition, Sen. Mikulski (D-MD) and Sen.
Bond (R-MO) agreed to add $5 million
to support pesticide registration
and $1 million to study health risks to
farmers resulting from
pesticides in drinking water.
= N O T E ! =
On 7/31, the Senate passed the $7.4 billion emergency agriculture
spending bill (S. 1246) after removing over $500 million in funding
for
wetlands, wildlife and farmland protection that Democratic leaders
had
initially included in the bill.
On 7/30, the House approved its $7.5
billion EPA funding bill (H.R.
2620) after amending it to prevent the Bush
administration from
delaying or weakening the new tougher
arsenic-in-drinking-water
standard issued in January by the Clinton
administration (differences
in the arsenic language contained in the House
and Senate bills will
be worked out in conference committee when Congress
returns in
September). Language that would have hindered efforts to address
global warming was removed from the bill, but an amendment to restore
$25 million for the EPA's federal enforcement activities failed by a
vote of 188-214. Other harmful provisions remaining in the bill
undermine efforts to provide protections against radon, pesticides,
and
hazardous wastes.
On 7/24, the House approved its Foreign Operations
funding bill, H.R.
2506. The bill includes a $25 million cut in funding for
the Global
Environment Facility, which provides grants for projects that
combat
global warming and promote sustainable development worldwide. Funding
for the GEF in the Senate bill reported out of committee has been
increased only slightly above last year's levels.
On 7/19, the
Senate passed the Energy and Water spending bill, which
includes Sen.
Stabenow's (D-MI) proposal to ban oil and gas drilling
in the Great Lakes
for two years. In committee, the Senate improved a
provision inserted in the
House bill by Rep. Latham (R-IA) that would
have blocked efforts to save
three endangered species on the Missouri
River by preventing the federal
government from releasing water in the
spring to restore more natural
conditions (the Senate compromise would
allow water to be released in the
spring). The House passed its
version of the energy and water bill on 6/28
by a vote of 405-15.
Among its troubling provisions, the bill authorizes $1
million in
studies on an expensive California water project that would
destroy
environmental resources while failing to provide funds for
environmental restoration.
On 7/18, the House approved funding (H.R.
2500) for the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. House
supporters of NOAA's
mission to protect the ocean environment were able to
improve language
in a rider that undermined efforts to protect ocean
wildlife and
habitats, but they were not able to remove the amendment
completely.
Rep. Olver (D-MA) was successful in removing language from the
bill
that hindered government efforts to address global warming. The Senate
is expected to take up its version of the bill after the August
recess.
The Senate version cuts needed marine sanctuary funding, but
does not
contain the language in the House bill restricting protection
of sensitive
marine areas.
On 7/12, the Senate approved $18.5 billion to fund the
Interior
department and related agencies. The bill, H.R. 2217, includes a
ban
on oil and gas development in national monuments and bans funds for
even studying oil and gas development in sensitive coastal waters. The
Senate also rejected an effort by the House to prevent expanded
offshore
oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and
provided less funding
for energy efficiency than the House bill; but
rejected a move to override
environmental protections for endangered
species by depriving them of water
from the Upper Klamath Lake. On
6/21, the House passed its version of the
Interior bill by a vote of
376-32. In a great victory for the environment,
the House repeatedly
rejected key anti-environment components of the Bush
energy agenda.
Bipartisan amendments were approved to reverse Bush
administration
policies that would have allowed oil and gas drilling within
the
boundaries of national monuments, oil and gas development off the west
coast of Florida, and mining on public lands.
The Senate
Appropriations Committee approved $60 billion for
transportation funding on
7/12 (S. 1178). On 6/26, the House approved
its transportation funding bill
(H.R. 2299). For the first time in six
years, this bill does not include
language blocking the federal
government from considering whether vehicle
fuel economy standards
should be increased.
On 7/11, the House
approved the fiscal year 2002 funding bill for the
Agriculture department by
a vote of 414-16. The House removed a ban on
using federal funds to
implement the Kyoto Protocol from the bill.
This ban had been used to
obstruct government efforts to address
global warming. However, the bill
does not contain funding for
important wetlands reserves, wildlife habitat,
and farmland
conservation programs. Environmentalists would like to fully
fund
these programs by adding $650 million.
On 7/10, the Senate
approved nearly $7 billion in supplemental funding
for fiscal year 2001.
This bill, S. 1077, contains $300 million in
financial assistance for
low-income households struggling with high
power bills this summer. The
House approved its version of the bill
(H.R. 2216) on 6/20.
On 5/6,
Congress passed the Bush administration's tax cut bill, H.R.
1836. The bill
authorizes a $1.35 trillion tax cut over the next
decade. Opponents of the
cut maintain that the huge loss of government
revenue will make it
impossible to adequately fund many important
environmental programs.
For a step-by-step guide to our annual odyssey through resolutions,
reconciliations and appropriations, see NRDC's budget process fact
sheet
(http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/fbudg.asp).
...
Campaign Finance Reform
On 7/12, the House rejected
the campaign finance reform bill (H.R.
2356) introduced by Rep. Shays (R-CT)
and Rep. Meehan (D-MA). The
Senate passed S. 27, Sen. McCain's (R-AZ) and
Sen. Feingold's (D-WI)
campaign finance reform bill, on 4/2. Both bills
would have banned
"soft money" donations from corporations to political
parties, which
currently are not subject to federal limits. Huge soft money
contributions from wealthy corporations have made it easier for these
corporations to persuade members of Congress to attach
anti-environment
riders to funding bills, and to gain special
exemptions from environmental
laws and regulations.
...
Clean Air and Energy
= N O T E
! =
On 8/2, the House approved its version of an energy bill (H.R. 4) by a
vote of 240-189. The House passed four separate energy bills out of
four
different committees, and combined them into one bill of more
than 500 pages
that does little to create a sound, balanced energy
policy. Rather, the bill
would provide tens of billions of dollars in
subsidies to the coal, oil, gas
and nuclear industries, open the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other
sensitive areas to oil and
gas drilling, weaken environmental protections
for other public lands,
do little to improve fuel economy standards, and
starve renewable
energy and energy efficiency programs of needed funding.
= N O T E ! =
On 8/1 and 8/2, Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the
Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, began to amend his energy
policy bill,
with an initial focus on nearly $40 billion in new energy
research and
development funding. This new funding includes $4 billion over
10
years to address climate change. The committee could consider issues
such as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, tightening
vehicle fuel efficiency standards, nuclear power generation, and
electric utility restructuring when the Senate returns in September.
On 7/26, Sen. Jeffords (I-VT) held a hearing on power plant emissions.
EPA administrator Whitman indicated the administration's support for
regulating mercury, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions from
power plants, but she disagreed with Sen. Jeffords' proposal to also
regulate carbon dioxide. Administrator Whitman also raised alarms by
suggesting that some modest controls on the three pollutants could
come
in exchange for Clean Air Act exemptions. Environmental groups
support
controlling all four of the most damaging air pollutants from
power plants.
Sen. Jeffords and Sen. Leiberman (D-CT) have co-authored
a bill, S. 556,
that would impose mandatory cuts on carbon pollution;
the House companion
bill, H.R. 1256, was introduced by Rep. Boehlert
(R-NY) and Rep. Waxman
(D-CA) on 3/27.
On 5/16, Rep. Camp (R-MI) introduced H.R. 1864, a
bipartisan bill
aimed at making fuel-efficient hybrid gasoline-electric
vehicles more
affordable, and saving consumers money at the gas pump. On
4/24, a
bipartisan group of ten senators led by Sen. Hatch (R-UT) and Sen.
Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced S. 760, a companion Senate bill with the
same goals. The bills link the amount of tax savings for each vehicle
to
increased fuel efficiency, and would help decrease both carbon
dioxide
emissions that contribute to global warming and the use of
petroleum fuels.
On 5/10, Rep. Olver (D-MA) and Rep. Gilchrest (R-MD) introduced H.R.
1815, a House companion bill to S. 804. Introduced by Senators
Feinstein
(D-CA), Snowe (R-ME), Schumer (D-NY), and Collins (R-ME) on
5/1, S. 804
seeks to tighten corporate fuel economy standards for
sport utility vehicles
and light trucks. The bill would require that
SUVs and other light trucks
increase fuel economy to 27.5 mpg by model
year 2007, expand the current
fuel economy standards to trucks
weighing between 8,500-10,000 pounds by
2007, and raise the fuel
economy of the federal government's fleet by 6 mpg.
SUVs and light
trucks currently use 43 percent more gasoline per mile than
the
average car.
NRDC's report, A Responsible Energy Policy for the
21st Century
(http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/rep/repinx.asp),
outlines the
components of an alternative energy policy -- one that can meet
the
nation's energy needs without destroying wilderness or rolling back
environmental safeguards.
...
Clean Water
= N O T E
! =
On 8/2, the House Resources Fisheries Conservation Subcommittee
approved H.R. 1989, the Fisheries Conservation Act of 2001, which
reauthorizes funding through 2006 for seven different fishery
management
laws. The subcommittee also considered Rep. Saxton's (R-NJ)
bill (H.R. 1367)
to buy out fishermen in certain longline fisheries,
and prohibit longline
fishing in particular ocean areas to protect
migratory fish such as tuna,
marlin, and swordfish. (Longlines are
fishing lines that can stretch for
dozens of miles and are baited with
hundreds of hooks that can
indiscriminately catch and kill other
marine life.)
In mid-July
committees in both the House and the Senate considered
legislation to
reauthorize a popular federal and state partnership
that provides water for
urban and agricultural users, as well as for
wildlife and habitat
restoration. Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep.
Calvert (R-CA), both of whom
have introduced bills to support the
reauthorization (S. 976 and H.R. 1985),
heard testimony emphasizing
that the bill should not support the
construction of new dams without
appropriate review, and should not give
agricultural water users
priority over the environment. Rep. Miller (D-CA)
has introduced a
bill, H.R. 2404, which would reauthorize this program
without harmful
anti-environment provisions. Environmentalists support the
Miller
bill.
...
Global Warming
= N O T E ! =
On
8/2, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved a bill (S.
1008)
introduced by Sen. Byrd (D-WV) and Sen. Stevens (R-AK) that
creates a
framework for the United States to develop a comprehensive
program to reduce
pollution that contributes to global warming. The
bill also provides more
than $4 billion over 10 years for research to
develop clean, alternative
energy sources.
On 8/1, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
considered the State
Department authorization bill. An amendment offered by
Sen. Kerry
(D-MA) that urges the administration to continue to engage in
international negotiations to reduce global warming pollution passed
unanimously. The Senate bill is similar to the House-approved bill to
reauthorize the State Department that contains language, added by Rep.
Menendez (D-NJ), which urges the United States to reduce greenhouse
gases and continue to participate in international negotiations on the
Kyoto Protocol.
...
International Environmental Protections
On June 13, Rep. Crane (R-IL) introduced H.R. 2149, the Trade
Promotion Authority Act of 2001. This bill grants the president "fast
track," or expedited, authority to negotiate new trade agreements.
However, the bill prevents labor and environmental standards from
being
addressed, and allows trade rules to directly challenge
legitimate public
interest laws and regulations. The bill, supported
by the Bush
administration, is similar to fast track legislation that
was rejected by
Congress in 1997 and 1998, except that it provides
even fewer positive labor
and environmental provisions, while offering
more restrictions on public
safety and environmental protection. A
broad coalition of public interest
organizations has voiced its
opposition to any fast track legislation that
does not adequately
address environmental, labor, and social justice issues.
The House is
expected to take the bill up after the August recess.
...
Public Lands
On 7/25, the House Resources Committee
approved the controversial
Conservation and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 701).
CARA would provide
funding for state and federal conservation and wildlife
initiatives,
however, environmentalists do not support the bill in its
present form
because it could create significant incentives for oil and gas
drilling off Alaska's coast. It also fails to ensure that the funds it
makes available would be used for environmental projects rather than
for
roads and infrastructure. Moreover, a funding deal negotiated last
year by
the Clinton administration and Rep. Dicks (D-WA) achieves many
of CARA's
positive goals without the anti-environment provisions.
On 7/23, the
House passed H.R. 2131, a noncontroversial bill
introduced by Rep. Portman
(R-OH) that reauthorizes a "debt for
nature" swap program that allows other
countries to apply debt
payments to projects aimed at saving tropical
forests. The bill will
now be sent to the president for his signature.
On 7/12, the Senate approved, by voice vote, the nomination of J.
Steven Griles to be second in command at the Department of the
Interior.
Griles served in President Reagan's Interior department for
eight years. He
is a lobbyist and a former industry official who is
expected to push for
more industry resource extraction from, and less
environmental protection
for, public lands.
On 6/7, Rep. Simpson (R-ID) introduced the National
Monument Fairness
Act of 2001 (H.R. 2114), a bill seeking to curb the
president's
ability to either designate new national monuments or expand
existing
national monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act. This bill, which
would require congressional approval for monuments over 50,000 acres
in
size, is opposed by the environmental community because it would
hinder
swift presidential action to protect important public resources
that are
threatened by development.
...
Regulatory Reform
On
7/19, the Senate confirmed John Graham by a vote of 61-37 for a key
position
within the White House that makes recommendations on
regulations. Sen.
Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Lieberman (D-CT), Sen. Wellstone
(D-MN) and Sen. Kerry
(D-MA) raised strong objections to his
nomination during floor debate.
Environmental, labor, and consumer
groups opposed Graham's nomination
because he consistently advocates
an ideological approach to regulation that
is hostile to strong
environmental, health, and safety protections.
...
For information on the environmental voting records of
members of
Congress, see the League of Conservation Voter's National
Environmental Scorecards at http://www.lcv.org/scorecards/index.htm
...........
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...........
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