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Today, the United States Senate is expected to cast
a vote that could determine whether oil drilling will
occur in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We need
your help to defeat this proposal. Please take the
time today to make 2 two-minute phone calls to your
U.S. Senators and urge them to vote to stop Big Oil
Allies from opening up a magnificent wildlife sanctuary
to oil drilling.
To find out who your Senator is check out: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
Since the
vote is today, phone calls are the best way
to get your
message heard. You can call the U.S. Capitol
Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask them to connect
you to your Senator's office. Once you are connected,
tell the receptionist you are a constituent and urge
the Senator to vote AGAINST CLOTURE on the Murkowski/Lott
amendment to the Railroad Retirement bill. Let them
know you favor responsible energy legislation that
protects the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other
sensitive wild areas from oil drilling.
__________
Several pro-drilling Senators, led by Senators Murkowski
and Lott, are planning to attach to the Railroad
Retirement
bill a few unrelated, controversial
proposals, including
a provision to allow drilling in
the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Despite Senate
Majority Leader Tom
Daschle's announcement last week
that the U.S. Senate
would consider a comprehensive
energy bill by next
February, these Senators are
attempting to use a popular
bill to push through their
controversial drilling plans.
Fortunately, several Senators have pledged to fight
to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by engaging
in a lengthy debate called a "filibuster." According
to Senate rules, this debate can be terminated by a
"cloture" vote of 60 Senators. So, we need 41 Senators
to stand up and vote AGAINST cloture on the Murkowski/Lott
proposal. This will prevent the Refuge from being
opened
up to oil drilling as part of the Railroad
Retirement bill.
The
biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge
is a 1.5 million acre coastal plain. This area
is the
last 5 percent of Alaska's North Slope that
is not
already open for drilling. The Refuge is home
to polar
bears, Porcupine caribou, wolves, musk oxen,
and many
other species. More than 160 bird species
use the
coastal plain of the Refuge for nesting and
breeding
grounds. Many of these birds spend their summers
in the
Arctic Refuge before migrating through the United
States in the spring and fall. In addition, several
marine fish species and marine mammals, like walruses
and bowhead whales, rely on the Refuge's ocean waters.
The
federal government estimates that the oil potential
in
the Arctic Refuge is enough to supply America's
energy
needs for only 6 months. And, it would not be
available
for at least 10 years. Energy efficiency,
conservation
measures, and renewable energy sources
could easily
surpass the oil potential of the Refuge.
Drilling the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not
make us energy
independent. It will destroy a spectacular
Arctic
wilderness.
Please take the
time today to make 2 two-minute phone
calls to your
U.S. Senators. Tell the receptionist
you are a
constituent and urge the Senator to vote
AGAINST
CLOTURE on the Murkowski/Lott amendment to
the Railroad
Retirement bill. Let them know you favor
responsible
energy legislation that protects the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive wild areas
from oil
drilling. Thank you.
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below and
tell your friends about
this important issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=aocdc&r=dpqqAsY1uu-T
If you received this
message from a friend, you can
sign up for American
Oceans Campaign at:
http://actionnetwork.org/aocdc/join.html?r=dpqqAsY1uu-TE
The Senate is scheduled to vote later today on an amendment
that would
allow drilling in the pristine Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and
that includes a
short-sighted energy plan passed by the House.
Proponents of drilling in the Arctic Refuge will attempt to
add these
provisions inappropriately into a bill
dealing with railroad
retirement; they are looking for
any means to authorize this misguided
energy plan.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS
BELOW TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE URGING
YOUR SENATORS TO
OPPOSE THE ENERGY PLAN AND DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC
REFUGE.
Thanks for your steadfast support in fending off these
continued
threats. For background
information, see the very end of this
message.
**********************TAKE ACTION
NOW!****************
To send
the message below, as is, to your senators, hit "reply" to
this email and then "send." We will fill in the
names and addresses
and automatically send the messages
for you.
However, we urge you
to greatly increase your impact by adding your
own
thoughts to your message. Personalizing your message only takes a
minute; see below for details.
ADD YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND INCREASE YOUR IMPACT
Log in to your Personal Action
Center --
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/login.asp -- with
your email
address (alerts@earthhopenetwork.net) and
your password. (If you have
forgotten your
password, follow the instructions on the log-in page to
have a new password emailed to you.)
Once you are in your Personal
Action Center, click on "Urgent:
Possible
Arctic Vote Today" and follow the instructions for adding
your own thoughts to your messages.
Please urge your friends and
family to take this action today.
*********************LETTER TEXT******************
Dear Senator __________:
I urge you to oppose adding the
House-passed energy plan, H.R. 4, to
the railroad
retirement bill. H.R. 4 is a misguided approach to our
nation's energy future that, among other things, calls for
drilling in
the pristine Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. The railroad retirement
bill is not
the place for this debate. Senate Majority Leader Daschle
has committed to bringing up energy legislation early next
year. A
careful consideration of a
sustainable long-term national energy
policy should
occur at that time.
H.R. 4 has numerous flaws. It tilts heavily
toward the increased
production of fossil fuels, while
giving only minimal attention to
renewable energy and
energy efficiency. It will not buy us energy
security, as some are claiming. As a nation, we
hold only 3 percent
of the world's reserves of oil, yet
we consume almost 25 percent of
the world's daily
production. As long as this is the case, we will
remain dependent on world oil markets, and we will pay the
world price
for oil, whether it is produced
domestically or abroad. The safest
and
fastest way to increase our energy security is to improve the
energy efficiency of our cars, trucks, homes, factories,
and offices,
and to increase the role of renewable
non-petroleum sources of energy
in our economy.
I urge you to evaluate carefully
the long-term implications of these
energy policy
issues as part of an orderly process of the
consideration of energy matters, not as part of the
railroad
retirement bill.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be
inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
H.R. 4, the energy legislation that some senators are
rushing to
Senate approval, is a complex package that
has not yet been considered
by the appropriate
committees in that body. It was approved in the
House earlier in the summer, along with provisions
authorizing
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
Often called
"America's Serengeti" because of its abundant caribou,
polar bear, grizzly bear, wolf, and other wildlife
populations, the
coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge
represents the last 5 percent of
America's Arctic not
already open to development. Oil drilling would
transform this ecological treasure trove into a vast oil
field with
roads, pipelines, sewage plants, drilling
pads, and housing for
thousands of workers.
A recent World Wildlife Fund
study indicated that energy efficiency
policies and
development of renewable energy resources could result in
750,000 new jobs nationwide over the next nine years and
1.3 million
new jobs by 2020. The study
shows that these policies also create
more jobs and
offer greater economic benefits than can be generated by
drilling in the Arctic Refuge, despite the unsubstantiated
claims of
drilling proponents
In October, WWF Conservation
Action Network activists helped fend off
a threat to
the Arctic Refuge when the Senate voted 100-0 to stop an
effort to attach the energy legislation and Arctic Refuge
drilling to
the Defense Authorization
bill. Conservation Action Network activists
also flooded the Senate with messages opposing adding
Arctic drilling
to the economic stimulus
bill. We greatly appreciate your continued
support. Please act now.
______________________________________________________________________
Direct any questions about the WWF Conservation Action
Network to
actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org
______________________________________________________________________
The Conservation Action Network is sponsored by World
Wildlife Fund-
US. Known worldwide by its
panda logo, WWF is dedicated to
protecting the world's
wildlife and the rich biological diversity
that we all
need to survive. The leading privately supported
international conservation organization in the world, WWF
has
sponsored more than 2,000 projects in 116 countries
and has more than
1 million members in the United
States. WWF calls on everyone --
government,
industry, and individuals -- to take responsibility by
taking action to save our living planet.
World Wildlife Fund
1250 Twenty-fourth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.worldwildlife.org
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org
TO: ACLU Action Network Members
FR: Jared Feuer, Internet Organizer
DT: December 4, 2001
A year after the fiasco of the 2000 elections, Congress is
on the brink of considering legislation that would fail to bring us meaningful
election reform. In fact, the full House may consider -- as early as
this week -- new legislation introduced by Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Steny Hoyer
(D-MD) that does little to address the serious problems in our voting system.
Despite its good intentions,
the Ney-Hoyer bill fails to fix our troubled election system because it allows
any state to opt-out of federal standards. These opt-out provisions
mean that our election system will continue to be a patchwork of mismatched and
often unfair election procedures.
Take Action! We need meaningful election reform,
and we need it soon if we are to prevent the problems of 2000 from repeating in
the 2002 federal elections. As written, the Ney-Hoyer legislation is
not the cure for America's election ills. You can read more and send a FREE FAX
to your Members of Congress from our action alert at:
http://www.aclu.org/action/americavote107.html
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
The Action Alert below is a
follow-up to Global Response Action #1/2001:
Protect
Forests and Forest Peoples / Papua New Guinea (see
http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/gra0101.html).
Please take a moment to send
an urgent letter by post, fax, or email to the
World
Bank. A sample letter is provided, and automated email is available
from Forests.org. Many thanks to
Forests.org, Inc. for issuing this Action
Alert.
************
ACTION ALERT
PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
World Bank Fails to Enforce Logging Moratorium
****************************************************************
TAKE ACTION:
http://forests.org/emailaction/png.htm
December 3, 2001
By Forests.org, Inc.
BACKGROUND
Papua New Guinea's
moratorium on new logging has been allowed to
lapse. Several logging operations have commenced
during the
moratorium, violating the conditions of a
World Bank loan. In
accepting a Structural
Adjustment Loan from the World Bank, the
government of
PNG agreed to a moratorium on new logging concessions
until the entire forestry sector was reviewed and properly
reformed.
The government has not fulfilled their
obligation under the loan
conditions, yet the Bank
refuses to suspend economic lending. The
World Bank has failed to follow its own policies on this
loan.
In response PNG
landowners have filed an Inspection Panel grievance
with the World Bank, claiming they have lost their land and
forests
while the government was contractually bound to
the World Bank to
improve forest governance and not
commence new logging. The Centre of
Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc. has lodged the
claim on
behalf of landowners along the Kiunga Aiambak
Road in the Western
Province. The area is
one of several areas that have been illegally
logged
during the period that the PNG government committed itself to
the moratorium in exchange for loans. Illegal
logging along the
Kiunga Aiambak Road has caused severe
environmental damage as logs
worth millions of kina are
unlawfully removed. Protesting landowners
have been unlawfully imprisoned, beaten and tortured.
Should the World Bank disburse the
final loan payment without
maintaining the moratorium
it would be in violation of the contractual
provisions
of the loan, as well as in conflict with their own
operational directives. Their failure to follow
their own policies
comes as they propose a forest
sector reform project. The proposed
Forestry
and Conservation Project (FCP) includes an important trust
fund to support community-based projects that protect
biodiversity,
but does nothing to ensure their legal
status. The project does not
support
policy-making for community based eco-forestry efforts that
strive for ecological sustainability, local ownership and
community
development. This project must be
strengthened before it is deserving
of the support of
forest conservationists. The moratorium must be
maintained and the forest project amended to include
support for other
types of forest management besides
industrial log export.
The
World Bank and government of PNG must be taken to task over
failing to ensure the moratorium is maintained, failing to
end illegal
logging in Western Province and elsewhere,
their failure to suspend
further loans, and their
continued subsidies and support for
commercial forestry
(while ignoring alternatives). Please send the
letter of protest below. You can do so below
using the sample below
or at http://forests.org/emailaction/png.htm.
SAMPLE LETTER
Mr. James Wolfensohn
President
The World Bank
1818 H. Street, NW
Washington, DC
20433
Email: cunit3@worldbank.org
Dear Mr. Wolfensohn,
I am writing to express my deepest
concern regarding the World Bank's
conduct in Papua New
Guinea's rainforests. By accepting the
Structural Adjustment Loan from the World Bank, the
government of PNG
agreed to a moratorium on new logging
concessions until the forestry
sector was properly
reformed. During the period covered by the loan
and moratorium, the government of PNG has failed to halt
new logging
operations and reform the industry.
The Bank can and should insist
that appropriate forest conservation
actions are
taken. If the Bank can insist that agreements to
privatize Banks and other public assets are upheld, I do
not accept
that the Bank cannot ensure that commitments
to end illegal logging
are maintained.
Success of the World Bank's
proposed Forestry and Conservation Project
(FCP)
depends upon maintaining a logging moratorium and supporting
forest management alternatives. I strongly
support the project's
trust fund that supports
community based ecological development
projects that
conserve biodiversity. I note however that activities
funded under the trust fund do not have legal standing and
are thus
vulnerable to encroachment.
The FCP's forest sector management
provisions are deeply flawed and
must be
strengthened. The project focuses exclusively on subsidizing
continued industrial log exports, and does not support
policy-making
for community based eco-forestry
management and other conservation
alternatives.
Transparent consultation with
civil society is not occurring. Recent
NGO
consultations have not taken place in good faith - as meetings
exclude critics. There has been no sharing of
project documents for
years despite promises to do so.
Failure to maintain the
moratorium, withhold lending unless illegal
logging
ends, and revise the FCP to support forest conservation
alternatives casts doubt upon your institution's intentions
in regard
to rainforest conservation in Papua New
Guinea and around the World.
Sincerely,
********************************
Paula Palmer, Executive Director
Global Response
PO Box 7490
Boulder CO 80306
Tel. 303-444-0306
Fax. 303-449-9794
Website:
www.globalresponse.org
Mission: Global Response empowers people of all
ages, cultures, and
nationalities to protect the
environment by creating partnerships for
effective
citizen action. At the request of indigenous peoples and
grassroots organizations, Global Response organizes
international
letter-writing campaigns to help
communities prevent environmental
destruction. Global Response involves young
people as well as adults in
these campaigns, to develop
in them the values and skills for global citizen
cooperation and earth stewardship.
Monday the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly rejected an attempt
to attach comprehensive energy legislation, including
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to
a railroad pension reform bill. This irresponsible
energy legislation already passed the House of
Representatives
last summer.
Thanks in large part to the
thousands of messages sent
to Senators from committed
conservationists across
the country, like you, a motion
to invoke cloture and
cut off a filibuster of the
energy amendment was defeated
on a 94-1 vote, as
drilling supporters abandoned the
effort and switched
their votes.
Sen. Frank
Murkowski (Alaska), the leading proponent
of drilling
and ranking Republican on the Senate Energy
and Natural
Resources Committee, was hoping to show
he could
produce 50 or more votes in support of drilling
in the
Arctic Refuge and the House-passed energy bill,
but the
early voting fell well short of that goal.
We hope this will end attempts to add this destructive
energy policy to legislation this year. The Arctic
Refuge is safe for now. However, the Senate will likely
be debating energy policy, and drilling in the Arctic
Refuge, in early February of next year. You will hear
more from us on this issue between now and
then.
Thank you
again for your help.
DEN Alert: Help Endangered Species in Canada
Historically, North America has
been blessed with an abundance of
wildlife and wild
lands. Yet in Canada, logging, mining and
development
are encroaching on this rich natural heritage. The
number of endangered species is growing quickly each year
-- and
Canada doesn't have a national law to help save
its vanishing wildlife.
There
is legislation pending to protect endangered species like the
swift fox, woodland caribou, Beluga whale, Vancouver marmot
and
burrowing owl. But Canada's Species at Risk Act is
seriously flawed.
It fails to protect the habitat of
imperiled wildlife, permits
politicians -- not
scientists -- to determine which species in
Canada are
endangered, and doesn't protect species such as brown
bears and monarch butterflies that have home ranges
straddling our
borders. This legislation won't even
allow Canadian citizens to
petition
their government to protect wildlife in danger of extinction.
Only public pressure can ensure
that Canada adopts a law strong
enough to help save
North America's endangered wildlife for future
generations.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
You can help make a difference today by sending a FREE fax
to Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien, urging him to support
a strong Species at
Risk Act. The legislation may be
passed by Canada's House of Commons
as early as next
month, so please send your fax TODAY. Thanks for
protecting North America's special wildlife and wild lands.
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to the web,
simply click on the link below which
will take you to
the DEN Action Center web site:
http://www.denaction.org
If you don't have access to the
Internet, please write your letter
to: Prime Minister
Jean Chrétein, 80 Wellington Street, Ottawa,
K1A 0A2 or
via fax at: 613-941-6900 or via e-mail at: pm@pm.gc.ca
SAMPLE
LETTER:
Dear Prime Minister
Chretien:
I am deeply
concerned that the proposed Species at Risk Act fails to
protect many of North America's wild plants and animals
from
extinction. I am writing to encourage
you to strengthen the Species
at Risk Act before it is
passed by the House of Commons.
In order for the law to be effective, the following
problems must
be addressed:
1. There is no mandatory habitat
protection for species under this bill
2. There is no right for Canadians to petition their
government to
protect wildlife in danger of extinction.
3. There is no protection for
cross-border species, such as the
brown bear, caribou
and migratory birds.
In
addition, endangered species should not suffer from long delays
in protection. Delays of several years before mandatory
habitat
protection takes place could result in the
decline or loss of plants
and animals. Lastly, the
legislation should determine that scientists,
not
politicians, create the list of species at risk.
Canada has an opportunity to be a world leader by
protecting its
abundant wild lands and wildlife through
a strong Species at Risk
Act. As Canada's leader,
please ensure that an effective law is
passed that
protects species at risk and their habitat.
Sincerely,
To subscribe, visit Defenders'
website at http://www.defenders.org/den
or send an e-mail to denlines@defenders.org and put the
word SUBSCRIBE
in the subject line.
====================================================================
Defenders of Wildlife is a leading national
conservation organization
recognized as one of the
nation's most progressive advocates for
wildlife and
its habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves, Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect species
before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit
501(c)(3)organization with more than 420,000 members and
supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
FINAL PUSH TO STOP FAST TRACK; National Call-In Day
To: All trade and environmental
activists
Fr: Jason Tockman, American Lands
Date: December 5, 2001
· National Call-in Day: 800-393-1082
· HR 3005 would imperil forests, harm the environment
· If you do one thing this year to prevent economic
globalization, this
should be it!
Please join us as we mount a
massive final push to defeat the Republican
Fast Track
Bill scheduled for a House vote as early as Thursday of this
week. A national call has gone out to pull out all the
stops and flood
all undecided members of Congress with
phone calls to ensure that they
VOTE NO ON REP. THOMAS'
HR 3005 or anything resembling it. Our actions
over the
next few days will determine the outcome of the vote. As
reported in Congress Daily below, the business community is
waging a
high-priced campaign of TV ads and CEO lobby
visits; we must counter
with an unprecedented
outpouring of grassroots pressure.
The AFL-CIO's toll-free Fast Track number is
800-393-1082. Please call
your
representative, and have your friends, colleagues, and family
members call this week as well. BE SURE TO SPEAK TO THE
TRADE AIDE and
express your opposition to the Thomas
Fast Track Bill, as we do not want
to see any more
trade deals brokered under a NAFTA model that has
undermined environmental and labor standards.
Currently, we have the votes to
kill Fast Track, but LAST MINUTE
INTERVENTION BY THE
BUSH ADMINISTRATION COULD TAKE THIS VICTORY AWAY
FROM
US. We must take this opportunity to build pressure to assure that
our narrow margin of Congress members against Fast
Track does not slip
away.
For more information, or to learn the position of an
individual member
of Congress, contact Jason Tockman at
tockman@americanlands.org or
740-594-5441.
BACKGROUND
Fast Track is a procedural law by which Congress agrees to
not alter
trade agreements developed by U.S.
negotiators, in exchange for a set of
guidelines
provided to the administration by Congress. Congress does
reserve its right to vote "yes" or "no" on the final trade
deal, but
provides great latitude to negotiators in
crafting trade agreements with
the U.S.'s trading
partners. Although Congress could insist upon
MANDATORY
negotiating objectives for trade agreements, such as the
enforcement and improvement of environmental laws, the
Thomas Bill does
no such thing. It essentially puts in
place negotiating "guidelines,"
with no Congressional
mechanism for assuring that objectives are ever
achieved. At such time that Congress votes on a
Fast-Tracked trade deal,
members are loathe to appear
to be voting "against trade", yet they have
relinquished their ability to offer amendments to improve
the agreement.
This process is a clear recipe for more
NAFTAs, under the ambitious
pursuit of U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick.
ENVIRONMENTAL, FOREST IMPACTS OF FAST TRACK
The environmental and forest impacts of NAFTA and the WTO
have been
significant, through not only the direct
effects of increased trade in
goods, but also through a
complex set of trade rules engineered to
promote
commerce without consideration for impacts on environmental
protections. For example, NAFTA has resulted in accelerated
logging of
the ancient forests of Canada, increased air
pollution along high-use
trade corridors, and the
rollback of a Canadian law that banned a toxic
gasoline
additive. A $970 million case now challenges a California
standard prohibiting a cancer-causing gasoline additive,
and Mexico was
fined $16.7 million for prohibiting a
landfill that would have
contaminated a community's
water supply. Environmental challenges have
also been
brought before the WTO, where in all but one of 21 cases, WTO
tribunals have ruled against the environment.
By facilitating the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Thomas
Fast Track Bill
seeks to extend NAFTA's impacts to the whole hemisphere.
It would extend NAFTA's Chapter 11 on investment, allowing
transnational
corporations from 31 additional countries
to seek to impede U.S.
environmental laws if their
profit-making is impeded. HR 3005 would also
lead to:
· Increased industrial
clearcut logging of critical forest areas, such
as
Chile's ancient temperate forests through the elimination of tariffs
(import taxes)
· Acceleration of the spread of ecologically and
economically
destructive invasive species through
prohibition of precautionary
measures
· Limiting government enactment of
forest protection safeguards by
forbidding
measures--such as eco-labeling, certification, and bans on
raw log exports--considered to be barriers to trade
· Expansion of trade agreements to
cover the service sector, restricting
nations' ability
to limit oil and gas development, hazardous waste
facilities, water extraction, and impacts from concentrated
tourism
activities such as motor boating
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
National Journal's Congress
Daily AM
December 4, 2001
DESPITE LACK OF TRADE SUPPORT, CHAMBER TELLS HOUSE, ' VOTE
IT '
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
President Thomas Donohue said Monday House GOP
leaders
should hold a vote on renewing presidential trade negotiating
authority Thursday even if they expect the measure to fail.
"I'm willing
to take the risk," Donohue told reporters.
He said that if House GOP
leaders called Thursday
morning to report the votes would not be there,
his
advice would be, "Vote it."
Donohue recalled that an effort to pass what was called
"fast track" in
1997 probably would have succeeded had
congressional leaders and former
President Clinton not
"blinked" and pulled the bill. Donohue said he is
confident that President Bush and House GOP leaders will go
through with
the vote Thursday, even if might fail.
Although Bush
in recent days appears to have done little in the way of
retail lobbying for the bill, several leading business
lobbyists Monday
expressed satisfaction with the
administration's effort. The
administration
has put out the word that Bush has cleared out his
schedule this week to work the phones and meet with
lawmakers at the
White House. "We are
certain he will be engaged up through the vote,
making
visits and calls to get us over the top," said Chamber Vice
President William Morley.
One K Street
official who recently complained about the lack of Bush's
personal involvement said he was now "very impressed" with
Bush's
commitment. Others indicated they saw
vigorous involvement at other
levels of the
administration.
"Even [Secretary of State] Powell's involved," said
one. A group of
about 20 CEOs of major
corporations that comprise the Emergency
Committee for
American Trade today will send a letter to House Speaker
Hastert expressing support for trade negotiating authority.
Among those
signing the letter are ECAT Chairman and McGraw-Hill CEO
Harold McGraw III, as well as the CEOs of Cargill,
Caterpillar, Ford
Motor Co. and New York Life
International, and other companies.
Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation sent a letter
to House members
urging their approval of the trade
bill. Donohue acknowledged he is
less
confident of victory than he was on the eve of the vote last year
on permanent normal trade relations for China.
However, he
said there are probably members holding out who actually
have made up their mind, but know that they can extract
concessions on
other issues of they continue to insist
they are undecided. "That's the
system," he conceded.
-- By Stephen Norton and Keith
Koffler
You don't have to be a doctor to figure out dirty air isn't
healthy. Smog,
soot, toxic mercury and carbon dioxide
emitted from coal-burning plants
trigger hundreds of
thousands of asthma attacks and send thousands of
American to the hospital each year.
It would take 17 million cars to
emit as much smog-forming nitrogen oxide
pollution
(NOx) as Southern Company did in 1999.
You can stop Southern Company from polluting our air and
threatening our
health. Send a Free Fax, TODAY, to
Southern Company's CEO and tell them to
clean up their
act. Go to http://www.environet.org/grassroots or click on
the "Compose fax" button below.
Southern Company is not just
polluting the air in the South. They are
lobbying
against legislation that would make the air cleaner all over the
country, and have a long history of doing so.
Tell Southern Company to stop
polluting our air with harmful chemicals. Go
to: http://www.environet.org/grassroots
If you'd like more information on
our efforts to clean our air, please
visit:
http://www.environet.org/cleanair, or
http://www.cleanupsoutherncompany.org.
Sincerely,
Andrew Katkin
Web Manager and e-Outreach Coordinator
The National Environmental Trust
Global Warming | Children's
Environmental HealthHeritage Forests |
Marine
Conservation
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, WildAid.
I. NEW alerts:
Below are two
important action alerts targeting our fragile oceans.
Please help today!
A) Protect Our Perfect Predators: The Sharks
It's too barbaric to imagine, but it still happens.
Fishermen catch a shark, slice off its fins, and then
sometimes, cast it back into the water to die. This
horrific practice is already prohibited in federal
waters of the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Carribbean,
according to the Humane Society International (HSI),
but sharks need more protection from finning and other
threats.
Sharks reproduce very slowly and are thus vulnerable to
overexploitation. Yet, in recent years, shark fishing has
increased dramatically. Please click below to sign a
petition
encouraging all countries to prepare and
implement plans for
shark conservation and management
as recommended by
the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization.
This petition also implores
these nations to ban the
cruel, wasteful and
destructive practice of shark
finning in local and
international waters.
Click here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/2756
Sharks play a critical role in
ocean ecosystems. They
were able to survive whatever
killed the dinosaurs, but
will they be able to survive
us? ALREADY, their
numbers are beginning to dwindle.
Please help them
today. Sometimes, the ugly animals
need help too!
Click here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/2756
B) Prevent Long-Lining!
The Galapagos Islands, renowned throughout the world for
their unique
biodiversity, are threatened by a proposal
to open protected waters to
long-lining, a method of
fishing usually associated with high levels of
bycatch
and high pressure on fish stocks.
The Marine Reserve is home to a high proportion of species
that occur
nowhere else on earth. Long-lining could be
devastating. Given the high
numbers of sharks, rays,
turtles, sea birds, and sea lions it is inevitable
that
the bycatch of these animals will be extremely high and will impact
populations which are threatened or endangered.
Though the longlines currently
being advocated for use inside the Reserve
are
small-scale, this is unlikely to be economically viable for fishermen
used to high returns from sea cucumbers and lobsters. It
seems inevitable
that pressure would mount to increase
the scale and therefore the impact.
The history of
participatory management in these waters is poor, such as
severe overfishing of sea cucumbers, the illegal shark
fisheries, and
vandalism by fishermen against
management in the lobster fishery.
Opening long-lining
would likely be an unmitigated disaster.
Please sign our petition to Ecuadorian President Gustavo
Noboa against the
introduction of long-lining.
Sign today: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/2769
II. ACTIVIST TIPS
** If you eat tuna, ensure that it is dolphin safe. Look
for the "Flipper"
on the can.
** Pregnant women and women considering pregnancy should
not eat shark,
swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish
because they could contain enough
mercury to harm an
unborn infant's nervous system, according to an FDA
advisory. Young children and nursing women also should
avoid those species
of fish.
III. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:
"It means nothing to strike up a friendship with a sea lion
or a dolphin
if, at the same time, we are destroying
their last refuges along our coasts
and our islands. It
in an exercise in vanity and absurdity to try to
communicate with a killer whale and then put it on
exhibition in an
aquatic zoo as a circus freak."
- Jacues-Yves Cousteau
Thank you to all the activists who called their Senators
on Monday in response to a last minute call to action.
We are happy to report that on Monday we were
successful
in our efforts to save the Arctic National
Wildlife
Refuge from drilling.
The Senate voted 94-1 on a
procedural motion to keep
debating whether to open the
Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge up to drilling, rather
than vote on the proposal
as an amendment to the
Railroad Retirement bill. So,
the Railroad Retirement
bill, without a provision to
drill the Arctic, will
likely be voted on today.
Monday's vote was a big set back for Big Oil Allies
who want to drill the Arctic. In a strange twist, Senators
Lott and Murkowski, knowing they did not have enough
support to end the debate on drilling the Arctic,
decided
to vote against their own effort to bring the
drilling
provision up for a vote. However, we should
expect
Senators Lott and Murkowski to continue working
to
open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling
by attaching the provision to other bills.
Thanks again to all of you who
took the time to call
your Senators on this important
issue.
To: All Activists
Fr: Siskiyou
Regional Education Project
Date: December 5, 2001
Chief of the Forest Service moves
to terminate the Proposed Siskiyou
Wild Rivers Mineral
Withdrawal
In a letter to
Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, dated October 2, 2001,
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has requested that
Norton terminate
the proposed mineral withdrawal for
the Forest Service section of the
Siskiyou Wild Rivers
area (over 800,000 acres). Please send an Auto-fax
from www.siskiyourivers.org to take action against this
Forest Service
move to silence citizens and return the
Siskiyous to mining "business as
usual."
Background
In the waning days of the Clinton administration, Secretary
of Interior
Bruce Babbitt proposed the mineral
withdrawal. The proposal withdrew the
Siskiyou Wild
Rivers area for two years while the agencies proceed
through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process to
determine
whether to withdraw the area from mineral
entry for a longer period of
time. Mineral Withdrawal
closes areas from new mining claims and is a
key part
of any strategy to protect the Siskiyous from mining damage.
Though Babbitt said the Siskiyou
Wild Rivers area was probably "the most
biologically
significant unprotected landscape in the American West" and
deserving of national monument or National Park status,
there was not
enough time to go through the process he
had promised. Babbitt did
acknowledge that
the Bush administration "could" reverse the mining
moratorium and the public study process for the 20-year
withdrawal, but
he hoped that Oregonians would not let
this happen. He said that the
vulnerability
of three-quarters of the area to mining impacts was like a
dagger pointed at the very heart of the area's wild rivers,
salmon and
steelhead habitat and rare plants and said
that he knew of no other
landscape so threatened by
out-of-control, marginal mining operations.
The Land
Siskiyou Wild Rivers has
pristine rivers and streams and compromised,
but
recoverable, runs of wild salmon. It's exceptional biodiversity and
rare plants are as famous as its wild
rivers. Places threatened by the
upcoming
termination include the Rough & Ready Creek, the South
Kalmiopsis Roadless Area, the Wild & Scenic Illinois
River and Silver
Creek.
Wide Spread Support
The public
broadly supports mining reform for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers
area. Oregon Senior Senator Ron Wyden and Oregon
Representatives
DeFazio, Wu, Hooley and Blaumhauer and
Oregon Governor Kitzhauber all
support the mineral
withdrawal process. Favorable editorials, all asking
the Forest Service to keep the withdrawal process intact,
have been
published in the Medford Mail-Tribune (Oct.
19th), Salem
Statesman-Journal (Oct. 29th), and the
Eugene Register-Guard (Nov. 3rd).
The Problem
If Forest Service
Chief Dale Bosworth convinces Secretary of Interior
Gale Norton to terminate the Mineral Withdrawal process,
the Siskiyou
Wild Rivers lands will again be open to
mineral exploration and new
claims will be
staked. Also, we, the public, will be robbed of our
opportunity to engage in a process that can let our voices
be heard in
our efforts to protect the Siskiyou Wild
Rivers from mining.
How You
Can Help
Here are two ways you can help. Please
consider doing both.
1) Send
an Auto fax to key decision-makers (Senators Wyden and Smith,
Forest Service Chief Bosworth and Sec. of Interior Norton)
from our
website Take Action auto-fax feature at
www.siskiyourivers.org/action.
2) Write a letter, send a fax (faxes have obvious
advantages at this
time of heightened mail security) or
give a call to the same four. Their
addresses, fax and
phone numbers are below and a sample letter, from
which
you can "cut and paste" is also included.
Addresses and fax numbers:
Chief
Dale Bosworth, USDA Forest Service, PO Box 96090, Wash.DC 20090
Fax #: (202) 205-1765 Voice #: (202) 205-1661
Secretary Gale Norton, US Dept. of
Interior, 1849 C. Street N.W.,
Wash.DC 20240
Fax #: (202) 208-6956 Voice #: (202) 208-7351
Senator Ron Wyden, Senate Office
Bldg., Wash., DC 20510 Fax #: (202)
228-2717
Voice #: (202) 224-5244
Senator Gordon Smith, Senate Office Bldg., Wash., DC 20510
Fax #: (202)
228-3997
Voice #:
(202) 224-3753
Here's a sample
letter:
Dear ____________,
The moratorium on new mining
claims on the Siskiyou National Forest,
initiated by
the former administration, would give the pubic an
opportunity to learn about and debate mining in the
Siskiyou. Mining in
this land of spectacular rivers and
unrivaled botanical values degrades
water quality,
impacts some of the best remaining salmon habitat on the
West Coast and destroys rare plant habitat. Now
the Forest Service,
under the new administration, wants
to abruptly terminate the new mining
claim moratorium
and proposed mineral withdrawal, end the public process
and return destructive marginal and uneconomic mining on
the Siskiyou to
"business as usual".
This is NOT what the public wants.
We ask the Forest Service to maintain
the moratorium
and begin an open and public analysis of the proposed
mineral withdrawal under NEPA. Please protect the Siskiyou
Wild Rivers
area for current and future generations,
including special areas like
the Rough & Ready
Creek Watershed, the South Kalmiopsis, special
botanical areas, critical coho habitat like Sucker Creek
and Wild &
Scenic River candidates like Silver
Creek in the North Kalmiopsis.
Sincerely,
YOUR
NAME
To: All forest activists
From:
Jason Tockman, American Lands
Date: December 6, 2001
--Please
circulate extensively--
FAST
TRACK VOTE TODAY!
--Last-minute calls critically needed
to stop more NAFTA deals
--Call toll-free
1-800-393-1082
Today will go
down in history as a critical moment for the future of
international trade deals. The vote on Fast Track will
heavily influence
whether more North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and World Trade
Organization
(WTO) agreements are negotiated, or whether the movement
that emerged in Seattle has finally turned the tide.
Please join in to assure that the
devastating impact that this
generation of trade deals
has had on the environment and on our forests
is
finally put to bed. We have had major victories in the international
trade arena (the defeat of the WTO in Seattle, the failure
of the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), and
the scuttling of Fast Track in the 1990s). However,
last month the
forces of economic globalization gained
some new momentum with new
negotiations at the WTO, and
they hope to carry that forward with the
passage of
Fast Track today. We must not let them.
Fast Track is specifically crafted to facilitate the
expansion of NAFTA
to the entire hemisphere through the
Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA). This would
extend to the corporations of an additional 31
nations
the right to file lawsuits to impeded our environmental and
regulatory protections in secret tribunals (like NAFTA's
Chapter 11).
The FTAA would accelerate the logging of
critical forest regions, such
as the ancient temperate
rainforests of Chile. And the FTAA would
restrict our
ability to use important policy tools to protect the
environment and our forests.
Please spend some time today working to ensure that Fast
Track is
defeated, and that the United States is
finally forced to accept that
the failed model of NAFTA
is one that will no longer be tolerated. Call
the
AFL-CIO's toll-free STOP FAST TRACK number: 1-800-393-1082 and ask
that your representative vote NO on HR 3005, in any form
that it is
offered. The last-minute changes offered by
the bill's sponsor, Rep.
Thomas (R-CA), are mere window
dressing and do nothing to fix the
fundamental
substantive environmental and labor deficiencies of the
legislation. Legislators who care about the environment
must vote NO on
Fast Track.
*Be sure to ask to speak with the
Trade Aide.
*Call 1-800-393-1082
*Please personally ask your friends and family to call
during this final push
For
more information, or to find out the position of your member of
Congress, contact Jason at 740-594-5441 or
tockman@americanlands.org.
Natural Resources Defense Council's
LEGISLATIVE WATCH
December 6, 2001
Contents:
1) Legislative Watch
2) About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
3) About NRDC/How to Contact Us
The information in this bulletin
is also available on our website at
http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/legwatch.asp. The web
version links to
the text of bills and congressional
web pages. To take action on these
and other
environmental issues, visit NRDC's Earth Action Center at
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 ! =
12/6/01
Since returning from the
Thanksgiving holiday, the Senate's activity
level has
slowed considerably, thanks, in part, to persistent efforts
by Alaska Republicans to attach controversial energy
legislation
(including drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge) to every
bill that comes to the floor.
Nevertheless, Congress is working hard
to finish the
five remaining funding bills for next year (the
president has already signed most of the bills providing
environmental
funding). But despite progress, Congress
is unlikely to finish its
work by the end of this week,
forcing them to enact yet another
stop-gap spending
measure.
...
Budget/Appropriations
= N O T E ! =
On 11/30 and 12/4, respectively, the House and Senate
approved the
final transportation appropriations bill
(H.R. 2299), sending it to
the president's desk. The
final bill still includes an objectionable
rider that
would give away a large parcel of environmentally sensitive
land in Alaska's Tongass National Forest for possible
development,
although certain restrictions on the
transfer were added. For the
first time in six years,
the transportation funding bill does not
include
language blocking the federal government from considering
whether vehicle fuel economy standards should be increased.
= N O T E ! =
The economic stimulus package is stalled in the Senate, due
to the
inability of House and Senate members to
negotiate a compromise.
Democrats have attempted to add
job-creating infrastructure spending
to the stimulus
package or the Defense Department appropriations bill.
Environmental groups, among others, are pushing for a major
boost in
funding for projects that would create jobs
and help protect the
environment, such as water
infrastructure projects that would ensure
cleaner
water, mass transit projects such as high-speed rail,
energy-efficiency projects, and improvements to national
parks. On
11/28, House members blocked a $7.3 billion
amendment, offered by Rep.
Obey (D-WI), to include new
water infrastructure funding in the
defense funding
bill.
= N O T E ! =
On 11/28, the president signed the bill that will fund the
departments
of Commerce, Justice, and State next year.
The final bill includes
over $3 billion for the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (which
manages ocean, coastal and fisheries programs),
and
provides $10 million for stemming polluted coastal runoff.
Language in the bill that could have hindered federal
efforts to
develop a system of protected marine areas
was eliminated.
= N O T E ! =
On 11/26, President Bush signed into law Pub.L. 107-73,
which provides
$7.9 billion in funds for the EPA next
year -- almost $600 million
more than the Bush
administration requested. Congressional conferees
restored federal enforcement funds to last year's levels,
increased
resources for water quality projects for
cleaner beaches and
improvements to sewage and drinking
water facilities, and embraced a
new stronger standard
limiting arsenic in drinking water. The
conferees did
include language, however, that could delay implementing
this arsenic standard in smaller communities.
= N O T E ! =
On 11/12, President Bush signed a $24.6 billion energy and
water
funding bill into law (Pub.L. 107-66). This law
trims funds from the
Army Corps of Engineers while
increasing Energy Department, National
Nuclear Security
Administration, and Bureau of Reclamation funding.
Renewable energy research and development will receive $396
million
next year -- $20 million more than this year.
The final law includes
Sen. Stabenow's (D-MI) and Rep.
Bonior's (D-MI) two-year ban on oil
and gas drilling in
the Great Lakes, and contains a Senate compromise
that
will allow water from the Missouri River to be released in the
spring in an effort to save three endangered species by
restoring a
more natural flow to the river. The law
also provides $30 million in
federal funding for an
important federal-state partnership to allocate
scarce
California water.
On 11/5,
President Bush signed the Interior funding bill (Pub.L.
107-63). The bill includes a ban on oil and gas development
in
national monuments, and also denies funds for
studying oil and gas
development in sensitive coastal
waters where offshore oil drilling is
currently
off-limits. The bill retains language, however, that will
increase the number of cruise ships entering Glacier Bay
National
Park, allow the weakening of hardrock mining
protections, and
undermine environmental safeguards for
national forests. Language
restricting oil and gas
leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico was
dropped,
allowing the Bush administration to move forward with
drilling in a new area that could adversely impact Florida
beaches.
On 10/24, the Senate
approved the Foreign Operations funding bill
(H.R.
2506), which President Bush has threatened to veto because of
language that overturns his executive order banning federal
funds for
international family planning organizations
that promote or perform
abortions. The Senate bill also
contains an additional $295 million in
funding for a
new international program to promote cleaner energy and
energy conservation. Funding for the Global Environment
Facility,
which provides grants for projects that
combat global warming and
promote sustainable
development worldwide, has been increased only
slightly
above last year's levels in the Senate bill. The
House-approved Foreign Operations funding bill includes a
$25 million
cut in funds for the Global Environment
Facility.
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).
...
Clean Air and Energy
= N O T E ! =
On 12/5, Senate
Majority Leader Daschle (D-SD) introduced a Democratic
energy bill that would require greater use of renewable
fuels, more
efficient air conditioners and heat pumps,
and increased use of
corn-based ethanol in gasoline.
The legislation is an alternative to
the
Republican-backed energy bill, which seeks to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and provide huge
subsidies to
the fossil fuels and nuclear energy
industries. Instead of more oil
and coal subsidies, the
Democratic proposal would seek to begin to
replace
America's dependence on foreign oil and an aging electricity
system with clean, efficient new technologies. While the
bill
currently lacks key components on fuel efficiency
and energy
efficiency incentives, environmental groups
are working to ensure that
strong provisions will be
included in the bill after relevant
committees complete
work on these areas.
= N O T E
! =
Sen. Lott (R-MS) and Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) have
been continuing their
attempts to attach the House
energy bill (H.R. 4), which includes a
provision
allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, to any legislation that is moving on the Senate
floor. On
12/3, the Senate voted nearly unanimously to
prevent Sen. Murkowski
from attaching this energy
legislation to the Railroad Retirement bill
(S. 697).
= N O T E ! =
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
will
consider fuel economy issues at a hearing on 12/6.
The committee will
hear from members of Congress, as
well as representatives from
environmental groups and
automobile manufacturers. On 8/2, Sen. Kerry
(D-MA)
held a hearing on the recent National Academy of Sciences
report on the importance of raising fuel economy standards.
The
committee is expected to consider a bill (S. 804)
introduced by
Senators Feinstein (D-CA), Snowe (R-ME),
Schumer (D-NY), and Collins
(R-ME), which 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. H.R. 1815 is the House companion bill.
On 11/1, the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee held the
first
of two hearings on S. 556, a bill co-authored by committee chair
Sen. Jeffords (I-VT) and Sen. Lieberman (D-CT). The bill
seeks to
reduce four types of power plant emissions by
imposing mandatory cuts
in carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury
emissions. At the
hearing, Bush administration representatives opposed
regulating CO2 emissions, arguing that the costs on the
economy would
be too high. The administration is
expected to release a proposal that
would only regulate
three of the four worst power plant pollutants,
reversing a Bush campaign promise to regulate carbon
dioxide, a key
greenhouse gas that contributes to
global warming. No action has been
taken on the House
companion bill (H.R. 1256), which was introduced on
3/27 by Rep. Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Boehlert (R-NY).
Also, on 11/1, the House Science
Subcommittee on Energy heard from a
panel representing
auto manufacturers, the electric vehicles industry,
the
Energy Department and environmentalists on ways to decrease the
country's dependence on oil for transportation.
On 10/17, the House passed its
version of the Defense Authorization
bill (H.R. 2586);
the Senate passed its version (S. 1438) on 10/2. The
bill is currently in conference committee to resolve
differences
between the two bills. (See discussion
under Public Lands below.)
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.
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 ! =
The full Senate will consider the $40 billion farm bill (S.
1731)
throughout the week of 12/3. The Senate
Agriculture Committee approved
the bill, introduced by
Sen. Harkin (D-IA), the committee chair, on
11/15. The
energy section of the bill provides more than $500 million
for clean energy programs that support wind power, biomass
energy,
fuel cells, and energy efficiency improvements
on farms. The bill
contains language, however, that
would encourage logging on public
lands and that would
subsidize large-scale factory farm pollution.
Environmentalists are hoping to increase conservation
program funding
and curtail pollution subsidies to
large factory farms.
On 11/7,
the House Resources Committee approved, generally along party
lines, H.R. 3208 (originally H.R. 1985), Rep. Calvert's
(R-CA)
multi-billion dollar bill to reauthorize a
federal and state
partnership in California that
provides water for urban and
agricultural users, as
well as for wildlife and habitat restoration.
Environmentalists oppose the bill because it would upset
the balance
of this critical partnership, and could
jeopardize the environmental
restoration that was
expected to result. The bill would allow the
construction of new dams in California without appropriate
review, and
could give agricultural water users
priority over the environment. A
similar bill
introduced by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), with many of the
same problems as the Calvert bill, has been markedly
improved through
negotiations with Sen. Boxer (D-CA).
In the House, Rep. Miller (D-CA)
has introduced a bill,
H.R. 2404, which would reauthorize the program
without
harmful anti-environment provisions. Environmentalists support
the Miller bill.
On 10/5, the House approved a $70 billion farm bill (H.R.
2646) by a
vote of 291-120, after rejecting an
amendment by Rep. Kind (D-WI) and
Rep. Boehlert (R-NY),
supported by the environmental community, that
would
have transferred $1.9 billion per year from commodity subsidies
to farm conservation, wetlands restoration, and wildlife
habitat
programs, without weakening environmental
standards for factory farms.
An amendment by Rep. D.
Miller (R-FL) and Rep. G. Miller (D-CA) to
decrease
sugar subsidies and apply the savings to Everglades
restoration also failed. The Bush administration criticized
the House
bill because of its high price tag, large
subsidies, and failure to
help the small farmer.
...
Forests
=
N O T E ! =
The House Forests subcommittee held an
oversight hearing on 12/4 to
consider the laws and
regulations that apply in national forests.
Witnesses
included officials from the Forest Service and environmental
representatives.
...
International Environmental Protections
= N O T E ! =
On 12/6, House Republican leaders intend to vote on H.R.
3005,
legislation granting "fast track" authority to
the president to
negotiate new trade agreements. On
10/16, the House Ways and Means
Committee approved the
bill, which was introduced by Rep. Thomas
(R-CA),
committee chair. Democratic leaders, as well as environmental,
consumer, social justice, and labor groups oppose this bill
because it
fails to ensure adequate environmental and
labor standards and could
undermine current
protections. The bill, which is 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. On 10/3,
the
ranking minority members of the committee, Rep. Rangel (D-NY), and
Rep. Levin (D-MI), introduced their own trade bill (H.R.
3019), which
has stronger congressional oversight and
environmental standards.
...
Marine Mammals
On 10/11, the House Resources
Fisheries Conservation subcommittee held
a hearing on
marine mammal issues, including the use of low frequency
active sonar by the Navy, which could harm whales and other
marine
life. The Navy wants to deploy this sonar
worldwide, but needs a
permit from the National Marine
Fisheries Service. Numerous
scientists, as well as
environmental and animal rights groups, have
joined
forces to oppose the use of this sonar, both because of the
grave risks it presents to marine mammals and the
inadequate
information that the Navy currently has
about its impacts on marine
life.
...
Nuclear
=
N O T E ! =
On 12/5, the House Energy and Commerce
Committee held a hearing on
nuclear power plant
security that was closed to the media and the
public
because of the sensitive nature of the information. The
committee could consider Rep. Markey's (D-MA) nuclear
security bill,
H.R. 3382, to increase security at
nuclear plants by federalizing
security workers.
= N O T E ! =
On 11/27, the House passed a bill (H.R. 2983) to
reauthorize the
Price-Anderson Act until 2017. This
act, which provides federal
insurance for nuclear power
plants in case of accidents, is a huge
subsidy to the
nuclear industry. Environmental groups oppose
reauthorization because it would encourage more nuclear
power plant
construction without addressing nuclear
waste contamination. It would
also shift responsibility
for the full cost of nuclear power plant use
from the
nuclear industry to taxpayers.
...
Public Health
= N O T E ! =
Sen. Bennett (R-UT)
and Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) have indicated that they will
try
to attach, as an amendment to terrorism or national security
legislation, a bill they have co-authored (S. 1456) that
would allow
companies that voluntarily disclose
information to the government
about their "critical
infrastructure" to require that this information
be
kept confidential. As a result, information on environmental, tax,
health, labor, and other public protection law violations
(which is
now available to the public) that is turned
over pursuant to this law
could not be disclosed by the
government for enforcement purposes. The
law would also
allow companies to withhold such information from third
parties in citizen lawsuits and civil litigation.
On 10/3, the House Science
committee approved Rep. Ehlers' (R-MI) bill
(H.R. 64),
which creates the position of deputy for science and
technology at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Environmental
groups are concerned that this position
could be used in a political
manner to undercut the
science conducted at the agency and the
policies
adopted as the result of it. Environmentalists have also
expressed disappointment that the bill fails to address
major
scientific shortcomings at EPA, including
significant reliance on
industry studies and external
review by advisory committees that are
often dominated
by industry representatives and researchers.
...
Public Lands
= N O T E ! =
While the Defense
Authorization bill (S. 1438; H.R. 2586) has not yet
emerged from the conference committee, a final agreement
has been
reached. The bill will allow the expansion of
Fort Irwin in the
California desert, imperiling the
survival and recovery of federally
protected endangered
species, such as the California desert tortoise
and
Lane Mountain milkvetch, and failing to conserve 36,000 acres of
wildlands in the California Desert that Congress has
identified as
meriting wilderness protection.
= N O T E ! =
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held
hearings for
two controversial Bush nominees on 12/5.
Some environmental groups
have raised concerns about
both Rebecca Watson, nominee for Assistant
Secretary of
Interior for Land and Minerals, and Jeffrey Jarrett,
nominee for Director of Surface Mining, because of their
close ties to
mining industries.
...
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
...........
2) About Our Bulletins/How to
Subscribe & Unsubscribe
NRDC distributes three bulletins by email. To subscribe to
any or all
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to
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or update your email address or
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(or see the unsubscribe information below).
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immediate action. To unsubscribe from Earth Action,
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LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent biweekly
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The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST
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tools to Californians and others concerned with protecting
the state's
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...........
3) About NRDC/How to Contact Us
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
NY, NY 10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
General information: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
Email subscription questions: 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
To: All Activists
Fr: Larry
Campbell, Friends of the Bitterroot and Deb Kmon Davidson,
American Wildlands
Date: December
6, 2001
STOP THE FOREST SERVICE FROM LIMITING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
WRITE THEM BY DECEMBER 9TH!
The Chief of the Forest
Service, Dale Bosworth, is working behind the
scenes
with the Bush Administration to eliminate the public appeals
process on the largest timber sale pending in the country
-- a proposed
181 million board feet post-fire logging
timber sale on the Bitterroot
National Forest
in southwestern Montana.
Please contact Chief Dale Bosworth and tell him to follow
the law
and retain the appeals process for the
Bitterroot and all other national
forest projects.
BACKGROUND
During the summer of 2000, large wildfires swept across the
Bitterroot
National Forest. Bitterroot forest officials
now propose logging about
46,000 acres to clear out
many trees that burned last year, as well as
live,
green trees. Up to 181 million board feet would be harvested --
more timber than was taken off the Bitterroot in the last
15 years
combined (which would result in enough logging
trucks to spread fro 300
miles). This aggressive
post-fire logging project will include up to
17,000
acres of uninventoried wild roadless areas. It also calls for
salvage logging in sensitive watersheds for the endangered
Bull Trout
and petitioned for listing Westslope
Cutthroat Trout.
A project of
this massive scale will cause severe environmental damage
to watersheds, old growth, wildlife and fisheries habitat
and spread
noxious weeds.
LOCKING OUT PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
On Nov. 27, 2001, Chief Dale Bosworth announced that it is
seeking
Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Mark
Rey's ratification of the
Bitterroot National Forest
Supervisor Rodd Richardson's decision to
approve the
"Burned Area Recovery Project". If Rey signs the decision,
it would eliminate the opportunity for the 4,000 people and
organizations who commented on the timber sale to file
any appeals.
This is an overt attempt to
short-circuit public involvement in the
decision-making
process for this highly controversial project.
**If this new approach is successful, the Forest Service
will
very likely extend the practice to other
controversial projects on
National
Forests. As a timber industry lobbyist, Mark Rey is widely
believed to the be author of the 1995 "salvage rider" which
suspended
for a year all environmental laws regarding
salvage timber sales on
National Forests.
The 1993 Appeals Reform Act
guarantees citizens who commented on a
proposal the
right to appeal the final decision. This action proposed by
Chief Bosworth would, for the first time, eliminate the
public's
long-standing rights to appeal Forest Service
decisions. Bosworth
justified the action by saying that
the Bitterroot post-fire sale would
have gone to court
anyway and this accelerates the process. Such
rationalization pushes to the sidelines groups and
individuals who use
the appeal process but not the
courts, and fails to allow for the
opportunity to
improve a Forest Service decision before deciding whether
to go to court.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please write
Chief Bosworth by December 9 and ask him to:
- Withdraw his request that Department of Agriculture
Under-Secretary
Mark Rey sign the Record of Decision on
the Bitterroot Burn Area
Recovery Plan.
- Not circumvent the Forest
Service appeals process since it forces
groups to
utilize the courts if they are not pleased with all or part of
the decision on the Bitterroot Burned Area Recovery
Project. In the
appeals process the public would have
the opportunity to improve the
Forest Service decision
before deciding whether to go to court.
- Remind him that is clearly violates the Appeals Reform
Act.
- Finally, the logging
sale itself should not proceed, because of its
massive
scale and the scientifically documented risks of severe
environmental damage caused by post-fire salvage logging.
OR PASTE IN THE FOLLOWING
COMMENT:
I ask that you withdraw your request that
Department of Agriculture
Under-Secretary Mark Rey sign
the Record of Decision on the Bitterroot
Burn Area
Recovery Plan. I also ask that you not circumvent the Forest
Service appeals process on this project or any others.
Eliminating the public's
long-standing rights to appeal Forest Service
decision
pushes to the sidelines groups and individuals who use the
appeal process but not the courts, and fails to allow for
the
opportunity to improve a Forest Service decision
before deciding whether
to go to court.
Finally, the logging sale itself
should not proceed, because of its
massive scale and
the scientifically documented risks of severe
environmental damage caused by post-fire salvage logging.
Send your comments to:
Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth
c/o Forest Service Northern Region
Public and Governmental Relations
P.O. Box 7669, Missoula, MT 59807
EMAIL: emc@fs.fed.us
FAX: 202-205-8517
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Larry Campbell- Friends of the Bitterroot, lcampbell@montana.com
Deb Kmon Davidson- American Wildlands, dkmon@wildlands.org
Or www.wildfireinfo.org
Natural Resources Defense Council's
CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK ACTION
ALERT
NRDC's California
Activist Network was formed to mobilize and provide
action tools to Californians and others concerned with
protecting the
state's extraordinary wealth of natural
treasures and the health of
its citizens.
December 6, 2001
========================================
In This Issue:
--Updates on Previous alerts--
San Francisco ballot initiative
--Special Holiday Ideas and
Links--
1. The Great Green
Gift-Giving Guide
2. Books Fit for Nature Lovers
3. Ten Ways to Have a Cool Holiday
and more!
==========================
Updates on Previous alerts
==========================
SAN FRANCISCO BALLOT INITIATIVE
In
last month's alert, we asked San Franciscans to go to the polls on
November 6th and vote 'Yes' on Proposition D -- a charter
amendment
that would require voter approval of any
city-sponsored project that
would fill in more than 100
acres of San Francisco Bay. In a landslide
victory for
the Bay Area environment, voters passed the measure by an
overwhelming 3-to-1 margin, signaling a strong public
desire to
protect the bay from its principal current
threat -- plans to fill up
to 900 acres of the bay to
build new runways for San Francisco
International
Airport. Thanks to all of you who went to the polls on
the 6th and helped secure this victory to help preserve the
bay's
wildlife habitat and scenic beauty.
===============================
Special Holiday Ideas and Links
===============================
Just in time for the holiday rush,
NRDC has compiled a trio of online
guides to help your
season shine a bit greener:
1.
The Great Green Gift-Giving Guide
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/living/ggift.asp
We asked NRDC staff members to
tell us the best
environmentally-friendly gift they've
ever given or received. From
National Park passes to
battery-free flashlights to bird-feeder
wreaths, we're
passing along their ideas, along with links to help
save you time and gas mileage.
2. Books Fit for Nature Lovers
http://www.nrdc.org/joinGive/shop/books.asp
From light-hearted to lyrical,
from provocative to poetic, our picks
for kids, cooks,
curious naturalists, history buffs, policy geeks,
etc.
3. Ten Ways to Have a Cool
Holiday
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/gtopten.asp
Bet you didn't know you could
enjoy the holiday season and fight
global warming at
the same time. Shop, decorate, travel, give, and
even
receive smarter, and the earth will reap the benefits.
========================================
And one more great green gift idea, for anyone on your list
(or
yourself, for that matter): an NRDC membership.
https://www.nrdc.org/joinGive/join/basic.asp
For as little as $10 ($15 for a
gift membership), you'll receive a
handy tote bag, a
screensaver featuring stunning images of the wild
places you're helping defend, and a year's subscription to
"Nature's
Voice," NRDC's photo-filled campaign
bulletin. Plus you'll be
supporting the nation's most
effective environmental advocacy
organization in its
work to protect wilderness and wildlife and ensure
a
safe and healthy environment for everyone. So join now!
To become an NRDC member:
https://www.nrdc.org/joinGive/join/basic.asp
To give an NRDC gift membership:
https://www.nrdc.org/joinGive/join/ggift.asp
========================================
As always, many, many thanks for
being part of NRDC's California
Activist Network. Your
activism plays a critical role in helping us
achieve
our goals (go to https://www.nrdc.org/action/results.asp to
read about just some of the successes you helped win this
year). We'll
be back in January, asking for your
continued action in the important
environmental battles
that await us in 2002. In the meantime, all of
us at
NRDC wish you and yours a happy, safe and peaceful holiday
season.
==================================================
About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
==================================================
NRDC distributes three bulletins
by email. To subscribe to any or all
of them or to join
our activist networks, go to:
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/subscribe.asp.
If you already subscribe and want
to change your subscriptions or
update your email
address or other information, go to:
http://www.join.nrdcaction.org/profileeditor (or see
the unsubscribe
information below).
The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST NETWORK
ACTION ALERT is distributed monthly to
members of
NRDC's California Activist Network and provides action
tools to Californians and others concerned with protecting
the state's
natural resources and the health of its
citizens. To unsubscribe from
the California Activist
Network Action Alert, send an email message to
wildcalifornia@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the subject
line.
EARTH ACTION is sent
biweekly and calls out urgent environmental
issues at
the national level and from around the country. To
unsubscribe from Earth Action, send an email message to
earthaction@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the subject line.
LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent
biweekly when Congress is in session and
tracks
environmental bills moving through the federal legislature. To
unsubscribe from Legislative Watch, send an email message
to
legwatch@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the subject
line.
==========
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
California Activist Network email: wildcalifornia@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
===========
News Release:
Thursday, December
6, 2001
Trick or Treaty?
How the IU became an IOU:
Is “The Law of the Seed” a White
Elephant…
Or the Mouse that could roar?
The first global accord of the
21st century, the International Treaty on
Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture, was adopted by consensus
on November 3rd, 2001. After seven years of
acrimonious debate, the
convoluted text can’t be read
without recourse to the Rosetta Stone.
Nevertheless,
history will come to know it as “The Law of the Seed” - a
signal step toward food sovereignty and
justice. Today, the ETC group
(formerly
RAFI) is releasing its ETC Translator to help farmers and
policy-makers decipher the accord. The 16-page
report includes 11 cartoons
of biocrat negotiators and
a Global Governance Report scoring the 25
delegations
and organizations that most influenced the outcome - for good or
ill. The full text is available at:
www.rafi.org (Note that on Monday,
December
10th, the ETC group will launch its new website at
www.etcgroup.org)
TRICK OR TREATY? The vote – in the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization’s
Blue Room on the third floor
of the agency’s headquarters in Rome, went
smoothly
enough. The last real battle ended (appropriately enough) on
Halloween night - October 31st, late in the evening when
the U.S. attempted
to introduce a new clause in the
treaty that would have allowed them to
embargo
germplasm to Cuba or other “enemies” of “enduring freedom”. That
lost, the U.S. also attempted to remove any references
critical of
intellectual property in the
text. The Chair, Ambassador Fernando Gerbasi
of Venezuela, was firm and fair and told them it was no
deal.
PRECLUDED AND
DELUDED: Perhaps the only real surprise – when the plenary
vote came a few days later – was that the United States and
Japan abstained
in approving the treaty rather than
voting against it. Rene Salazar, the
Philippine delegate bruised and battle-hardened from the
“seven year bitch”
wondered if the mild U.S. response
was in reaction to a tough letter to the
Americans from
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who publicly scolded
the delegation about Farmers’ Rights, Terminator
technology, and the need to
back the
treaty. Several days later, however, when the biennial FAO
Conference and Council sessions were coming to closure, the
U.S. took the
floor again to insist that the record
make clear that the United States was
“precluded” from
joining the treaty because it was not allowed to include
the “national security” (read “embargo”) clause.
This caused a stir. In
declaring they were precluded”, the U.S. rendered
itself ineligible to participate in the Interim Committee
that will prepare
the way for the Treaty’s Governing
Body once the text is ratified by 40
countries. Unlike the Biodiversity Convention –
where the U.S. plays an
active role because it says it
will someday ratify the accord – the
delegation will be
able to make no such claims on The Law of the Seed. This
leaves the G77 and Europe to lay the ground rules and
precedents that will
resolve the treaty’s outstanding
ambiguities.
HALF FULL AND
RISING: Now the world has a legally binding treaty to govern
the conservation and exchange of vital crop germplasm. Its
central component
is a Multilateral System that assures
member states “facilitated access” to
64 food crops
accounting for 85% of global human nutrition. However, the
treaty actually encompasses all genetic material for food
and agriculture
and presses governments to adopt
Farmers’ Rights. Once ratified, the
treaty’s
Governing Body will exercise real political control over the
600,000 seed accessions of the Consultative Group on
International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) – the
world’s most important and unique
germplasm
collections. Constraints are placed on intellectual property over
seeds exchanged through the Multilateral System and
obligations are imposed
for benefit sharing when
accessed seed is commercialized. That’s the good
news. The bad news is that you could drive a
seeder through the patent
provisions, there’s no real
money on the table, Farmers’ Rights is still an
uphill
struggle, and some crops vital to poor people are not listed for easy
exchange. Pat Mooney, Executive
Director of the ETC group – the Civil
Society
Organization that was privy to the closed-door Contact Group in the
process – agrees with critics that the treaty is only
“half-full” but adds,
“It will become what we make of
it. It is the white elephant turned into
the
mouse that could roar. We believe it signals a very important
breakthrough.”
IU OR IOU? Once known as the “IU” (International
Undertaking) before it was
transformed into a treaty,
the text remains more of an IOU to farmers than
an
obligation completed. Nevertheless, this is a “platform”
treaty. The
legal foundation is firm and the
Governing Body can use its scaffolding
either to build
a very powerful convention for food sovereignty and seed
conservation – or to hang themselves along with the world’s
farmers.
FARMERS’
RIGHTS? Eris Coronado, a female Mapuche farmer in Chile, summed up
the treaty well just a few days after its adoption in
Rome. Mapuche women
“Curadoras” (stewards)
heard about the treaty while they were instructing
Chile’s leading chefs in the use of traditional seeds and
plants to conserve
diversity and develop new
recipes. A videotape being made of their process
was hastily altered to mark the success of the
treaty. At a nationally
televised banquet on
the evening of November 29th, Coronado praised the
treaty’s support for Farmers’ Rights but chastised
governments for not
having gone far
enough. She told them that the rights proposed in the
treaty had to become laws.
Forty countries must ratify the treaty before it enters
into force. With a
little luck, this might
be possible by the World Food Summit (June 10-13,
2002 in Rome). Heads of State should also
acknowledge the treaty as a major
contribution to
Agenda 21 and the Rio+10 Summit in South Africa in September
2002.
For
further information:
Pat Roy
Mooney - etc@etcgroup.org (204) 453-5259
Julie Delahanty – julie@etcgroup.org (819)
827-9949
Hope Shand –
hope@etcgroup.org (919) 960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro – silvia@etcgroup.org (52)
5555-63-2664
Eris Coronado, Rene Salazar, and Pat Mooney – all noted in
this release –
are participants in the Community
Biodiversity Development and Conservation
Programme
(CBDC). The CBDC supports research and development related to the
conservation and enhancement of biodiversity important to
local communities
including community seed security and
plant breeding and the policy issues
relevant to the
strengthening of rural societies.
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON TAKE SOME ACTION FOR THE EARTH BY
RAISING YOUR VOICE IN
SONG!
PROTEST CITIGROUP'S DESTRUCTIVE ACTIONS WITH SOME
Creative Caroling!
(scroll down for sample spoof
songs)
WHAT:
Citigroup Holiday Caroling
Grab a few friends and area activists and sing popular
holiday tunes with
lyrics that shed light upon the
World's Most Destructive Bank!
Serenade Citibank and passersby, leaflet customers, educate
and spread good
cheer. Supplement your
beautiful voices with a little symbolic deposit.
After
all Tis the season for Santa to visit the local Citi branch and
pass out eviction notices, flyers, lumps of coal, etc.
Dress festive! (dig that old elf
costume out of the closet!)
WHEN:
this holiday season
WHERE:
your local Citibank branch, CitiFinancial, or Salomon Smith
Barney office
find one in your area:
http://www.citibank.com/branches/
http://www.citifinancial.com/branchlocator/
http://www.salomonsmithbarney.com/abt_sb/brnchloc.html
WHY:
Because Citigroup is the world's most destructive
bank! They are the
number one funder of
global warming projects and forest destruction.
They
are investing in projects that threaten the rights of indigenous
peoples, public health and democratic decision making
around the world.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WHAT TO BRING:
song books (downloadable)
flyers (downloadable)
fact sheets (downloadable)
santa hats
bells
candy canes
noisemakers
kazoos
slidewhistles
etc.
credit cards real or
cardboard (CUT 'EM UP!)
***
Download sample flyers, fact sheets, and a complete holiday spoof carol
songbook at http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/xmascarols.html***
For organizing help, or to
report a caroling action, contact Patrick at
organize@ran.org or call 415-398-4404/1-800-989-RAIN
* * * * *
SAMPLE SONGS: (visit http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/homev3.html
for the complete song book)
To the
Tune of Jingle Bells:
Hot as
hell
Oceans swell
Warmer every
day
Oh what fun it is to fry
in a world with climate change
(repeat!)
Citi is a bank
That funds fossil fuels
Which emit
co2
And causes climate change (ha ha ha)
If we don’t take a stand
Against this greedy bank
Our
planet’s gonna fry fry fry
And our future’s gonna tank
OHH
Hot as hell
Oceans swell
Warmer every day
Oh how glad our world would be without climate change. Hey!
* * * * *
“The Twelve Days of Christmas”
On the first day of X-mas Sandy Weil gave to me
a dead orangutan in a chopped down tree.
On the second day of X-mas Sandy
Weil gave to me
two leaking pipelines and a dead
orangutan in a chopped down tree.
On the third day of X-mas Sandy Weil gave to me
three high interest rate loans, two leaking pipelines and a
dead
orangutan in a chopped down tree.
On the fourth day of X-mas Sandy
Weil gave to me
four politicians, three high interest
rate loans, two leaking
pipelines and a dead orangutan
in a chopped down tree.
.
.
.
.
.
On the twelveth day of X-mas Sandy Weil gave to me
twelve singing protestors, eleven corporate bastards, ten
sweatshop workers, nine debted families, eight
destroyed
habitats, seven illegal mergers, six brand
new prisons, five
genetically engineered meals, four
politicians, three high interest
rate loans, two
leaking pipelines and a dead orangutan in a
chopped
down tree.
* * * * *
“Rudolph the Redlined Reindeer”
Rudolph the redlined reindeer,
Had a different color nose
And
when Citibank saw it,
They made sure his account was
closed.
All of the Citibank branches
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Play
their racist lending games.
Then one foggy December eve
The
people came to say,
"Citigroup you're the world's
blight,
We've come to stop you tonight!"
And all the people loved it,
And
they shouted out in glee,
"Citigroup, you racist
bankers,
You won't get a cent from me!
* * * * *
to the tune of Dreidel, Dreidel,
Dreidel
They’re not a little
banker
They’re the biggest in the land.
And their Earth-destroying projects
have gotten out of hand
Oh – Citi, Citi, Citi – Don’t kill us with your dough
Oh – Citi, Citi, Citi – We’ve nowhere else to go
We’re on a lovely
planet. She’s worth a bit of fuss.
At the
rate you mine and drill her, she’ll soon be through with us.
Oh – (Chorus 2x)
* * * * *
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
Arrest the Citi banker thugs who profit from our pain
They've built a finance empire from their ill-gotten gains
From dams to AIDS to poverty their record is insane
We will take away the privilege they enjoy
all they enjoy
We will take away
the privilege they enjoy
From
Chad to Cameroon a pipeline for which they are funders
Has displaced native people and torn the rainforest asunder
Shareholders see their profits rise while poor
countries go under?
We’ll expose all the lies that they
deploy
all they deploy
We’ll
expose all the lies that they deploy
Citigroup is now the largest bank in all the world
From Bengalor to Brooklyn flows their dirty capital
They cast aside their conscience so their coffers they can
fill
They paid off congress to nix Glass-Steagle
Glass-Steagle
They paid off
congress to nix Glass-Steagle
Now predatory lending is their habit in the States
They hook the poor on credit then they jack up interest
rates
redlining in poor neighborhoods is one
more Citi trait
We will bury corporate greed with human
joy
with human joy
We will
bury corporate greed with human joy
* * * * *
Time for another edition of Greenpeace's Clean Energy Now!
weekly campaign update - POSITIVE ENERGY!!!!
*** L.A.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOLAR INITIATIVE AT RISK ***
Students and faculty at Los Angeles's nine community
colleges have joined Greenpeace calling on the Community
College District Board of Trustees to lead the way to a
solar energy future for California and the country. The
Board of Trustees is deciding how to spend $1.245
billion
that voters approved for renovations and new
buildings in
a ballot measure. Students and faculty are
working hard
on campus and in the district's halls of
power to ensure
that a significant amount of that money
goes to investments that will ensure clean air and a reduction in California's
global warming emissions. Six out of nine student Senates, and all of the
student body Presidents have passed resolutions calling on the Trustees to
ensure that any new buildings constructed on community college campuses receive
at least 25 percent of their energy supply from solar energy, and exceed
California Building Code efficiency requirements by at least 25 percent.
Despite the overwhelming outcry
for solar energy, the
president of the Board of
Trustees, Sylvia Scott Hayes,
is refusing to meet with
students, faculty, and activists,
and is attempting to
delay the solar vote in order to
diffuse the public's
interest in clean air and climate
protection. You,
however, can help . . .
Contact Mrs. Hayes now, and demand that the Community
Colleges invest in solar and green buildings, by going to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/bin/takeaction.pl?action_id=97
***SWEDEN GOES BEYOND
KYOTO***
On November 29th
2001, Sweden demonstrated how
governments can reduce
greenhouse gas emissions without
bankrupting their
economy. It was officially announced
that they have set
their emissions reduction target at -4%,
and will
reduce greenhouse gas emissions without using
"sinks"
to capture carbon dioxide. While this is not nearly
enough to stop the onslaught of global warming impacts,
it is, according to a recent Greenpeace Nordic press
release
a "stumbling step in the right
direction." Originally, the
European Union
required the emmissions only increased by
+4% in Sweden
from 1990 levels. This -4%
emissions target is a
tremendous improvement from that
original goal.
We are far behind Sweden here in
the US, but there is
still hope that our local
political leaders will move to
reduce greenhouse gas
emissions despite the lack of
leadership from the White
House.
***CITY OF VALLEJO TO INSTALL 30MW OF RENEWABLE ENERGY***
The city of San Francisco is
not alone in its efforts to
meet future energy demands
with renewable power. By early
2002, the city of
Vallejo expects to begin construction on
an initial 1
megawatt (MW) of solar and 10 MW of wind energy and
could expand to meet the city's 100 MW base load energy
demand within five years. This would allow the city to
sell extra energy back to the grid! In May, the Vallejo
City Council voted to negotiate a deal with BP Solar to
build a 1 MW solar farm with half the energy going to city
hall and the rest for sale on the grid. And, in then a
7-0
vote in August, the Vallejo authorized a round of
talks
with Terra Moya Aqua, a Wyoming wind generator,
to build a
10 MW wind farm, at least one third would be
devoted to
the city's highest electricity costs:
pumping reservoir
water. Right now, the city is stuck
buying power from the
corporate culprit PG&E, but
could soon be energy
independent! Way to go Vallejo . .
.
To find out more
information, go to: www.ecologycenter.org
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
EarthNet News
... a project of
the Center for Environmental Citizenship
http://www.envirocitizen.org
December 6, 2001
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week in EarthNet, tell the EPA to stop puttin'
toxins in
fertilizer and see what all your fast action
did to make our hope glimmer a
little brighter.
How'd you like to see your name in EarthNet? Send a
story, letter or idea to mailto:submissions@envirocitizen.org
--Zachariah Silk, EarthNet Editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shadow Congress: Is toxic waste good for you?
2. Quote of the Week
3. Give away millions of other people's dollars...
4. Glimmer of Hope:
Winning Small Battles
5. War and the Environment: War on farm ecosystems
6. Jobs, Conferences and Gatherings
7. Activist Phone Book
& EarthNet News Info
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHADOW CONGRESS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toxic waste is being turned into fertilizer and spread
onto our
farmland. Yes, you read that right. Polluting
enterprises -- such as steel
and paper mills -- are
abusing a loophole in environmental regulations and
turning waste -- which would normally have to be treated
at special
waste processing facilities -- into toxic
sludge that is being sold as
fertilizer.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to
know
what you think about using hazardous waste to
grow food, lawns, and gardens.
While you may be shocked
to find out that some of the most dangerous
industrial
toxic waste is being turned into fertilizer, the EPA
is not.
In fact, they've known about it for some time.
This has been an ongoing
process for several decades
but went unnoticed by the general public and
virtually
unregulated by the government. Fortunately, people
got wind of
this practice and brought a lawsuit against
the EPA and the industries to
force them to clean up
their act.
The EPA recently
proposed regulating fertilizers made
from one of the many hazardous wastes
-- in this case
zinc -- being put in fertilizer. Unfortunately, they
are
turning a blind eye to the many other toxins --
including lead and dioxin --
which may end up at your
dinner table.
The EPA needs to hear from
you. Let them know that
turning any toxic waste into fertilizer is
unacceptable.
Tell the EPA that fertilizer should be cleaner than
dirt!
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/ZpqAAaF1ucDz/get_toxics_out
Use the EarthNet Action Center to urge the EPA to stop
pretending
toxic waste is good for you.
FOR MORE INFO:
Washington Toxics
Coalition: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/q1qAAaF1ucDd/wa_toxics_info
State PIRG Report: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/1dqAAaF1ucDx/toxics_report
Seattle Times Article: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/V1qAAaF1ucDS/seattle_times
Seattle Times Article: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/VdqAAaF1ucDL/seattle_times
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those
of us who
profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation
are men who want the crops
without plowing up the ground.
They want rain without thunder. They want the
ocean
without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes
nothing
without a demand. It never has and it never
will.
-Frederick
Douglass
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAD MONEY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOTE FOR US!
If you had several million dollars to give to
progressive
causes, how would you do it? Simple -- VOTE! That's
what
Working Assets -- an environmentally responsible
phone company -- is doing
right now. They're giving
away millions of dollars to noble causes. And,
guess
what, EarthNet is one of them.
If you enjoy EarthNet -- and
all the info, actions
and opportunities it contains -- this is your chance
to keep us in your inbox next year. Help EarthNet's
parent -- the Center
for Environmental Citizenship
-- keep our programs growing. And all you have
to do
is decide how to spend other people's money.
**VOTE for the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
NOW**
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/qdqAAaF1ucDc/workingassets_vote
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE: Winning Small Battles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest attempt by U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska)
to open
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling
failed again this week when
almost the entire Senate
(including Murkowski!) voted against it. Working to
sneak the Bush energy package through the Senate, Murkowski
had hoped to
tag the House energy bill (HR 4) and a
separate anti-human-cloning bill on
to an unrelated
railroad retirement bill. Murkowski needed to get 60
votes to force the Senate to consider adding the amendment.
Apparently,
he could only rustle up 54 or 55 votes,
so they called the whole thing off,
and the Senate
voted 94-1 (guess Sen. Allen from Virginia didn't get
the
memo) against the plan. Be proud -- the hundreds
and hundreds of letters
EarthNet activists sent in
helped turn the tide -- but be vigilant because
someone
is out there right now hatching a slimy scheme to turn
our
energy future into an oily mess. Stay tuned.
To read more about this, go
to
Anchorage Daily: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/VpqAAaF1ucDA/alaska_daily
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When war disrupts the agricultural activities of a
developing
country, everything suffers -- the farmer,
the community and the local
ecosystem. When war breaks
out, local farmers do not have the option to
"reap"
profits elsewhere and often bear major losses. And
they're not
the only victims -- the people and ecosystems
that rely on their fields and
crops also lose out.
War does not wait until the planting season is
over,
and many farmers in war torn countries in Africa return
to their
lands after fleeing for safety and find nothing
in the fields to sustain
their communities. The local
support system of purchasing, trading or giving
seeds
as gifts collapses during wartimes. This means the
domestic
agricultural base -- which in many places
is already weak -- fails, and
people and ecosystems
that rely on these fields suffer immeasurably.
Warfare in developing countries has disturbing implications
for
biodiversity. According to the United Nations Education,
Science and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the local
seed supply systems destroyed by
warfare threatens
the genetic diversity of crops in developing countries.
UNESCO points out that the loss of diversity due to
warfare is leading
to an unsustainable reliance on
a narrow band of genetically similar crops.
UNESCO
worries that if something isn't done warfare may irreparably
harm
plant life -- and the people and ecosystems it
supports -- in continents
across the globe.
by Leigh-Anne Havemann, EarthNet Intern
Links
to more information about this subject:
UNESCO Courier at http://actionnetwork.org/ct/17qAAaF1ucD3/unesco_article
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are a sampling of the over 200 environmental
and activist jobs and
internships listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/index.asp
The UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA is hiring an ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATOR to
work in Georgia.
Find the job description at http://actionnetwork.org/ct/11qAAaF1ucDs/georgia_educator
COMMON CAUSE is looking for an EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
to work in
Washington, DC.
Find the job description at http://actionnetwork.org/ct/C7qAAaF1ucD2/commoncause_job
EARTH DAY NETWORK is hiring a MEDIA INTERN to work
in Seattle,
WA.
Find the job description at http://actionnetwork.org/ct/CpqAAaF1ucDw/earthday_intern
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCES, GATHERINGS AND VIEWINGS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots more events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp
WHAT: Students for a Free Tibet (inter)National Conference
WHERE: Durham, NC
WHEN: 1/11/02 - 1/13/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/CdqAAaF1ucDN/events
WHAT: Thinking Ahead: Energy in a Changing Climate
WHERE: CU in
Boulder, CO
WHEN: 1/24/02 - 1/26/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/V7qAAaF1ucD_/energy_conference
WHAT: College Climate Response
WHERE: Portland, OR
WHEN:
2/08/01 - 2/10/01
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/C1qAAaF1ucDM/events
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTIVIST PHONE BOOK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202.224.3121
White House Comment
Line: 202.456.1111
White House Address: 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave, Washington,
DC 20500
Senate Address: US Senate,
Washington, DC 20510
House Address: US House of Representatives,
Washington,
DC 20515
**Look up e-mail addresses in a
comprehensive congressional
directory**
Go to: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/1pqAAaF1ucDe/congressional_info
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write your own short articles for submission to EarthNet.
We are
particularly interested in articles about student
activism on your campus.
Email EarthNet News mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
Submit
Jobs/Internships/Volunteer listings at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/add.asp
Submit Events at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/add.asp
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the
web address below and tell your friends about
this important issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=san&r=P7qAAaF1uuJc
