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U'WA LEADERS COME TO DC TO JOIN MOBILIZATION FOR PEACE IN
COLOMBIA
COME TO DC AND
SUPPORT THEM! APRIL 19th - 22nd
DON'T LET THE U'WA BECOME
COLLATORAL DAMAGE IN BUSH'S "WAR ON TERROR"
For more information about supporting the U'wa in DC please
contact :
Patrick Reinsborough
415-722-1846 (NOTE new cell phone number)
***PLEASE NOTE -
Patrick (moderator and founder of this list) is no
longer with the Rainforest Action Network but is continuing
his work to
support the U'wa and organize for a
democratic, just and ecologically
sane global
economy. Patrick’s new contact information is
patrickr@riseup.net 415-722-1846. You can no
longer reach Patrick at
organize@ran.org.
In this
Post :
1. Why You Should Come to DC April 19-22and
2. U'wa itinerary highlights - Join Us!
3. Newsweek International April 8th "Pipeline Brigade"
4. Congressional Quarterly March 9th "Occidental Petroleum
Lobbies For
Benefits From Both" Parties"
* * * * *
#1
THE U'WA NEED YOUR HELP! COME TO DC APRIL 19th-22nd
Many of you who are receiving this
update have been supporting the U'wa
for several years
in their life or death struggle to stop oil
exploitation on their sacred ancestral homelands in
Northeastern
Colombia.
There have been many points of
crisis, numerous tragedies and some great
victories. Since last July when OXY announced
their failure to find oil
at the Gibraltar 1 drill site
and temporarily removed all their
equipment from U'wa
territory there has been a uneasy calm among U'wa
supporters. But its has become increasingly
clear that it was the calm
before one of the biggest
storms the U'wa have ever faced.
The U'wa struggle is in danger of being swallowed by the
global reach of
George Bush's global military offensive
against "terrorism". The Bush
proposal to
expand US military aid to Colombia's repressive military and
specifically to give $98 million to defend OXY's Cano Limon
pipeline
will only escalate the level of violence
facing the U'wa and other
communities. The proposed aid would go to
the notorious 18th brigade,
which is already being
investigated for its links to the growing number
of
paramilitary killings in the Arauca province.
The U'wa and people from across
Colombia have spoken out loudly and
clearly. No more military
aid! Colombia needs peace not oil
development! Oil development fuels violence and
terror. Oil provides
revenue for all the
armed factions since as companies like OXY have made
clear they pay off the guerillas and the government alike.
This aid package is corporate
welfare for a morally bankrupt
corporation. The $98 million amounts to US
taxpayers giving OXY a $3
subsidy per barrel while the
U'wa and other communities get saddled with
human
rights abuses, violence, displacement and lasting ecological
destruction. OXY helped create the current
violent situation in
Colombia so why should taxpayers
subsidize the continuation of an
unviable oil project
that shouldn't be there in the first place? In
2001 the pipeline was bombed so frequently that it was shut
down for 266
days of the year. Since its
construction in 1986 the Cano Limon
pipeline has been
bombed over 1000 times spilling over 2.5 million
barrels of oil into the surrounding ecosystems, roughly
equivalent to 11
times the amount of oil spilt in the
Exxon Valdez disaster.
So come to DC to support the U'wa as they take their case
directly to
the American Congress and people!
The U'wa are asking that their
rights to their land and way of life be
respected. The U'wa are asking all of us, as
United States citizens, to
lobby our government to stop
funding the violence in Colombia. They need
your
help! So join us April 19th-22 in DC at the various mobilizations
for peace in Colombia, the abolition of the World Bank and
IMF and an
end to Bush's war-mongering and attacks on
civil liberties.
For a partial listing of U'wa events and appearances in the
D.C. area
check out #2 below. The U'wa need your
support. We will be scheduling a
work party
on Saturday evening to help make visuals and props for
Sunday's major demonstration at OXY's
offices. If you are interested
in
helping out or you have a space to volunteer please call Patrick at
415-722-1846.
In addition to the U'wa there are
a plethora of amazing events to come
participate
in. There will be teach-ins, marches, rallies, vigils,
direct actions, cultural and religious events and much more
happening
throughout the weekend as people from across
the country converge to
rally for peace, justice,
democracy and the globalization of principles
rather
than corporate profits.
For information about the various mobilizations happening
on the weekend
of April 20th check out :
Stop US Military aid to Colombia!
www.colombiamobilization.org
Stop Bush's War on Terrorism and
Demand Justice at Home!
www.unitedwemarch.org
Resist the World Bank/IMF and
corporate globalization!
www.globalizethis.org
* * * * *
#2 MAJOR U'WA EVENTS AND ACTIONS
U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
CONTACTS: Patrick Reinsborough -
UDWG (415) 722-1846
Kevin
Koenig - Amazon Watch (310) 420-8245
Colombia
Mobilization - (202) 299-9072
NEWS ADVISORY
For Immediate
Release: April 15, 2002
U'wa
Indigenous Leaders Arrive in Washington DC To Rally Against Plan
Colombia and Military Aid For Oxy's Pipeline
WHO: Roberto Perez and
Armando Tegria Rincunada, leaders of the U'wa
People of
Colombia
WHAT: Visit
Washington DC this week to speak out against Plan olombia
and military aid to OXY's Colombia operations.
WHEN & WHERE:
Wed. 4/17 at 1:30 pm
Press Conference, Colombia Mobilization at the National
Press Club
Fri 4/19, 2-4 pm
Colombia Mobilization Congressional Briefing sponsored
by Rep. George
Miller
Sat 4/20, 10-4 pm
Colombia
Mobilization Teach-In, at First Congregational Church, 925 G St
NW
Sun
4/21 - time 11am
Mobilization for Global Justice March
to OXY's DC Office (call for
details-PHOTO OP- Puppets
& Pipelines street theater)
Sun 4/21, 12:45 pm
Colombia
Mobilization Rally, Sylvan Theatre, National Mall
WHY: Leaders of the 5,000 member U'wa indigenous community
from Colombia
arrive in Washington DC tomorrow to
denounce the Bush Administration's
proposed $98 million
supplemental aid package to protect US-based
Occidental
Petroleum's pipeline project in the war torn region of
Arauca. OXY's controversial operations in the
province have been a
magnet for violence and a root
cause of conflict in the country's bloody
40-year civil
war.
In their week long stay,
the U'wa will meet with Congressional
representatives
and join dozens of Colombian delegates as part of the
Colombia Mobilization-events organized by a grassroots
network of
rights,labor, faith, and environmental
organizations gathering to call
for an end to US
military aid to Colombia and a negotiated peaceful
resolution to the conflict. They will also share
their struggle with
activists gathered for the
Mobilization for Global Justice, and other
peace
rallies throughout the weekend.
Preventing oil exploitation on their ancestral homelands
and stopping
U.S. military aid is a matter of life and
death for the U'wa tribe and
all the people of
Colombia. The pipeline aid proposal calls for US
training and equipment for the notorious 18th Brigade of
the Colombian
military. Human Rights experts
agree that militarization of the region
will only
aggravate the already violent atmosphere and risks making the
U'wa the next collateral damage in the country's conflict.
The U'wa have made headlines
around the world for their peaceful
resistance of OXY's
exploratory drilling in the Siriri block which falls
entirely on their sacred homelands. The U'wa
have long warned that
OXY's project will bring
Colombia's bloody four decade long war to their
homeland-a prediction that is rapidly becoming a reality.
Occidental lobbied
aggressively for increased military aid to protect
their war zone operations since they formed the Colombia
Business
Partnership in 1996. Critics of the
plan say that it will not only
exacerbate conflict in
the region, but amounts to a massive corporate
subsidy
to protect a morally bankrupt oil company and their bad business
decisions.
###
* * * * *
#3
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
EDITOR'S NOTE - In this Newsweek article below a "Washington
military
source" says that Colombia oil "matters zilch"
to U.S. energy security
because it is only the 7th
largest exporter of oil to the U.S. Don't
believe it! The key point that is not mentioned here is the
fact that
whereas most other major oil suppliers to the
U.S. have been fully
explored only 20% of Colombia's
potentially oil bearing regions have
been explored due
to the civil war. Colombia is considered by both the
oil industry and the US military to be an essential oil
frontier to be
tapped.
Likewise when the article says "Bush
officials... concede that
Occidental lobbied for
protection, but not strongly, and that it made no
difference." any semi-conscious observer of the corporate
buy out of
American politics will see right through this
simplistic lie. In
addition to spending over
$9 million lobbying for increased military aid
to
Colombia, OXY also donated $1.5 million to federal campaigns between
1995 and 2000. For a complete run down of OXY's
political influence
peddling see article #4 below.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pipeline Brigade
President Bush is arming troops to
protect Occidental Petroleum in
Colombia. What next?
By John Barry NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
April 8 Edition
April 8 issue -
Is George W. Bush using war as an extension of his oil
policy? It looked that way in February, when Washington
announced a $700
million aid package for the Andean
region, largely to fight the twin
threats of guerrilla
war and drugrunning that threaten the area. As is
usual,
half the money will go to Colombia, but with a new twist: $98
million for training and equipping a Colombian brigade of
around 2,000
soldiers to protect the 772-kilometer Cano
Limon pipeline. Used to
transport crude oil to the
Caribbean coast from a field pumped by
Occidental
Petroleum of California in partnership with the Colombian
state oil company, the pipeline is a favorite target of
rebel saboteurs.
THIS WOULD HARDLY be the first time a nation defended its
interest in
smoothly flowing oil supplies by force of
arms. Iraq's 1990 invasion of
Kuwait and the gulf war
that followed are only the latest conflicts over
control
of fossil fuel. Bush's critics have argued since September 11
that his "war on terror" is really about oil, and their
suspicions have
been heightened by the Pentagon's clear
intent to keep access to bases
in the oil-rich Caspian
Sea region after the war in Afghanistan winds
down. But
in Colombia the oil connection is not conjecture: it was
spelled out in a budget request that specifically names the
pipeline and
Occidental, and appeared to set a dangerous
precedent.
If the United States
would defend Occidental's supplies, why not those
of any
number of American oil companies in potential war zones? At a
time when the Bush administration has built its energy
policy around
reducing U.S. dependence on Mideast oil,
and is working overtime to fill
the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve, it can't ignore disruption of other
sources. In
March, Bush aides were planning to push through $15 million
to $30 million in emergency spending to "jump-start" the
pipeline
defense effort, rather than wait for the 2003
budget process to grind
itself out. Senior Bush
officials
insist the Cano Limon brigade has its origins
not in U.S. oil interests
but in parliamentary
maneuvering back home. Conventional wisdom in
Washington
is that Colombia will lose the war against the rebels without
more U.S. help.
Bush officials, like their predecessors, express frustration
at laws
that limit U.S. military aid to Colombia to the
war on its notorious
drug traffickers. Before leaving on
his trip to South America in March,
Bush vowed to do
everything possible to expand U.S. aid beyond drugs to
help in Colombia's other war, the decades-old fight against
Marxist
guerrilla armies. That's where the Cano Limon
brigade comes in. "The
pipeline got in there because the
White House figured it was the only
thing they could do
within the existing guidelines," says a senior
Pentagon
source.
In the wake of 9-11, it
may work. The congressional distinction between
fighting
drug runners and insurgents in Colombia has never made much
sense, because the guerrillas make their money running
drugs. By now the
rebel armies control about half the
country, and the larger one, the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), makes an estimated $300
million a year in the drug trade. It is also waging a
campaign of
economic sabotage. Last year rebel bombings
put Camo Limon out of
commission for 266 days, costing
Colombia $500 million in lost export
revenue. In January
and February, guerrillas widened the attacks to
electricity pylons, bridges and waterworks around the
country.
As Washington describes
it, the new Cano Limon brigade is a way of
defending the
economic lifeline of a nation on the verge of becoming
what one Pentagon planner calls "a failed state." To the
extent that
this is about oil, it's about Colombian oil,
Bush officials insist. They
concede that Occidental
lobbied for protection, but not strongly, and
that it
made no difference. Colombia is the seventh largest supplier of
oil to the United States, exporting 332,000 barrels per day
in 2000. At
that rate Colombia "matters zilch" to U.S.
energy security, says a
Washington military source.
However, oil matters hugely to
Colombia. It is the chief source of
export income, which
will be critical to the future health of the
economy and
Colombia's ability to hold off FARC. The State Department
has long listed FARC as "terrorists" rather than guerrillas.
In the wake
of September 11, money for the pipeline
brigade can be sold to Congress
as funding for the war
on terror. The plan will likely pass the House,
but
faces tougher scrutiny in the Senate.
© 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
* * * * *
#4
CQ WEEKLY
March 9, 2002 Page 660 Occidental Petroleum Lobbies For
Benefits From Both Parties
By Alan
K. <Ota>, CQ Staff
Vice President Dick Cheney cast a critical spotlight on
Occidental
Petroleum Corp's clout when he told former
Vice President Al Gore during
the 2000 presidential
campaign to abstain from energy policy decisions
because
of a Gore family stake in the company.
Now, Democrats - and a smattering of Republican budget hawks
- are
wondering if the Bush administration is tailoring
its policy with
Colombia to help the same company, a
contributor to both parties.
For
decades, Occidental Petroleum has been a powerful player in
Washington, advocating policies that aid its quest for
domestic oil
reserves and for expansion of foreign
operations stretching from
Pakistan to Latin America.
Armand Hammer, the company's founder who died
in 1990,
sought increased trade with the former Soviet Union.
Occidental is angling for congressional support for Bush«s
request to
increase military aid for Colombia to help
fight leftist guerrillas who
attack one of the country«s
main income sources: oil pipelines.
Lawrence P. Meriage, an Occidental vice president, argues
that the
Colombia government has effectively lost one of
it chief assets because
guerrillas have been able to
shut it down. He said they had attacked the
pipeline 170
times in 2001, and 15 times so far this year.
"This isn't about Oxy," Meriage said. "This is about the
Colombian
government being in trouble."
Critics argue Occidental would be
the prime beneficiary of the $98
million sought by the
Bush administration to pay for arming and training
a
brigade of Colombian troops to guard a 483-mile pipeline that runs
from the Cano Limon oil field to the Caribbean Sea.
Occidental owns a 35
percent stake in the oil that flows
in the pipeline.
Rep. Gene
Taylor, D-Miss., for example, questioned the need for
taxpayers to help defend a pipeline for a "company that had
record
profits last year," when other Colombian
pipelines are guarded by
private militias.
Foreign Concessions
In coming weeks, the question of
protecting the pipeline is expected to
revive a
longstanding debate in American foreign policy on when it is
appropriate to send military forces to defend American
companies.
"Defending corporate
interests became a dirty word after President
Woodrow
Wilson. He argued we should do things for unselfish reasons,"
said John Hulsman, a foreign policy analyst for the Heritage
Foundation.
"Now, we have a vibrant debate since the
Bushies came in. It«s okay do
to things for strategic
corporate and commercial interests."
Robert Ebel, director of energy and national security at the
Center for
Strategic and International Studies, says
that the defense of corporate
interest is politically
difficult to defend and is an important, but
unstated
part of foreign policy decisions. "It hints at favoritism. And
it raises questions about who gave the most campaign
donations," he
said. "But if we can defend our citizens
overseas, why not
corporations?"
Steve Kretzmann, a spokesman for the
Institute for Policy Studies, a
liberal think tank, says
Occidental has kept a low profile in
Washington, but
began to attract scrutiny of environmental and taxpayer
groups during the 2000 presidential election.
"Occidental has been very ambitious
in lobbying behind the scenes,«« he
said. "But the
public never knew much about it. . . . Now, with
questions about Colombia, there will be more scrutiny."
During the campaign, Cheney
questioned Gore's support for a moratorium
on royalties
that companies pay to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
"At the time Gore did this, it was clear that perhaps the
biggest
beneficiary of that proposed extension of the
moratorium was Occidental
Petroleum," Cheney said at the
time.
Gore said that the stock
was held in trust and did not influence his
conduct. His
late father, Sen. Albert Gore Sr. (House, 1939-44, 1945-53;
Senate, 1953-71), acquired the stock as a company director.
Some taxpayer groups also
questioned the company's role in lobbying for
a fiscal
1996 spending law (PL 104-106) authorizing the sale of the Elk
Hills naval petroleum reserve in California. Occidental
later bid $3.65
billion to acquire the reserve. (1996
Almanac, p. S-1)
Consumer
advocate Ralph Nader, a third-party presidential candidate in
2000, portrayed the auction as a mistake in a time of cheap
oil. "People
thought Occidental would lose clout after
Armand Hammer's death. But
that hasn't been the case,"
he said.
Last year, Occidental
spent about $2 million on lobbying. The Center for
Responsive Politics reports that the company and its
employees accounted
for $215,000 in hard- and soft-money
donations in the 2002 election
cycle, with 81 percent
targeted to the GOP.
Meriage
argues the company's clout is exaggerated. He contends the
company merely supports aid for countries where it operates.
And
sometimes it does not get its way.
Last year, for example, Occidental
lost its campaign for loosening trade
sanctions on
Libya, where it hopes to re-establish an old oil claim.
Congress enacted a five-year extension of a law (PL 107-24)
that imposes
trade sanctions on companies that invest in
the energy industry in Iran
or Libya. (2001 CQ Weekly,
p. 3039)
Occidental faces a
tough battle on the Colombian pipeline. Democrats say
the plan would draw the Pentagon into a quagmire and set a
precedent for
defense of oil interests.
Source: CQ Weekly The definitive
source for news about Congress. ©2002
Congressional
Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved
Alan K. Ota Congressional Quarterly
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Here's a great, positive way we
can support the campaign to stop oil
development on
Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. We are VERY CLOSE to
celebrating a victory in this campaign!!
Last Friday, April 12, The Municipal
Government of Talamanca (one of the
counties where the
Costa Rican government granted concessions to U.S.
companies for oil development) declared Talamanca an
"Oil-Free" County. As
far as we know, this is
the first government entity anywhere that has
declared
its territory "free of oil and gas exploration and exploitation" by
initiating a "moratorium on all activities related to
petroleum exploration
and exploitation within the
Talamancan territory."
The
Talamanca declaration also calls on Costa Rica's Minister of the
Environment to uphold the government's March ruling which
found oil
development on the Caribbean to be
"ecologically unviable." The US-based
oil
companies have appealed the government ruling against oil development.
Now the Minister of Environment has until May 3 to uphold or
revoke the
government ruling.
Let's all send faxes to the
Municipal Government of Talamanca,
congratulating them
on their courageous stand against oil development. They
are the leaders and pioneers in the movement from
fossil-fuel dependency
toward a new era of renewable,
sustainable energy!
Then send a
copy of your fax to the Minister of Environment -- before May 3!
This is a great way to reinforce the Ministry's March
decision against oil
development, and encourage the
Minister to hold firm against the oil
companies' appeal.
Please send a short, positive
fax message to:
Consejo
Municipal (Municipal Board)
Municipalidad de Talamanca
Bribri Talamanca de Limón
Costa
Rica
FAX 506-751-0137 or 506-751
0023
Send a copy of your fax to
the Minister of Environment:
Sra. Elizabeth Odio Benito
Vicepresidenta de la Republica
Ministra de Ambiente y Energia
Casa
Presidencial
Zapote de San Jose
Costa Rica
FAX 506-222-4161
Thanks for one last show of support
for the wonderful coalition of Costa
Rican organizations
and communities that are SO CLOSE to celebrating a very
impressive victory for the environment! --Paula Palmer
NOTE: Attached is a translation of
the Talamanca Municipal Board's April 12
Declaration.
For background information on
the anti-oil campaign, see Global Response
Action Alert
#2/01 "Stop Oil Development on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast,"
http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/gra0201.html
Our oceans are at risk, and with them our food supplies, our
coastal
economies, and even ourselves. This Earth Day,
we have a rare opportunity
to learn more about the
decline in one of the earth's most important
resources –
the oceans. On or near Monday, April 22, 2002, PBS stations
around the country will be airing Empty Oceans, Empty Nets,
a powerful new
documentary on the rapidly declining fish
harvests of the world.
This
documentary's gripping images confirm what fishermen and scientists
are reporting the world over: our oceans are rapidly being
depleted of
fish. In fact, entire populations of fish
are becoming commercially
extinct. This
film, shot in several countries around the world, shows
fish populations on the verge of collapse, a fact confirmed
through
interviews with fishermen and scientists in many
of these same countries.
Oceans provide 95 percent of the living space for the
earth's animals and
plants, and are the largest source
of protein in the world, feeding
billions of people
around the globe. Healthy oceans are essential to the
survival of our planet. If you are
interested, you can preview a
30-second video and find
out when the film is airing near you at Habitat
Media
www.habitatmedia.org/pbs.html.
We must act now to preserve the earth's web of life for
future generations.
Consult your local TV listing and
tune in to learn more about our oceans,
and what you can
do to help save them.
Sincerely,
Gerald B. Leape
Marine Conservation Program Director
Thank you to all the activists who responded to the
American Oceans Campaign's "Protect Ocean Habitats"
action alert. Since the alert was sent on March 20,
AOC activists delivered a total of 652 faxes to 281
U.S. Congressional Representatives on this important
issue. The action alert had a great response rate of
31 percent.
There are 12 co-sponsors to the Ocean Habitat Protection
Act, both Democrats and Republicans representing a
good cross-section of Congress. The co-sponsors include:
Representatives Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Robert
E. Andrews (D-New Jersey), Michael Castle (R-Delaware),
Eliot Engel (D-New York), Jim C. Greenwood (R-Pennsylvania),
Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota), James P. Moran
(D-Virginia),
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-New Jersey), William
Pascrell,
Jr. (D-New Jersey), Jim Saxton (R-New Jersey),
Adam
B. Schiff (D-California), and Mark Udall
(D-Colorado).
The Ocean Habitat Protection Act would
prevent the
most harmful trawling gear from smashing
fragile seafloor
habitats, including coral and rocky
reefs and undersea
boulder fields, that provide vital
benefits to ocean
wildlife. AOC is continuing to educate
Congressional
representatives and build support for this
much-needed
legislation.
If you have not participated in this action alert,
there is still time. You can help protect ocean habitats
by asking your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor the
Ocean Habitat Protection Act. Go to: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/ohpa
to take action on this important issue.
Thanks again for voicing your
support of ocean protection.
~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On
or near Monday, April 22, 2002 (Earth Day), PBS
stations
around the country will be airing "Empty Oceans,
Empty
Nets," a powerful new documentary on the state
of the
world's fish populations. The documentary's
gripping,
never-before-seen-footage presents a stunning
case in
support of what fishermen and scientists are
reporting
the world over: our oceans are rapidly being
depleted of
fish. To find out when the film is airing
where you
live, check your local listings or click
here: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/O7qqAsY1jPJm/.
To view a 20-second preview the documentary (using
Real Player), visit: http://www.americanoceans.org/emptyoceans.htm .
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
American Oceans Campaign
(www.americanoceans.org) is
a national, nonprofit
organization dedicated to safeguarding
the health and
vitality of the nation's oceans and
coastal areas.
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below and tell
your friends about
this important issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=aocdc&r=OpqqAsY1juJU
If you received this message
from a friend, you can
sign up for American Oceans
Campaign at:
http://actionnetwork.org/aocdc/join.html?r=OpqqAsY1juJUE
To: Northeast Activists
From: John
Demos
Date: April 16, 2002
For suggestions or requests, please contact me at:
demos@americanlands.org
BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO CODIFY ROADLESS RULE
PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND
ASK THEM TO SIGN ON AS A COSPONSOR TODAY!!
Legislation will be introduced soon by Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) to codify the National Forest Roadless Area
Policy. The Policy is currently being undermined by the Bush
Administration and is tied up in the courts.
Calls, letters, faxes and emails are urgently needed asking
Representatives to sign on as original cosponsors of the roadless area
protection bill. (phone numbers are listed below)
Already on the bill are Nancy Johnson (R-CT)
and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). Constituents please call
Boehlert, Johnson and Hinchey to thank them.
The timing couldn't be better, because the Forest Service,
and their bosses in the Bush Administration are working overtime to get back to
large-scale logging in roadless areas and to abolish the roadless area
conservation rule. It is critical that
Congress intervene to ensure all remaining roadless areas are protected.
In addition to stopping this renewed
assault on roadless areas, legislating the rule will have significant long-term
effects on the ground. According to the Final Environmental Impact
Statement, the roadless conservation rule would reduce logging allowed under
existing Forest Plans by 85% in inventoried roadless areas from an estimated 1.1
billion board feet over 5 years, to just 160 million board feet. In
addition, an estimated 623 miles of new logging roads will not be built over the
same five year period.
The bills' main sponsors Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and
Jay Inslee (D-WA), were joined on the Dear Colleague by Reps. Nick Rahall
(D-WV), Jim Greenwood (R-PA), Connie Morella (R-MD), Eva Clayton (D-NC), Jim
Leach (R-IA), George Miller (D-CA), David Wu (D-OR), Nancy Johnson (R-CT),
Maurice Hinchey (D- NY) and Stephen Horn (R-CA) in a strong show of bipartisan
leadership for this legislation. If your Representative is listed
above, please thank them for their leadership to protect 58 million acres of
National Forest roadless areas.
Calls, letters, faxes and emails are urgently needed to your
Representative asking them to be an original cosponsor of the National Forest
Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002. The Capitol Switchboard
number is 202/224-3121 the address is Your Representative,
US House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515, and fax numbers and email
addresses can be found at http://www.congress.org Interested
Representatives should call either Rep. Jay Inslee or Rep.
Sherwood Boehlert's office to sign on by May 8.
A copy of the Dear Colleague letter is available at http://www.americanlands.org/dear_colleague.htm Also,
a sample letter that you can send to your Representative to encourage them to
sign on as a cosponsor is available at http://www.americanlands.org/sample_letter.htm
NEW ENGLAND
AND NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE NUMBERS
CT
Rob
Simmons R CT 2 (202) 225-2076
Nancy L Johnson R CT 6 (202) 225-4476
John Larson D CT 1 (202) 225-2265
James Maloney D CT 5 (202)
225-3822
Christopher Shays R CT
4 (202) 225-5541
MA
Michael Capuano D MA 8 (202)
225-5111
William Delahunt D MA
10 (202) 225-3111
Barney Frank D
MA 4 (202) 225-5931
Edward J.
Markey D MA 7 (202) 225-2836
James McGovern D MA 3 (202) 225-6101
Martin Meehan D MA 5 (202) 225-3411
Richard E. Neal D MA 2 (202)
225-5601
John Olver D MA 1 (202)
225-5335
John Tierney D MA 6
(202) 225-8020
NH
Charles F. Bass R NH 2 (202)
225-5206
John Sununu R NH 1
(202) 225-5456
NY
Gary L. Ackerman D NY 5 (202)
225-2601
Sherwood L. Boehlert R
NY 23 (202) 225-3665
Joseph
Crowley D NY 7 (202) 225-3965
Eliot L. Engel D NY 17 (202) 225-2464
Felix Grucci R NY 1 (202) 225-3826
Vito Fossella R NY 13 (202)
225-3371
Benjamin A. Gilman R
NY 20 (202) 225-3776
Maurice
Hinchey D NY 26 (202) 225-6335
Amo Houghton R NY 31 (202) 225-3161
Sue Kelly R NY 19 (202) 225-5441
Peter King R NY 3 (202)
225-7896
John J. LaFalce D NY
29 (202) 225-3231
Steve Israel
D NY 2 (202) 225-3335
Nita M.
Lowey D NY 18 (202) 225-6506
Carolyn Maloney D NY 14 (202) 225-7944
Carolyn McCarthy D NY 4 (202)
225-5516
John McHugh R NY 24
(202) 225-4611
Michael
R.McNulty D NY 21 (202) 225-5076
Gregory Meeks D NY 6 (202) 225-3461
Jerrold Nadler D NY 8 (202)
225-5635
Major R. Owens D NY
11 (202) 225-6231
Jack Quinn R
NY 30 (202) 225-3306
Charles
B. Rangel D NY 15 (202) 225-4365
Thomas Reynolds R NY 27 (202) 225-5265
Jose Serrano D NY 16 (202)
225-4361
Louise McIntosh
Slaughter D NY 28 (202) 225-3615
John Sweeney R NY 22 (202) 225-5614
Edolphus Towns D NY 10 (202)
225-5936
Nydia Velazquez D NY
12 (202) 225-2361
James T.
Walsh R NY 25 (202) 225-3701
Anthony Weiner D NY 9 (202) 225-6616
RI
Patrick J. Kennedy D RI 1 (202) 225-4911
James Langevin D RI 2 (202)
225-2735
VT
Bernard Sanders I VT AL (202)
225-4115
DEN Alert: Help Stop Massive Wyoming Drilling
The wild and storied lands
surrounding Wyoming's Powder River are
home to eagles,
falcons, pronghorn antelope, and the last herds of
plains elk. But the Bureau of Land Management is about to
authorize
50,000 natural gas wells - literally doubling
the number of wells
that are on all federal lands today
in this one area. This
controversial proposal would
carve 26,000 miles of new roads,
construct 50,000 miles
of new pipelines and utility corridors, and
dump 2
trillion gallons of toxic water into the environment.
Imperiled species – including the sage grouse and
white-tailed
prairie dog – would be pushed closer to
extinction. Help save the
Powder River Basin as a
critical wildlife habitat and an important
natural
legacy for future generations.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send a FREE e-mail urging the Bureau of Land Management's
Wyoming
office to save the Powder River Basin from oil
and gas drilling.
Comments are due by Thursday, so
please send your e-mail today.
Thanks for protecting
the fragile wilderness of the Powder River
Basin.
If you don't have access to the
Internet, please mail your letter
to: Paul Beels,
Project Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo
Field Office, 1425 Fort St., Buffalo, WY 82834
or e-mail it to:
Buffalo_wymail@blm.gov (by April 18)
or to: Mary Bloom, Bureau of
Land Management, 111
Garryowen Road, Miles City, MT 59301 or via
e-mail at:
coalbed_methane@state.mt.us (by May 15)
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
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Mr. Beels/Ms. Bloom:
As a supporter of our nation's
wildlife, I urge you not to approve
the unprecedented
increases in gas drilling proposed in Wyoming's
Powder
River Basin.
Drilling would
turn this area into an industrial wasteland. This
habitat is vital to big-game herds as well as golden
eagles, sage
grouse, burrowing owls, white-tailed
prairie dogs, and many
songbirds. Measures
designed to protect these species would be
overwhelmed
by the 50,000 wells, 26,000 miles of roads, the 2
trillion gallons of produced water, and the massive
industrial
facilities planned. The only way
to protect wildlife is to
drastically reduce the
proposed development.
Rather
than destroy the Powder River Basin, we should protect it as
a critical wildlife habitat and a natural legacy for future
generations. Thank you for considering my comments.
Sincerely,
___________________________________________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to DENlines,
visit Defenders' website at:
http://www.defenders.org/den or send an e-mail to
DEN@defenders.org and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the
subject line, and your name and address in the text
area.
___________________________________________________________
DENlines is a biweekly
publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a
leading
national conservation organization recognized as one of
the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and
its
habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving
endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves. Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect
species before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders
is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization with more than 480,000
members
and supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
Copyright
(c) 2002 by Defenders of Wildlife
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
The moment of truth has arrived for the Arctic National
Wildlife
Refuge. The U.S. Senate is likely to vote as
early as Thursday on an
amendment to open America's
greatest sanctuary for Arctic animals to
oil
development and sprawling industrialization. Even if you have sent
a message to your senators about this issue before, new
developments
make it critical that you do so again
right now by going to
http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=1190
Our defense of the Arctic
Refuge is hanging by a slender thread -- a
mere handful
of senators who are likely but not certain to vote with
us. As the critical vote nears, the pro-oil lobby is
resorting to
increasingly cynical schemes to lure these
"swing" senators to their
side. Drilling proponents
have offered to guarantee healthcare
benefits for
unemployed steelworkers in return for opening the refuge
to oil development. They have offered to guarantee a supply
of oil to
Israel. More eleventh-hour ploys are sure to
follow today and
tomorrow. It is an insult to the
American people to tie such issues to
the fate of the
Arctic Refuge. Providing for steelworkers and
promoting
peace in the Middle East should not depend on destroying our
greatest remaining wilderness.
These attempts to cut backroom deals that will sell out the
refuge are
especially repugnant because the Senate has
already voted AGAINST an
amendment that would have
improved fuel economy standards for cars and
light
trucks. That single measure alone would have saved far more oil
than the Arctic Refuge could ever produce. But pro-oil
senators would
rather sacrifice America's premier
wildlife refuge so that oil giants
can sell even more
oil that can then be wasted in the world's most
inefficient gas-guzzling vehicles. This is special-interest
politics
at its absolute, public-be-damned worst. It
can only be countered by
millions of pro-environment
messages from people like you and me.
Please do your part by contacting your two senators
immediately. If
you want to have the greatest possible
impact, then **pick up the
phone right now** and call
the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Speak to your
senators' staff and ask them to tell your senators to
oppose any amendment that would allow oil exploration or
development
in the Arctic Refuge. It will take you only
about 3 minutes, but will
make a big impression.
If you have less than 3 minutes or
you're not within reach of a phone,
then go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=1190
and send an electronic fax or email (and please
take a few seconds to
personalize the sample message by
adding your own thoughts about why
preserving the
Arctic Refuge is important to you).
However you choose to contact your senators, *please do it
instantly.*
This may be our last, best chance to stop
the oil giants from
plundering America's irreplaceable
sanctuary for polar bears, white
wolves, and 130,000
caribou.
And thank you, as
always, for your continued support of NRDC.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
=====
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 16, 2002
Subject: Harmful Farm Bill Forest
Provisions Still Pending
A
proposed deal on goods for services projects in the Farm Bill
Conference Committee has still not been
resolved. We need to keep the
pressure on to
stop this harmful proposal that would allow for 375 new
projects using "goods for services," where the Forest
Service can give
away trees to pay for other
activities.
Forest Service
Already Claiming They Have Won
In addition, we have received a report from the Hells
Canyon
Preservation Council that the Forest Service is
already touting the new
authority (which they don't
officially have yet) as the "new timber
program." In a briefing to timber companies held
today, the Forest
Service indicated that ALL timber
sales in the future will include goods
for services
provisions. This could enable the agency to "sweeten the
pot" to sell otherwise uneconomical sales and to enter into
roadless
areas. We will make more details
about this outrageous meeting
available soon.
Please contact your Senators and
your Representative at 202/224-3121 or
see http://www.congress.org
to send an email and urge him/her to
intervene by
contacting the House Farm bill conferees. Ask them to tell
the conferees to oppose any new goods for services projects
for the
Forest Service.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture
Committee is
a key player in this
decision. He has an outstanding American Lands
Campaign Forest Scorecard rating of 100% and has been a
longtime
supporter of forest
protection. Please contact his DC office and leave
the following message with his receptionist at
202/224-3254: "Please
stop the forest give-away and
stick to the Senate passed language on
stewardship
contracting."
In
the House, the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee is Rep.
Charles Stenholm (D-TX). We need to convince
Rep. Stenholm and his
staff that the Forest Service can
do the wrong thing sometimes and
should not be trusted
with "goods for services" authority that would
allow
them to give away unlimited amounts of trees.
Please contact Quinton Robinson, Committee staff for Rep.
Stenholm at
202/225-8903 and urge him to oppose new
goods for services projects.
His fax number
is 202/225-0970.
Other House
Democrats on the Conference Committee we need to contact
include:
Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN) Rob Larew 202/225-2165 225-1593
Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA) Christine Robbins 202/225-6131
225-0072
Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA) Nana Darrel
202/225-5546 226-0996
Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA) Jim Travis
202/225-3341 225-9308
Thanks
for all your efforts to halt this dangerous legislation.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Care2 has been watching critical environmental issues to
help
keep you in the eco-loop. Currently, wasteful
fishing practices
are endangering our Ocean's fish. We
must act now to ensure
healthy oceans and to save
endangered species!
We need
your help to urge New York's representatives
to
cosponsor the Fisheries Recovery Act of 2001 before April 20th.
This Act will be a crucial step in the battle to save our
ocean fish!
Click Here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3902
********WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Overfishing and wasteful fishing practices are putting
America's ocean fish at risk of extinction. Combined
with new, sophisticated fishing technologies, humans can
now
catch far more fish every year than what our oceans
can
produce. Consequently, more than 30 federally
managed fish
species are at risk of extinction. This
may only be the tip
of the iceberg because federal
fisheries managers don't even
know the status of
seventy-eight percent of America's ocean
fish
populations.
The problems with
mismanagement must be solved now if we
want our ocean
fish to be around for future generations.
Instead of
managing our resources primarily in the pursuit
of the
"biggest catch", we need to put sustainable fishing
and
conservation first!
The
collapse of many of our ocean fish populations has had
a devastating impact on our marine ecosystems, the
fishermen
and fishing communities that depend on ocean
fish for their
livelihood and as a food source.
Click Here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3902
********WHAT CAN BE DONE?
We can stop overexploiting our ocean wildlife by passing
federal laws, such as the Fisheries Recovery Act of
2001
that makes conservation a top priority. Congress
will hold
a legislative hearing on this legislation to
address these
problems on April 25, 2002.
Please SIGN NOW and urge your
representative to cosponsor
the Fisheries Recovery Act
of 2001 today!
Click Here: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3902
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering
legislation that
would severely weaken a nearly
100-year-old law that 13 presidents
have used to
preserve endangered American landscapes. The law
authorizes presidents to preserve public lands with
significant
historical, scenic, or scientific values by
designating them as
national monuments.
The new bill would require that
national monuments of more than 50,000
acres be
approved by Congress within two years of their designation by
the president, or automatically lose their protected
status. Had this
provision been in force
from the beginning, it is doubtful that such
national
treasures as the Grand Tetons, Olympic National Park, and the
Grand Canyon would enjoy the protection that they do today.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS
BELOW TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE URGING
YOUR MEMBER OF
CONGRESS TO PROTECT THE CROWN JEWELS OF OUR PUBLIC
LANDS BY VOTING AGAINST THIS BILL.
**************************TAKE
ACTION NOW! ************************
To send the message below, as is, to your member of
Congress, hit
"reply" to this email and then "send." We
will automatically send the
message 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 "National
Monuments at Risk"
and follow the instructions for adding your own
thoughts to your message.
[If you haven't already done so,
please also take the "Oceans in
Crisis" action and urge
your member of Congress to support a bill to
make
conservation the first priority of federal fisheries management.
Go to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action.asp?step=2&item=1157
to do so. We'd like to significantly
increase the number of bill
cosponsors before a late
April hearing on fisheries management.]
Please forward this email to your friends and colleagues
and ask them
to act today.
*********************LETTER TEXT******************
Dear (your representative's name
will be inserted here):
I
write to urge you to oppose H.R. 2114, the "National Monument
Fairness Act." H.R. 2114 would amend the
Antiquities Act of 1906 to
"sunset" after two years any
presidential designations of monuments of
more than
50,000 acres unless Congress voted to maintain them.
Since Congress first gave
presidents the authority to designate
national
monuments, presidents from both parties have used this power
to preserve public lands with significant historical,
scenic, or
scientific values. Monument
designation is a vitally important method
of protecting
public lands from the onslaught of sprawl, development,
and abuse. Many of the most recently-designated
national monuments,
for example, are threatened by
destructive logging, grazing, and
mining.
Under current law, Congress
maintains authority over the management
and funding of
monuments and may even abolish them. The fact that it
has seldom chosen to do so is a testament to the care with
which
presidents have traditionally applied their
powers under the act. The
Antiquities Act is
not an encroachment on congressional authority.
Rather, it is a mechanism whereby the executive and
legislative
branches may more effectively bring their
collective powers to bear to
protect America's natural
heritage.
Please support the
protection of the crown jewels of our public lands
by
voting against H.R. 2114.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be
inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
H.R. 2114, the "National Monument Fairness Act," was
introduced on
June 7, 2001 by Representative Mike
Simpson (R-Idaho) and approved by
the House Parks
Subcommittee on March 20, 2002. The bill has 32
cosponsors.
Please act today.
______________________________________________________________________
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
The Highlands is a two million-acre upland region
stretching
from Reading, Pennsylvania to the Litchfield
Hills
of Connecticut. Development and poor planning
threaten
the Highlands, jeopardizing the drinking
water, wildlife
habitat and recreational opportunities
that it provides
to millions of residents. Contact the
U.S. Forest Service
and attend public hearings to
protect the Highlands!
You can
take action on this alert either via email
(please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/highlands/wk8bxn2ot8ii
Visit the web address below
and tell your friends to
take action on this important
campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/highlands/forward/wk8bxn2ot8ii
We encourage you to take
action by May 4, 2002
Protect
the Northeastern Highlands
----------------------
***************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense
finding the ways that work
***************************
The Highlands provides clean
drinking water for more
than 4.5 million people
throughout the New York metropolitan
area, including
much of northern New Jersey, the southern
Hudson River
Valley, and parts of New York City. The
Highlands also
attracts over fourteen million visitors
a year - more
than Grand Canyon National Park - and
is home to over
two hundred threatened and endangered
species. Rapid
development of the Highlands is degrading
its natural
resources and encroaching on open space.
You can help protect the Highlands in two ways:
First, send a letter to the Forest
Service urging it
to protect the Highlands; and second,
attend upcoming
hearings to express your support for
the Highlands.
Public Hearings
Schedule:
April 22: Haggerty Education Center,
Frelinghuysen
Arboretum, Morristown, NJ; 6:30pm
April 23: Ramapo Town Hall, 237
Route 59, Suffern,
NY; 6:30pm
For more details about attending
these important hearings,
contact Jason Patrick at
jpatrick@environmentaldefense.org
or 212/505-2100.
MORE INFORMATION:
In its updated Draft New York-New Jersey Highlands
Regional Study, the U.S. Forest Service has reaffirmed
the importance of the four-state Highlands and the
development pressures it faces. The draft study has
examined the Highlands' natural resources, focusing
on how these resources are likely to change and what
the impacts of those changes would be.
Key Findings:
- Every year, more than 5,000 acres of land are developed
in the Highlands, including forests and wetlands. The
core interior forest has decreased by 65,000 acres
since 1984.
- The Highlands population grew by 11% over the last
decade, with higher growth expected in the future.
If current trends continue, local groundwater use is
expected to exceed supply in several Highlands watersheds,
including the Ramapo, Whippanny, Pequest, Upper
Delaware
and Lopatcong.
- 62% of the Highlands (873,996
acres) provide habitat
for threatened or endangered
wildlife species.
- 38% of the Highlands (542,499 acres) has been rated
as having "exceptional" conservation value, while more
than half these lands (285,629 acres) are unprotected
from development.
State and local governments can act to protect the
Highlands' critical resources by adopting strategies
to manage future growth, safeguard drinking water,
conserve forests and open space, and provide recreational
opportunities, while promoting economic growth in the
region.
For more information about threats to the Highlands
and proposed solutions, read the U.S. Forest Service
study at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/na/highlands/draft_report
The deadline for written comments
is May 3.
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action
on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/highlands/wk8bxn2ot8ii
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email
program, and edit the letter below as you wish.
Do
not delete "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and
"-END
OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and
address
to your letter. Our system automatically does
this
for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
our sample letter below, and put the alert talking
points into your own words. An individualized letter
is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,
hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large
impact, so please reply even if you don't have time
to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Mr. Marcus Phelps
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER
BELOW---------
I am writing to
comment on the Draft Highlands Regional
Study update
recently released by your office.
Thank you for the thorough work in outlining the Highlands'
critical resources, future development trends and
expected
impacts. The value of the Highlands to provide
clean
water, open space and wildlife habitat is clear,
and
we must work now to protect these resources. The
current
drought makes it even more imperative that we
safeguard
the Highlands as a primary source of water
for the
metropolitan area. Also of critical importance
are
the 285,000 acres designated as natural lands of
"exceptional"
value that are now unprotected.
I urge you to strengthen and
promote your findings
that local, state and federal
agencies can and should
do much more to protect the
Highlands.
-------END OF
LETTER-------------------------
Urgent Arctic Refuge Update:
Yesterday evening, Alaskan Senator Frank Murkowski and other drilling proponents submitted an amendment to the Senate Energy Bill that would open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. It is now up to the entire Senate to determine whether this amendment is allowed to stand. Should it pass, there is little that can stop oil companies from beginning to develop this spectacular, unspoiled wilderness.
What You Can Do
Calling your senator is easy! Simply dial the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask to be connected to your senator's office. Once connected, ask to speak to your senator or to the staff member working on the Arctic Refuge. Tell your Senator that you oppose any attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Let them know that you believe the Refuge is simply too wild to waste. You can also send an email to your senator directly from the NWF website at: ga1.org/campaign/arcticrefuge01182002?.
Additional Information:
Please urge your senators to protect the Arctic and vote against any attempt to drill the Refuge. Don't forget to let us know you took action by emailing alerts@nwf.org.
Thank You!
GE Food Alert 3
(ge-food-alert-3@iatp.org) Posted:
04/17/2002 By jvogt@iatp.org
============================================================
TAKE ACTION FOR SAFE FOOD:
CALL KRAFT!
CALL KRAFT TO
DEMAND THAT IT REMOVES UNTESTED, UNLABLED, RISKY GENETICALLY
ENGINEERED INGREDIENTS FROM ITS PRODUCTS!
APRIL 17TH-22ND 2002. Call TODAY and PASS THIS EMAIL ON!
***********************
Do you
know what Kraft is putting in your food? It’s untested, unlabeled and
could put your family’s health and the environment at risk.
It’s GENETICALLY
KRAFTED and its time we tell Kraft NOT
IN MY KITCHEN!
TAKE 2 MINUTES
TO CALL KRAFT FOODS AT 1-888-560-4625 AND DEMAND SAFE FOOD.
1. Ask to leave a message for their CEO, Betsy Holden.
2. Tell them that you want Kraft to protect the health of
their customers
and the environment by removing
untested, unlabeled, genetically engineered
ingredients
from its products.
3. PASS IT ON! Send this Action
Alert to your friends. The more comments we
can
generate to Kraft, the more they’ll know their customers want safe food.
As the largest food company in the U.S. and the second
largest in the world,
Kraft has a responsibility to
ensure that its foods are safe for our health
and the
environment.
4. CELEBRATE! You just helped protect your
health and the health of the
planet!
HAZARDS OF KRAFT’S GENETICALLY
ENGINEERED FOODS
Kraft Foods is the largest food
company in the country, and the second
largest in the
world, with products that can be found in 99% of U.S.
households. Many of these products, such as Taco Bell taco
shells, Oreos,
Lunchables, Post cereals and Stovetop
Stuffing are likely to contain
untested and unlabeled
genetically engineered ingredients that may put our
families at risk.
Risks include health and environmental hazards such as new
allergies, new
plant toxins, harm to wildlife, the
creation of “superweeds” from cross
pollination, and
increased pesticide use.
Kraft
is aware of the potential health and environmental risks of
genetically engineered foods. After StarLink™ corn, a
variety of genetically
engineered corn
not approved for human consumption because of risk of
allergic reaction, was discovered in their products, the
company recalled
millions of boxes of taco shells and
switched to non-genetically engineered
white corn in
their corn-based taco products to avoid further contamination.
However, Kraft continues to use
questionable genetically engineered
ingredients in many
of its other products.
Kraft
has moved to avoid genetically engineered ingredients in their
products in Europe, showing they could be doing the same
around the world.
Kraft Foods,
the largest food company in the U.S. and second largest in the
world, needs to do more to ensure that their products are
safe for our
health and the environment.
WEEK OF ACTION APRIL 17-22
Unfortunately, Kraft has refused to meet with us to discuss
our concerns so
in more than 200 cities, Genetically
Engineered Food Alert volunteers and
allies are
organizing a week of consumer actions that will culminate on
April 22nd, Earth Day, the day of Kraft’s annual
shareholder meeting in East
Hanover, NJ. Thousands of
concerned citizens will educate their neighbors
and
fellow shoppers and will call Kraft foods to make it clear we don’t want
untested, unlabeled genetically krafted food in our
kitchens!
SENDING A STRONG
MESSAGE TO KRAFT THIS WEEK IS CRUCIAL TO BRINGING KRAFT TO
THE TABLE TO LISTEN TO CUSTOMER CONCERNS ABOUT FOOD SAFETY.
CALL TODAY! 1-888-560-4625
The Call-in is sponsored by Earth Tones—The Environmental
Phone Company
(http://www.earth-tones.com).**
For materials or more information,
contact Lisa Archer at larcher@foe.org or
1-877-843-8687. **You can also read about the latest
campaign developments,
find out other ways to get
involved, get more info on the campaign, and
download
materials at http://www.gefoodalert.org.
Special Green Party E-News alert!
For more information on E-News, including
subscribe/unsubscribe information and to view last month's issue, please visit
http://www.gpnys.org/enews . The next issue of E-News will be up on or about May 1,
2002, but we are now able to update the site regularly, so check weekly for new
additions.
Contents:
1. Massachussetts Greens Need Help
getting Gubernatorial Candidate on Ballot NOW- Stand to receive Millions in
Public Financing
2. Join thousands of Greens at April 20
Rally in Washington DC: RAISE YOUR VOICE FOR PEACE
==================================================================
1.
Massachusetts Greens Need Help getting Gubernatorial Candidate on Ballot NOW-
Stand to receive Millions in Public Financing
If the Mass. Greens get their candidates for state-wide
office on the ballot, they will likely receive between 2 and 3 Million dollars
through Massachusetts' Clean Elections initiative. This would be a tremendous
boost to Greens NATIONALLY.
The Mass Greens need the help of Greens in neighboring
states to get their candidates on the ballot. They need 10,000 signatures (which
means 25,000 raw signatures) to get Jill Stein and Anthony Lorenzen on the
ballot (candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor) and another 5,000 (12,500 raw)
to get James O'Keefe (candidate for State Treasurer) on the ballot. They
must accomplish all this by May 5.
Greens are invited to join efforts all over Mass, though
especially good places include Boston, Northampton/ Amherst, Springfield,
Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and Worcester.
There will be an especially big effort on the weekend of
April 27 and 28 -- on the 27th, there's an Earth Day event in Boston, which
draws tens of thousands of people, and on the 28th, there's a big concert event
in Cambridge.
Of course, your
help is needed anytime, you please contact Shelley
(see below) today if you can help on the weekend of the 27-28 or ANYTIME. She
can help set you up with a place to stay, snacks, etc., as needed.
For those of you who have never
petitioned - it's easy to learn, fun and totally rewarding. I promise (this
editorial note from Masada; I'm going to try and go that big weekend).
In addition, the Mass greens have
funds to support several people who can petition full time between now and May
5. They would provide a place to live, as well as a good wage (and a good time).
For more information contact:
Shelley Fite, Campaign manager for James O'Keefe at:
(617) 628-2922 or shelley_fite@yahoo.com
or visit http://www.jillwill.org/ or http://www.jamesokeefe.org/
==================================================================
2. Join thousands of Greens at April 20 Rally in Washington
DC
Come to Washington DC Friday through
Monday, April 19-22 for an extravaganza of events and make your voice heard for
global justice.
The World Bank
and IMF will host another round of meetings in Washington D.C. April 20-21.
These meetings come in the wake of the crisis in Argentina, where the
free-market policies pushed around the world by the World Bank and IMF unraveled
into a devastating economic situation for the population.
They also come after the collapse
of the multinational-corporate-giant Enron, a model of the abuses and strength
of corporate power. The Mobilization for Global Justice calls on activists from
around the country to converge in Washington, DC April 19-22 and make your voice
heard.
The protests against the
World Bank and the IMF will take place in solidarity and cooperation with the
mass mobilization against the US Intervention in Colombia and the School of the
Americas (SOA) and the April 20 March on Washington to Stop the War at Home and
Abroad. Many Greens including members of the Campus Greens plan to march
on the 20th.
These issues are
all part of the same fight for global justice. Military power often works hand
in hand with economic institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Democratic
resistance to the privatizations, forced relocations and economic austerity
measures pushed by the World Bank and IMF are often suppressed by military
force.
Things that Greens
traveling to D.C. can do for the April 20 march:
Wear
Green clothes, green armbands, green party buttons, hats, shirts, etc
Make and bring signs and banners that identify you as
Greens, and which convey a Green message.
To sign up for a seat on a bus from New York City contact
Monica Tarazi at 718-834-0024 or mterazi@adc.org
You can also contact Elizabeth Shanklin, at
elizs@earthlink.net.
More
resources
http://www.gp-us.org/911 register here to march with
other Greens on April 20
http://GlobalizeThis.org
http://ColombiaMobilization.org
http://A20StopTheWar.org register here for housing
http://soaw.org
http://abolishthebank.org
http://dc.indymedia.org
This
story in last month's E-News: http://gpnys.org/enews/corporate/4_02globaljustice.htm
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 15, 2001
Register for the Forest Protection
Week June 2 - 7
With new
roadless area timber sales being offered each month and
numerous other rollbacks of forest protection underway we
need help from
Congress to stop the Bush Administration
and the Forest Service from
succeeding with these
attacks. While the news seems to be going from
bad to worse, by acting together, we can turn the tide and
create a
powerful backlash for forest protection.
To help make that happen, YOU are
invited to join activists from across
the nation for
our annual Forest Protection Lobby Week June 2 -7. This
is right before the House of Representatives votes on the
annual
Interior Appropriations bill.
WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME TO DC
THIS YEAR
This year, we know
that much is at stake. The Forest Service is moving
rapidly to dismantle the roadless conservation rule while
it is tied up
in court and is pushing forward new
roadless area timber sales. Without
action
by Congress, these areas will remain at risk and now the action
has begun with Reps. Insless and Boehlert announcing their
roadless area
protection bill. This year
will be an all-out blitz to pass permanent
legislation
protecting roadless areas and stopping Forest Service
rollbacks.
Fire and restoration funding and policy have dominated the
Interior bill
the last several years and we expect a
major fight once again to reign
in the abuse of
restoration and hazardous fuel treatment funds being
diverted for commercial logging. We are
also may be fighting
provisions to increase subsidies
for biomass from the National Forests.
Lack of enforcement of off-road vehicles and the agencies
failure to
monitor their impacts is allowing for
unacceptable damage to the public
lands. This year, we will ask Congress to start
tackling this problem
by asking for additional funding
for monitoring and requiring a portion
of the law
enforcement budget to be spent policing off road vehicles.
Register for the Forest Protection
Lobby Week
To attend the
Forest Protection Week, please e-mail the below
registration form to the American Lands organizer in your
region. You
will be coordinating with them
to schedule meetings on Capitol Hill.
Below
is a list of organizer contacts by state.
Scholarships
Travel scholarships are available
for half the cost of your airfare (up
to $200) for
those with financial need. In order to receive a stipend
activists must lobby for three full days. Other
travel scholarships may
also be available (e.g. gas and
bus ticket for Eastern activists).
Please
contact the organizer in you region below if you wish to receive
a travel scholarship.
Housing
Free housing options are limited. However, there
is a low cost housing
option available at the Penn
House, which is located on Capitol Hill.
The rate is $35 a night, which includes a
breakfast. For reservations
call the Penn
House at (202) 543-5560. For more information see
www.quaker.org/pen-house/lodging.htm. For other
low cost housing
options please see http://www.americanlands.org/dc_hotels.htm
Issue Briefing / Lobby Training
Please plan to arrive in
Washington D.C. on the evening of Saturday June
1, 2001
or in the early morning on Sunday June 2, 2001. On June 2nd
there will be an issue briefing and lobby training from 12
p.m. - 5 p.m.
Location to be announced.
Lobby Week Schedule
From June 2 - 7 activists will
lobby Members of Congress and their
staff. To coordinate Hill meetings contact the
American Lands organizer
in your
region. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. we ask
everyone to join us for a debriefing meeting so we can give
you updates,
share information from our
meetings. Location to be announced. You will
receive meeting locations, directions and other important
information by
early May.
Registration Form
Please fill out the registration form and email it the
organizer in your
region.
FOREST PROTECTION LOBBY WEEK REGISTRATION FORM
NAME:
ORGANIZATION (If any):
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
STATE: CONGRESSIONAL
REPRESENTATIVE:
DO YOU NEED
TRAVEL ASSISTANCE:
DO YOU NEED
A HOME STAY (THESE ARE LIMITED)?
AMERICAN LANDS ALLIANCE ORGANIZERS
CO, AZ, NE, NM,
WY: contact Harlin Savage, Southern Rockies Regional
Organizer, at 303-444-5693 or mailto:hscolorado@indra.com
CA, ID, MT: contact
Brian Vincent, California Organizer, at
530-265-3506 or
mailto:wafcca@nccn.net
OR,
WA: contact George Sexton, Watershed Coordinator, at 541-349-9660
or mailto:wafc@teleport.com
MA, NH, VT, NY, RI, CT, MASS, NJ: contact John
Demos, Northeast
Organizer, at 207-384-0175 or
mailto:demos@americanlands.org
WI, MN, IA, SD, ND: contact Lois Norrgard, Upper
Midwest Organizer, at
952-881-7282 or
mailto:lnorrgard@americanlands.org
IN, MI, OH, IL, MO, KY: contact Joshua Martin,
Midwest Organizer, at
812-333-5456 or
mailto:joshua@americanlands.org
NV, UT, AL, GA, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV: contact Anne
Martin, National Field
Director, at 775-786-1658 or
mailto:annem@americanlands.org
AR, TX, OK, FL, LA, KS, HI, PA, MD, MS: contact
Steve Holmer, Campaign
Coordinator, at 202-547-9105 or
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street
SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Our lakes, rivers, streams, coastal waters, and wetlands
are threatened by invasive species, as are jobs and
public health! Take action to strengthen an important law
due for reauthorization--the National Invasive Species
Act.
NISA addresses aquatic species, but its provisions
to
prevent new arrivals almost exclusively focus on
organisms
that arrive in the ballast water of ships,
and its toughest
provisions apply only to a few parts
of the United States.
TAKE
ACTION TODAY! To send the message below to your
senators and representative, simply hit REPLY now and
letters will be sent on your behalf. Or, if you want to
customize the letter, go to:
http://www.ucsaction.org/index.asp?step=2&item=1321
****************
Dear [Senators and
Representative],
Invasive
species are a huge--and inadequately addressed
--threat
to the native plants, animals, and habitats of
our
country. An important law to prevent and control
invasive species, the National Invasive Species Act
(NISA), is due for reauthorization. NISA is meant to
address the threat posed by one group of invasive
species: aquatic organisms. You have the power to see
that this bill is reauthorized and made stronger.
Scientists say there may be as
many as 7,000 species of
invasive plants and animals
already established in the
United States. Some were
brought here on purpose for
landscaping, to stock in
lakes, or as pets. Others came
uninvited--in packing
material, on hulls of boats, and
more. Some survive,
and those that thrive and spread
unchecked are called
invasive. These can push native
species toward
extinction, inflict terrible damage on
habitats, and
harm industries and fisheries.
I urge you to correct the weaknesses in the 1996 law
that make it ineffective and add new provisions so that
it will address all the ways invasives find their way
here, will protect all waters, and will apply across
the United States to all aquatic organisms. You have
the ability to ensure that aquatic species intentionally
brought into our country undergo effective
screening--if
found to be invasive or potentially
invasive, they must
be kept out!
When this bill comes before you,
please take quick
action to announce your support for
its reauthorization,
press for stronger provisions, and
support its full
funding.
Sincerely,
[Your name will appear here]
***************
Learn More About This Issue:
Most species fare poorly when people introduce them to
a new environment. Some survive, however, and those that
thrive and spread unchecked are called invasive. They
can push native species toward extinction, inflict
terrible damage on habitats, and harm industries and
fisheries.
Scientists estimate that about 7,000 invasive plant and
animal species are now established in the United States.
Damage and control measures cost billions of dollars
each
year. Invasive species are the second biggest
threat to the
loss of biological diversity, behind only
habitat
destruction and alteration.
In 1990, in response to the
arrival, in the late 1980s, of
the highly invasive
zebra mussel in the Great Lakes, Congress
adopted the
law that is now NISA (currently Public Law 104-
332).
NISA is due for reauthorization this spring and needs
to be strengthened. Specifically, NISA needs to:
- reduce or prevent unintentional
introductions via all
major pathways.
- effectively screen for invasiveness of all aquatic
species intentionally imported into the United States--
and keep out those that are known to be, or may become,
invasive.
- apply across the
United States, to all aquatic
organisms, and to all
types of water.
To learn more
about invasive species, visit:
http://www.ucsusa.org/environment/bio_invasives.html
For more information on
NISA, see:
http://www.nemw.org/nisa_summary.htm
|
A Bi-weekly Update from Defenders of Wildlife: Working to Save Wildlife and Wild Lands SPECIAL EARTH DAY
EDITION: WILDLIFE AT RISK |
| EARTH DAY 2002: Time to renew our commitment to save wildlife |
| BACKROOM VOTE-BUYING: Big Oil's allies hatch new scheme to exploit Arctic refuge |
| FOR 40 MINUTES OF OIL: Rocky Mountain Front in the cross hairs |
| IGNORING THE LAW: No sanctuary for manatees |
| GHOSTS OF THE SELKIRKS: Last herd of caribou moves closer to extinction |
| WHERE WILDLIFE COMES FIRST? Not when it's up to Norton |
| HELP SAVE MANATEES: We'll thank you with a plush manatee toy |
| 1. EARTH DAY 2002: Time to
renew our commitment to wildlife
Earth Day arrives Monday with our wildlife and wild lands facing their greatest threat in a generation. With the help of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other allies in the Bush administration, wealthy special interests have launched an unprecedented assault on America's vanishing natural heritage. Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen called it "a clear, massive and undeniable strategy on the part of the Bush administration and its appointees from industry to weaken, undermine and subvert the nation's environmental protection laws to benefit their big corporate supporters." Defenders is joining other environmental groups across the country in acting to ensure that laws protecting wildlife are enforced. Click here for an audio report from Schlickeisen, who went to Florida this week to announce actions to help protect endangered manatees and other species: http://www.defenders.org/audio/02.html. Click here to read our new, in-depth report "Open Season On America's Wildlife": http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/openseason.pdf. And read this special edition of DENlines to find out what you can do to help. 2. BACKROOM VOTE-BUYING: Big Oil's allies hatch new scheme to exploit Arctic refugeBig Oil's political allies are resorting to cynical schemes to pressure senators to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. In the latest, they tried to tie drilling to a steel industry bailout. Even the pro-drilling Wall Street Journal denounced this ploy as an attempt to "bribe" votes. Secretary Norton, meanwhile, is functioning like a press agent for Big Oil, distributing an industry-produced video depicting the refuge as a frozen tundra. "The Interior Department shouldn't be spreading oil company propaganda any more than the Department of Energy should be promoting Enron stock," Congressman Edward Markey of Massachusetts said. Celebrate Earth Day by urging your senators to save the Arctic refuge. The Senate is likely to vote this week, and only a handful of votes will make the difference. To make your voice heard, go to www.SaveArcticRefuge.org. And help spread the word about the threat to the refuge by sharing this edition of DENlines with friends. 3. FOR 40 MINUTES OF OIL: Rocky Mountain Front in the cross hairsIf you think the Alaska refuge is the only important wildlife habitat under siege by Big Oil, think again. Secretary Norton, the chief steward of one of every four acres of this country's land, has issued an open invitation to the oil, gas, mining and timber industries to exploit great swaths of America's last remaining wild places. One major target is the spectacular Rocky Mountain Front. It's the only place in the Lower 48 where grizzly bears still roam from the mountains to their historic habitat on the plains, and it's a major corridor for some of the largest remaining herds of big horn sheep, elk and moose, as well as rare species such as wolves, wolverine and lynx. Oil development would destroy this land. And what would we gain? Enough oil to satisfy U.S. demand for less than 40 minutes. An amendment to the energy bill now before the Senate would seriously weaken environmental protections for oil and gas pipelines across public land. To speak out against this harmful proposal, go to www.DenAction.org and respond to Alert 149. 4. IGNORING THE LAW: No sanctuary for manatees
Tell Secretary Norton that she must act now to protect manatees from reckless pleasure boaters. To send your message, go to www.HelpManatees.org. 5. GHOSTS OF THE SELKIRKS: Last herd of caribou moves closer to extinctionThe woodland caribou is one of our most highly endangered species. Only 30 of the animals remain alive in the contiguous United States. They?re known, sadly, as the "the Ghosts of the Selkirks." But the U.S. Forest Service is allowing the Stimson Lumber Co. to log the Colville National Forest in the Selkirk Mountains of northeastern Washington -- right in the path of this last herd of caribou. That's even though government wildlife scientists have concluded that logging will likely result in the deaths of caribou, as well as grizzly bears and lynx, and the further fragmentation of their vanishing habitat. 6. WHERE WILDLIFE COMES FIRST? Not when it's up to Norton"Wildlife comes first" in national wildlife refuges, according to the government slogan. But Secretary Norton is standing by while irrigators along the Snake River drain the habitat of millions of migratory birds that depend on the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho. Norton is refusing to appeal an Idaho court ruling that denies water rights to the refuge. That refuge -- 100 islands in the Snake River -- was created in 1937 by President Roosevelt to protect migratory birds. Earth Day is a time to send the message that America's natural heritage is precious and belongs to all of us, not just the special interests. To find an Earth Day event near you, click here http://www.earthday.net/events/events-us.stm. 7. HELP SAVE MANATEES: We'll thank you with a plush manatee toy Help save the lives of Florida's manatees. Please make a contribution of $25 or more, and we'll thank you with a plush manatee toy. Your donation will be used in our efforts to pressure Secretary Norton not to take away federal protections for these endangered animals. http://www.defenders.org/donate/manatee.html.
For more information on annuities with Defenders please email legacy@defenders.org or call 1-800-915-6789 or visit our website at http://www.defenders.org/donate/legacy/cgifts.html. In these uncertain times, more Americans are updating or preparing their wills especially as they plan vacation trips. Defenders has set up a special web site with helpful information. Please go to http://www.makeawill.org. DENlines is a bi-weekly update of Defenders of
Wildlife, a leading national conservation organization recognized as one
of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat.
It is known for its effective leadership on endangered species issues,
particularly predators such as brown bears and gray wolves. Defenders also
advocates new approaches to wildlife conservation that protect species
before they become endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization with more than 400,000 members and supporters. To
unsubscribe, send an e-mail to denlines@defenders.org and put
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Defenders of Wildlife Copyright Defenders of Wildlife 2002 |
Dear U.S. PIRG supporter,
On Tuesday, Senator Murkowski offered his amendment to open
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Almost
immediately, Senators Kerry and Lieberman began their filibuster. A
vote to end the filibuster, called a cloture vote, is scheduled for Thursday
morning, and now is the time for senators to vote to protect the Arctic Refuge
by voting no on the cloture vote. A no vote will show that the Senate
doesn't support drilling in the Arctic Refuge, while a yes vote will end the
filibuster against drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
This is it.
With a vote scheduled for this Thursday, we expect
President Bush and the oil and gas industry will spend Wednesday pressuring
senators to vote for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and cutting deals to win
votes. We need to spend Wednesday making sure senators know the
public wants the Arctic Refuge to be protected.
Senators Clinton and Schumer (NY) need to hear from you.
Senators Clinton and Schumer
have both publicly said they oppose drilling in the Arctic
Refuge. But with pressure coming from President Bush and oil and gas
industry lobbyists, they need to hear that the people of New York support them
and want the Arctic Refuge to be protected.
You can call Senator Clinton at (202) 224-4451 and Senator
Schumer at (202) 224-6542 and leave the following message -
"Hello, my name is _____ and I
live at _______. I want to thank you for promising to vote against any attempt
to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and to vote
NO on the cloture vote on the Arctic filibuster."
Then, let us know you made the call so we can keep a count
by following the link below and filling out the form there.
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=174&id4=ES
Thanks for your support.
BACKGROUND
On Tuesday, Senator Frank Murkowski offered an amendment to
allow oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. As you
probably know, drilling in the Arctic Refuge would industrialize one of
America's last wild places for less than six months worth of oil, oil that won't
reach consumers for another 10 years.
Almost immediately, opponents of Arctic drilling, led by
Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, began a filibuster to block the Murkowski
amendment from even coming up for a vote. In order to stop the filibuster and
bring up his amendment Sen. Murkowski will need 60 - not 50 - votes.
The Senate debate on the Arctic
will be the most important environmental vote this year, and the fate of
America's Arctic hangs in the balance. The House has already voted to allow
drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and President Bush supports allowing BP,
ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Phillips Petroleum to plunder the Arctic Refuge.
Only the Senate can stop them.
The Senate has scheduled a vote to end the filibuster,
called a cloture vote, for Thursday morning. If we get a no vote,
we'll show that the oil and gas industry doesn't have the votes to open the
Arctic Refuge to drilling; if the Senate votes yes on the cloture vote, it will
end the filibuster.
Senators
Clinton and Schumer have publicly said they oppose drilling in the Arctic
Refuge. But with pressure coming from President Bush and oil and gas
industry lobbyists, they need to hear that the people in their state support
them and want the Arctic Refuge to be protected.
You can call Senator Clinton at (202) 224-4451 and Senator
Schumer at (202) 224-6542 and leave the following message -
"Hello, my name is _____ and I
live at _______. I want to thank you for promising to vote against any attempt
to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and to vote
NO on the cloture vote on the Arctic filibuster."
Then, let us know you made the call so we can keep a count
by following the link below and filling out the form there.
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=174&id4=ES
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
U.S. PIRG Executive Director
http://www.USPIRG.org
http://www.SaveTheArctic.com
It's time for members of Congress to make decisions
about fiscal year 2003 funding. Ask your lawmakers
to request an increase for Title X - the nation's domestic
family planning program
You can take action on this alert either via email
(please see directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/Support_DomesticFamPlanning/ee3bx4f78xeek
Visit the web address below
and tell your friends to
take action on this important
campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/Support_DomesticFamPlanning/forward/ee3bx4f78xeek
We encourage you to take
action by July 31, 2002
Tell
Congress to Support Domestic Family Planning
----------------------
Low income Americans face many obstacles to receiving
family planning information and services. Federal funds
for the Title X (ten) program - the only federal program
dedicated to making family planning available to
Americans
- are woefully inadequate. As Congress begins
to consider
the 2003 federal budget, they should
support a funding
increase for the crucial Title X
program. Help make
sure that America's women and teens
have access to
the full range of family planning
services.
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action
on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/Support_DomesticFamPlanning/ee3bx4f78xeek
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email
program, and edit the letter below as you wish.
Do
not delete "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and
"-END
OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and
address
to your letter. Our system automatically does
this
for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
our sample letter below, and put the alert talking
points into your own words. An individualized letter
is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,
hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large
impact, so please reply even if you don't have time
to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Senator John Edwards
Representative David Price
Senator
Jesse Helms
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW---------
**Constituent Letter**
As you consider the 2003 federal
budget, I urge you
to provide at least $325 million for
the Title X----domestic
family planning program. Title
X-funded clinics play
a vital role in serving those who
are uninsured and
who have no place else to go for
care.
Title
X-funded clinics continue to be asked to do more
with
less. Current funding allows Title X clinics to
serve
only half of those who need subsidized family
planning
services. Increasing access to voluntary family
planning services is critical to addressing the sad
fact that fully half of all pregnancies in the U.S.
and more than three-quarters of teenage pregnancies
are unintended.
Furthermore, funding for family planning is a cost
effective investment that saves money over the long
run and helps to give people control over their own
lives. A modest increase for the Title X program will
help improve access to vital family planning and
reproductive
health care services for low-income
Americans and,
in turn, help reduce rates of unintended
pregnancy
in our nation.
The need for a funding increase for the Title X program
is clear. I hope you recognize the importance of the
Title X program in the lives of America's women by
supporting at least $325 million in funding for fiscal
year 2003.
-------END OF
LETTER-------------------------
Natural Resources Defense Council's
LEGISLATIVE WATCH
April 18, 2002
******************************
Please do not reply to this message. See the instructions
below for
how to unsubscribe or contact NRDC with
questions or comments.
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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 ! =
4/18/02
Both the House and Senate have
begun appropriations hearings to
examine the
administration's budget request for fiscal year 2003. In
the Senate, debate on the energy bill continues, with Sen.
Murkowski
(R-AK) offering an amendment to open the
Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil drilling. In the
House, subcommittee hearings on the
designation of
Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the sole repository for the
nation's high-level radioactive waste are scheduled for
this week.
...
Budget/Appropriations
= N O T E ! =
On 3/20, on a party-line vote, the House passed a
Republican FY '03
budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 353)
that backs the Bush
administration's proposed cut of
$14 billion from environmental
programs over the next
five years. House Democratic leaders opposed
the cuts
in environmental priorities and offered amendments restoring
this funding in committee. On 3/21, the Senate Budget
Committee
considered a Democratic resolution that would
restore and increase
environmental and natural
resources funding levels well above those
requested in
the administration's budget proposal. If Congress fails
to pass a final budget resolution by mid-May, the House and
Senate
will likely pass separate budget plans that will
guide their work for
the rest of the year.
See NRDC's analysis of the Bush
budget.
http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/abudget03.asp
For a step-by-step guide to our
annual odyssey through resolutions,
reconciliations and
appropriations, see NRDC's budget process fact
sheet.
http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/fbudg.asp
...
Campaign Finance Reform
= N O T E ! =
On 3/27, President
Bush signed into law the campaign finance reform
bill
(H.R. 2356) passed by Congress. The new law, which takes effect
immediately after this November's mid-term congressional
elections,
bans "soft money" donations from
corporations to political parties and
limits issue
advocacy by outside groups preceding an election.
Environmental groups generally support reducing the
influence of
corporate special interests on
environmental policymaking, as huge
contributions have
made it easier for wealthy corporations to persuade
members of Congress to attach anti-environment riders to
funding
bills, and to gain special exemptions from
environmental laws and
regulations.
...
Clean Air and Energy
= N O T E ! =
On 4/16 Sen.
Murkowski (R-AK) introduced an amendment (S.Amdt. 3132)
to the Senate energy bill (S. 517) that would open the
Arctic National
Wildlife Refute to oil drilling. The
amendment attempts to gain votes
by banning exports on
oil from the refuge, limiting the size of the
area that
would be drilled, designating federal land as wilderness,
and giving the final decision on whether to allow drilling
in the
refuge to the president. A related amendment
(S.Amdt. 3133) from Sen.
Stevens (R-AK) would tie
drilling revenues to health benefits for
steel workers.
A vote on the amendments is scheduled for Thursday,
4/18. Democratic leaders and environmental groups oppose
the
amendments, which would result in irreparable harm
to the refuge's
landscape and wildlife while ignoring
alternatives, such as renewable
energy and energy
efficiency, that would reduce U.S. reliance on oil.
As originally written, the energy bill would have improved
energy
efficiency and expanded the use of clean
renewable energy sources. But
amendments on the Senate
floor have altered the bill dramatically,
gutting
vehicle fuel economy advancement, exempting certain oil and
gas industry operations from federal drinking water
protections, and
extending government protection
against liability to the nuclear
industry. In an
attempt to restore some of the bill's previous energy
policy improvements, the Senate voted on 4/10 to retain key
provisions
that require utilities to use renewable
energy.
The Senate energy bill
also includes a reformulated gasoline provision
increasing the use of renewable fuels -- mostly ethanol --
in gasoline
by five billion barrels by 2012. An
amendment from Sen. Boxer (D-CA),
expected later this
week, would strike the bill's current liability
exemption for renewable fuel producers if their gasoline
additives are
found to be harmful to public health or
the environment in the future.
A second Boxer
amendment, also expected later this week, would
increase incentives for the production of ethanol from
sources other
than corn.
Other key environmental votes on the Senate energy bill may
occur in
the next week, including a Senate Finance
Committee proposal to attach
a $15 billion package of
energy tax credits and incentives, about half
of which
would be available to improve energy efficiency in vehicles,
appliances, and building materials, as well as to increase
the use of
solar, wind, and other cleaner alternative
energy sources. Debate is
also expected on amendments
related to air conditioner efficiency
standards,
development of energy facilities on public lands, and the
climate change provision of the bill.
The Senate Environment and Public
Works Committee expects to consider
S. 556, a bill
co-authored by committee chair Sen. Jeffords (I-VT) and
Sen. Lieberman (D-CT), this spring. 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. No
action has
been taken on the House companion bill (H.R. 1256), which
was introduced on 3/27/01 by Rep. Waxman (D-CA) and Rep.
Boehlert
(R-NY). The Bush administration opposes
regulating carbon dioxide
emissions, arguing that the
costs on the economy would be too high.
The
administration has announced a proposal that would regulate only
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.
NRDC has detailed an alternative
energy policy that would provide a
secure energy future
without destroying wilderness or rolling back
environmental safeguards in reports including Dangerous
Addiction:
Ending America's Oil Dependence
(http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/oilsecurity/securityinx.asp)
and A Responsible Energy Policy for the 21st Century
(http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/rep/repinx.asp).
...
Clean Water
= N O T E ! =
This week, the House
Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans
subcommittee is expected to consider H.R. 3908, a bill to
reauthorize
the North American Wetlands Conservation
Act. The bill, introduced on
3/7 by Rep. Hansen (R-UT),
calls for maintaining current funding
levels and
contains no major changes to the act, which has served to
restore and preserve wetlands throughout the United States,
Mexico,
and Canada since 1989.
= N O T E ! =
Also this week, the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee
plans to consider The Water Investment Act of
2002 (S. 1961), a bill
introduced on 2/15 by Sens.
Graham (D-FL), Jeffords (I-VT), Smith
(R-NH), Warner
(R-VA), and Crapo (R-ID), that would authorize
significant increases in funding for cleaner water.
Environmental
groups are seeking to ensure that the
bill provides incentives for
states and cities to fund
water quality projects that are good for the
environment, such as stream buffers, wetlands protection,
stormwater
controls, and smart growth initiatives. On
3/20, the House
Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee considered the House
companion bill, The
Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930),
sponsored by Rep. Duncan (R-TN). This bill would also
increase the
level of funding available to states for
clean water projects under
the Clean Water Act. The
bill would raise funding levels by $1 billion
per year,
up to a total of $6 billion in 2007. The White House objects
to the cost of these bills, claiming that it needs the
money to fund
the war on terrorism.
On 2/7, the House Fisheries
Conservation Subcommittee approved H.R.
3577, Rep.
Gilchrest's (R-MD) bill to reauthorize a popular coastal
management grant program created by the Coastal Zone
Management Act.
The bill includes funding for reducing
polluted runoff in coastal
areas.
On 12/5/01, Sen. Feinstein (D-CA)
and Sen. Boxer (D-CA) introduced a
bill (S. 1768) to
reauthorize CALFED, an important federal and state
partnership in California that provides water for urban and
agricultural users, as well as for wildlife and habitat
restoration.
The bill avoids many of the problems in
the House version (H.R. 3208),
approved by the House
Resources Committee on 11/7/01.
Environmentalists
oppose H.R. 3208, which soon may be taken up on the
House floor, because it would allow the construction of new
dams in
California without appropriate review, and
could give agricultural
water users priority over the
environment.
...
Climate Change
= N O T E ! =
The House Science Committee this week will hold a hearing
to address
the funding and direction of federal climate
science and technology
programs. Rep. Boehlert (R-NY),
committee chair, will seek to
determine whether
federally funded programs are placing enough
emphasis
on important issues such as making technologies that cut
greenhouse gas emissions more readily available.
...
Endangered Species
On 3/20, the House Resources Committee held a hearing on
two bills
that would modify the Endangered Species Act,
making it harder for the
government to protect
endangered and threatened species. Rep. Walden's
(R-OR)
H.R. 2829 and Rep. Pombo's (R-CA) H.R. 3705 would impose a
higher burden on federal agencies to obtain additional
scientific
information on species and mandate
additional review of that data,
resulting in delay and
additional hurdles before protections could be
put in
place.
...
International Environmental
Protections
On 12/6/01, after
intense lobbying by the White House and House
Republican leaders, the House, by one vote, passed a trade
authority
bill (H.R. 3005) introduced by Rep. Thomas
(R-CA). Democratic leaders,
as well as environmental,
consumer, social justice, and labor groups,
opposed
H.R. 3005 because it fails to ensure adequate environmental
and labor standards and could undermine current
protections. On
12/12/01, the Senate Finance Committee
approved a trade authority bill
offered by Sen. Baucus
(D-MT) and Sen. Grassley (R-IA), after
rejecting
amendments that would have strengthened environmental and
labor protections.
...
Lands
= N O T E ! =
A bill to address problems created by invasive, or
non-native, species
on public lands will be considered
by the House Resources Fisheries
Subcommittee this
week. Rep. Rahall's (D-WV) Species Protection and
Conservation of the Environment (SPACE) Act (H.R. 3558)
would
establish federal-private partnerships to combat
the spread of
invasive species, which often crowd out
species native to an area.
= N
O T E ! =
House and Senate negotiators still have not
been able to reconcile
some of the policy differences
between the House and Senate versions
of the farm bill,
H.R. 2646 and S. 1731, respectively. Last week,
conferees achieved minor progress toward promoting
renewable energy in
the agriculture sector. On 3/19,
they agreed on $17.1 billion in
funding for
conservation initiatives, $3.1 billion below the amount
originally allocated by the Senate. The decrease in funding
necessitates eliminating some Senate-proposed
conservation efforts,
such as clean energy programs
that support wind power, biomass energy,
and fuel
cells, as well as energy efficiency improvements on farms and
programs to protect rural lands from sprawling suburban
development.
In addition to funding levels, conferees
are also considering
proposals that would bar the EPA
from collecting fees to review the
safety of
pesticides, weaken restrictions on ozone-depleting
chemicals, and exempt agricultural practices from the Clean
Air Act.
On 3/20, the House
Resources Committee approved, on a mostly
party-line
vote of 23-18, H.R. 2114, Rep. Simpson's (R-ID) National
Monument Fairness Act. The bill is opposed by Democrats on
the
committee because it would restrict the president's
authority to
create national monuments under the
Antiquities Act by requiring
congressional consent
within two years after a president designates
any
national monument over 50,000 acres, thereby preventing quick
presidential action to protect significant and
environmentally
sensitive public lands and resources.
Also on 3/20, the House
Resources Committee approved, along another
nearly
party-line vote of 23-18, a provision in H.R. 3853 offered by
Rep. Radanovich (R-CA) that effectively overturns a Clinton
administration policy banning recreational jet skis in
national parks
by delaying the deadline for the ban for
two years.
...
Nuclear
= N O T E ! =
Last week Nevada governor Kenny Guinn (R) vetoed the Bush
administration's recommendation of Yucca Mountain,
Nevada, as the sole
repository for the nation's
high-level radioactive waste. Congress has
90 days to
override Gov. Guinn's veto. In the House, subcommittee
hearings on the issue are scheduled this week, following
Rep. Barton's
(R-TX) House resolution to override the
veto (H.J.Res. 87). The House
vote likely will occur in
late April or early May. Opponents of the
selection of
Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas, believe that the
proposed facility would not adequately protect the public
and the
environment from radiation contamination.
...
Public Health
On 3/21, Sen. Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Reid (D-NV)
introduced the
National Health Tracking Act, a bill to
protect children's health by
tracking data on local,
regional, and national causes of chronic
health
conditions.
On 3/13, the House
passed, by a vote of 233-190, a bill that would
shift
most class action lawsuits from state to federal courts (H.R.
2341). Environmental and consumer groups oppose the bill
because it
would make these lawsuits more difficult and
expensive for citizens
and consumers.
...
Toxic Waste
= N O T E ! =
On 3/10, Sen. Boxer
(D-CA) held a hearing on the federal Superfund
program
to address the slowing pace of cleanup and the Bush
administration's proposal to shift cleanup costs from
polluters to
taxpayers. The administration's FY '03
budget request for the EPA does
not reauthorize the
current "polluter pays" tax for toxic cleanups,
and
would shift the $700 million cost to taxpayers.
...
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/scorecard/index.asp
...........
2) About Our Bulletins/How to
Subscribe & Unsubscribe
NRDC distributes three bulletins by email. To subscribe to
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of them or to join our activist networks, go
to
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EARTH ACTION is sent biweekly and
calls out urgent environmental
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LEGISLATIVE WATCH is sent biweekly
when Congress is in session and
tracks environmental
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legwatch@nrdcaction.org with REMOVE in the subject
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The CALIFORNIA ACTIVIST
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citizens. To unsubscribe, send
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...........
3) About NRDC/How to Contact Us
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over 500,000 members nationwide and a staff of
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For more
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Also visit:
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A project of the Natural
Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
There's more alarming news
from Brazil, where community activists risk their
lives
when they organize opposition to multinational industrialization. A
leader of community protests against the expansion of
the shrimp industry in
Piaui state has been killed.
Please send a letter, fax or email to Brazil's
Environmental Minister (see sample letter, below), in
support of this Action
Alert, which is circulated by
Mangrove Network and Greenpeace/Brazil. For
information
about assasinations of other Brazilian activists, see Global
Response Action Alert #5/01: Protect Amazon Rivers, Forests
and Activists,
at http://www.globalresponse.org/gra_index/gra0501.html. Thanks,
-Paula
Assasination of anti-aquaculture activist in Brazil
On the first of April, a fisherman
in Piaui, state of Brazil. Sebastian
Marques
de Souza, 52 years, and the father of four sons, was assasinated. He
was a leader of a community opposed to the current rapid
shrimp aquaculture
industry expansion.
According to the "pastoral of the
Fishermen" (groups of fihermen
working together and
supported by the Catholic Church), the shrimp
aquaculture industry should be held directly responsible
for the
assasination. The shrimp aquaculture industry
is in the beginning process
of expansion in
Piauí. Shrimp farmers are buying, or
appropiating, the lands within, or surrounding, mangrove
forest zones
because these are the lands that they will
use to build shrimp ponds.
These lands, in the majority of the cases, are public lands
and local
people have used them for many years
collecting or fishing for all the
products they need to
survive and to maintain local economies. Brazil, in the last 5
years, has shown an increase of shrimp ponds doubling in
farmed area every
year.
Currently, there is a Bill in the national congress to
modify the Law in
order to permit shrimp aquaculture
investors to use 20% of the wetlands
surrounding
mangroves. In spite of the fact that there exist in Brazil
laws protecting the mangroves, shrimp farmers are illegally
clearing
mangroves and surrounding areas to build
shrimp farms. If the bill is
approved, the
entrepreneurs will have the legal tool to destroy not only the
wetlands that are surrounding mangroves but all the
mangrove ecosystems
they want.
Red Manglar (Mangrove Network)
(and Greenpeace as a member of that network)
is
preparing a letter to Brazil's environmental authorities denouncing this
fact and demanding to investigate the assasination.
From: "Elmer Lopez" <elmer.lopez@dialb.greenpeace.org>
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
Please Write Letters of Protest
Against The Violence to the following
Brazilian
official:
Mr. JOSÉ
CARLOS CARVALHO
MINISTRO
DE ESTADO
MINISTÉRIO DO MEIO AMBIENTE
End.: Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco b - 5º
andar
CEP: 70068-900
Cidade:
BRASILIA, UF: DF
Fax: Int'l
code+ 52-61-226-7101
E-mail:
jose-carlos.carvalho@mma.gov.br
=======================SAMPLE LETTER===================
Mr. JOSÉ
CARLOS CARVALHO
MINISTRO
DE ESTADO
MINISTÉRIO DO MEIO AMBIENTE
End.: Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco b - 5º
andar
CEP: 70068-900
Cidade:
BRASILIA, UF: DF
Honorable Minister CARVALHO,
I am writing you out of great concern for the dangerously
deteriorating
conditions surrounding the current
expansion of shrimp farming in Brazil. I
have just been
informed of the recent assasination of Mr. SEBASTIÄO MARQUES
DE SOUZA, 52 years old, father of 4 children, who was
murdered on April 1st
in the community of Mexeriqueira,
Municipality of Luis Correia, Piaui
State, Brazil. He was murdered at his workplace
by two men believed to be
connected to that same
industry which Mr. Marques de Souza had opposed, as
he
was one of the main leaders that fought against the uncontrolled
expansion of shrimp aquaculture.
There is a great toll the shrimp
aquaculture industry takes on the coastal
environment
and the surrounding communities in terms of natural resource
loss, including mangrove loss, and diminished livelihood
for coastal
fishers and farmers. Add to these problems
the associated industry
violence, it does not take long
before the situation gets far out of hand.
From the
evidence surrounding this recent murder of Mr. Marques de Souza,
it appears that this is now the case in your country.
Please take immediate and strong
actions against those who
perpetrated this terrible
crime, and help ensure that this crime is not
repeated
in Brazil.
Furthermore, I urge
your administration to strongly oppose the resolution
approved in the State of Ceara that favors the expansion of
aquaculture to the detriment of both environment and
local communities.
Please work with us to
help ensure that shrimp farming is strongly
regulated
and monitored to prevent a worsening situation there.
Respectfully,
For more
information, please contact:
Alfredo Quarto, Executive
Director
Mangrove Action Project
PO Box 1854
Port Angeles, WA
98362-0279
USA
phone/ fax
(360) 452-5866
<mangroveap@olympus.net>
mailto:mangroveap@olympus.net
web site: http://www.earthisland.org/map/map.html
********************************
Paula Palmer, Executive Director
Global Response
P.O. Box 7490
Boulder CO 80306
USA
TEL: 303-444-0306
FAX:
303-449-9794
Email: paula@globalresponse.org
Website: www.globalresponse.org
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
skills for global citizen cooperation and earth
stewardship.
In this Post :
1. U’wa itinerary
updates (More events and details!)
2.Colombia
Mobilization Press Release
3. NEW! U’wa Fact sheet :
Oil, Indigenous Rights and the War in Colombia
If you can help out with U’wa organizing in DC please call
Patrick Reinsborough at 415-722-1846 (we’re only on
email sporadically)
* * * * *
#1
COME TO DC TO SUPPORT THE U’WA AND RALLY FOR PEACE IN
COLOMBIA!
Sat 4/20, 10-4 pm
Colombia Teach-In, First Congregational Church, 925 G
St NW
The U’wa are speaking on 2 panels : Indigenous
rights 10 am – noon and a
panel about Corporate
Interests in Colombia from 1 – 3pm
Sun 4/21 - time 11am (pending permit approval from police).
Mobilization for Global Justice March to OXY's DC
Office
We need folks to hold signs, participate in
guerilla theater and help
mobilize!
Sun 4/21, 11am – 5 pm
Colombia Mobilization Festival of Hope and Resistance
Sylvan Theatre, National Mall
The
U’wa will be speaking around 12:45 pm
Mon 4/21 7am – 9am
Non-violent
Direct Action to End Military Aid to Colombia
Gather at
Washington Monument for a march to Capitol Hill.
Direct Action around the Capitol in the Congressional
District
Autonomous Affinity Group actions around D.C.
For more information contact School of the
Tues 4/22 12:30 pm – 2 pm
U’wa briefing at Friends of the Earth
1025 Vermont Ave NW 3rd Floor (cross street L)
(near McPhearson’s Square METRO stop)
For information about the various
mobilizations happening on the weekend
of April 20th
check out :
www.colombiamobilization.org Stop US Military
aid to Colombia!
www.unitedwemarch.org Stop Bush's War on
Terrorism and Demand Justice
at Home!
www.globalizethis.org Resist the World
Bank/IMF and corporate
globalization!
* * * * *
#2
National Mobilization on Colombia
www.colombiamobilization.org
For immediate
release
April 18, 2002
For more info contact:
202.588.1471
AS PASTRANA MEET WITH U.S. CONGRESS, THOUSANDS MOBILIZE
AGAINST U.S.
MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA
Washington, April 17— In a
congressional hearing on Colombia last week,
Representative Sam Farr warned US lawmakers to pay
attention to
criticism against current US policy in
Colombia. “There are going to be
thousands
and thousands of people descending on Washington for… the
Colombia Mobilization,” he said, calling on Congress to
listen to
constituents’ concerns and shift US aid
toward alternative development
and away from a failed
drug policy. Coinciding with President
Pastrana’s visit to Washington this week to lobby for US
aid to his
country, the National Mobilization on
Colombia is planning a turnout of
thousands for four
days of lobbying, teach-ins and protests against
military aid and training and aerial fumigation efforts in
Colombia.
At a
press conference today, representatives from the Colombia
Mobilization voiced strong concerns over the current and
proposed aid
packages to Colombia, the same packages
that President Pastrana has come
to Washington to
garner support for.
Sanho Tree, drug policy expert with the Institute for
Policy Studies,
documented the failure of current US
policy to impact drug production in
Colombia. “Congress should follow the
first rule of holes: when you
find yourself in one,
stop digging,” he said, calling on members of
Congress
to shift US drug policy toward a domestic harm-reduction
approach and away from costly, ineffective source-country
eradication
and fumigation.
But since September 11th, rhetoric
by the Bush Administration and
President Pastrana has
shifted to justify US aid in the name of fighting
terrorism, not just drugs. The current emergency
spending bill set to
come up in Congress tomorrow would
broaden US military aid from
counter-drug to
counter-terror efforts against FARC guerillas; Congress
has already voiced skepticism, worrying that the shift
would pull the US
into Colombia’s bloody 40-year civil
war. “Worse than a ‘slippery
slope,’”
said Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in last week’s hearing, “I think
we’re approaching a cliff.”
The National Mobilization on Colombia, a coalition of over
100
organizations, has organized four days of events
for protesters coming
from around the
country. A massive rally at the Washington Monument on
Sunday and a direct action march on Monday will cap off the
weekend of
lobby visits and
workshops. “There is national support for a change in
policy,” said Witness for Peace’s Carol Richardson, who
spoke at today’s
press
conference. “Thousands of people, including students, labor
organizers, religious groups, environmentalists, and
veterans are coming
to Washington for this
event. It’s especially important right now,
given the aid packages that are being debated and
Pastrana’s visit. But
our efforts will be
ongoing, until we can offer Colombia a more just and
peaceful alternative.”
* * * * *
#3 NEW U’WA FACT SHEET!
(this
factsheet will soon be available with full formatting, pictures
etc. and downloadable at www.amazonwatch.org)
OIL,
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND THE WAR IN COLOMBIA
THE U'WA PEOPLE vs. OCCIDENTAL
PETROLEUM
"Before the gold was
yellow, now it is black, but the color of the blood
that pays for them continues being red, continues being
Indian..."
U'wa
Traditional Authorities
OIL,
MILITARIZATION AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Oil development
is at the center of Colombia's bloody 4 decade old civil
war. Oil is Colombia's
most profitable export and provides a source of
revenue for all the
armed factors either through war
taxes, extortion or outright theft.
Likewise oil infrastructure is one of the main
battlegrounds of the war.
In an effort to disrupt the
economy, guerilla groups frequently bomb
oil
pipelines, while 1 in 4 Colombian soldiers is deployed to defend oil
infrastructure. It has become a brutal truism
that in Colombia (like so
many countries around the
world) oil development and violence spread
hand in
hand.
Less than a
quarter of Colombia's potentially oil bearing regions have
been explored , creating a big incentive to
secure more remote or
contested areas to gain access to
potential reserves. Tragically these
regions
are often home to Colombia's approximately 800,000 indigenous
people. Colombia has an incredibly diverse
population with 84 different
indigenous cultures
speaking more than 64 different languages spread
across
50 million acres of titled land.
The location of much of Colombia’s oil beneath indigenous
territories
has increasingly put indigenous communities
directly in the cross-fire.
The militarization that
accompanies oil development has lead to
increased
violations of the basic human rights of indigenous
communities and often to forced displacement
from their ancestral
homelands.
Despite indigenous organizations
voicing their own neutrality, their
resistance to
resource extraction and militarization have often made
them targets of political violence. The
situation has reached such a
crisis that in June 2001
the Latin American Association for Human Rights
estimated that half of Colombia's indigenous peoples face
annihilation
from encroaching violence.
THE U'WA STORY
The U'wa are one of these
indigenous peoples who are struggling for
their very
survival in the face of a US oil company's invasion and
subsequent militarization of their ancestral
homeland. The U'wa are a
peaceful
culture of 5,000 people who live in the remote Andes of
northeastern Colombia. Both the U'wa and the cloud forest
they inhabit
are among the last of their kind in the
world. However, the U’wa way of
life is now
jeopardized by oil concessions condemned by environmental
and human rights organizations around the
world. The exploration of oil
in U’wa
territories has already begun a downward spiral of violence that
is rapidly becoming a human rights and environmental
disaster.
The U'wa, known as
the "thinking people," consider themselves guardians
of
the forest and the species therein. For centuries, they have
protected large tracts of forest by prohibiting all human
access -
including their own. These tracts now function
as de facto biological
reserves for such species as
jaguars, spectacled bears, and toucans.
Outsiders
marvel at the U’wa ability to sustain themselves without
scarring the land. The U'wa are so careful that
photos from the air
cannot detect where they have
planted crops.
The U'wa have
no written language; their culture is preserved through
song. Their religion dictates that they maintain harmony
among the
layers of creation: earth, water, oil,
mountains, and sky. The U'wa hold
that "Oil is the
blood of Mother Earth ... to take the oil is, for us,
worse than killing your own mother. If you kill the earth,
then no one
will live."
Having survived their continent's conquest and
colonization, the U'wa
now face the greatest threat to
their existence in the last 400 years
from a new breed
of conquistador - multinational oil companies. The U'wa
have repeatedly stated that they are willing to die to keep
oil drilling
off their ancestral homelands. In the
words of Berito KuwarU'wa, former
head of the U’wa
Traditional Authorities, "We would rather die,
protecting everything that we hold sacred, than lose
everything that
makes us U'wa."
OXY'S PROJECT
In 1992, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Royal Dutch Shell
acquired oil
exploration rights to U'wa ancestral land
in partnership with the
Colombian
government. In 1997, under pressure from human rights and
environmental groups Royal Dutch Shell pulled out of the
project,
fearing a repeat of the human rights
violations and ensuing
international pressure that
marred their Nigerian operations. OXY
however refused to listen to international
concern. In fact while
operational in the
area, OXY failed to hold a single consultation
meeting
with the U'wa regarding the project- a violation of both
international law and the Colombian Constitution. OXY's
estimated that
it's drilling block (originally called
Samore, now known as Siriri)
would yield 1.5
billion barrels of oil - an amount that would meet US
consumption levels for a mere three months.
As the U'wa predicted violence
accompanied the project. In 1997, an
U'wa
leader was threatened and nearly beaten to death when he refused to
sign an agreement permitting oil exploitation on U’wa
land. Two years
later, three American
humanitarians working with the U'wa were kidnapped
and
executed. In the last year, violent police crackdowns on peaceful
road blockades near OXY's exploratory drilling site by
local farmers,
union members, students, and thousands
of U'wa left many injured and at
least three indigenous
children dead. The U’wa also reported
psychological and physical intimidation from the Colombian
military and
guerrilla groups, such as threats about
the placing of landmines in the
area and indiscriminate
aerial shootings from military aircraft onto
U’wa farms
surrounding the drill site. During the summer of 2001,
paramilitary groups began to surround the U’wa region. A
string of
brutal massacres in neighboring Arauca has
terrorized the local
population.
In July 2001, Occidental announced
that oil was not found at their first
drill site on
U’wa lands. However, the dry well was only a partial
victory for the U’wa as OXY appears to be moving ahead with
plans for
new exploratory operations at a nearby
site. Additionally the U'wa face
threats
from other oil companies who are hovering, ready to exploit
other sites around U’wa territory. In the
meantime U'wa territory and
the surrounding region has
become a dangerous battleground.
OXY'S DEADLY TRACK RECORD : CANO LIMON TO THE SANTO DOMINGO
MASSACRE
OXY’s nearby Caño
Limon pipeline is a telling tale of the human and
environmental disaster that will befall the U’wa and their
land if oil
development is not
stopped. Since its construction in 1986 the pipeline
has been attacked over 1000 times by guerrilla groups,
spilling more
than 2.5 million barrels of crude oil
into the forest and rivers.
Theses oil
spills amount to eleven times the crude spilled by the Exxon
Valdez and the Colombian Environmental Ministry estimates
that 1,625
miles of river have been
polluted. Repeated bombing continues to
paralyze oil output to such a point that in 2001 the
pipeline inoperable
for 266 days due to attacks.
To protect its
operations, OXY relies heavily on the Colombian military;
a notorious human rights violator with the worst record in
the western
hemisphere. According to Oil and
Gas Journal, OXY paid $20 million for
security in 1997,
not including a dollar a barrel “war tax” levied by
the
Colombian government (costing the company roughly $180,000 per day).
OXY's security expenses consumed more than 10% of its
operating costs.
New evidence surfaced last June in
a Colombian inquiry that exposes how
OXY’s insidious
relationship with the Colombian military can turn fatal.
An investigation led by Colombia’s Attorney General into
the Santo
Domingo massacre of 1998 called for the
subpoena of three American
pilots employed by AirScan
for the alleged bombing of civilians.
AirScan is a private security firm contracted by OXY since
1997 to
protect its oil operations.
At Santo Domingo, the mutual
interests of the Colombian military and
Occidental
Petroleum led to one of the country’s deadliest attacks on
civilians. Colombian military officials testified that
AirScan provided
the Colombian military with key
strategic information gathered during
their security
work for OXY and helped coordinate the air attack using
infrared and video equipment to pinpoint targets on the
ground.
The
military bombing operation “targeted” guerrillas, but killed 18
civilians, nine of which were children. No
rebels were identified.
PLAN
COLOMBIA
“Plan Colombia is a death sentence for
us… [It] is a plan for violence.
The money
the United States is spending in Plan Colombia will go to
protecting the international companies by purchasing arms,
more
sophisticated equipment, and to constructing
military bases in the
richest zones. And when they say
they will eradicate the coca crops by
aerial
fumigation, they are contaminating the environment, the rivers,
and the [agricultural] cultivation for consumption.” -
Roberto Perez,
President, U’wa Traditional Authority,
Feb 7, 2001
Plan Colombia, the
controversial U.S.-backed $1.3 billion military aid
package allegedly aimed at curbing drug production is
generating
widespread concern and criticism for fueling
Colombia’s civil war and
spraying harmful chemicals
over communities and ecosystems in the
southeastern
region. Moreover, growing evidence suggests that Plan
Colombia is driven by the need to secure U.S. access to
Colombian oil
reserves. According to Stan Goff, a
former U.S. Special Forces
anti-narcotics intelligence
sergeant, the aim of Plan Colombia is to
“protect the
operations of Occidental, British Petroleum, and Texas
Petroleum and securing control of future Colombian
fields. The main
interest of the United
States is oil.”
The United States imports more oil from Colombia and its
neighbors,
Venezuela and Ecuador, than from all of the
Persian Gulf. New US energy
policy envisions
a shift in the supply of oil from the turbulent Middle
East to Colombia. Multinational companies
dominate the Colombian oil
industry, with Occidental
Petroleum (OXY) being the biggest US player in
the
region. Military aid has only worsened Colombia’s cycle of violence,
yet the need to secure access to oil is driving the United
States’
deeper into the Colombian civil war.
Swelling criticism of Plan
Colombia forced President Bush to carefully
spin his
newly announced “Andean Initiative” as a social and economic
aid program. But in fact, this initiative entails the
regionalization of
Plan Colombia! The 2002 aid request
contains 24 percent less military
and police aid for
Colombia, however this reduction is almost exactly
offset by large increases in military aid to Colombia's
neighbors thus
spreading the devastating social,
environmental, and economic impacts of
Plan Colombia to
six other countries.
PIPELINE
PROTECTION = CORPORATE WELFARE?
Occidental was a powerful force behind the passage of Plan
Colombia.
Not only has OXY spent over $9
million lobbying for increased military
aid to Colombia
but the company also donated $1.5 million to federal
campaigns between 1995 and 2000. Testifying in
support of the Plan
before a US Congressional House
Subcommittee on February 15, 2000, OXY
Public Affairs
Vice President Larry Meriage lobbied for more military
security for the company’s operations, stating that the
Colombian
military was “vastly
under-armed.” His testimony also revealed that OXY
is funding all sides of Colombia’s civil war, stating that
company
employees are “regularly shaken down” by both
FARC and ELN guerrillas
and “required to pay a ‘war
tax’ to both groups or they will not be able
to
work.”
President Bush's latest request for further military aid to
Colombia has
raised serious concerns that US Colombia
policy has been hijacked by OXY
and other energy
corporations. At the center of Bush’s new aid package
is a $98 million appropriation to boost security
for OXY's frequently
bombed Caño Limón oil
pipeline. The aid package constitutes an
unprecedented public revelation of President Bush’s shift
from a
strategy based on drug interdiction to
counter-insurgency. The main
beneficiary is
OXY who would get a $3 dollar a barrel subsidy from
American taxpayers while the U’wa and other local
communities in the
region suffer through
further environmental devastation and increased
violence.
This proposal places the U’wa lands and culture directly in
the line of
fire of the US “War on
Terrorism”. Not only will more US military aid
to Caño Limón deepen Colombia’s cycle of
violence but since the
pipeline will carry oil
extracted from U’wa territory the aid will
embolden OXY
and other oil companies to push oil exploration deeper into
U’wa territory.
The aid is intended to go to the notorious 18th brigade who
are
currently being investigated for links to increased
paramilitary
activity in the region. Members
of the brigade stand accused of the
recent murder of a
key witness to the 1998 Santo Domingo massacre. The
announcement of the Bush proposal led to mass mobilizations
across north
eastern Colombia including a sit-in
involving over 30,000 people. The
U’wa have
spoken out against the proposal and further US military aid,
saying in a communiqué from Feb 14, 2002 “what Colombia
needs is more
investment in social, health, education
and employment programs, so that
we can live in peace.”
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
“We ask that our brothers and sisters from other races and
cultures
unite in the struggle that we are undertaking
. . . we believe that this
has to become a global
crusade to defend life.” - Statement of the U’wa
people, August 1998.
The U’wa’s uncompromising resistance in defense of their
land, culture,
and human rights has inspired hundreds
of solidarity actions around the
world, from Tokyo to
India’s Narmada Valley, from London to Chile, and
West
Palm Beach to San Francisco. Letters of support have come from
Congressional representatives, the European Parliament, and
celebrities
like Bonnie Raitt, Martin Sheen, Susan
Sarandon, Cary Elwes, Gillian
Anderson, Alicia
Silverstone, and Pierce Brosnan.
Activist pressure led to a major victory against Fidelity
Investments, a
top OXY shareholder and the world's
largest mutual fund. After being hit
by 75 protests
across the U.S. and Europe, Fidelity dropped over $420
million or 60 percent of its OXY holdings. International
attention moved
on to New York-based Sanford C.
Bernstein & Co. LLC and their parent
company
Alliance Capital Management L.P., Occidental’s current largest
shareholders. In a surprise visit to Sanford
Bernstein's New York
headquarters in April 2001, U'wa
President Roberto Perez and members of
the U'wa Defense
Working Group called on the money management fund to
divest their OXY shares.
The U’wa and their supporters have vowed to continue their
peaceful
campaign to stop the militarization of their
lands and are calling for
international solidarity to
ensure that no more blood is spilled for
oil.
THE U’WA’S DEMANDS
1. Cancellation by the Colombian government of oil projects
on U'wa
traditional territory.
2. An end to U.S. military aid to the region.
For more information, call Amazon Watch: 310.455.0617 or
see
http://www.amazonwatch.org
TAKE ACTION
CALL OR WRITE YOUR SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND THE WHITE
HOUSE TODAY
AND URGE NO $$$ FOR OIL VIOLENCE IN
COLOMBIA!
The White House: (202) 456 1414 Capital
Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
To find your Senators and
Representatives, go to http://www.senate.gov and
www.house.gov
Today the U.S. Senate voted 54 to 46 to defeat a proposal
to open the
pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to
oil drilling. This vote
is a victory for the refuge,
the many species that live there, and
future
generations of Americans. It would not have been possible
without the steadfast and loyal support of grassroots
activists like
you. Thank you! See chart below for
information on how your senators
voted.
Today's vote was the culmination
of years of research, education, and
debate. It
followed a vote by the House in August to approve opening
1.5 million acres of the refuge to drilling and a
subsequent series of
unsuccessful attempts in the
Senate this past fall to add drilling
language to
unrelated legislation. Playing a key role in influencing
votes along the way were Conservation Action Network
activists, who
sent more than 50,000 messages to the
Senate during this time. Please
urge your friends and
family to join the Conservation Action Network
-- by
visiting http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ -- so we can
achieve many more wins for the planet.
Please take time this Earth Day --
Monday, April 22 -- to savor your
victory by enjoying
the wild spaces wherever you live. This year's
Earth
Day theme is Protect Our Home. Besides being a Conservation
Action Network activist, how can you work to protect the
world around
you today and every day of the year? Visit
http://www.worldwildlife.org/earthday/ to learn all
about Earth Day
2002, what WWF is doing, and what you
can do to help protect our home.
Thank you again!
Senators who voted against drilling:
State Name
AZ McCain
AR Lincoln
CA Boxer
CA Feinstein
CT Dodd
CT Lieberman
DE Biden
DE Carper
FL Graham
FL Nelson
GA Cleland
IL Durbin
IL Fitzgerald
IN Bayh
IA Harkin
KS Brownback
KS Roberts
ME Collins
ME Snowe
MD Mikulski
MD Sarbanes
MA Kennedy
MA Kerry
MI Levin
MI Stabenow
MN Dayton
MN Wellstone
MO Carnahan
MT Baucus
NE Nelson
NV Reid
NH Smith
NJ Corzine
NJ Torricelli
NM Bingaman
NY Clinton
NY Schumer
NC Edwards
ND Conrad
ND Dorgan
OH DeWine
OR Smith
OR Wyden
RI Chafee
RI Reed
SC Hollings
SD Daschle
SD Johnson
VT Jeffords
VT Leahy
WA Cantwell
WA Murray
WV Byrd
WV Rockefeller
WI Feingold
WI Kohl
Senators who voted in favor of
drilling:
State Name
AL Sessions
AL Shelby
AK Stevens
AK Murkowski
AZ Kyl
AR Hutchinson
CO Allard
CO Campbell
GA Miller
HI Inouye
HI Akaka
ID Craig
ID Crapo
IN Lugar
IA Grassley
KY Bunning
KY McConnell
LA Breaux
LA Landrieu
MS Cochran
MS Lott
MO Bond
MT Burns
NE Hagel
NV Ensign
NH Gregg
NM Domenici
NC Helms
OH Voinovich
OK Inhofe
OK Nickles
PA Santorum
PA Specter
SC Thurmond
TN Frist
TN Thompson
TX Gramm
TX Hutchison
UT Bennett
UT Hatch
VA Allen
VA Warner
WY Enzi
WY Thomas
______________________________________________________________________
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
DEN Alert:
Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge Victory in U.S. Senate
**
Special message from Defenders of Wildlife
President
Rodger Schlickeisen **
Together we just won an important victory in the U.S Senate
to
protect America's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge from Big Oil.
Thanks to your persistent e-mails, faxes, phone calls and
generous
donations to defend our nation's greatest
wildlife sanctuary,
senators voted today to protect the
refuge from oil drilling and
save this incomparable
wilderness for future generations.
Please click here to see how your senators
voted.
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/arctic/senatevote.html
While
we won today, the battle is not yet over. Oil lobbyists are
not about to give up. You'll recall that the
House of
Representatives last August voted to open the
Arctic Wildlife
Refuge to drilling.
These powerful special interests,
and the senators to whom they
have made large political
contributions, will make a determined
effort to include
their drilling legislation in conference
negotiations
with the House over the energy bill that's finally
sent
to President Bush.
Big Oil and
its political allies seem willing to do almost anything
to allow for-profit exploitation of this magnificent
refuge. In
desperation at the 11th hour before the
Senate voted today, they
resorted to a series of
cynical ploys to win over senators.
They tried to tie drilling to a steel industry bailout.
Interior
Secretary Gale Norton functioned like a press
agent for Big Oil,
distributing an industry-produced
video depicting the refuge as a
frozen tundra,
intentionally ignoring the harm that scientists say
drilling would cause to wildlife and the habitat it needs
to
survive.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the wildest place
left in
America. It's often called the "American
Serengeti" for no where
else in the United States comes
close to matching the sheer
wildlife spectacle of the
famed African plain. The refuge is home
to caribou,
polar bears, muskoxen, arctic foxes, wolves, bears,
snow geese -- a myriad number of creatures, all of which
depend on
this fragile, unique land for survival.
We can celebrate today's big win.
But our defense of America's
wildlife and habitat never
rests. Given the special interests
fighting us, our
defense of America's wildlife and habitat must
never
end. We'll keep you informed through DEN about the latest
challenges to the environment and how you can make a
difference.
Thanks
for your help!
___________________________________________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to DENlines,
visit Defenders' website at:
http://www.defenders.org/den or send an e-mail to
DEN@defenders.org and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the
subject line, and your name and address in the text
area.
___________________________________________________________
DENlines is a biweekly
publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a
leading
national conservation organization recognized as one of
the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and
its
habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving
endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves. Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect
species before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders
is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization with more than 480,000
members
and supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
Copyright
(c) 2002 by Defenders of Wildlife
A GOOD DAY FOR ALASKA!
Let’s keep
the momentum going – two actions listed below.
Today the U.S. Senate took historic action by defeating
special interests efforts to open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to drilling. The Senate voted (54-46) to protect the Arctic Refuge, despite
millions of dollars of campaign contributions from oil corporations and intense
lobbying by the Bush Administration and Teamsters.
ACTION: The following list of Senators deserved to be
thanked! Give them a call: (202) 224-3121.
AR-Sen. Lincoln; AZ-Sen. Kyl; AZ-Sen. McCain; CA-Sen.
Boxer; CA-Sen. Feinstein; CT-Sen. Dodd; CT-Sen. Lieberman; DE-Sen. Biden;
DE-Sen. Carper; FL-Sen. Graham; FL-Sen. Nelson; GA-Sen. Cleland; IA-Sen. Harkin;
IL-Sen. Durbin; IL-Sen. Fitzgerald; IN-Sen. Bayh; KS-Sen. Brownback; KS-Sen.
Roberts; MA-Sen. Kennedy; MA-Sen. Kerry; MD-Sen. Mikulski; MD-Sen. Sarbanes;
ME-Sen. Collins; ME-Sen. Snowe; MI-Sen. Levin; MI-Sen. Stabenow; MN-Sen. Dayton;
MN-Sen. Wellstone; MO-Sen. Carnahan; MT-Sen. Baucus; NC-Sen. Edwards; ND-Sen.
Conrad; ND-Sen. Dorgan; NE-Sen. Nelson; NH-Sen. Gregg; NH-Sen. Smith; NJ-Sen.
Corzine; NJ-Sen. Torricelli; NM-Sen. Bingaman; NV-Sen. Ensign; NV-Sen. Reid;
NY-Sen. Clinton; NY-Sen. Schumer; OH-Sen. DeWine; OK-Sen. Nickles; OR-Sen.
Smith; OR-Sen. Wyden; RI-Sen. Chafee; RI-Sen. Reed; SC-Sen. Hollings; SD-Sen.
Daschle; SD-Sen. Johnson; TX-Sen. Gramm; TX-Sen. Hutchison; UT-Sen. Bennett;
VT-Sen. Jeffords; VT-Sen. Leahy; WA-Sen. Cantwell; WA-Sen. Murray; WI-Sen.
Feingold; WI-Sen. Kohl; WV-Sen. Rockefeller; WY-Sen. Enzi; WY-Sen. Thomas)
As we celebrate this victory for
Alaska and thank our Senate champions for their leadership, let’s ride the
momentum and see that all of Alaska’s treasures are
protected. Regrettably, special interests continue threaten Alaska’s
rainforest. “Our Nation’s Forests at Risk,’ a report released today by The
Wilderness Society in collaboration with other conservation organizations
including the Alaska Rainforest Campaign, the Southeast Alaska Conservation
Council, and the Alaska Coalition, features 20 National Forest roadless areas
facing impending risks that would not exist if the Roadless Area Conservation
Rule were in place. Seven of the 20 at-risk areas are within the Chugach and
Tongass National Forests. To view a copy of the report visit: http://www.wilderness.org/wildforest/
ACTION: Send a Letter to the
Editor to thank our friends in the Senate and encourage Congress to show the
same leadership on the rainforest. Sample letters are below. Use the web to get
your letters in to your local paper. Simply click on http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/ and
search for your local paper by zip code. You can email a letter to the editor
from your computer!
Sample
Letter #1: WILD FORESTS AT RISK/ARCTIC VOTE (State where Senator(s) voted to
protect the Lower the Arctic: AR-Sen. Lincoln; AZ-Sen. Kyl; AZ-Sen. McCain;
CA-Sen. Boxer; CA-Sen. Feinstein; CT-Sen. Dodd; CT-Sen. Lieberman; DE-Sen.
Biden; DE-Sen. Carper; FL-Sen. Graham; FL-Sen. Nelson; GA-Sen. Cleland; IA-Sen.
Harkin; IL-Sen. Durbin; IL-Sen. Fitzgerald; IN-Sen. Bayh; KS-Sen. Brownback;
KS-Sen. Roberts; MA-Sen. Kennedy; MA-Sen. Kerry; MD-Sen. Mikulski; MD-Sen.
Sarbanes; ME-Sen. Collins; ME-Sen. Snowe; MI-Sen. Levin; MI-Sen. Stabenow;
MN-Sen. Dayton; MN-Sen. Wellstone; MO-Sen. Carnahan; MT-Sen. Baucus; NC-Sen.
Edwards; ND-Sen. Conrad; ND-Sen. Dorgan; NE-Sen. Nelson; NH-Sen. Gregg; NH-Sen.
Smith; NJ-Sen. Corzine; NJ-Sen. Torricelli; NM-Sen. Bingaman; NV-Sen. Ensign;
NV-Sen. Reid; NY-Sen. Clinton; NY-Sen. Schumer; OH-Sen. DeWine; OK-Sen. Nickles;
OR-Sen. Smith; OR-Sen. Wyden; RI-Sen. Chafee; RI-Sen. Reed; SC-Sen. Hollings;
SD-Sen. Daschle; SD-Sen. Johnson; TX-Sen. Gramm; TX-Sen. Hutchison; UT-Sen.
Bennett; VT-Sen. Jeffords; VT-Sen. Leahy; WA-Sen. Cantwell; WA-Sen. Murray;
WI-Sen. Feingold; WI-Sen. Kohl; WV-Sen. Rockefeller; WY-Sen. Enzi; WY-Sen.
Thomas)
Dear
Editor,
Senator
[insert Senator’s name] vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from
drilling deserves applause. It’s a true victory for wilderness protection and I
thank him/her. [Insert His/her] vote for protecting our wild places shows strong
leadership, leadership that deserves to be repeated for all of Alaska’s
treasures. Shamefully, a new report released, just as we celebrate the Arctic
victory, throws light on the continued assault by special interests on the
Alaska’s rainforest. “Our Nation’s Wild Forests at Risk” reports on the current
pursuit of U.S. Forest Service to commence invasive road construction and plan
for clearcuts in National Forests including Alaska's spectacular Tongass and
Chugach National Forests. Without permanent protection of these wild
areas, there’s no telling where the timber industry and other special interests
will go, causing irreparable destruction. It’s time for Congress to do the right
thing for our wild forests, just as the Senator (insert Senator’s name) did for
the Arctic, by ensuring permanent protection for Alaska’s rainforest through
victories on the Alaska Rainforest Protection Act (H.R. 2908) and the Roadless
Area Conservation Rule.
Signed
Your Name (include organization name, if applicable)
Sample Letter #2: WILD FORESTS AT
RISK/ARCTIC VOTE (States where no Senator voted to protect the Arctic)
Dear Editor,
The U.S. Senate vote to protect
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling deserves applause and
celebration. It’s a true victory for wilderness protection that should be
repeated for all of Alaska’s treasures. Shamefully, a new report released, just
as we celebrate the Arctic victory, throws light on the continued assault by
special interests on Alaska’s rainforest. “Our Nation’s Wild Forests
at Risk” reports on the current pursuit of U.S. Forest Service to commence
invasive road construction and plan for clearcuts in National Forests including
Alaska's spectacular Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Without
permanent protection of these wild areas, there’s no telling where the timber
industry and other special interests will go, causing irreparable destruction.
It’s time for Congress to do the right thing for our wild forests, just as the
Senate did for the Arctic, by ensure permanent protection for
Alaska’s rainforest through victories on the Alaska Rainforest Protection Act
(H.R. 2908) and the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Signed Your Name (include
organization name, if applicable)
Sample Letter #3: EARTH DAY MESSAGE (A non-Arctic message –
Happy Earth Day!)
Dear
Editor,
Nationwide, people will mark Earth Day 2002 with
celebrations highlighting the 2002 theme – Protect Our Home. It is a message
that needs to resonate around the country particularly for Alaska’s rainforest –
the world’s last great temperate rainforest – which deserves and needs permanent
protection. A new report by The Wilderness Society listing the top 20 threats to
wild forests includes 7 to Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass National Forests.
Fortunately, permanent protection for our wild forests has support. Over 50
Alaskan environmental organizations, tourism groups, and business – and hundreds
more nationwide – are calling on Congress to seek protection for these forests.
I join them in their call. Congress should show leadership on this issue and
protect our natural heritage.
Signed Your Name (include organization name, if applicable)
******
For more information on these
issues please contact:
Laurie
Cooper
Alaska Coalition, Forest Outreach Director
laurie@alaskacoalition.org
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 18, 2002
Farm Bill Provision Guts Key
National Forest Management Act Requirement
- Opens to
Door to Uncontrolled Logging
We really need to ramp up the pressure if we are going to
stop the
stewardship contracting language in the Farm
Bill. Calls are urgently
needed to the
conferees and also to your Senators and Reps. urging them
to call the conferees.
This situation has been made all the more urgent by recent
Forest
Service actions which indicate that these new
authorities will be
heavily abused by the
agency. The Forest Service on the local level is
already touting the new "stewardship" authority (which they
don't
officially have yet) as a way to continue getting
commercially valuable
logs off the national
forest.
In a
briefing held for timber purchasers in Eastern Oregon, the Forest
Service admitted that all stewardship contracts to this
date contained
the 'goods for services' provisions and
future goods for services
contracts would continue to
produce the "same output as timber sales."
The agency also touted 'design by description' authority as
another
incentive for contractors. "Design by
description" would allow the
Forest Service to waive
the National Forest Management Act requirement
that the
Forest Service mark trees before they were cut in a timber
sale. Instead "design by description" would not
require the agency to
mark trees anymore but allow the
contractor to decide what trees it
would choose to cut
based on a description of "desired conditions" the
Forest Service verbalized to the contractor.
As activists are well aware the
Forest Service makes all kinds of
unsubstantiated
claims about how logging would bring about desired
conditions. For example, if the Forest Service
claimed that there were
too many large trees in an area
and the "desired condition" would be to
thin these
large trees, the contractor would have free reign to log the
trees in the project based on the Forest Service's
description of
desired conditions.
Please contact your Senators and
your Representative at 202/224-3121 or
see http://www.congress.org
to send an email and urge him/her to
intervene by
contacting the Farm bill conferees. Ask them to tell the
conferees to oppose any new stewardship projects for the
Forest Service.
PLEASE DON'T SEND LETTERS - US MAIL TO CAPITOL HILL IS
STILL BEING
DELAYED BY UP TO TWO MONTHS.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman
of the Senate Agriculture Committee is
a key player in
this decision. He has an outstanding American Lands
Campaign Forest Scorecard rating of 100% and has been a
longtime
supporter of forest
protection. Please contact his DC office and leave
the following message with his receptionist at
202/224-3254: "Please
stop the forest give-away and
stick to the Senate passed language on
stewardship
contracting."
In
the House, the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee is Rep.
Charles Stenholm (D-TX). We need to convince
Rep. Stenholm and his
staff that the Forest Service can
do the wrong thing sometimes and
should not be trusted
with either "goods for services" or the "design by
description" authorities that would allow them to give away
large
amounts of trees.
Please contact Quinton Robinson, Committee staff for Rep.
Stenholm at
202/225-8903 and urge him to oppose new
goods for services projects.
His fax number
is 202/225-0970.
Other House
Democrats on the Conference Committee we need to contact
include:
Rep. Colin Peterson (D-MN) Rob Larew 202/225-2165 225-1593
Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA) Christine Robbins 202/225-6131
225-0072
Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA) Nana Darrel
202/225-5546 226-0996
Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA) Jim Travis
202/225-3341 225-9308
Thanks
for all your efforts to halt this dangerous legislation.
Steve
Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
BREAKING NEWS: Senate Defeats Effort to Open Arctic
Refuge to Oil Companies
***************************
Action Network from Environmental Defense
finding the ways that work
***************************
April 18 - The U.S. Senate today
rejected an effort
by Alaska's Senators and the oil
industry to open the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska to oil drilling.
Strong opposition to oil
drilling, including messages
from over 70,000
Environmental Defense Action Network
activists like
you, helped sink this effort. This is
a big victory for
the environment, the wildlife that
call the Arctic
Refuge home, and for future generations.
Congratulations. We DID make a difference!
The bill to open the Arctic Refuge
to oil drilling
was rejected 46-54. To see how your
senators voted,
visit:
http://actionnetwork.org/alert-story.tcl?alert%5fid=2001111
A "YEA" vote supported oil drilling in the Arctic.
A "NAY" vote opposed oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
**Next Steps**
While the Senate's rejection of oil drilling in the
Arctic Refuge is a victory, the House of Representatives
passed an energy bill last Fall that would allow oil
companies to exploit this majestic wilderness area.
The House and Senate may have to reconcile their
differences
on the issue - stay tuned for future action
alerts.
TELL A FRIEND:
You can help us get
ready for the next fight to save
our environment.
Invite your friends and family to
take action online
with Environmental Defense Action
Network:
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=edan_message&r=Cd1-AS11juD1
MORE WILD AREAS THREANENED BY
OIL DRILLING:
While the Arctic Refuge has been spared,
help us keep
oil companies out of the other scenic and
sensitive
areas around the world:
- Offshore Drilling Threatens Costa Rica's Sea Turtles:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/cr_oildrilling/wk8bxn2l78xemn
- Protect Canada's Wild
Pacific Coast From Oil Companies:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/cndocs3/wk8bxn2l78xemn
LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!
Have you heard what Mother Earth has to say? She's
got some advice for how you can help her out this Earth
Day. Click here to listen: http://actionnetwork.org/ct/K71-AS11jPJY/mother_earth
--------------------------------------------------
Spread the word about Action
Network!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=edan_message&r=Cd1-AS11juD1
NEW ALERT - UDPATED VOTE LIST. Yesterday's alert listed
Senators that voted no on the first of two arctic cloture votes. The second vote
against cloture is the best vote! So here's the updated alert and list. Thanks
for your help.
A GOOD DAY FOR ALASKA!
Let’s keep
the momentum going – two actions listed below.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate took historic action by
defeating special interests efforts to open the pristine Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Senate voted (54-46) to protect the Arctic
Refuge, despite millions of dollars of campaign contributions from oil
corporations and intense lobbying by the Bush Administration and Teamsters.
ACTION: The following list of
Senators deserved to be thanked! Give them a call: (202)
224-3121.
AR-Sen. Lincoln; AZ-Sen. McCain; CA-Sen. Boxer; CA-Sen.
Feinstein; CT-Sen. Dodd; CT-Sen. Lieberman; DE-Sen. Biden; DE-Sen. Carper;
FL-Sen. Graham; FL-Sen. Nelson; GA-Sen. Cleland; IA-Sen. Harkin; IL-Sen. Durbin;
IL-Sen. Fitzgerald; IN-Sen. Bayh; MA-Sen. Kennedy; MA-Sen. Kerry; MD-Sen.
Mikulski; MD-Sen. Sarbanes; ME-Sen. Collins; ME-Sen. Snowe; MI-Sen. Levin;
MI-Sen. Stabenow; MN-Sen. Dayton; MN-Sen. Wellstone; MO-Sen. Carnahan; MT-Sen.
Baucus; NC-Sen. Edwards; ND-Sen. Conrad; ND-Sen. Dorgan; NE-Sen. Nelson; NH-Sen.
Smith; NJ-Sen. Corzine; NJ-Sen. Torricelli; NM-Sen. Bingaman; NV-Sen. Reid;
NY-Sen. Clinton; NY-Sen. Schumer; OH-Sen. DeWine; OR-Sen. Smith; OR-Sen. Wyden;
RI-Sen. Chafee; RI-Sen. Reed; SC-Sen. Hollings; SD-Sen. Daschle; SD-Sen.
Johnson; VT-Sen. Jeffords; VT-Sen. Leahy; WA-Sen. Cantwell; WA-Sen. Murray;
WI-Sen. Feingold; WI-Sen. Kohl; WV-Sen. Byrd; WV-Sen. Rockefeller
As we celebrate this victory for
Alaska and thank our Senate champions for their leadership, let’s ride the
momentum and see that all of Alaska’s treasures are
protected. Regrettably, special interests continue threaten Alaska’s
rainforest. “Our Nation’s Forests at Risk,’ a report released today by The
Wilderness Society in collaboration with other conservation organizations
including the Alaska Rainforest Campaign, the Southeast Alaska Conservation
Council, and the Alaska Coalition, features 20 National Forest roadless areas
facing impending risks that would not exist if the Roadless Area Conservation
Rule were in place. Seven of the 20 at-risk areas are within the Chugach and
Tongass National Forests. To view a copy of the report visit: http://www.wilderness.org/wildforest/
ACTION: Send a Letter to the
Editor to thank our friends in the Senate and encourage Congress to show the
same leadership on the rainforest. Sample letters are below. Use the web to get
your letters in to your local paper. Simply click on http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/ and
search for your local paper by zip code. You can email a letter to the editor
from your computer!
Sample
Letter #1: WILD FORESTS AT RISK/ARCTIC VOTE (State where Senator(s) voted to
protect the Lower the Arctic: AR-Sen. Lincoln; AZ-Sen. McCain; CA-Sen. Boxer;
CA-Sen. Feinstein; CT-Sen. Dodd; CT-Sen. Lieberman; DE-Sen. Biden; DE-Sen.
Carper; FL-Sen. Graham; FL-Sen. Nelson; GA-Sen. Cleland; IA-Sen. Harkin; IL-Sen.
Durbin; IL-Sen. Fitzgerald; IN-Sen. Bayh; MA-Sen. Kennedy; MA-Sen. Kerry;
MD-Sen. Mikulski; MD-Sen. Sarbanes; ME-Sen. Collins; ME-Sen. Snowe; MI-Sen.
Levin; MI-Sen. Stabenow; MN-Sen. Dayton; MN-Sen. Wellstone; MO-Sen. Carnahan;
MT-Sen. Baucus; NC-Sen. Edwards; ND-Sen. Conrad; ND-Sen. Dorgan; NE-Sen. Nelson;
NH-Sen. Smith; NJ-Sen. Corzine; NJ-Sen. Torricelli; NM-Sen. Bingaman; NV-Sen.
Reid; NY-Sen. Clinton; NY-Sen. Schumer; OH-Sen. DeWine; OR-Sen. Smith; OR-Sen.
Wyden; RI-Sen. Chafee; RI-Sen. Reed; SC-Sen. Hollings; SD-Sen. Daschle; SD-Sen.
Johnson; VT-Sen. Jeffords; VT-Sen. Leahy; WA-Sen. Cantwell; WA-Sen. Murray;
WI-Sen. Feingold; WI-Sen. Kohl; WV-Sen. Byrd; WV-Sen.
Rockefeller
Dear Editor,
Senator [insert Senator’s name]
vote to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling deserves
applause. It’s a true victory for wilderness protection and I thank him/her.
[Insert His/her] vote for protecting our wild places shows strong leadership,
leadership that deserves to be repeated for all of Alaska’s treasures.
Shamefully, a new report released, just as we celebrate the Arctic victory,
throws light on the continued assault by special interests on the Alaska’s
rainforest. “Our Nation’s Wild Forests at Risk” reports on the current pursuit
of U.S. Forest Service to commence invasive road construction and plan for
clearcuts in National Forests including Alaska's spectacular Tongass and Chugach
National Forests. Without permanent protection of these wild areas,
there’s no telling where the timber industry and other special interests will
go, causing irreparable destruction. It’s time for Congress to do the right
thing for our wild forests, just as the Senator (insert Senator’s name) did for
the Arctic, by ensuring permanent protection for Alaska’s rainforest through
victories on the Alaska Rainforest Protection Act (H.R. 2908) and the Roadless
Area Conservation Rule.
Signed
Your Name (include organization name, if applicable)
Sample Letter #2: WILD FORESTS AT
RISK/ARCTIC VOTE (States where no Senator voted to protect the Arctic)
Dear Editor,
The U.S. Senate vote to protect
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling deserves applause and
celebration. It’s a true victory for wilderness protection that should be
repeated for all of Alaska’s treasures. Shamefully, a new report released, just
as we celebrate the Arctic victory, throws light on the continued assault by
special interests on Alaska’s rainforest. “Our Nation’s Wild Forests
at Risk” reports on the current pursuit of U.S. Forest Service to commence
invasive road construction and plan for clearcuts in National Forests including
Alaska's spectacular Tongass and Chugach National Forests. Without
permanent protection of these wild areas, there’s no telling where the timber
industry and other special interests will go, causing irreparable destruction.
It’s time for Congress to do the right thing for our wild forests, just as the
Senate did for the Arctic, by ensure permanent protection for
Alaska’s rainforest through victories on the Alaska Rainforest Protection Act
(H.R. 2908) and the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Signed Your Name (include
organization name, if applicable)
Sample Letter #3: EARTH DAY MESSAGE (A non-Arctic message –
Happy Earth Day!)
Dear
Editor,
Nationwide, people will mark Earth Day 2002 with
celebrations highlighting the 2002 theme – Protect Our Home. It is a message
that needs to resonate around the country particularly for Alaska’s rainforest –
the world’s last great temperate rainforest – which deserves and needs permanent
protection. A new report by The Wilderness Society listing the top 20 threats to
wild forests includes 7 to Alaska’s Chugach and Tongass National Forests.
Fortunately, permanent protection for our wild forests has support. Over 50
Alaskan environmental organizations, tourism groups, and business – and hundreds
more nationwide – are calling on Congress to seek protection for these forests.
I join them in their call. Congress should show leadership on this issue and
protect our natural heritage.
Signed Your Name (include organization name, if applicable)
******
For more information on these
issues please contact:
Laurie
Cooper
Alaska Coalition, Forest Outreach Director
laurie@alaskacoalition.org
| SaveOurEnvironment.org Action Center Update: April 19,
2002 For Earth Day, tell the Bush Administration to stop assisting big business in trampling our environmental laws! |
|
Behind closed doors and away from public view, the Bush administration is allowing big corporations to weaken our nation's environmental laws, so they can put more pollution in our air, put more poison in our water, cut down our national forests, damage our public lands, and make taxpayers, rather than polluters, foot the bill for cleaning up toxic wastes. The administration is quietly subverting federal agency rules in ways that will mean more pollution, greater health risks, and a reduced quality of life for all Americans. The examples span the spectrum of the nation's most important environmental protections, ranging from clean air and clean water to forest and wetlands protection. Take Action! Registered Users: Simply reply to this email, hit send, and we'll automatically send the message below to President Bush and copy your senators and representatives.(non-registered users: edit and send a letter at our action center) Earth Day is Monday, April 22. Please act now by urging the Bush administration to stop reversing decades of environmental and health protections and to respect the overwhelming consensus for environmental protection in this country. Dear President Bush, During the past year your administration has made numerous decisions to dramatically weaken important environmental safeguards, decisions that will have devastating consequences for our communities, our country and our planet.I am writing to ask you to stop this alarming trend, and begin supporting stronger, not weaker, environmental protections. I am especially concerned about your administration's destructive pollution policies. At the behest of corporate polluters, your agencies are moving to weaken fundamental clean air programs, loosening control of power plant pollution that causes acid rain, asthma, and numerous serious respiratory problems. Your administration is also shifting the burden of toxic waste clean up from polluters to taxpayers, and forcing nuclear waste upon states that want nothing to do with it. I am alarmed that under your policies endangered species are more threatened than ever, and millions of acres of pristine forests are about to be exposed to destruction. All this even though the vast majority of Americans want our natural heritage protected. And now, clean water is threatened by raw sewage, while crucial safeguards have been bottled up for more than a year. Mining and drilling on public land is already a huge give-away to special interests, and I understand that it is about to get bigger. And on top of all this, your administration is aggressively promoting an energy policy that puts corporate interests ahead of national security and environmental protection. I urge you to respect the overwhelming consensus for environmental protection in this country and stop using government agencies to let big corporations rewrite our environmental laws. Please take the necessary steps to protect the environment and the health of all Americans. Sincerely, |
| ||||||
| Thank You! |
EarthNet News
... a project of the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
http://www.envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
April 19, 2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week in EarthNet, read
about the administration's
plans to dump in our water
ways. But don't focus on
the negative -- we've got
things to celebrate. Check
out how bright we are
shining this week in our GLIMMERS
OF HOPE.
And be sure to read about what to
read in the GREEN
READING section.
--Zachariah Silk, EarthNet
Editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shadow Congress: No Dumping
Allowed?
2. Quote of the Week
3. Glimmer of Hope I: The Sweet Smell...
4. Glimmer of Hope II: ...Of Success
5. Green Reading: Do You Read Me?
6. Jobs and Internships
7.
Conferences and Gatherings
8. Activist Phone Book &
EarthNet News Info
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadow Congress
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NO DUMPING ALLOWED?
CLICK HERE to tell the
administration there's no dumping
allowed.
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Z7qAAaF1jPJK/
What industry wants industry gets
-- or at least that's
the way it appears. The Bush
administration is poised
to weaken a critical Clean
Water Act rule that prohibits
the disposal of mining
and other wastes into the nation's
waters. The mining
industry wants to continue mountaintop
removal mining,
an extraordinarily destructive practice
in which the
tops of mountains in Appalachia are blown
up to gain
access to narrow seams of coal. The obliterated
mountaintops are then dumped into the valleys below,
burying miles of streams under hundreds of tons of
waste and rubble.
While the Army Corps of Engineers may issue permits
to allow companies to fill streams, wetlands and other
waters for development purposes, it is expressly forbidden
from allowing waste material to fill waterways. But
for years the Corps has been routinely ignoring this
rule and illegally issuing permits to dump mining waste
into Appalachian waters.
Changing the rule was initially
proposed by the Clinton
administration as a result of
political pressure brought
on by a federal court
decision questioning the legality
of Corps permits for
mountaintop removal waste disposal.
After more than
17,000 citizens and dozens of members
of Congress
objected, however, the Clinton administration
abandoned
the proposal. But now, responding to industry
pressure,
the Bush administration has revived the proposal
and
wants to delete the waste exclusion provision from
the
rules to allow mining companies to dump their wastes
into streams. Even worse, the proposed rule change
would reach far beyond mountaintop removal mining,
giving the Corps authority to issue permits for dumping
all kinds of wastes -- such as hardrock mining and
construction debris -- into the nation's waters.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Z7qAAaF1jPJK/
Tell the administration there's no dumping allowed.
FOR MORE INFO:
**NRDC Water Pollution Information
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/CpqAAaF1jPDL/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In defeat unbeatable: in
victory unbearable.
-- Winston
Churchill
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE I
----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE SWEET SMELL...
Delivering a big time defeat for
President Bush and
a hard-won victory for
environmentalists, the Senate
effectively killed a
proposal to allow oil and gas
drilling in Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Drilling advocates,
led by Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK)
and Frank Murkowski
(R-AK), pulled out all the stops
including last minute
sweeteners aimed at undecideds.
But they could only
muster 46 votes, not even a majority
of the Senate, and
so fell well short of the 60 needed
to end a Democratic
filibuster and force passage of
the bill. This strong
signal from the Senate makes
the fate of a
House-approved energy bill, which includes
a measure to
allow drilling in the refuge, uncertain.
Thanks to the
work of thousands of activists and tireless
enviros the
Senate seems unlikely to compromise on
the issue.
FOR MORE INFO:
**Washington Post Article 04-17
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/11qAAaF1jPD_/
SEND 'EM SOME LOVE:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/1dqAAaF1jPDA/
Use the Wildnerness Society's site to thank the Senators
who voted to protect the Artic.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE II
----------------------------------------------------------------------
...OF SUCCESS
A whopping 11% of BP shareholders
this week voted in
favor of an Artic protection
shareholder resolution
at the company's annual meeting
-- for those of you
who aren't in the know this is big
victory because
most shareholder resolutions pull in
only 2 or 3%.
It's the second time in three years that
more than
ten percent of shareholders in the world's
third largest
oil company have voted to protect the
Arctic.
"BP shareholders
joined the growing and diverse chorus
of Arctic Refuge
supporters," said Athan Manuel, author
of the
resolution and director of US PIRG's Arctic
Wilderness
Campaign. "We call on BP to acknowledge
the growing
shareholder support for protecting the
Arctic Refuge,
and we look forward to negotiating with
them on
canceling their drilling plans."
The resolution calls on the London-based oil giant
to recognize the risk from drilling in sensitive areas
such as the Arctic Refuge.
FOR MORE INFO:
**Save the Artic
Information
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/ZpqAAaF1jPJZ/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GREEN READING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Straight from Grist Magazine
http://www.gristmagazine.com
DO YOU READ ME?
Spring is here, leaves are
unfurling, temperatures
are rising (skyrocketing, in
some parts of the country)
-- it's the perfect time to
head to a park, lounge
under a tree, and catch up on
your environmental must-reads.
Not sure what those are?
Let Grist be your guide. There's
the saga of the summer
snowmobile enthusiasts (courtesy
of the New Yorker);
the bildungsroman of #534, a young
steer purchased by
author Michael Pollan in an attempt
to understand the
life history of your average hunk
of steak (courtesy of
the New York Times Magazine);
and the ballad of the
buffalo soldiers, who are trying
to keep bison inside
Yellowstone National Park and
prevent them from being
killed if they wander out (courtesy
of Salon). Plenty
more where those came from.
Check out what else we're reading -- and what you should
be -- in Best of the Rest, only on the Grist Magazine
website.
GRIST MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE http://www.gristmagazine.com
Wild reads from the New Yorker, Salon, Atlantic Monthly
-- in Best of the Rest Section
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/C7qAAaF1jPDS/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Job Title: Northwest Field
Organizer
Organization: Center for Environmental
Citizenship
Location: Seattle, WA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/C1qAAaF1jPDa/
Job Title: Summer Camp
Naturalist/Educator
Organization: NJ YMHA-YWHA Camps
Nature Center
Location: Milford, PA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/CdqAAaF1jPDz/
Job Title: Issue Researcher
Organization: Project Vote Smart
Location: Philipsburg, MT
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/VpqAAaF1jPDq/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCES, GATHERINGS AND VIEWINGS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots more events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp
WHAT: Restoring Public Lands
WHERE: Boulder, CO
WHEN: 4/18/2002
- 4/20/2002
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/V1qAAaF1jPJV/
WHAT: GLOBAL WARMING: CAN WE STOP
IT??
WHERE: Seattle, WA
WHEN:
4/22/2002
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/V7qAAaF1jPD1/
WHAT: EJ in the 'Hood 2002
WHERE: Boston, MA
WHEN: 4/27/2002
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/VdqAAaF1jPJC/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTIVIST PHONE BOOK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Capitol Switchboard:
202.224.3121
White House Comment Line:
202.456.1111
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20500
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DC
20515
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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The Bush Administration is attempting to gut a key
Clean Water Act program. As ridiculous as it sounds,
the Administration wants to reverse the requirement
that polluted waters be cleaned up. Please respond
to this alert immediately and let the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator know she must
maintain a strong Clean Water Act and not weaken it
You can take action on this alert
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(please see directions below) or via
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Visit the web address below
and tell your friends to
take action on this important
campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dirtywaterprop/forward/wkwxs5r178xedx
We encourage you to take
action by May 17, 2002
Help
Block Bush Dirty Water Proposal
----------------------
For three decades, water pollution control efforts
have been guided by a fundamental goal of the Clean
Water Act: that all rivers, lakes, and coastal waters
be "fishable and swimmable;" that is, they should be
safe for swimming and boating and any fish caught should
be safe to eat. While progress has been made, fully
forty percent of assessed waters (over 20,000 water
bodies) fail to meet this goal and EPA's recent National
Coastal Condition report acknowledged that the overall
condition of our coastal waters is only fair to poor.
The key provision of the Clean
Water Act meant to clean
up these polluted waters is
the Total Maximum Daily
Load (TMDL) program. The TMDL
program requires states
and EPA to identify polluted
waterways, rank them for
priority attention, and then
develop pollution limits
for each water
body.
Despite the
law, EPA and states largely failed to clean
up
waterways under the TMDL program until a wave of
citizen lawsuits forced them to do so. Over the last
few years, Americans' demand for clean water succeeded
in generating momentum to improve implementation of
the cleanup program. After years of study and consultation,
EPA announced new regulations to strengthen the program
in July of 2000. These regulations, however, were
stalled
in court by polluters, and last fall the Bush
Administration
blocked their implementation and began
gutting them.
The result is a rewritten proposal that will delay,
if not completely avoid, cleaning up polluted waters.
Slated for release by EPA in June, the Bush proposal
will:
1) weaken standards for classifying water bodies and
allow now polluted waters to be considered clean on
paper;
2) remove
controls on polluted runoff, the number one
source of
water pollution;
3) remove the requirement that
polluted waters be cleaned
up by making any efforts to
do so voluntary and without
deadlines; and
4) weaken EPA's oversight of the states in carrying
out this vital program.
If approved, this Bush Dirty Water Rule will ensure
dirty waters remain polluted--if not become more so--for
decades to come. Rather than promoting this Dirty Water
Rule the Bush Administration should drop it and focus
on working with the states to implement the current
TMDL program.
Please respond to this alert today and send EPA
Administrator
Christie Todd Whitman a strong message
telling her
you want water pollution cleaned up now and
urging
her to drop efforts to adopt a bad TMDL rule.
Thirty
years is long enough to wait for clean water.
Thank you for your help.
----------------------
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WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take
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-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW---------
I urge you in the strongest
possible terms not to move
forward with the current
TMDL rulemaking proposal that
will rollback efforts to
clean up our nation's polluted
waterways. Currently
over 20,000 water bodies fail
to meet the "fishable and
swimmable" goal of the Act,
and EPA's recent National
Coastal Condition report
acknowledged that the overall
condition of our coastal
waters is only fair to poor.
It is unconscionable to
celebrate the 30th Anniversary
of the Clean Water Act
by gutting its primary program
for cleaning up impaired
waters - the TMDL program.
While the existing TMDL
program is not perfect, EPA
should take leadership in
working to strengthen its
accountability and
implementation. Instead EPA's recent
TMDL work has
focused only on removing all controls,
deadlines, or
guarantees that our polluted waters will
be made clean.
Rather than attempting to gut the Clean
Water Act, EPA
should be working with the states to
aggressively
implement the current program to clean
up polluted
lakes, rivers and coastal waters.
Thirty years is too long to wait for clean water, yet
this TMDL proposal will slow needed progress by additional
decades. Please do not finalize this "Dirty Water"
rule and instead keep the promise of the Clean Water
Act: to make our waters fishable and swimmable.
-------END OF
LETTER-------------------------
Sincerely yours,
Greenpeace's Positive Energy Newsletter
April 15-21, 2002
April 22, 2002 will mark the 32nd Earth Day. A time to
reflect
on life on Earth, Time magazine’s 1988 Planet
of the Year.
Happy Earth Day to Everyone!!!
Inside this edition
+++ Celebrating Earth Day in
California
+++ University of California Merced
+++ Earth Day Celebrations +++
-- The Greenpeace Clean Energy
Now! campaign will be in
Southern California this
weekend to join in on the celebration
of our
planet.
On
Saturday, we will be at the Whole Earth Festival that
will take place at Lake Balboa in Van Nuys.
On Sunday, we will be in San Diego
for EarthFair that
will take place at Balboa Park.
Visit the Greenpeace booth to
learn more and to help promote
clean energy. Hope to
see you there!
For more
information on the Whole Earth Festival visit:
http://www.earthdayla.org
Visit EarthFair’s website
at:
http://www.earthdayweb.org/SDEW_EarthFair.html
-- In San Francisco
If you live in San Francisco, take an opportunity to
take action on Earth Day. Come join Greenpeace
in lobbying
the California Public Utilities Commission
to ensure that
solar energy users don’t pay for
Governor Gray Davis' dirty
and expensive long-term
energy contracts with out-of-state
natural gas
providers. On April 22, PUC commissioners will
be
considering a ruling that will impose a fee on direct
access customers, including residential solar power
generators, to pay off the bad deals made by Gov. Davis
last year.
To receive more information, please contact
J.P. Ross via e-mail at:
jross@sfo.greenpeace.org
or by phone at:
(415) 255-9221 x
309.
+++ University of
California Merced +++
In the
coming months we will be pushing UC Merced
to become a
chief exemplar for sustainable development.
The UC
system is planning to expand its presence with the
creation of its 10th campus, the first American research
university to be built in this century. UC officials
claim
that it will be created with the latest
sustainable,
environmentally sensitive techniques.
Greenpeace will be
working with students from the
University California system
to ensure that it becomes
a model campus in incorporating
solar energy. In
addition to our demand that all new
buildings generate
at least 25% of their energy load through
solar cells,
we insist that all buildings on campus qualify
for the
highest "green" building standards - silver LEED
standard or better!!!
If you would like to know more or get involved
please contact Kristin Casper via e-mail at:
kristin.casper@sfo.greenpece.org
or by phone at: (415) 255-9221 x
321
The "Positive Energy"
newsletter and our 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 ongoing energy
crisis.
Want to do
more? Become a Greenpeace Member!
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
Positive Energy
April 15th-21,
2002
April 22, 2002 will mark
the 32nd Earth Day. A time to reflect on life on Earth, Time magazine’s 1988
Planet of the Year. Happy Earth Day to Everyone!!!
Inside this edition of Positive Energy:
--Celebrating Earth Day in
California
--University of California Merced
--Greenpeace's New Volunteer Work
+++ Earth Day Celebrations +++
--Southern California
The Greenpeace Clean Energy Now! campaign will be in
Southern California this weekend to join in on the celebration of our
planet. On Saturday, we will be at the Whole Earth Festival that will
take place at Lake Balboa in Van Nuys. We will be in San Diego on Sunday for
EarthFair that takes place at Balboa Park. There will be a Greenpeace booth to
promote and discuss our clean energy agendas
and
initiatives with the public. Hope to see you there!
the
Whole Earth Festival go to http://www.earthdayla.org.
Visit EarthFair’s website at:
http://www.earthdayweb.org/SDEW_EarthFair.html
-- In San Francisco
If you live in San Francisco, use this Earth Day as an
opportunity to become involved. Come join Greenpeace in
lobbying the California Public Utilities Commission
to ensure that solar energy users don’t pay for Governor
Gray Davis’ dirty and expensive long-term energy contracts with out-of-state
natural gas providers. On April 22, PUC
commissioners
will be considering a ruling that will impose
a fee on
direct access customers, including residential solar power generators, to pay
off the bad deals made by Gov. Davis last year.
To receive more information, please contact J.P. Ross via
email at:
jross@sfo.greenpeace.org
or by
phone at:
(415) 255-9221 x 309.
+++ University of California
Merced +++
In the coming
months we will be pushing UC Merced to become a chief exemplar for sustainable
development. The UC system
is planning to expand its
presence with the creation of its
10th campus, the
first American research university to be
built in this
century. UC officials claim that it will be
created
with the latest sustainable, environmentally
sensitive
techniques. Greenpeace will be working with
students
from the University of California system to ensure
that
it becomes a model campus in incorporating solar
energy. In addition to our demand that all new buildings
generate at least 25% of their energy load through solar cells, we insist that
all buildings on campus qualify for the highest "green" building standards -
silver LEED standard or better!!!
If you would like to know more or get involved please
contact Kristin Casper via email at:
kristin.casper@sfo.greenpece.org
or by phone at:
(415) 255-9221 x
321.
+++ Greenpeace’s New
Volunteer Network +++
Well
you’ve been getting Positive Energy for some time now,
probably taking online actions as well . . . still
interested in doing more concerning renewable energy
issues?
Join Greenpeace’s new
Volunteer Network! Become a Greenpeace activist and fight for clean
energy. Come to a volunteer meeting at the Greenpeace San Francisco
Office on
Thursday, April 25th at 7:00pm. Or
if you live in other
parts of the state, you can either
send and email to Ashby
Smith at:
ashby.smith@sfo.greenpeace.org
or
call by phone at:
(415) 255-9221 x314
The Greenpeace office is located
at:
75 Arkansas St on 17th Ave,
bottom of Potrero Hill.
------------------------------------
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and our website, http://www.cleanenergynow.org, will give you good news
about ways to achieve clean air, climate justice, and
renewable energy solutions to our ongoing energy crisis.
The "Positive Energy" newsletter
and our 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 ongoing energy
crisis.
Want to do
more? Become a Greenpeace Member!
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
In this Post :
1. REFUSE Citi!
Earth week of Action , Next Week, April 22-26th
2.
EMPOWERING DEMOCRACY FOCUSES ON CITIGROUP CAMPAIGN!
3.
ACTIVISTS TRIUMPH AT CITIGROUP SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING!
4. STUDENTS IN DES MOINES SHUT DOWN SALOMON SMITH
BARNEY BRANCH!
* * * * * *
#1
Global warming *** Predatory
Lending *** Corporate
Globalization *** Forest
Destruction *** Attacking
Indigenous Rights *** Global
Destruction ***
STOP CITIGROUP
EARTHWEEK ACTIONS START MONDAY
EARTHWEEK: REDUCE,
RESUE, RECYCLE, REFUSE “TO DO
BUSINESS WITH
CITI! : APRIL 22nd – 26th
HELLO CITI-STOPPERS:
Organizers
around the country are gearing up for the
next week’s
EARTHWEEK of Action against Citigroup.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and REFUSE to do business with
Citigroup will be the chorus of concerned citizens as
they confront social, economic, and environmental
destruction to their communities and the planet by the
world’s largest bank. Activists are gearing up
to hit
Citi in full force. With Earth Week coming up on
April
22nd – 26th 2002, it’s time to add the fourth “R”
to the usual
triple “R” demand - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
and REFUSE!
Refuse to do business with Citigroup!
Refuse to let
Citi use your money to fund global
warming and global
forest destruction. Recently, Dutch
bank
ABN AMRO’s decision to cease funding
for
extractive industries within
pristine forests
set a global standard that
banks must finally take
responsibility for profiting
from destruction.
Mass species
extinction,
rising sea levels, and the spread of
diseases are the
result of global warming stemming from
our deadly
fossil fuel addiction. As the
largest financial institution in the world and the #1
financier of fossil fuel projects, Citi determines
what projects get funding and what do not. As a
financial powerhouse, the world’s largest bank must take
responsibility for its actions. Citi must stop
profiting from this deadly industry and begin financing
clean alternatives, such as solar and wind. As
the
race for remaining fossil fuel reserves becomes
more
heated, Citi has turned its investments to the
Amazon, fueling
an oil boom in pristine rainforest
ecosystems and on
sacred indigenous lands.
Citi’s destruction can be traced
from redlining and
predatory lending, indebting people
of color in our
inner cities, to participating in the
OCP / Ecuador
pipeline where activists have put their
bodies on the
line to save their treasured forests.
From Citigroup’s
partnership with Enron in the
contested Dabhol power
plant in India to profiting from
global warming,
Citigroup lives up to its reputation as
the World’s
Most Destructive Bank. On Earth Day, send a
strong
message that now is the time to REFUSE Citi, and
tell
them“Not with My Money!”
You can visit a local Citibank
branch by finding out
its location at :
www.citibank.com. If a bank branch is
not near you,
visit one of their subsidiaries at
www.citigroup.com. If you want to join an
existing
event, let us know so we can get
you in touch with
activists in your area who may be
organizing one
already.
IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE that with the recent FBI warning
regarding possible terrorist threats to US banks that
activists take extra precautions when planning a
demonstration so that intentions could not be
misconstrued. Make sure that you stay on message
and
that you make it clear from the start you are
conducting a non-violent protest.
One great way to get your message
across is to flyer
customers, encourage them to close
their accounts and
cut up their credit
cards. Most customers are unaware
of
Citigroup’s destructive practices. View customers
as your ally, some are more than willing to
listen.
Make sure the manager knows you are
protesting outside
and encourage him or her to call
Citi headquarters to
let them know there is a protest
at the branch. Stand
in front of the doorway. State
your message clearly and
loudly. If they
call the police and the police tell
you to move, then
move (unless of course you have
planned to be
arrested). If you don’t have a Citibank
branch near you, then hit a Traveller’s Insurance or
Salomon Smith Barney or a CitiFinancial. If you can,
scout the location, see how much foot traffic there
is. How much visibility you will get with signs
and a
banner. Some good slogans are:
Global Warming: This is Citigroup.
Global Destruction: This is Citigroup
Global Destruction – Not With My Money Citi!
Global Destrucion=Citigroup
Save
The Planet - Close Your Citibank Account!
You can also do a fax or call in day to the following
numbers and e-mail addresses:
MAKE
YOUR VOICE HEARD!
PHONE :
Citigroup Credit Card Services Line 1-800-950-
5114
(then punch #
repeatedly to get to a human without
having to giving
an account number)
PHONE : Investor Relations 1-888-250-3985 and dial 0 to
reach a human operator
FAX :
212-793-0059
EMAIL : investorrelations@citi.com
SPEAK YOUR MIND STRAIGHT TO CITI!
- SAMPLE TALKING
POINTS
I’m deeply concerned about Citigroup’s role in funding
global warming and deforestation. I’m particularly upset
that Citigroup
continues to invest in destructive
fossil fuel projects like the Camisea gas
project in
Peru which is set to devastate a pristine rainforest that is home
to several groups of indigenous peoples. If Citigroup wants
my business they
need to shift investments from
destructive industries towards clean
renewable energy
and other sustainable alternatives.
Until Citi takes action to stop destructive investments
I will not be doing business with your corporation and I
will be urging all
my friends and neighbors to take
similar action.
Thanks and
have a great day!
OTHER
TALKING POINTS :
Citi is the
largest funder of the oil and gas industry
and the
second largest in mining and forest products. These types of
project, accelerate global warming threaten fragile
ecosystems and displace
indigenous peoples from their
homelands. Why isn’t Citi phasing out
investments in
fossil fuels?
Fossil fuels are
the next tobacco of the investment
community. The
moral, social and environmental cost of investing in fossil
fuels is too high.
Citi should be
sending a strong message to the oil
industry by
investing in the transition to clean renewable energy sources rather
than funding further fossil fuel development.
LET’S STOP CITI FROM FINANCING
FOSSIL FUELS
AND TELL THEM TO FINANCE CLEAN ENERGY!
TELL CITI’S
FUNDING OF DESTRUCTION
“NOT WITH MY MONEY, CITI”
For more info contact Matt Prescott with SEAC in
Philadelphia at
IMPULSE275@aol.com
215-222-4711
Mark Von Topel
with Powershift in DC at
mark.vontopel@shiftpower.org
(202) 299-9096,
Sabrina Alonso at at Rainforest Action
Network in San Francisco at
sabrina@ran.org 415-398-4404
ext
309
For more info on the Citi
campaign go to
http://www.ran.org or
www.shiftpower.org
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR A SANE ECONOMY - a low-density,
announcement-only list serve about the campaign to
transform the global financial system by targeting
Citigroup, the world’s most destructive bank.
TO SUBSCRIBE send a blank email to
stopciti-updates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* * * *
#2 EMPOWERING DEMOCRACY FOCUSES ON CITIGROUP CAMPAIGN!
The Empowering Democracy
conference which profiled the
Citigroup Campaign was
held this last weekend in New
York City just before the
Citigroup Shareholder’s
meeting. Hundreds of organizers
and campaigners
gathered to share skills and stories of
taking on some
of the world’s most powerful
corporations at the
international, national, and
community level
participants were able to hear from
such luminaries as
Amy Goodman from Democracy Now!, Dr.
Owns Wiwa, brother
of slain Nigerian activist Ken Saro
Wiwa, and Lori
Wallach of Global Trade Watch and many
more. Workshops
were held on issues ranging from Racism
and Corporate
Power to Earning Media for Your Campaign,
Coalition
Building, International Collaboration, and
New
Strategies in Corporate Campaigning. Strategy
sessions
on student activism and grassroots organizing
were a
highlight and participants were offered the
opportunity
to exchange ideas on current campaigns
already in full
swing. Organizational
participation included Alliance
for Democracy, Ruckus
Society, Friends of the Earth,
Campaign Exxon Mobil,
Free the Planet, Power Shift, RAN
and countless more.
Many trainers and Activists
currently mobilizing for
the April 20th demonstrations
in Washington DC against
the War and the IMF/World bank
attended, and an
eclectic mix of political and
community perspectives
were well represented. The
final banquet
capped the three days of workshops and
intense
discussion of how to effectively organize and
fight the
corporate take over of democracy and our
lives. For more info on the conference you can
go to :
www.empoweringdemocracy.org
* * * *
#3 ACTIVISTS TRIUMPH AT CITIGROUP SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING!
Citi shareholder’s were
greeted by demonstrators
chorusing “Not With My Money!”
on Tuesday at the annual
general meeting. Students from
NYU, activists from
Rainforest Relief, Activism Center
at Wetlands Preserve
NYC, Art and Action, Powershift,
the Ruckus Society,
Alliance for Democracy and dozens
of organizations from
the Empowering Democracy
conference held a rousing
protest outside of
Carnegie Hall as shareholder’s lined
up to go to the
Citigroup 2002 Shareholder’s meeting.
An orangutan, a
giant Sandy Weill Puppet, radical
ballerinas and a “not
with my money” umbrella drill
team made an indelible
impression on the hundreds
attending the meeting to
vote on a number of
shareholder proposals including the
RAN sponsored
resolution requiring the Citi to take
responsibility
for its role in global warming and
deforestation. Amid
drumming and chanting, speakers
addressed a number of
issues from predatory lending to
violation of
indigenous rights.
Meanwhile, inside, there was no
chance for the Citi
Board led by CEO, Sandy Weill to
mistake the loud and
clear message. “Get out of fossil
fuels and
deforestation and do it now! Join the other
forward
thinking companies and European banks like ABN
AMRO to
do the right thing economically and ethically!
Representatives form Rainforest Action Network and
Amazon Watch challenged Sandy to meet or beat the
commitment made by Dutch bank, ABN AMRO committing to
get out of extractive resources in pristine ecosystems.
Lily de la Torre, a lawyer representing indigenous
communities in Peru asked that Citigroup reevaluate its
role in the controversial Camisea project and extended
a personal invitation to Sandy and the board to come
witness first hand the destruction resulting from this
and other projects in the Peruvian
Amazon. The
resolution received an
astounding 6% of the vote
ensuring its place on the
ballot at next year’s meeting
and its place in the
minds of key decision makers at
Citi.
* * * *
#4 STUDENTS IN DES MOINES SHUT DOWN SALOMON SMITH
BARNEY BRANCH!
Punctuating a week of pressure against Citigroup and
driving the message home, 6 students at Grinnell
College bravely locked themselves down in a Solomon
Smith Barney in Des Moines Iowa yesterday. Intended to
kick off the Earth Week actions with a bang, the
students were cheered on by over 50 supporters
holding
a high spirited rally challenging Citi’s
investments in
global warming. The energetic
activists successfully
shut down the Investment Wing of
Citigroup by locking
themselves together and issued a
statement calling for
Citi to cease investments in the
destructive fossil
fuel industry. Police were finally
able to cut them out
of their locks, but not before
local newspapers,
networks and CNN covered the action!
You can check out
the news covered at:
http://www.whotv.com/ (can we get a specific link? This
is the daily front page)
 |
|||
 | |||
 |
 |
 Despite intense pressure from the White House and a flurry of last-minute maneuvering by drilling proponents, the Senate on April 18 rebuffed an effort to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration. In two procedural votes, Democrats and several Republicans defeated a pro-drilling amendment to a broader energy bill -- delivering a huge victory to environmentalists, including BioGems Defenders who've sent more than 930,000 messages protesting plans to drill in the refuge, a rugged wilderness that teems with caribou, polar bears, Arctic wolves, and millions of migratory birds each summer. In addition to protecting wildlife habitat, the Senate's action is a direct rebuke to the Bush administration, which has championed Arctic drilling as a cornerstone of its national energy plan, even though the refuge's coastal plain would likely yield less than a six-month supply of oil. Still, the fight over the Arctic is far from over. Drilling advocates in the Senate have pledged to raise the issue again. And the House has already passed an energy bill that would allow drilling -- a key difference that will have to be hammered out when, and if, the Senate passes its own version of the bill. If you took action on behalf of the Arctic, thank you! Your calls, faxes and emails made a world of difference. |
 After months of protests, Costa Ricans cheered a government panel's rejection in February of a bid by two U.S. oil companies to drill off the country's lush Caribbean coast, which is home to manatees, Tucuxi dolphins and endangered turtles. (Bolstering local opposition, BioGems Defenders have inundated the government with more than 14,000 messages questioning the project's environmental impacts.) But Harken Energy and MKJ Xploration aren't packing up yet. Their Costa Rican holding company has launched a last-minute campaign to win approval from the country's environment minister before newly elected President Abel Pacheco -- who opposed offshore drilling during his campaign -- takes office in May. |
DEN ALERT:
Help Keep Roads Out of
Wild Places
Interior Secretary
Gale Norton has quietly proposed changing the
rules by
which states and special interests can claim title to
federal lands, including the right to build roads across
millions
of acres of the nation's most spectacular wild
places. If successful,
the proposal could pave the way
for the federal government to give
the states and
special interests title to thousands of miles of
trails, tracks and dirt roads in places like Canyonlands
National
Park in Utah, and Death Valley National Park
in California.
Road building
in fragile forests, wetlands, deserts, and other
backcountry areas causes enormous damage, especially when
there are
no environmental safeguards or public
comment. Yet, the problem
doesn't stop
there. Granting right-of-way claims could effectively
disqualify these special places for wilderness protection
and open
them up to oil and gas drilling, mining,
logging, and damage caused
by rampant off-road vehicle
use.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please send a FREE e-mail today
urging the Bureau of Land Management
to protect our
nation's wildest places from an influx of roads. The
comment period ends APRIL 23, so please send your e-mail
TODAY.
Thanks for helping to protect wilderness areas
and the wildlife
that depends on them from rampant
development.
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 your
letter to:
Mr. Jeff Holdren,
Lands and Realty Deputy Group Manager and Ms.
Cynthia
Ellis, Regulatory Affairs Group, Bureau of Land Management,
7450 Boston Boulevard, Springfield, Virginia 22153 or via
e-mail at:
WOComment@blm.gov or via fax at:
202-653-5287.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Attention: RIN 1004-AD50
Dear Mr Holdren/Ms. Ellis:
As a supporter of the environment and of wilderness areas,
I am
writing today to oppose the proposed rule change
regarding RS2477
claims. If approved, these claims put
at risk some of our nation's
wildest lands in Utah,
Alaska, and other western states. Currently,
protections are insufficient for these wild places, and
your
proposal would further weaken existing protection
by making it easy
for the federal government to give
away these lands to special
interests.
The changes you propose would make
it easier to give away
rights-of-way that would
fracture otherwise unroaded areas and
allow even more
motorized use in wild places. Many claims of
rights-of-way for "highways" across public lands are not
legitimate
claims having to do with reasonable
transportation needs. They are
part of a
blatant attempt to thwart wilderness protection and to
break up public wild lands. BLM should not be
validating these
bogus claims through the expedited
process the proposed rule seeks
to
engineer.
Once
again, I urge you to withdraw the proposed rules regarding
RS2477 claims – they are not in the best interest of
protecting
ever diminishing wilderness our nation can
be proud of. Thank you
for considering my comments.
Sincerely,
___________________________________________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to DENlines,
visit Defenders' website at:
http://www.defenders.org/den or send an e-mail to
DEN@defenders.org and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the
subject line, and your name and address in the text
area.
___________________________________________________________
DENlines is a biweekly
publication of Defenders of Wildlife, a
leading
national conservation organization recognized as one of
the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and
its
habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving
endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves. Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect
species before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders
is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization with more than 480,000
members
and supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
Copyright
(c) 2002 by Defenders of Wildlife
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 22, 2002
Subject: Protecting Wild Places on
Earth Day
In the wake of last
weeks big win to protect the Arctic Wildlife Refuge
(thanks everyone!), now is the time to keep the momentum
going and
create overwhelming pressure on Capitol Hill
to protect forests,
grasslands and
deserts. Fortunately or not, we have a host of threats
and opportunities to respond to. Here is a brief
rundown of six pending
issues and how you can make a
difference.
Farm Bill
Conference Threatens New Forest Giveaway
We are at a critical moment on the Farm Bill conference
committee. Farm
bill proposals to allow the
Forest Service to give away unlimited
amounts of trees
and to stop marking each tree to be logged open the
door to a massive forest giveaway and expanded logging
program. Calls,
faxes and emails are
urgently needed to the Farm Bill conferees and to
your
Representative and Senators asking them to contact the Farm bill
conferees. Please see
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/bad_energy_bill.htm
for a complete alert.
Roadless
Area Protection Legislation Moving Forward
Legislation will soon be introduced to make permanent the
Roadless Area
Conservation Rule to prohibit most
logging and roadbuilding in
inventoried roadless on the
National Forests. Bill sponsors Rep. Jay
Inslee (D-WA) and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) have
collected a strong
bipartisan leadership team and are
inviting additional original sponsors
until May
8. Calls, faxes and emails are urgently needed asking your
Representative to be an original sponsor of the Roadless
Area
Conservation Act of 2002.
Please see http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/timber.htm for a
complete alert. Also see http://www.wilderness.org/wildforest/ or a new
report about pending threats to twenty roadless areas
around the nation.
Earth Day
Action: Tell Your Senators "No Fast Track"
With the Senate vote on Fast Track looming quickly, it is
critical that
we all take advantage of the AFL-CIO's
toll-free number and register our
opposition to this
legislation, aimed at bringing us more NAFTAs.
Please join us by celebrating
Earth Day with a call to each of your
senators.
AFL-CIO TOLL-FREE FAST TRACK # : 877-611-0063
(then ask to be connected
to your
Senator) Talking points:
1. PLEASE VOTE NO ON FAST TRACK.
2. If they are set on voting for
Fast Track, as many Senators already
are, INSIST THAT
THEY AT LEAST SUPPORT AMENDMENTS aimed at "improving"
the legislation. Note: even with the amendments, fair trade
campaigners
still are not supporting Fast Track; this
is simply the most we can
expect from many in the
Senate, and the best chance to defeat the
legislation.
Sign On - A Budget to Protect
and Restore the National Forests
In collaboration with other activists and organizations
American Lands
Alliance has developed A Budget to
Protect and Restore the National
Forests to influence
the annual Forest Service and BLM appropriation.
New initiatives this year include redirecting fuel
treatment funds now
being wasted on logging by the
Forest Service to homeowners and
communities to protect
homes; a new ecological restoration line-item to
support needed restoration activities without logging as
the Forest
Service does it; end the fee demonstration
program and dedicated funding
for off road vehicle
enforcement and monitoring.
Please see http://www.americanlands.org/fy_2003_budget.htm to
review the
entire document. Your
organization's endorsement is important to help
convince congressional leaders to support these
issues. Please contact
me at 202/547-9105 or
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org to sign on.
RS 2477 Threatens New Roadbuilding in Wildlands
Do you want your public lands
given away to special interests for
unfettered
development? If not, read this and send in an official
comment today! The deadline for receiving
comments is Tuesday April 23,
so act now! Go
to
http://www.capwiz.com/awc/issues/alert/?alertid=139138
to send an email
protesting this proposal.
The Bush Administration has
quietly proposed changes to an obscure
federal
regulation that would allow states and special interests to
claim title to and build roads across millions of acres of
the nation's
most spectacular wild
places. If successful, the proposal could pave
the way for the federal government to give states and
special interests
title to thousands of miles of
trails, tracks and dirt roads in places
like
Canyonlands National Park in Utah, the Great Alaska Wilderness, and
Death Valley National Park in California. Send an email to
the
Administration today to help protect America's wild
places.
Help Protect Wyoming and Montana's Powder River Basin from
Irresponsible
Oil & Gas Development
The Bush Administration's National
Energy Policy, influenced by industry
giants like
Enron, is hitting the ground in Wyoming and Montana with
frightening implications for clean water, wildlife, scenic
landscapes,
and local communities. In the first
on-the-ground example of how the
Bush Administration
plans to pursue accelerated energy development on
public lands and private lands underlain by federally-owned
oil and gas,
the Bureau of Land Management is proposing
massive increases in oil and
gas drilling in the
magnificent Powder River Basin of Wyoming and
Montana.
Unless you speak up, this area
and many other special places with energy
development
potential throughout the West, such as those in the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Rocky Mountain Front in
Montana near
Glacier National Park, could be lost due
to the precedent-setting effect
of the Powder River
Basin proposals. Your comments on both EIS's are
due by May 15. Time is short, so please comment soon by
going to
http://www.ogap.org/action/prbdeis.htm
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
ACTION NEEDED BY APRIL 23!
Email
address for comments available.
BULLDOZING THE ENVIROMENT AND PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW
White House Proposing Rule Change to Giveaway Public Lands
As we reported a few weeks
ago, the Department of Interior (DOI) has quietly proposed using a repealed law
– section 2477 of the 1866 Mining Act (R.S. 24577) – to allow states, counties
and other special interests to claim title to federal lands including the right
to build roads across millions of acres of the nation’s most spectacular wild
places. DOI asserts that this law gives them the right to build roads, with
little or no public involvement or environmental protections, through our
National Parks, National Forests, National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges
and wilderness areas.
The
proposed rule expands the BLM’s current authority to “issue a disclaimer of
interest in lands” when the Secretary determines that another entitiy has the
legal right to access, construct and maintain a road across federal public land.
The proposed rule eliminates the deadline for when claims could be asserted by a
State and allows not just “owners of record” but anybody with an “interest” in
the lands—recorded or not—to file a claim. This expansion of unchecked authority
opens a Pandora’s box of potential claims.
In Alaska this could spell disaster. Under the Alaska
Supreme Court’s incredibly broad interpretation of R.S.2477, every section line
in Alaska could potentially qualify as a R.S. 2477 claim. Such action would
crisscross the state with nearly a million miles of alleged roads in Alaska wild
lands.
BACKGROUND
Proposed Change Fueled by Secret Agreement in Utah—Opening
the Door to Abuse
The DOI proposal comes on the heels
of secret negotiations between the State of Utah and BLM over R.S. 2477
claims. Utah has insisted it owns 10,000 tracks, trails, animal
paths, and portions of streambeds across federal public land in some of Utah's
most wild places and has threatened to file a lawsuit alleging these
claims. The lawsuit has never materialized, however “settlement
talks” with the BLM were initiated and, not coincidentally, this proposed rule
has suddenly appeared. Both the State and DOI have refused to divulge
any information about the progression of the talks. This rule change
would facilitate the finalization of the secret negotiations and would permit
BLM to validate thousands of claims throughout the West and Alaska in mass
without detailed review by a federal judge in proceedings open to the public,
and without opportunities for the public to intervene to protect their
interests.
ACTION
The Bush Administration has made clear its agenda to
quietly undo important environmental protections. This proposal from the DOI’s
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is just the latest move.
Please let the Bush Administration
hear from you today! Write the BLM and ask the agency to withdraw its proposed
rule. Tell them you do not appreciate its attempt to give away claims to land
that would allow special interests to fracture otherwise unroaded areas and
allow destructive activity in wild places.
Send your letter by April 23, 2002 to:
FAX: 202-653-5287
or
Email:
WOComment@blm.gov (Be sure to put Attention: AD50)
A sample letter follows.
SAMPLE LETTER
Date
The Honorable J. Steven Griles
Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Mr. Jeff Holdren, BLM Lands and
Realty Deputy Group Manager
Bureau of Land Management
Ms. Cynthia Ellis,
BLM Regulatory Affairs Group and the Office of the Solicitor
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management, Eastern
States Office
7450 Boston Boulevard
Springfield, VA 22153
ATTN: RIN
1004-AD50
RE: Proposed Rule:
regulations pertaining to recordable
disclaimers of
interest in land,
RIN 1004-AD50
Dear Mr. Griles, Mr. Holdren and
Ms. Ellis:
I am writing to
comment on your proposed rule pertaining to recordable disclaimers of interest
in land (RIN 1004-AD50. I oppose this effort to make it easier for your agency
to give away public lands and request that you withdraw this rule.
Your attempt to change this
obscure regulation would make it easier to give away rights-of-way that would
fracture otherwise unroaded areas and allow motorized use in wild places. This
proposal is inappropriate, illegal and should be withdrawn.
At risk are some of our nation’s
wildest lands—in Alaska, Utah and other western states. Many claims of
rights-of-way for “highways” across public lands are not valid claims, but
cynical attempts to thwart wilderness protection or otherwise break up public
wild lands. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not be
validating these false claims through the expedited process allow under the
proposed rule.
The BLM should,
instead, apply a rigorous determination process for validating each claim to
rights-of-way across public lands. National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges,
National Forests and public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management are
valuable public assets that should not be given away.
The proposed rule is also illegal.
Congress passed a provision in 1996 stating, “No final rule or regulation of any
agency of the Federal Government pertaining to the recognition, management, or
validity of a right-of-way pursuant to Revised Statute 2477 (43 USC 932) shall
take effect unless expressly authorized by an Act of Congress subsequent to the
date of enactment of this Act.” (Section 108, Public Law 104-208). By
BLM’s own admission, “This proposed rule would provide an opportunity for States
and other local governmental entities to secure a right to a highway which is
purported to be a RS 2477 highway reservation. . . .” (BLM Website,
2/22/02, “Proposed Rule on Conveyances, Disclaimers, and Correction Documents:
Q's and A's”) It is therefore in violation of the Congress’s
prohibition on regulations related to RS 2477.
For these reasons, I ask that you withdraw the proposed
rule pertaining to recordable disclaimers of interest in land (RIN 1004-AD50).
Sincerely,
Thanks for your support.
Alaska Rainforest Campaign
Staff.
1. Offshore Drilling Threatens Costa Rica's Sea Turtles.
American oil companies are pressuring the Costa Rican
government
to allow oil drilling off its Caribbean
coast. Yet, drilling there
would threaten nesting
beaches for endangered sea turtles, lush
tropical
rainforest, and fragile coral reefs. Take action to
halt unwanted and harmful oil development in this region.
Urge
these companies to respect Costa Rica's autonomy
and its unique
coastal marine environment.
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/1/4005
MORE INFORMATION:
While the U.S. Senate just rejected opening the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, oil
companies continue
their push to open other wild,
scenic and sensitive areas around
the world, including
Costa Rica's fragile Caribbean coast.
The Talamanca region on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean
coast
is a lush tangle of tropical forests, mangrove
swamps, white-
sand beaches and magnificent coral
reefs. This beautiful scenery
provides critical habitat
for a number of rare species,
including nesting beaches
for several endangered sea turtles,
and is also home to
indigenous peoples who offer a model of
sustainable
living.
American oil company
Harken Holdings is planning to build
offshore rigs and
drill in the midst of Costa Rica's fragile
marine
habitat. Harken and its original partner, MKJ Explorations,
are exerting political pressure on Costa Rica's government
for
this oil development that jeopardizes the region's
fisheries
and growing ecotourism industry, and its rich
marine ecosystem.
The Costa
Rican Government recently rejected Harken's
Environmental Impact Statement because it did not comply
with
Costa Rican environmental laws, nor did it meet
the international
standards that guide offshore
drilling operations. However,
Harken continues its
pursuit and has appealed to Costa Rica's
President to
overturn the decision by the Costa Rican
environmental
agency.
Take action! Protect
Costa Rica's spectacular Caribbean coastline.
Urge
Harken/MKJ and the Costa Rican government to halt plans for
offshore drilling in this sensitive region while assuming
the
role of responsible global corporate citizens.
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/1/4005
2. ACTIVIST TIPS
* Try to cut down on the shrimp that you eat. Shrimp
trawling results
in more bycatch than other fishing
methods, with unwanted animals
making up as much as 80
percent of the total catch by weight.
These unwanted
animals are simply discarded, dead, overboard.
* Use nontoxic pest control in your garden. Nearly 10% of
common
water pollution is caused by homeowners using
pesticides and
fertilizers.
3. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:
In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we
create, but by what we refuse to destroy.
-- John C. Sawhill
To: All Activists
From: Anne Martin and Mark Salvo, American Lands Alliance
and Caroline
Cox, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives
to Pesticides
Subject: Endorse
the "Restore Native Ecosystems Alternative" to the
Bureau of Land Management 16-State Environmental Impact
Statement
Endorsements due
April 26th to annem@americanlands.org
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is drafting a plan to
treat six
million acres of vegetation annually on
agency holdings in sixteen
western states. The
Vegetation Treatments, Watersheds and Wildlife
Habitats
on Public Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management
in the Western United States, Including Alaska Draft
Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) is driven by the
National Fire Plan (and the
rapid spread of noxious
weeds) and will address an area several times
larger
than the controversial Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem
Management Project (ICBEMP). Vegetation
treatments will include
prescribed fire, logging, and
mechanical, cultural and chemical
applications to
control invasive species and restore natural fire
regimes. While these are unsavory methods to conservations,
of greater
concern is the BLM's unwillingness to
address the causes of vegetation
problems in the
proposed EIS. Our response is the Restore Native
Ecosystems Alternative, which focuses on logging, grazing,
oil, gas, and
mineral development, roading and off-road
vehicle use as the primary
causes of vegetation and
fire problems on public lands.
This EIS will cover a stunning array of ecosystems and
habitats on 262
million acres managed by the BLM in the
following states: Alaska,
Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, North and
South Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, and
Wyoming. These landscapes
include millions of acres of wilderness
quality lands,
many of which have little or no formal protection from
damaging activities. They also include an
astonishing range of unique,
native plant and wildlife
species, from the Arizona agave (century
plant) to
desert tortoise, sage grouse, and bull trout.
The BLM's proposed management of site-conditions on these
lands is to
ignore the past and present impacts of
logging, burning, grazing,
road-building, and other
disturbance activities that have created the
undesired
vegetation and fire conditions. The BLM has specifically
stated that this EIS will not address the causes of
invasive weeds, but
only tender more of the usual
treatments for ongoing vegetation
problems. For example, herbicide spraying is
expected to increase by
600 percent on over a million
acres in the new plan.
The
Restore Native Ecosystems Alternative adopts a radically different
approach to preventing the spread of invasive weeds and
restoring native
ecosystems. The
alternative, drafted and reviewed by over a dozen
conservationists, would force the BLM to address the causes
of present
landscape maladies and reduce or alter a
variety of land uses that
contribute to weed and fire
problems.
Please review the
Alternative and cover letter at
http://www.americanlands.org/citizens_alternative.htm We
must submit
our alternative by the end of the
month. Please send all endorsements
to Anne
Martin, American Lands National Field Director,
annem@americanlands.org, by April 26,
2002. Please send your name,
organization,
city and state.
Organizations
that have already signed on include:
American Lands Alliance
Science
and Environmental Health Network
Idaho Conservation
League
Biodiversity Associates
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
Colorado Environmental Coalition
If you have any questions, please
contact Caroline Cox, Northwest
Coalition for
Alternatives to Pesticides at ccox@pesticide.org or
541-344-5044, ext. 24. Anne is on vacation
through the 26th.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American
Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
To: All Activists
From: Brian Vincent
Date: April 23, 2002
Help Defeat the Senate Energy Bill
The
Senate energy bill (S. 517) began as a promising vehicle for meeting
our
nation's energy needs, cutting oil dependence, diversifying our
energy
portfolio, saving consumers money and otherwise forging a path to
a clean
energy future. However, the Senate has voted to weaken the bill
with a series of amendments supported by industries that stand in the
way of technology and progress. In its current form, the Senate
energy
bill fails to: reduce our dependence on imported oil,
significantly
increase our nation's overall energy security, protect
electricity
consumers, and safeguard our environment.
To make the
situation even worse, the House passed Energy bill includes
provisions to
drill in the Arctic and to make it much easier to drill on
National Forest
lands. If a bill emerges from the Senate, it will have
to
compromised with this bad House bill and then be made palatable
enough to
the special interests so that President Bush will agree to
sign
it. Therefore, we think it is important to stop the Senate bill
from passing the Energy bill when it comes up for a vote.
WHAT YOU
CAN DO:
The Senate approved a procedural vote today that sets the stage for
a
final vote on the bill Thursday. Please urge your Senators to
oppose
final passage of S.517, the Senate Energy bill. U.S.
Capitol
Switchboard: 202/224-3121
SAMPLE LETTER TO
SENATE (PLEASE FAX - DC MAIL STILL DELAYED UP TO TWO
MONTHS)
DATE
The Honorable ___________
U.S. Senate
Dear Senator ____________:
The Senate energy bill (S. 517) began as a promising vehicle for meeting
our nation's energy needs, cutting oil dependence, diversifying our
energy portfolio, saving consumers money and otherwise forging a path to
a clean energy future. However, the Senate has voted to weaken
the bill
with a series of amendments supported by industries that stand in
the
way of technology and progress. In its current form, the
Senate energy
bill fails to: reduce our dependence on imported
oil, significantly
increase our nation's overall energy security, protect
electricity
consumers, and safeguard our environment. In fact,
the bill actually
weakens many existing environmental and consumer
protections. We urge
the Senate to oppose passage of S. 517.
At a minimum, comprehensive energy legislation should adhere to the
following core principles:
*Protect all of our nation's most wild
places, including roadless areas,
National Wildlife Refuges, coastal areas,
and habitat critical to
imperiled species. While we are pleased
the Senate rejected a proposal
to open up the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to development, we are
concerned that congressional and
Administration attempts to increase
energy production have
now shifted
to other wildlands such as the interior Rocky Mountain west,
Utah, and
southern California.
*Reduce consumption of oil by at least one million
barrels a day by
2013. Increasing fuel efficiency standards for
cars and light trucks
would go a long way toward meeting this goal.
*Guarantee that at least 10 percent of our electricity supplies come
from new, clean, renewable energy resources by 2020. It should be
noted
that American Lands does not support proposals in the bill that would
facilitate logging on public lands for biomass. National Forests
are
complex
ecosystems that afford habitat for a variety of
species. Classifying
them as renewable energy resources would
only increase logging since
biomass plants, once built, would have to be fed
with a continual supply
of trees.
*Cut taxpayer-funded handouts to
dirty energy industries.
*Decrease pollution to our air, land, and
water; and
*Provide a reliable electricity system with adequate consumer
protections that will save consumers money and increase energy
efficiency
Unfortunately, S.517 does not meet these fundamental
standards.
American Lands urges the Senate to reject the bill in
its current form
and instead draft an energy plan that protects our
biological heritage,
public health, and consumers. Thank you.
Sincerely,
For more information please contact Brian Vincent,
530/265-3506,
wafcca@nccn.net
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Defenders of Wildlife asked a federal judge this week
to force Secretary Norton to comply with a court-approved agreement
establishing 16 new safe havens for Florida manatees. Norton has been
flouting the agreement. Instead, speeding to the aid of boat
manufacturers, marinas and pleasure boaters, she's trying to weaken
protections for the imperiled sea cows. She ignored the objections of a
supervisor in one of her own agencies when she decided to allow boat
manufacturers to test watercraft at high speeds inside existing manatee
sanctuaries. Last year alone, 81 manatees died in collisions with boats,
and powerboats killed 18 more just this past January -- a record for a
single month.
