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To: Northeast Activists
RE: National Forest
Roadless Area Conservation Act
4/24/02
THANKS FOR CALLS – THEY’RE
WORKING!
As of late yesterday 52 Representatives have signed on to the
Boehlert (R-NY) and Inslee (D-WA) “Dear Colleague” letter as original cosponsors
of the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act.
When I talked to
offices yesterday, the aids said they were getting a lot of calls supporting the
bill. The latest list of cosigners from our region is below. If your
Rep has signed on please give him/her a thank you call. If not please
call them and ask they sign up. I’ve been pitching the bill as one of
the most significant environmental measures to come down the pike in a long
while, and that we feel confident that we can win this one.
We’ve stopped them in the Arctic Nation Wildlife
Refuge! Let’s stop the destruction of our Roadless Areas!
A
copy of the Boehlert/ Inslee letter and a list of member phone numbers is
below.
Northeast Signers (as of 4/23)
Mr. Boehlert
(R-NY)
Mr. Towns (D-NY)
Mr. Hinchey (D-NY)
Mr. Serrano (D-NY)
Ms. Maloney (D-NY)
Mr. McGovern (D-MA)
Mr. Frank (D-MA)
Mr.
Olver (D-MA)
Mr. Capuano (D-MA)
Ms. Delauro (D-CT)
Ms. Johnson
(R-CT)
Mr. Shays (R-CT)
Mr. Kennedy (D-RI)
Mr. Langevin (D-RI)
April 12, 2002
Dear Colleague:
We will soon
introduce legislation to protect the remaining roadless areas in our National
Forests. Our bill, the "National Forest Roadless Area Conservation
Act," will codify the Forest Service's Roadless Area Conservation Rule
promulgated early last year. By protecting these areas, we ensure that these
pristine forests providesources of public drinking water, undisturbed habitats
for fish and wildlife and barriers against invasive plant and animal species.
Currently, road building and economic utilization such as logging and mining are
allowed on more than half of our National Forest System Lands. This legislation
represents a true balance between environmental and economic concerns about our
National Forests.
While the goal of our bill is to ensure that we
protect our last pristine wild forests by reinforcing the Roadless Rule and
prohibiting new road construction and reconstruction, it is not a complete ban
on road building,
road reconstruction or economic utilization. For
instance, our legislation:
·
allows new roads to be constructed in specified circumstances, such as to fight
fires or when other
natural disasters
threaten public safety,
· does not close any existing
roads or trails and allows full-access for recreational activities such
as
backpacking, camping, hunting and
fishing,
· does not affect the right of access to
property owned by states or individuals,
· allows
logging of certain timber to reduce the risk of wildfires, and
· allows for expansion of oil and gas operations within
existing or renewed leased areas.
This legislation is in response to an overwhelming public
response to protect our forests. A record-breaking 1.6 million people
submitted comments on the policy, the vast majority of which were in support of
a strong protection plan.
The
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2002 is environmentally sound
legislation, and reflects the premium that Americans place on untouched
lands. We urge you to join us in our effort to protect these
important lands.
If you would like to become an original cosponsor, please
contact Jennifer Singer in Rep. Inslee's office at: x 5-6311 or
Jennifer.Singer@mail.house.gov or Mark Abdy in Rep. Boehlert's office
at: x 5-3665 or Mark.Abdy@mail.house.gov. DEADLINE FOR
COSPONSORING IS MAY 8, 2002.
Northeast Representative Phone 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
Action deadline: April 26, 2002
If you are already a WWF
Conservation Action Network member, see below
for how
to take action. If you received this email from a friend,
please visit the Conservation Action Network at
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to take action on
this issue.
Please help
determine the future of the Tennessee River, one of the
most diverse freshwater systems in the
world. Home to colorful
darters, endangered
mussels, elegant paddlefish, and huge sturgeon,
the
more than 600-mile-long Tennessee River is also subject to
enormous pressures from increased human
population. World Wildlife
Fund has
recognized the Southeastern rivers and streams ecoregion,
which encompasses the Tennessee River, as among the
richest, rarest,
and most biologically important
ecoregions in the world.
Now there's an important opportunity to influence the
management of
the Tennessee River watershed and to
advocate for protection of its
world-class
biodiversity. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is
studying its reservoir operations and examining the
policies that
guide flood control, navigation, water
quality, and other aspects of
river
management. As part of the study, TVA is asking the public to
identify what's really important to them about how the
valley's
natural resources are managed. TVA
will use public comments along
with input from state
and federal agencies to prepare alternatives for
managing the river system.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS BELOW TO URGE THE TENNESSEE
VALLEY
AUTHORITY TO PROTECT THE RIVER'S AQUATIC
BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM
HEALTH.
**************************TAKE
ACTION NOW! ************************
To send the message below, as is, to the Tennessee Valley
Authority,
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 "Protect the
Tennessee River
Watershed" and follow the instructions for adding your
own thoughts to your message.
Please forward this email to your
friends and colleagues and ask them
to act today.
*********************LETTER
TEXT******************
David Nye
Project Manager
Reservoir
Operations Study
Tennessee Valley Authority
c/o WT 11A
400 West Summit Hill
Dr.
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902
Dear Mr. Nye:
I write to urge you to make
protection of aquatic biodiversity and
overall
ecosystem health the primary considerations when managing the
Tennessee River Valley's reservoirs.
The Tennessee River and its
tributaries contain some of the world's
richest
freshwater aquatic biodiversity. Therefore, I urge you to
manage the watershed to protect the river's remaining
species and to
encourage the reintroduction of species
that once lived in its waters.
Maintaining overall
ecosystem health will provide numerous benefits
for
people, including clean drinking water.
Specifically, I urge you to
* examine the short- and long-term ecological
effects of river
operations and proposed public
policies
* confer
with biologists in the Southeast and elsewhere to determine
how the river might be better managed to protect aquatic
species
* make
mimicking the natural flows of the river a priority,
especially those flows needed to sustain endangered,
threatened,
endemic, and other at-risk species
* create maps for each
watershed detailing tributaries, their
historic water
levels, pollution sources, water withdrawals and
transfers, percent of impervious surface, and other
information that
would aid federal, state, and local
officials in planning for the
future
* before implementing
large-scale changes in management, do careful
experiments on a few tributaries to determine if the
changes are
helping or harming important natural
processes
* search for ways to expand and increase funding
for species
reintroductions done in partnership with
other organizations and
agencies
* quantify and
determine the impacts of interbasin water transfers on
the health of the river system
* create incentives for
conservation of water and energy resources
* maintain ownership of the land TVA owns around
reservoirs and
rivers. These lands serve as
buffers against the pollution that
development would
bring if they were sold.
The
Reservoir Operations Study is a rare opportunity to orient river
management toward protection of biodiversity and ecosystem
functions.
Please ensure that the alternatives that TVA
prepares give high
priority to these goals.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The rivers and streams of the southeastern United States
boast one of
the highest levels of freshwater species
diversity in the temperate
world, and support about 90
percent of the mussel and crayfish species
and almost
three-quarters of the aquatic snail species in the United
States. Unfortunately, myriad threats have led
to numerous species
extinctions in the region.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has
many missions, including supplying
water to
communities, maintaining water quality, producing power, and
providing recreation opportunities. How TVA
manages the Tennessee
River system has enormous effects
on the health of the ecosystem.
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
To: Northeast Activists
From: John
Demos
Date: April 24, 2001
Register for the Forest Protection Week June 2 - 7
NORTHEASTERS NEEDED IN DC THIS
YEAR!
The Bush Administration
lost the recent vote to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but it is
continuing a low-profile, intense effort to open up many other public lands to
increased timbering, and oils and gas exploration.
This June we expect landmark legislation to codify the
National Forest Roadless Area Policy. We need help from a few leaders and
activists from each state to help us pass this historic bill. Also we
will need help stopping many destructive "riders" that are apt to be attached to
the Interior Appropriations bill and to attach beneficial amendments.
COME HELP WITH THESE ISSUES AND
PITCH YOUR OWN LOCAL ISSUES
YOU are invited to join activists from across he 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.
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 me
. I will be coordinating with you to schedule meetings on Capitol
Hill.
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 to me at: demos@americanlands.org.
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)?
MA, NH, VT, NY, RI,
CT, MASS, NJ: contact John Demos, Northeast
Organizer, at 207-384-0175 or
mailto:demos@americanlands.org
John Demos
Northeast Organizer
American Lands Alliance
59 Rodier
Rd.
South Berwick, ME 03908
207-384-0175
demos@americanlands.org
****************************
*
WILDALERT
* April 24, 2002
****************************
Dear WildAlert Subscriber,
The Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana is the
quintessential
West: a land of rolling hills and
prairies nestled between mountain
ranges; a transition
between the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
Unfortunately, as a result of the Bush Administration's
National
Energy Policy, the Bureau of Land Management
is proposing massive
increases in oil and gas drilling
in this magnificent area. Powder
River and many other
special places with energy development
potential
throughout the West could be lost due to the precedent-
setting effect of these proposals. So speak up now and
submit your
comments to protect Powder
River! PLEASE customize your letter as
the
BLM has indicated that it may count multiple comments (sent via
email action tools like ours) as a single comment if the
letters are
identical:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1375
BACKGROUND
Last May, the Bush Administration
released its controversial
National Energy
Policy. The policy was created with extensive input
from industry, including massive corporations like Enron.
It
included almost no input from environmentalists and
other citizens
concerned about the
land. There's a reason why the policy reads
like an oil industry wish list: that's precisely what it
is. It
proposes to roll back protections for public
resources and values
like water and
wildlife. If implemented, the result could be
disastrous to the natural heritage of the Rocky Mountain
West.
In the first
on-the-ground examples of how oil and natural gas will
be developed on public lands under the National Energy
Policy, the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
proposed a massive increase
in oil and gas drilling in
two proposals affecting the Powder River
Basin in
northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. The BLM is
proposing to allow the oil industry to drill as many as
80,000 oil
and gas wells in the Powder River
Basin. These wells will primarily
extract
"coalbed methane." Coalbed methane is natural gas extracted
from coal seams, and which has a number of severe
environmental
drawbacks.
But the significance of these
proposals lies not just in the
enormous impacts to the
Powder River Basin, but also in how they
will influence
drilling on other lands with energy development
potential throughout the west. That is why it is
so critical that
you comment on BLM's Powder River
Basin proposals today.
IMPACT
ON THE LAND
The Powder River
Basin proposals could lead to as many as 80,000 new
oil
and gas wells being drilled. Between the two proposals, there
would be 26,000 to 44,000 miles of roads built, 50,000 to
over
100,000 miles of new pipelines and utility
corridors constructed,
and at least 1.6 million acres
of land disturbed. Many hundreds to
thousands of "facilities" would be built for oil and gas
processing
or waste disposal. The impacts to
water, wildlife, and other
resources, would be massive.
Coalbed methane production on
this scale will involve pumping to the
surface nearly
*two trillion* gallons of water, much of it so saline
that it is harmful to crops. Once on the
surface, energy companies
will dispose of the water by
dumping it into pits or into streams in
the
region. So huge an increase in flows--and flows of dangerously
polluted water--will create huge erosion problems in this
arid land
and alter stream ecosystems.
The Powder River Basin is blessed
with abundant wildlife populations
that would be
significantly impacted by the proposed drilling. The
Wyoming portion of the Basin alone is home to over 157,000
mule
deer, 108,000 pronghorn antelope, and almost
12,000 elk, and the
proposed alternative would have
severe impacts on big game winter
ranges. In
its Wyoming EIS, BLM admits its preferred
alternative
"may result in loss of viability on federal lands or
range wide, and may result in trends toward federal
listing" under
the Endangered Species Act for 16
species, including the white-
tailed prairie dog,
burrowing owl, Brewer's sparrow, and northern
leopard
frog, to name a few. In Montana, large scale impacts are
possible to golden eagles and sage grouse.
SETTING A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
BLM's Powder River Basin proposals
illustrate how the National
Energy Policy will
"expedite" oil and gas drilling on our public
lands. These proposals also show the influence
of 43 "tasks" BLM
has created for itself as a means to
give primacy to energy
development. BLM
refers to the 43 tasks as ways to "streamline"
development of oil and gas, but in reality these tasks call
for
severely weakening public input and environmental
safeguards, like
the National Environmental Policy
Act. Furthermore, the Powder
River Basin
proposals also demonstrate the chilling effect the
Administration's new requirement to prepare "energy impact
statements" is having on development of alternative
courses of
action that would allow energy development
to occur while ensuring
that environmental protections
get short-shrift.
Because the
Powder River Basin proposals are a test run for the
Administration's disastrous energy policy, their impact
will reach
far beyond the Powder River Basin and into
other sensitive places in
the inter-mountain
West. The Powder River Basin proposals show
that, left to its own devices, BLM will only seriously
consider
alternatives that lead to massive increases in
drilling. For
example, the environmental
impact statement for the Powder River
Basin in Wyoming
only seriously considers two alternatives, both of
which allow for full-scale energy
development. The Powder River
Basin
proposals also show that the BLM will seek to divide
ecosystems into pieces (here by dividing one watershed
between
separate analyses) so it can avoid full
disclosure of cumulative
impacts and the need to
minimize them. Your comments can help stop
these and other abuses--in the Powder River Basin, and
elsewhere.
YOUR COMMENTS
NEEDED NOW!
BLM's proposals
for oil and gas drilling in the Powder River Basin
can
be found in two environmental impact statements (EIS), one for
Montana and one for Wyoming. PLEASE customize your letter
as the BLM
is calling for individual comments and
discouraging mass mailings of
pre-written comments.
Take action from our web site and
include your own thoughts:
http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/?step=2&item=1375
Or send your comments
directly. Comments on the Montana EIS are due
May 15
and must be sent to:
Mary
Bloom
Bureau of Land Management
111 Garryowen Road
Miles City, MT
59301
Email: coalbed_methane@state.mt.us
The full Montana EIS can be seen
at:
http://deq.state.mt.us/CoalBedMethane/DraftEIS/DraftPublicEIS.pdf
Feel free to use these
talking points in your letter:
++ The BLM should not allow the Powder River Basin to be
overrun by
thousands of oil and gas wells, as the
preferred alternative would
allow.
++ Other resources, particularly
water and wildlife, would be
severely damaged under the
massive development scenario BLM is
proposing.
++ Big game herds as well as many other species such as
golden
eagles, sage grouse, burrowing owls,
white-tailed prairie dogs, and
many songbirds would be
harmed by the proposed action.
++ Groundwater would be severely depleted, and streams and
stream
ecosystems would be significantly impacted by
massive increases in
water flows and
salinity.
++ BLM
fails to provide, or ensure, sufficient mitigation to avoid
these problems in its preferred alternative.
++ BLM should develop and adopt an
alternative that provides for the
following:
- effective monitoring of coalbed methane development and
active
enforcement of existing laws;
- the use of aquifer recharge, clustered development, and
other best-
available technologies to minimize and
avoid impacts;
- collection of thorough and up to date
inventories of fish,
wildlife, and plants to ensure
they are adequately protected coupled
with the use of
phased development so that impacts are diffused; and
-
complete reclamation of all disturbed areas, which should be
ensured by adequate bonds.
++ BLM should provide for
meaningful public involvement
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
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http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
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Founded in 1935, The
Wilderness Society works to protect America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild
lands
through public education, scientific analysis and
advocacy. Our
goal is to ensure that future
generations will enjoy the clean air
and water,
wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that pristine forests, rivers, deserts and
mountains
provide. To take action on behalf of
wildlands today, visit our
website at http://www.wilderness.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 24, 2002
Contact: Steve Holmer, 202/547-1905
Farm Bill Provision Opens to Door
to Unaccountable and Uncontrolled Logging
WASHINGTON: Farm Bill conferees are currently debating the
controversial
stewardship contracting proposal which
would weaken current standards
for logging on public
lands and open the door to a massive giveaway of
trees
from the National Forests, says American Lands Alliance.
"The stewardship contracting
provision allows the Forest Service to
treat the
National Forests as their private piggy bank," said Steve
Holmer, Campaign Coordinator for American Lands
Alliance. "This opens
the door to
uncontrolled logging and Enron accounting that will leave
our National Forests ecologically bankrupt."
Conservationists are urging Farm
Bill conferees to remove the
stewardship contracting
language from the Farm Bill. The provision
gives the Forest Service expanded authority to give away
trees to pay
for other activities, to skip the
requirement of the National Forest
Management Act to
mark each tree to be logged, and to create a new
off-budget revolving fund similar to the Salvage Fund that
encourages
more logging.
"It is premature to give the
Forest Service expended authority to log
the National
Forests," said Holmer. "The General Accounting Office
reports serious mismanagement and a lack of accountability
in the Forest
Service timber sale
program. Allowing this agency a powerful new
authority to give away trees opens the door to further
abuse."
Stewardship
contracting initiated in 1999 currently has 84 pilot
projects in progress, but few are finished, and none have
been
thoroughly monitored or analyzed to determine
their impact. The Farm
bill proposes to end
the pilot status of this program and grant the
Forest
Service broad new authorities until 2007 or perhaps longer if the
Farm bill is authorized for seven or ten years.
"The Forest Service has announced
to the timber industry that they
intend to abuse goods
for services to support logging the National
Forests,"
said Holmer. "This program should be stopped and instead,
Congress should fund a real ecological restoration program
that is not
dependant on logging to pay for the work."
Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, ranking
Democrat on the House Resources Committee,
issued a
letter to the conferees urging them to drop the stewardship
contracting provision. A copy of this letter is available
upon request.
# 30 #
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: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 24, 2002
Help Stop Bad Deal on Farm Bill
Logging Provision
We are
hearing disturbing rumors that the Farm bill conferees are close
to a deal. This harmful agreement would allow
for 75 new stewardship
logging projects are year with
no monitoring requirements, where the
Forest Service
can give away unlimited amounts of trees, not mark the
trees that will be logged, and use a new off budget slush
fund to pay
for still more logging
projects.
We
really need a act fast if we are going to stop the stewardship
contracting language in the Farm Bill. Calls are
urgently needed to
Sen. Tom Harkin, Sen. Tom Daschle,
Sen. Patrick Leahy and House Minority
Leader Dick
Gephardt.
Please let them know
that the conservation community is opposed to
granting
the Forest Service these new stewardship contracting
authorities which both allow for and encourage uncontrolled
and
unaccountable logging on the National
Forests. Remind that the pilots
have been
very controversial due to the amount of logging involved and
that it is premature to grant the agency this broad new
authority.
Senator Staff Phone
Fax
Sen. Tom Harkin
(D-IA) Lloyd Ritter 202/224-3254
224-9287
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) Peter Hansen
202/224-2321 224-7895
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Melody
Burkins 202/224-4242 224-3479
Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO)
Kyle Mulhal 202/225-2671 225-7452
Minority Leader's
Office Bill Frymoyer 202/225-0100 226-0938
Thanks for all your efforts to stop the 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
1. Logging threatens Old Growth Forests!
Issued in January 2001 after the most extensive public
rulemaking in
history, the U.S. Forest Service Roadless
Rule protects 58.5 million acres
of undeveloped
national forest land from most commercial logging and
road-building.
Last May, after a three-month review and under pressure
from Congress
and the public, the Bush administration
pledged to uphold the rule,
promising only minor
changes. Recently, however, the administration
has
recently been working with the timber industry to significantly
weaken scientific and ecological standards that protect our
national forests.
Perhaps forgetting how many people are opposed, the
government
has granted scores of timber sales, which
would have been
prohibited by the roadless rule, in
some of our national forests'
most pristine areas.
These include almost three dozen sales in
Alaska's
Tongass National Forest, our largest old-growth forest.
The Bush administration also has given the "go-ahead" to
logging
or road-building in roadless areas for national
forests in Idaho,
Colorado, California, Montana and
Illinois.
Americans have
delivered more than 2.2 million official comments
to
the Forest Service, saying that they want our last wild
national forests protected through the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule, but we must now make our voices louder.
Sign
this petition today to the U.S. Congress to INSIST
that your voice is
heard, and that the Bush
Administration keep its promise to protect
our last
wild national forests.
Click here - it's FREE: http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/4033
2. ACTIVIST TIPS
* Buy recycled paper whenever possible. Not only does it
save trees,
but it cuts down on pollution and toxic
waste.
* Get rid of junk mail. Write to your credit
card company and tell
them to stop sending you
promotional offers.
3.
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE
"Friends at home! I charge you to
spare, preserve, and cherish
some portion of your
primitive foredst; for when these are cut away
I
apprehend they will not be easily replaced."
-- Horace
Greeley, New York Tribune, 1851
Response to the Forest Leadership Forum Global Conference,
Atlanta,
April 25th-27th, 2002
Unified Position Statement and
Call to Action from
Forest Protection NGO's
We, the undersigned environmental
organizations, representing millions
of citizens in the
U.S. and abroad have come together to express our
unified concerns regarding the fate of the world's
forests. We are
concerned with:
· The continued logging of the
world's last remaining ancient forests in
countries
including Canada, Russia and Chile;
· The rampant
illegal logging of forests occurring in countries
including Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Gabon for
Congo Basin and
Papua New Guinea.
· The industrial-scale clearing and conversion of diverse
natural
forests into ecologically barren tree
plantations that is occurring
around the world,
including in Chile and the United States.
· The
unsustainable forest management on industrial lands.
Such wide-scale forest destruction
impacts water and air quality,
wildlife, the earth's
climate and the quality of life for human
communities
worldwide.
In the U. S., on
both public and private lands, the conversion of
natural forests has destroyed much forest habitat in the
Pacific
Northwest and continues to destroy forests
across the Southeast at an
alarming
rate. The Southern U.S. now produces more wood products than
any other country in the world and accounts for 60% of all
logging in
the U.S. Pine plantations in the
South expanded by 1,600% from 2
million acres in 1953
to 32 million acres in 1999. Over the past two
decades,
75% of pine plantations were established at the expense of
natural forests and forested wetlands. By 2040,
pine plantations will
increase by an additional 60% to
comprise one-quarter of all Southern
"forests (See
Southern Forest Resource Assessment, USDA/USFS, November
2001 (SFRA)).
The continued conversion of natural forests in the South to
plantations
is not acceptable. The South's natural
forests are projected to decrease
an additional 25
million acres by 2040. The South has the highest
number of endangered ecosystems of any region in the U.S.
More than 30%
of the South's natural plant communities
are critically endangered. In
fact, 25 forest
communities are listed as endangered with 14 listed as
critically endangered, indicating they have lost more than
98 percent of
their area. This includes the
Longleaf pine ecosystem, which once
dominated 40% of
the Southern Coastal Plain from southern Virginia to
eastern Texas. Thus, it is critical to halt
further losses of these
natural forests and the species
that depend on them and to begin active
restoration
(See SFRA)).
We are concerned
that some of the world's largest forest products
corporations that are "certified" by or otherwise
considered to be in
compliance with the "Sustainable
Forestry Initiative", originating from
the American
Forest & Paper Association, continue to harvest endangered
forests and to convert natural forests to tree plantations,
among other
objectionable practices. We are
equally concerned with other
industry-driven
certification programs.
Thus,
on the occasion of this global conference we wish to formally
register our concerns about the fate of the world's
forests, including
here in the Southern U. S., where
removals of softwood forests are
exceeding growth and
hardwood forests are projected to meet a similar
fate
by 2025. Millions of acres of natural forests and wetlands are
being lost to conversion to industrial tree plantations
primarily for
timber and paper production.
We demand public and
ecological accountability on the part of AF&PA
corporations and the entire global forest products
industry.
We call on the
industry to:
1. End the
logging of endangered forests, including wetlands and other
critically endangered forests as identified above;
2. End illegal logging;
3. End the
conversion of natural forests to plantations;
4. Accept
and embrace ecologically sound forest management and
restoration practices, many of which are embodied under the
Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) certification
program.
5. Reduce demand for forest
resources through a commitment to maximize
the use of
recycled materials.
Finally, we call on our trusted elected officials to
enforce and enact
necessary, meaningful forest
protection policy.
American
Lands Alliance Dogwood Alliance
ForestEthics Greenpeace
International
Natural Resources Defense Council
Rainforest Action Network
Southern Environmental Law
Center Southwings
Press
Contacts
For questions regarding forests in the
Southern U.S. contact:
Danna Smith Derb Carter
Dogwood Alliance Southern Environmental Law Center
828 242 3590 919 967 1450
For questions regarding SFI and other certification
programs contact:
Randi Spivak Kate Heaton
American Lands Alliance Natural Resources Defense Council
310 779 4894 510 387 3495
Michael Marx Michael Brune
ForestEthics Rainforest Action Network
510 410 0379 415 596 7246
For questions regarding logging of
endangered forests and illegal
logging contact:
Tzeporah Berman Paulo Adario
Forest Ethics Greenpeace Amazon Project
510 410 9379 510 508 9237
Tamara Stark Jennifer Krill
Greenpeace Canada Rainforest Action Network
604 761 2235 415 720 3150
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
Last week, one or both of your senators voted against
allowing oil
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge and helped win a
crucial battle in the fight to
keep the refuge wild and free. Please
thank
them by following the simple steps below.
**************************TAKE ACTION NOW!
************************
To
send the message below, as is, to your senator(s), hit "reply" to
this email and then "send." We will
automatically send the message(s)
for you.
Note: You can take
action only by following these instructions. This
action is not posted on the WWF Conservation Action Network
Web site.
*****************************LETTER
TEXT*****************************
Dear (your senator's name will be inserted here):
I greatly appreciate your vote
last week to protect the Arctic
National Wildlife
Refuge from oil development.
The Senate's momentous vote sent a strong message that the
Arctic
Refuge is a unique national treasure that should
be protected for
future generations of people and
wildlife. It also is a significant
victory for those
who believe that we can develop a future-oriented
energy policy that protects our wilderness and wildlife
resources.
I believe our
country can find creative ways to conserve energy and
switch to the alternative energy sources that represent an
environmentally sound future. If we
truly want to make an immediate
and substantial impact
to conserve energy, we need to change America's
gas-guzzling addiction by increasing fuel efficiency
standards. If
new cars, minivans, and SUVs
got just 3 miles more per gallon, it
would save more
oil in 10 years than would be produced in the Arctic
Refuge.
Thank you for standing up for this special American place.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be inserted here
***********************END OF LETTER
TEXT*********************
______________________________________________________________________
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
As a first step in the Bush administration's energy policy,
the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing that the oil industry be
allowed to drill as many as 80,000 oil and gas wells in the spectacular Powder
River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. BLM's
proposal will be accompanied by massive road construction, with severe impacts
to the huge deer, elk, and antelope herds in the area.
The BLM is currently accepting
comments for the Environmental Impact Statement for their drilling proposal for
the Powder River Basin. Follow the link below to go to a web page
where you can e-mail the BLM and register your opposition to their proposal.
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=308&id4=ES
BACKGROUND
Last May, the Bush Administration released its
controversial energy policy. The policy was created with extensive
input from powerful interests, including massive corporations like Enron, and
almost no input from environmentalists and other citizens concerned about the
land. The resulting policy reads like an oil industry wish list, with
numerous proposals to roll back protections for public resources and values like
water and wildlife.
Accordingly, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
proposed a massive increase in oil and gas drilling in two proposals affecting
the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern
Montana. The BLM proposals (the project is divided between Montana
and Wyoming) would allow the oil industry to drill as many as 80,000 oil and gas
wells, to build up to 44,000 miles of new roads and 100,000 miles of new
pipelines and utility corridors. At least 1.6 million acres of land
would be disturbed in the Powder River Basin.
The Powder River Basin is also home to abundant wildlife
populations that would feel the impacts of drilling. The Wyoming
portion of the Basin alone is home to over 157,000 mule deer, 108,000 pronghorn
antelope, and almost 12,000 elk. In its Wyoming environmental impact
statement, the BLM admits its preferred alternative "may result in loss of
viability on federal lands or range wide, and may result in trends toward
federal listing" under the Endangered Species Act for 16 species, including the
white-tailed prairie dog, burrowing owl, Brewer's sparrow, and northern leopard
frog, to name a few. In Montana, large-scale impacts are possible to
golden eagles and sage grouse.
In addition, much of the federally owned oil and gas BLM
wants to lease in the Powder River Basin underlies private lands owned by
ranchers and farmers. These landowners have little say in how oil and
gas is developed once BLM leases the minerals, and their farming and ranching
operations can be severely affected. The massive increase in drilling
that BLM is proposing will heighten these problems.
The significance of this proposal lies not just in the
enormous impacts to the Powder River Basin itself, but also in the precedent
that will be set for drilling on other public lands with energy development
potential. Places such as Yellowstone, the spectacular Rocky Mountain
Front near Glacier National Park in Montana, Utah's Red Rock Desert, and New
Mexico's Otero Mesa could be subject to drilling.
The BLM is currently accepting comments for the
Environmental Impact Statement for their drilling proposal for the Powder River
Basin. Follow the link below to go to a web page where you can e-mail
the BLM and register your opposition to their proposal.
http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=308&id4=ES
Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
U.S. PIRG Executive Director
http://www.USPIRG.org
Dear Members of Global Response’s “Quick Response Network:”
Citizens from the village of
Stratoniki in northeastern Greece have
contacted us
asking for assistance to stop the dangerous and destructive
mining that is being conducted immediately under their
town. Despite the
opposition of the majority of local
people and their officials, the Greek
government has
given permission to the Canadian company TVX, to continue
mining. These activities have already caused the land
surface to collapse in
several places, cracking houses.
Because the area is underlain by extremely
active
geologic faults, such mining has the potential for truly significant
harm to property and human lives.
All formal
opposition to the mining by the citizens and their local
officials has met with no success so far. Thus, they
recently conducted
public demonstrations, which were
violently quelled by an outside police
force sent in by
the central government. Numerous local citizens have been
arrested and charged with serious offenses in a clear
attempt to prevent
further demonstrations and to allow
mining to proceed.
Please support these citizens in their
attempt to have their voices
heard and to gain some
local control over their environment and their lives.
We ask that you send e-mails, faxes, and letters by May 10,
2002, to the
Greek government officials and TVX
officers listed below, requesting the
following: Given the obvious dangers to the
citizens of Stratoniki, we ask
that TVX immediately
stop mining under the village and not be allowed to
continue any such mining operations without their formal
consent. We also
ask that the citizens’ struggle for
the protection of their village not be
penalized and
all charges against them be dropped.
A sample letter containing additional details on the
situation in
Stratoniki and the names of officials to
whom your correspondence should be
addressed follows.
Due to the time constraints, we suggest that emails or
faxes would be the best way to communicate your wishes.
THANKS FOR YOUR
SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF STRATONIKI.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Prime Minister,
RE : TVX Hellas mining activities
under Stratoniki
We wish to
express our concern about the mining activity of TVX Hellas S.A.
under the village of Stratoniki, Halkidiki. This
company is undermining the
safety and security of the
village and its inhabitants, causing damage to
houses
and drying up the area’s water resources. Tension in the village is
mounting and the first violent incidents between the
protesting residents
and the police force that is
protecting TVX have already taken place.
For the past two years, TVX has been mining the Mavres
Petres mine, most of
which is located directly
underneath Stratoniki, despite the unanimous
opposition
of its inhabitants and the municipal and prefecture councils.
Activity at the same mine by the previous mine operator had
caused extensive
land subsidence and the destruction of
a number of homes and a church. On
February 15, the
Deputy Minister of Development, Alexandros Kalaphatis,
granted TVX an official permit allowing for the
continuation of mining
operations under the village.
Current blasting has caused
severe cracks in the walls of houses and the
community
church. Furthermore, the village is located in an active seismic
zone and the villagers fear that the existence of the
underground adits
would magnify the effects of an
earthquake. Though it is true that a group
of experts
from the National Technical University of Athens which evaluated
the company’s technical study said that mining does not
entail any risks for
the village, their report clearly
states that this evaluation was based
solely on the
information provided by TVX.
Villagers claim that the underground environment of
Stratoniki, has not been
sufficiently studied and that
the danger to their lives and homes is real.
This fact
is acknowledged even in one of the studies carried out for TVX in
1995, which states: “there is considerable danger that any
further mining
activity in this area could lead to
large scale destruction of property and
risk human
lives”. The same study stresses that the extent and gravity of
the problems caused by previous mining in the area is
unknown.
Last week a surface
collapse occurred over the newly mined area, which TVX
Hellas refuses to acknowledge while continuing its
operations 24 hours a
day.
For more than a month the villagers have been protesting
daily against the
operation of the mine. A strong
police force was sent into the village to
protect TVX
from the residents, whose protest however has always been
peaceful. On Tuesday, May 16, four protestors were arrested
for no obvious
reason, and were sentenced to 8 months
imprisonment each for resisting
arrest. This event has
led to anger expressed by the residents, resulting in
a
violent reaction by the police. As a result, one policeman and 4 residents
of Stratoniki, including an 80-year old man and a 75-year
old woman, were
injured.
Also, legal charges are brought against the citizens of
Stratoniki, a
strategy clearly designed to end their
protests. So far, more than 35
citizens have been
charged with “obstructing traffic” in more than 60
individual cases and the number keeps increasing. The first
trial dates have
been set for May 23 and June 7.
Given the obvious dangers to the
citizens of Stratoniki, we ask that TVX
immediately
stop mining under the village and not be allowed to continue any
such mining operations without their formal consent. We
also ask that the
citizens’ struggle for the protection
of their village not be penalized and
all charges
against them be dropped.
Thank
you for your attention.
Yours
sincerely,
ADDRESSES/FAX/EMAIL:
Emails, faxes and letters should be sent to the following
individuals and
addresses, with copies sent to:
kadoglou@otenet.gr
Constantinos Simitis
Prime
Minister of Greece
Office address : Herodou Attikou 19
10674 Athens, Greece
fax : +3
010 6715799
e-mail: mail@primeminister.gr
Apostolos-Athanasios
Tsohatzopoulos
Minister of Development
Mailing address : Mihalakopoulou 80, Athens, Greece
fax +3 010 7788279
e-mail:
grafyp@ypan.gr
T. Sean Harvey,
President and CEO
TVX Gold Inc.
220 Bay Street, Suite 1200
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5J 2W4
Phone: 416 366 8160
Fax: 416
366 8163
e-mail: sharvey@tvxgold.com
John Reisbeck, CEO
TVX Hellas S.A. – Hellenic Gold
Stratoni, Chalkidiki
Greece
e-mail: catpap@tvx.gr
********************************
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: http://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.
EarthNet News
... a project of the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
http://www.envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
April 26, 2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week in EarthNet, find
out why the military shouldn't
be above the law and
read about how the Takings movement
took one in the
nose from the Supreme Court. Plus,
don't miss a new
video about the American Dream featured
in the GREEN
SCREENING section.
--Zachariah
Silk, EarthNet Editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shadow Congress: General
Exemption
2. Quote of the Week
3. Glimmer of Hope: Take That
4.
Mercy, Mercy Me: Told You So
5. Green Screening: Dream
Americana
6. Jobs and Internships
7. Conferences and Gatherings
8.
Activist Phone Book & EarthNet News Info
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadow Congress
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL EXEMPTION
CLICK HERE to tell your Rep to
make the military shouldn't
be above the law.
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/sdqAAaF1jPDG/
Under current law, in times when
national security
is at stake, the president may waive
environmental
rules as they apply to the Department of
Defense (DoD)
and other government agencies. But the
Bush administration
has proposed a "continuous,
across-the-board exemption"
for the Defense Department
from some of our most important
environmental
laws.
Under the
administration's proposal, the DoD would
no longer be
subject to rules that keep our children
safe from dirty
air and hazardous waste, protect endangered
species,
and preserve our oceans and open space. If
the
administration prevails, key provisions of the
Clean Air Act, Superfund, the Marine Mammal Protection
Act and the Endangered Species Act would cease to apply
to many DoD activities, regardless of whether or not
national security is at stake.
The Defense Department is already one of the nation's
biggest toxic polluters. And the laws from which the
department would be exempt include those that preserve
the air and water around our military facilities and
protect the health of people who live on or near military
bases around the country.
The House of Representatives is currently considering
President Bush's proposal as part of the larger Defense
Authorization bill. Let them know that no one is above
the law -- not even the military.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/sdqAAaF1jPDG/
Tell your Rep to make sure the military follows the
law.
FOR
MORE INFO:
**Center for Defense Information
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/xdqAAaF1jPDD/
**NRDC Report
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/e7qAAaF1mqFz/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Property is theft.
-- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TAKE THAT
In a major victory for
environmentalists and a big
blow for property-rights
zealots, the Supreme Court
ruled this week that the
Constitution does not require
governments to pay
compensation to landowners when
agencies temporarily
prohibit them from building on
their land. This
decision gives environmental regulators
a big upper
advantage over the conservative-led "property
rights"
movement. By a vote of 6 to 3, the court rejected
the
argument of a group of California property owners
that
government freezes on development are tantamount
to
official seizures -- known in legal parlance as
"takings" -- of private property and require compensation.
The court thought that such claims must be considered
case by case, balanced against other factors such as
the duration of a development moratorium and the
government's
reasons for it. Environmentalists jumped
for joy, while
property-rights folks sulked. Score one
for the good
guys.
FOR MORE INFO:
**LA Times Article
04-24
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/edqAAaF1mqFa/
**Text of Court Ruling from the NY Times
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/spqAAaF1jPD-/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MERCY, MERCY ME
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOLD YOU SO
EarthNet had an itching feeling
the administration
was going to weaken Clean Water Act
standards to appease
industry (featured in last week's
EarthNet). And, sure
enough, that's what they did. The
Environmental Protection
Agency is proposing rules that
would let mining companies
dump dirt and rock waste
from mountaintop coal mining
operations into rivers and
streams. The proposed rules,
if approved by the White
House, would provide a major
boost to low-sulfur coal
mining operations. And they'll
also undermine efforts
by environmentalists and community
groups to fight
mountaintop mining operations that
cause major damage
to rivers and streams.
FOR
MORE INFO:
**Washington Post Article 04-25
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/epqAAaF1mqFS/
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/s7qAAaF1jPDF/
Tell the administration there's no dumping allowed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GREEN SCREENING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DREAM AMERICANA
What do you think about when
someone mentions the "American
Dream?" For decades,
that phrase generated visions
of personal security,
opportunity, and happiness. More
recently, it has come
to focus on material wealth and
consumption that go
beyond anything our planet has
ever had to support.
There's a new video out --
"Rethinking the American
Dream" -- that is designed to
raise awareness about
our nation's consumptive ways,
help viewers evaluate
their current lifestyles, and
introduce choices that
can improve our natural
environment and quality of
life. The producers say the
video should be useful
to anyone who teaches about
sustainability issues,
as well as individuals who want
to learn how they can
lead more sustainable lives.
Check it out.
To preview the
video and related educational materials
go to:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/x1qAAaF1jPDJ/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Northeast Organizer
Organization: Center for Environmental Citizenship
Location: Boston, MA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/3dqAAaF1jPDC/
Job Title: Web
Production/Computing Assistant
Organization: GRACE
Location: New York, NY
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/e1qAAaF1mqFq/
Job Title: Communications Director
Organization: Greenbelt Alliance
Location: San Francisco, CA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/3pqAAaF1mqF1/
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CONFERENCES, GATHERINGS AND VIEWINGS
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Lots more events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp
Event: ColoRail Spring Meeting
Location: Englewood, CO
Date:
5/18/2002
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/x7qAAaF1jPDK/
Event: North American Indigenous
Mining Summit
Location: Crandon, WI
Date: 6/12/2002 - 6/15/2002
FOR
MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/xpqAAaF1jPDZ/
Event: JOIN PEOPLE OF COLOR TO
DEMAND A JUST BUDGET
Location: Boston, MA
Date: 4/30/2002
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/31qAAaF1jPDV/
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ACTIVIST PHONE BOOK
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U.S. Capitol Switchboard:
202.224.3121
White House Comment Line:
202.456.1111
White
House Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington,
DC
20500
Senate Address: US Senate,
Washington, DC 20510
House Address: US
House of Representatives, Washington,
DC
20515
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--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below and
tell your friends about
this important issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=san&r=d7qAAaF1jPFM
If you received this
message from a friend, you can
sign up for Student
Action Network at:
http://actionnetwork.org/san/join.html?r=d7qAAaF1jPFME
To: All Activists
From: Steve
Holmer
Date: April 29, 2002
Farm Bill Logging Provision Still
Undecided
Farm bill conferees
have not yet reached final agreement on the
stewardship
provision although according to press reports other parts of
the bill have been concluded.
We had heard rumors last week of a
possible agreement that would allow
for 75 new
stewardship logging projects are year with no monitoring
requirements, where the Forest Service can give away
unlimited amounts
of trees, not mark the trees that
will be logged, and use a new off
budget slush fund to
pay for still more logging projects. It appears
that this bad deal has not yet been finalized.
We really need a act fast if we
are going to stop the stewardship
contracting language
in the Farm Bill. Calls are urgently needed to
Sen. Tom Harkin, Sen. Tom Daschle, and Sen. Patrick Leahy.
Please leave a message with
the receptionist and respectfully urge the
Senator to
stick to the Senate language on stewardship contracting in
the Farm bill and to oppose the House language.
Senator Phone Fax
Sen. Tom Harkin
(D-IA) 202/224-3254 224-9287
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) 202/224-2321 224-7895
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) 202/224-4242 224-3479
Thanks for all your efforts to
stop the 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
