In a message dated 7/14/04 3:51:46 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< This is the letter and response to federal questionnaire from Bill Gluba,

running for Congressional District 1 against Jim Nussle. The Eagle View

Group voted to endorse Bill Gluba so the Chapter should consider whether or

not to endorse Mr. Gluba. If the ExCom does, then national will have to

consider endorsement, also.


14 July 2004


Enclosed please find my candidate questionnaire for the Sierra Club.  As a

long-time and active member of the Sierra Club and its political PAC, I

would like to formally request your endorsement for my campaign for United

States Congress.


When I am elected to Congress, I look forward to supporting legislation to

provide our generation and our future generations with clean air, water and

soil.  However, I need your help for this to happen.  I would also like to

formally request $5,000 from your federal PAC to my campaign.  Please make

the check payable to Friends of Bill Gluba, PO Box 2205, Davenport, IA

52809.  If you have any questions regarding my questionnaire or my campaign,

please feel free to contact me at 563-459-6558.


Thank you for your support and interest in my campaign for Congress.


Sincerely,


Bill Gluba

Democratic Candidate for Congress

1st Congressional District of Iowa


P.S.  Together, we can build a better country!

============================================

Sierra Club Candidate Questionnaire

Bill Gluba for Congress


ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

1.  What has been your greatest environmental achievement?


In State Senate, co-sponsored the 1st can deposit bill in Iowa.


2.  What top three environmental issues would you become actively involved

with once elected to Congress?


The three issues would be our dependence on foreign oil, clean water, and

companies that ship jobs overseas with little or no environmental

regulations in third world countries.


3.  Are there any issues where you find the pro-environment/Sierra Club

position troubling?  If so, which issue?


No problems that I know of.


PROTECTING THE NATURAL HERITAGE OF OUR PUBLIC LANDS

4.  America's National Forests and other federal public lands are owned and

enjoyed by the American people.  Unfortunately, these lands have long

suffered from money losing, taxpayer subsidized commercial logging program.


Qa.  Will you support a bill ending subsidies and phasing out the commercial

logging program in our National Forests?  Why or Why not?


I will support a bill ending subsidies and phasing out the commercial

logging program because the destruction of our National Forests should not

come at the burden of the taxpayers.


Qb.  Will you support legislation such as the National Forest Protection and

Restoration Act, which focuses on protecting and restoring National Forests?


YES!!!


5.  The National Academy of Sciences and the Supreme Court have identified

habitat protection as critical to restoring viable populations of threatened

species of wildlife and plants.


Q.  What do you think the federal role should be in protecting habitat,

including critical habitat as defined under the Endangered Species Act?


The federal government has a moral responsibility to protecting and

preserving our ecological system by any means possible.


6.  Special designations, such as Wilderness Areas and National Parks, are

also critically important for protecting habitat and for public recreation.


Qa.  Will you support significant additions to the National Wilderness

Preservation System, specifically, designating more than 9 million acres of

wilderness in Utah, or classifying the coastal plain of the Artic National

Wildlife Refuge as wilderness?


Yes.


Qb.  Would you vote against all bills and amendments authorizing drilling

for oil in the Alaska Natural Wildlife Refuge?


Absolutely!


PROTECTING OUR AIR QUALITY

7.  The Bush Administration has recently weakened the Clean Air Act's New

Source Review program, allowing factories to make substantial changes

without installing modern pollution control technology.


Q.  Do you support efforts in Congress to turn back these changes, restoring

this protection?


Yes, if factories have the money to renovate their facility, there is no

reason why a modernized pollution control system should not be apart of the

renovation.


8.  Pollution from power plants is a serious problem for communities around

the country.  Several legislative proposals address this issue, including

the Bush Administration's deceptively titled "Clear Skies" initiative, which

undermines several key Clean Air Act protections, substituting a "pollution

trading" scheme.


Q.  Will you oppose Clear Skies, and support efforts to clean up power

plants without weakening the Clean Air Act?  What alternative measures would

you propose?


I oppose the "Clear Skies" initiative that is turning back the clock on

environmental regulations.  As for new measures, I would have to study the

Clean Air Act in further detail to determine what measures I would propose.


STOPPING SPRAWL

9.  Since 1991's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA),

federal transportation legislation has underscored the importance of

transportation choices including public transit and bicycle/pedestrian

improvements, recognizing that transportation is not simply about roads.

This legislation has also included air quality mitigation measures,

beautification, and more.  These bills have enjoyed strong bipartisan

support.


Q.  Will you oppose transportation legislation if it does not, at minimum,

meet the percentage investment in public transportation as 1998's TEA-21 or

if it severs the links between transportation projects and air quality?

What standards would you consider reasonable?


All legislation should meet at least the minimum previous standards.


10.  Bills currently before Congress would weaken the National Environmental

Policy Act (NEPA) by diminishing the public's ability to participate in

transportation planning processes and by limiting environmental-impact

reviews.


Q.  Will you oppose this or similar legislation, either in transportation

reauthorization or as stand alone bills?


Yes.


PROTECTING OUR WATER QUALITY

11.  The Bush administration issued guidance and proposed rulemaking that

changes and limits the definition of "waters of the United States" under the

Clean Water Act to exclude from protection many wetlands, intermittent

streams, small lakes and ponds.  Many states would be left without a federal

backstop for protecting their waters.


Qa.  Will you support a bill that restores the original definition of

"waters of the United States" that has been in place since the 1970's?


Yes


Qb.  Will you support reducing the subsidies to large livestock operations

under the Farm Bill's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) so

that the money can be spent on real environmental improvements rather than

on subsidies for expanding poor waste management practices like lagoons and

sprayfields?


Yes.


Qc. Will you oppose efforts that would give large industrial livestock

operations immunity from the Clean Air Act and Superfund in exchange for

simply having the EPA collect air emissions data from some Confined Animal

Feeding Operations (CAFOs)?  Please be specific.


Yes.  Industrial livestock operations should not be held to different

standards than everyone else.  Air emissions data from select areas is not

sufficient enough.


SUPERFUND CLEANUP

12.  One of every four people in the United States lives within four miles

of a toxic waste site.  To pay for the cleanup of more than 1,200 national

priority toxic waste sites, Congress authorized polluter pays fees, which

were put into a fund known as the Superfund.  The fees sunset in 1995 and,

as a result, the fund will run out of money before the end of 2003.


Q.  Will you support legislation that restores the original 'polluter pays'

fees and ensures that tax payers do not pay the bulk of the cleanup costs?

What percentage of the cost of clean up do you believe polluters should pay?


I fully support polluter pays fees.  Polluters should pay in proportion of

how much damage they have caused to the environment.  That payment should

not have to come at the burden of the taxpayers.


CURBING GLOBAL WARMING

13.  The United States is the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gas

carbon dioxide, with transportation accounting for nearly one third of all

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.  Improving fuel economy of our cars and

trucks is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming and

protect sensitive areas from oil drilling.  Additionally, producing more

electricity from clean, renewable sources such as wind solar power will also

help cut greenhouse gas emissions.


Qa.  If elected will you support increasing miles per gallon standards

(known as corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards) for cars, SUV's, and

light trucks to a 40mpg average?


Yes, and perhaps an even higher standard.


Qb.  Will you support a law to mandate that at least 20% of our electricity

come from clean, renewable sources by 2020?


Yes.


Qc.  What other measures do you believe Congress should take to curb global

warming?


We should have less dependence on foreign oil and more dependence on

domestic forms of energy and renewable sources.  This is a matter of not

only environment, but also for homeland security and jobs/economic purposes.


SLOWING GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH

14.  The magnitude of increased human activity pollutes and diminishes fresh

water and clean air, adversely contributes to global climate change, further

jeopardizes threatened and endangered species, and erodes the health and

quality of life on earth.  One of the most comprehensive ways to address

rapid population growth and better protect the environment is to ensure that

families everywhere have access to quality voluntary family planning and

reproductive health care.


Qa.  Do you support a funding increase in international and domestic family

planning programs?  Why or why not?


Because I am not too familiar with these programs I cannot say if I would

support or oppose funding increases in this area.


Qb.  Will you oppose restrictions placed on this funding, such as the global

gag rule?


Again, because I am not too familiar with these programs I cannot say if I

would support or oppose restrictions in this area.


Qc.  Will you support the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive

Coverage Act, which requires insurance companies that cover prescriptions to

cover prescriptive contraceptives?


Probably not.


HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

15.  At this time of heightened concern about international issues, U.S.

companies are informal ambassadors of our country around the world.

However, American companies have too often been implicated in human rights

abuses, environmental destruction and labor rights violations.  U.S.

corporations have no legally binding obligations to disclose specific

environmental and labor information about their offshore operations as they

must in order to operate within the U.S.


Q.  Will you support legislation requiring U.S. based multinational

corporations to disclose basic information on their human rights, labor and

environmental practices much in the same way they disclose domestic

information?


Yes


PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE TRADE

16.  The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade

Organization (WTO) have been used to weaken environmental protection in the

United States and abroad.  The downward pressure on environmental, health

and safety standards could increase with completion of the Free Trade Area

of the Americas (FTAA) and the Doha Round of WTO talks.  Regrettably,

Congress cannot exercise its normal constitutional powers as a check and

balance on the executive with respect to trade agreements because fast-track

procedures deny Congress its normal power to make amendments or to conduct a

thorough debate.


Qa.  Will you support reform of current and future trade rules so that they

no longer can undermine environmental, health and safety protections?


Yes.


Qb.  Will you support an alternative to fast-track procedures that would

allow Congress to fully debate and amend trade agreements?  What type of

agreements would you support?


I would support alternatives to fast track procedures.  I would support

agreements that give the American worker a fair deal in trade agreement,

contrary to what is happening under this administration.


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