From: Debbie Neustadt, Iowa Chapter Executive Committee.

The last paragraph contained some suggestions on strategy that I deleted since Iowa Topics is open to the public. Otherwise, this is a memo from Carl Pope to the activists in the Sierra Club.

The early spring I mentioned in my last memo is blossoming into a hot
summer in March.  This has been the most intense, and probably the most
successful, week for the Sierra Club legislatively since the energy bill
imploded in 2003.

The highlight was the defeat -- even though such defeats are always
temporary -- of the President's Clear Lies proposal, really nothing more or
less than a repeal of the Clean Air Act as far as older power plants and
factories and refineries are concerned.  The bill died in a deadlocked
Senate Environment Committee when independent Senator James Jeffords joined
his New England Republican colleague, Lincoln Chafee, and the Committee's
Democrats, to turn down Senator Jim Inhofe's efforts to bring the Lies to
the Senate floor.

The mark up was highly charged, with accusations from the Republicans of
Democratic inflexibility, and from Democrats about failure of EPA to
provide sufficient information for informative discussions.

Sen. Inhofe indicated that the Committee was moving on to other matters,
such as the highway bill, while most Democrats spoke about the need for
ongoing discussions.  The possibility of a different multi-pollutant bill
was discussed, leaving the door open for a process which could drag on for
months.  Hopefully, the committee fireworks will dampen that enthusiasm, as
we remain concerned that any bill that gets out of committee will not
remain “good” throughout the process.

The Administration, like a cat that falls flat on its face, tried to
pretend that nothing had happened, licked itself and proceeded to publish a
long held up regulation on air pollution called the Interstate Transfer
Rule which while inadequate, has the striking virtue that it makes air
pollution problems better, not worse, and doesn't weaken the fabric of the
Clean Air Act.  Nat Mund who has led this overall effort in DC was quoted
in the NY Times, as well as Canadian TV.  Ace clean air lawyer Bruce Niles
led the story in the Chicago Tribune and our view was picked up all over
the Midwest in places like Milwaukee and Akron.

Coming after the court victory that the Clean Water Act actually applies to
factory feedlots (such judicial activism, tut tut), and the earlier signal
that a bipartisan coaltion in the House is determined to stop the
Administration from making America safe for sewage blending, three of the
radical right's major environmental initiatives appear to be on the ropes
this week.

The fourth is teetering on the edge. On Thursday, the Senate Budget
Committee reported out the FY2006 Budget Resolution which includes $2.5
billion in revenues derived from lease sales in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.  As you know drilling proponents are trying to use the
Budget process to advance Arctic drilling because it protects them from a
certain filibuster of this controversial issue.  A amendment in committee
to strike the drilling revenues was defeated along party lines.  It wasn't
a surprise, given the makeup of the committee but it demonstrates we are
going to fight this along every step of the way.

We expect a showdown on the Senate floor next week.  On Wednesday Senator
Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will offer an amendment to strike the Arctic drilling
revenues from the Budget Resolution.  We are getting ready by hosting over
1700 House parties showing "Oil on Ice," the Sierra Club Productions film
on protecting the Refuge; by reaching out to the Sierra Club's partners in
labor unions, communities of faith, the hunting and angling community,
native American groups, and the business community.

Be proud.  Keep working.  Hold on to your seat belt.

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