1. Alarm Grows Over Bush Administration's Environmental Rollbacks

Looks like more and more people are realizing that our hard-won
environmental protections are not exactly in the safest hands with the
current administration.  An "op-ad" produced by the on-line magazine
TomPaine.com, which will appear in tomorrow's New York Times, highlights
another government attempt to make life easier for corporate polluters: a
recent decision by EPA chief Christie Whitman that would delay Clean Air
Act rules for another two years, even though they're already more than a
year overdue.

This latest move comes on top of the administration's rejection of a
world-wide pact to reduce global warming pollution, its attempt to weaken
rules against arsenic in drinking water, and its efforts to allow mining,
logging and road-building in our National Forests.  Perhaps the country is
starting to sit up and take notice...

To see the full "op-ad" piece, go to
http://www.tompaine.com

----

2. Smoggy Thinking on Air Quality

What's that about?  Cincinnati's air is too dirty, according to the EPA,
which has placed the city, and several surrounding counties in Ohio, back
on its air-quality black-list.  The Queen city is now at risk of losing
federal highway funds.  But the EPA has given clean bills of health to two
northern Kentucky counties which make up part of metropolitan Cincinnati!

Maybe the EPA hasn't figured out that air doesn't respect city limits.
"This is one big region, and the air affects everybody," said Marilyn Wall
of the Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club, which was instrumental in ensuring
that the EPA flagged Cincy's noncompliance.  Looks like the Sierra Club
could teach the country's top environmental enforcement agency a thing or
two about air quality.

For more information, go to
http://www.cincypost.com/2002/mar/13/ozone031302.html


Erin Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]