I thought you all might be interested in this issue of Sierra Club Currents. Very interesting! Lyle Subject: Sierra Club Currents -- Everybody Wants to be an Environmentalist Sierra Club Currents -- Everybody Wants to be an Environmentalist Volume II, #70 Thursday, September 12 ---- Quote of the Day: "Calling Wayne Allard an environmental champion is like calling Ken Lay a champion of corporate responsibility" Margaret Conway, Sierra Club political director ---- (1)POLITICS: Everybody Wants to be an Environmentalist (2)CLEAN CARS: Spreading the Word in St. Louis (3)PUBLIC LANDS: Continuing a Family Tradition (4)TAKE ACTION: Protect our Forests, and the Communities Around Them ---- 1. Everybody Wants to be an Environmentalist Judging by the behavior of two senators up for re-election this year, it pays to tout your environmental credentials these days - even if you have to make them up. Senators Wayne Allard (R-CO), and Gordon Smith (R-OR) are savvy enough to know that voters care about clean air, clean water, and special places. So both ran TV ads recently painting themselves green, Smith's even boasting that he "stopped oil drilling in Alaska". Problem is, Allard and Smith are far from being environmental champions. Sierra Club quickly pointed out to reporters and the public that Allard has consistently voted against clean air and water protections, and also opposed making polluters clean up their mess. As for Smith, Tim Hester of the Oregon Sierra Club called his Arctic vote "an election year conversion", noting that the Senator has left the door open to supporting drilling in the future, and has voted to drill in National Monuments. All the slick TV ads in the world can't gloss over an awful environmental record. For more information on the Sierra Club's voter education campaigns, go to http://www.sierraclub.org/voter_education/ ---- 2. Spreading the Word on Clean Cars in St. Louis St. Louis will be breathing a little easier, thanks to the Sierra Club! Last weekend, a park in the Gateway City was converted into a car showroom to promote hybrid cars. The Clean Energy Car Bazaar, hosted by the Sierra Club and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, featured the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic, and the Honda Insight. Over one hundred people showed up to learn about the fuel-efficient vehicles, including local car dealers and the manager of a city fleet. Hybrids are more important now than ever, as automakers promote more and more gas-guzzling SUVs. Hybrids use less gas by relying in part on electricity, allowing some cars to average about 45 miles per gallon. That saves consumers money at the gas pump, cuts pollution, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. St Louis could soon be leading the way. To learn more about hybrid cars, go to http://www.sierraclub.org/roadtrip/drivecleanonly/hybrid.asp ---- 3. Continuing a Family Tradition of Protecting Public Land Looks like another Roosevelt cares about protecting America's environment. Teddy Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of his presidential namesake, joined Sierra Clubbers and other environmentalists, as well as reporters, for a tour of North Dakota's Little Missouri National Grassland. Roosevelt, who came all the way from New York City, is working to protect about 234,000 acres of the area by having it designated wilderness land. The current protection plan for the area leaves most of it open to potential oil and gas drilling. Over 600 new oil wells could crop up in the grassland in the next decade. Wilderness designation would make the land off-limits to further road and building development. Currently, the area is disturbed by a road every four miles. For Grassland supporters, that is already too much. For more info on Teddy Roosevelt and the Sierra Club, go to http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5263117&BRD=2165&PAG=461&dept_id=4 02 378&rfi=8 ---- 4. Take Action to Protect Our Forests, and the Communities Around Them The laws protecting our wild forests are still under threat. A group of western senators - backed by the powerful timber industry - has offered a destructive and dangerous measure which uses this summer's spate of fires as an excuse to gut crucial forest protections. The Craig-Domenici-Kyl amendment keeps getting pushed back, to give its backers more time to twist arms and gather more votes. This plan would open up even more of our wild forests to commercial logging, while doing nothing to protect communities threatened by fires. Twist some arms yourself. Contact your senators and urge them to oppose the Craig-Domenici-Kyl amendment on forest fires. Instead, they should support legislation that: 1) makes protecting communities from fires the number one priority 2) protects our forests from logging and road-building 3) upholds crucial forest safeguards To send a message directly to your senators, go to http://whistler.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=184&st=curr ---- Sierra Club Legislative Hotline - (202) 675-2394 Sierra Club National Headquarters - (415) 977-5500 Sierra Club World Wide Web - http://www.sierraclub.org Sierra Club Vote Watch Website - http://www.sierraclub.org/votewatch/ White House Comment Line - (202) 456-1111 White House Fax Line - (202) 456-2461 President George W. Bush's e-mail - [log in to unmask] Vice President Dick Cheney's e-mail - [log in to unmask] White House Address - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500 US Capitol Switchboard - (202) 224-3121 To contact your senators - http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm To contact your representative - http://www.house.gov/writerep - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]