Fr:  Your Environmental Partnerships Team: Melanie Griffin, Tanya Tolchin
 and Tad Williams; and our Sprawl Campaign colleague Melody Flowers
Re:  Opportunity to Educate the Public about the Wal*Mart Corporation and
    Support Labor Unions in Your State
Da:  November 6, 2002

As you catch your breath from Election Day, we wanted to share a different
type of organizing opportunity with you. On Thursday, November 21, the
United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) is organizing a National
Day of Action to call on the Wal*Mart Corporation to start protecting
workers rights, local communities and the environment.

This is a great opportunity to support our friends in the labor movement
and to highlight Wal-Mart's harmful environmental record. As you probably
know, Wal*Mart has a history of environmentally irresponsible practices
that contribute to suburban sprawl, water pollution, and a host of other
problems. For more on the Wal*Mart Corporation's environmental record,
please see the attached alert.

UFCW locals are organizing dozens of events across the country from
Waipahu, HI to Orlando, Fl and Scarborough, Maine. Some states have many
different events planned. For a complete list of events with contact
information for the organizers, please visit
http://www.walmartdayofaction.com.

If you have a local story about the environmental impact of a Wal*Mart in
your community, this may be a great opportunity to raise the visibility of
the issue in your local media.  However, please be sure to check your facts
carefully before the events. If you choose to get involved in any of these
events, please stick to the factual environmental message and let local
labor leaders talk about the labor issues and other community members cover
other issues.

We can help by supplying you with buttons that say, "Protect Workers and
the Environment", the action alert below and additional background
information if needed.  If you want to help, please contact Tad Williams
with the Environmental Partnerships Program in DC to let us know you are
interested. We will do all we can to help ensure your success! Thanks.


Tell the Wal*Mart Corporation to Protect the Environment and Workers'
Rights

On November 21, labor unions will gather with environmentalists and other
community activists at Wal*Mart stores across the country to tell the
Wal*Mart Corporation to start protecting the environment and workers
rights. Wal*Mart has a history of harming the environment by building giant
stores and parking lots on wetlands and other sensitive lands, polluting
water and contributing to suburban sprawl in communities across the nation.

In Wal*Mart's race to reach the top of corporate sales - $217.7 billion in
2001 - the environment, workers and local communities have paid the
greatest costs. Despite local opposition and concerns, the Wal*Mart
Corporation has rushed to build stores in communities across the nation.
Sierra Club chapters have long joined with community groups to fight the
construction of numerous Wal*Mart stores that would harm the environment
and communities.

Some examples of the Wal*Mart Corporation's anti-environmental record
include:

q    In June of 2001, the Justice Department and the Environmental
Protection Agency reached a settlement with Wal-Mart over allegations of
violations of the Clean Water Act.  The violations occurred at 11
construction sites in Texas and six sites in New Mexico, Oklahoma and
Massachusetts.  The violations included illegally discharged pollution into
storm water runoffs. (Fort Worth Star Telegram, by Toni Heinzl, June 8,
2001).

q    Wal-Mart and Native Americans clashed in Leeds, NY in 1996 over a
project on a sacred Mohican site.  After four years of court battles the
project was abandoned.  Wal-Mart went forward with plans to build on Apache
burial grounds along the Cumberland River in Nashville, TN.  The plan
included relocation of 21 ancient graves to make way for a superstore. (New
York Times, by Emily Yellin, 8/3/97, pp. 18).

q    In Bardstown, KY, Wal-Mart proposed building a new 204,000 square foot
store that would cover almost five acres of farmland and replace the
current Bardstown Wal-Mart of 65, 930 square feet.  This would be
Wal-Mart's third location in the same town in 19 years.  In July of 2000,
more than 650 county residents rallied and signed a petition opposing the
new store.  Concerns by residents included vacant Wal-Mart buildings in
town, anti-competitive behavior, and traffic congestion. (The Associated
Press State & Local Wire, July 5, 2000).

q    In 2000, the state of Connecticut sued Wal-Mart charging that 11
Wal-Mart stores broke state environmental laws by not adequately containing
polluted storm water.  Fertilizers, pesticides, and other pollutants stored
outside are at the heart of the runoff pollution that Connecticut is
alleging. (The Hartford Courant, by Tracy Gordon Fox, May 9, 2000).

q    A proposed Wal-Mart Superstore in Morgantown, WV was opposed by the
West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, local Sierra Student Coalition
activists, local neighborhood groups, organized labor, and Native American
groups.  The construction of the new store would have involved gobbling up
open spaces, filling in wetlands, and destroying a Native American burial
ground.  The Wal-Mart plan eventually collapsed in July of 2001 after the
Army Corps of Engineers requested changes to the plan.  (The Charleston
Gazette, Dec. 29, 2000).


q    Wal-Mart has a history of building their 100,000 sq. foot stores on
top of or near wetlands.  Some examples of this include: 10 acres of
wetlands and historic canals in Volusia County, Florida (The Orlando
Sentinel, by Sandra Pedicini, June 19, 2002); a 209,000 sq. foot store in
Antioch, Illinois which is northwest of Illinois Hwy. 173 on a piece of
land that is mostly wetlands and fields (The Chicago Tribune, by Robert
Gutsche, Jr., June 7, 2002); and filled in 19.81 acres of wetlands in
Pascagoula, Mississippi for a Wal-Mart Supercenter (The Sun Herald, by
Timothy Boone, April 18, 2002).

You can help hold the Wal*Mart Corporation accountable for harming the
environment and support local labor unions on the November 21 Day of
Action.  To get involved please visit  www.walmartdayofaction.com. Click on
your state to find a list of events and local contact information.



Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
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