This is a publication of the Sierra Club. It is the main action alert communication by the club. The last item allows you to email Harkin, Grassley, and your congressman. You can either send a prepared message or one of your own or a combination. Charlie posted a message regarding this but it was with an endangered species angle. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Sierra Club Currents -- An Answer for the Arctic Refuge Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 17:07:25 -0800 From: [log in to unmask] Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Sierra Club Currents -- An Answer for the Arctic Refuge Volume III, #12 Thursday, February 13, 2003 ---- Quote of the Day: "It seems like we have conflicting goals here. Aren't we trying to protect the global environment? Doesn't that really mean we're going to have to make absolute changes? I think we're going to have to suck it up and do what needs to be done." -Steven Willis of Whirlpool Corp., in response to the Bush Administration's voluntary global warming program, which will actually allow increased carbon dioxide pollution. The home appliance company backs more far-reaching reductions than the administration has called for. ---- (1)ARCTIC: An Answer for the Arctic Refuge (2)FACTORY FARMS: Pig Plant losing their Bacon (3)NATIONAL FORESTS: Bitter over the Bitterroot National Forest (4)TAKE ACTION: Stop the Administration from Polluting America's Waters ---- 1. An Answer for the Arctic Refuge As Congress toys with the notion of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by using the Omnibus Appropriations bill, Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT) are working to protect the refuge. They are cosponsoring a bill in Congress to permanently protect the Arctic Refuge by designating it as wilderness. The bill would place the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge off limits to oil development. Republican leadership has tacked on drilling provisions to the must-pass Omnibus Appropriations bill for 2003, under consideration today, as well as the emerging Budget Resolution for 2004. This is inconceivable, especially since, a recent bipartisan survey performed by the Mellman Group (D) and Bellwether Research (R) found that American voters, by a 52% to 35% margin, oppose changing the law to allow the oil industry to drill on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. Visit the Sierra Club's Arctic Refuge webpage: http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/arctic/northern_slope.asp ---- 2. Pig Plant losing their Bacon Diamond Meat Company, a hog-slaughtering plant in Alabama, shut their barn doors for good as part of a lawsuit settlement. Neighbors brought the suit to court and testified in front of a jury calling the plant a "cesspool" and described "screams" coming from the stenchy factory farm. Scared of the jury, the meat packers settled and will indefinitely protect the land from other animal factories. Neighbors of the plant were asking for compensation for their decreased land value next to the plant. In the past, neighbors of factory farms have had their land decrease in value by thirty percent. Luckily, these Alabamians will be compensated for the damages. Read what the local newspaper is saying about the case at: http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2003/as-editorials-0208-editorial-3b07r0018.htm ---- 3. Bitter over the Bitterroot National Forest A year later, after Montana's Bitterroot National Forest Burned Area settlement plan was signed, the US Forest Service has executed 70 percent of the negotiated logging while only 12 percent of the forest restoration and 3 percent of the watershed and road restoration work has been completed. The Burned Area Recovery Project captured national media attention last year because representatives from the timber industry and conservation groups came to agreement. Logging without important restoration has jeopardized water quality and critical habitat for the bull trout. This example sheds light onto what types of restoration the Bush Administration really has in mind under the so-called "Healthy Forests" Initiative and the changes to the National Forest Management Act. Get local in Montana here: http://www.everyweek.com/News/News.asp?no=3035 ---- 4. TAKE ACTION - Stop the Administration from Polluting America's Waters On January 15, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the most aggressive administrative effort to weaken the Clean Water Act since Congress enacted the safeguard in 1972. The EPA guidance makes it easier to drain and fill wetlands across the country. According to EPA estimates, added together, these disconnected waterways make up at least 20 percent of the country's remaining wetland areas (20 million acres). Contact your US Representatives and Senators and tell them to support efforts to remove the anti-environmental legislation at: http://www.sierraclub.org/action/?alid=215&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 Sierra Club Currents list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp