Cool. Thanks, Tarah. How's life in Iowa so far?


--- Tarah Heinzen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Uram [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 12:47 PM
> To: Tarah Heinzen; Angel Kruzen; Bruce Hoeft; Erica
> Maharg; Gayle Miller;
> Jennifer Lenhart; 'Joe Burzynski'; Matt Little;
> Melissa Damaschke; Patricia
> Lanahan; 'Susan Knight'; 'Alison Horton'; 'Aloma
> Dew'; 'Anne Woiwode'; 'Bill
> Redding '; 'Brett Hulsey'; 'Bruce Nilles'; 'Bryan
> Clark'; 'Carla Klein';
> 'Caryl Terrell'; 'Cindy Skrukrud'; 'Colleen Sarna';
> 'Emily Green'; 'Glen
> Brand'; 'Heather Cusick'; 'Heather Mayfield'; 'Jack
> Darin'; 'Jaimee
> Bohning'; 'Jennifer Feyerherm'; 'Jennifer Hensley';
> 'Jill Miller'; 'Joshua
> Davis'; 'Joyce Harms'; 'Lyle Krewson'; 'Margaret
> Levin'; 'Marvin Roberson';
> 'Michelle Rosier'; 'Ned Ford'; 'Rhonda Anderson';
> 'Rita Jack'; 'Rosemary
> Wehnes'; 'Scott Dye'; 'Scott Elkins'; 'Stephanie
> Montgomery'
> Subject: Church group slams Bush on Clean Air Act
>
>
>
>
>       Church group slams Bush on Clean Air Act
>
>
>
> SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A national group of
> Christian leaders is sending
> a scathing letter to President Bush to coincide with
> Earth Day, accusing his
> administration of chipping away at the Clean Air
> Act.
>
> The National Council of Churches argued that planned
> changes to power plant
> regulations will allow major polluters to avoid
> installing pollution-control
> equipment when they expand their facilities.
>
> "In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel
> called to express grave
> moral concern about your 'Clear Skies' initiative --
> which we believe is The
> Administration's continuous effort to weaken
> critical environmental
> standards to protect God's creation," the council
> wrote in an advance copy
> of the letter provided to The Associated Press.
>
> The New-York based group, which represents 50
> million people in 140,000
> Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox congregations,
> said it was sending its
> two-page letter to the president on Thursday, as
> people all over the country
> celebrate Earth Day. It took out a full-page ad in
> The New York Times,
> scheduled to run in Thursday's editions, calling on
> Bush to leave the Clean
> Air Act's new source review rules in place.
>
> The Environmental Protection Agency did not
> immediately return calls seeking
> comment Wednesday, but the agency has defended the
> rule changes proposed in
> August. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt has called it
> "the biggest investment
> in the air quality improvement in the nation's
> history."
>
> The proposal would cap emissions and allow polluters
> to buy and sell
> pollution allowances, but environmental groups
> complain the new system would
> be far too lenient. In December a federal appeals
> court temporarily blocked
> the new rules from taking effect, agreeing with more
> than a dozen states and
> cities that contended the changes could cause
> irreparable harm to their
> environments and public health.
>
> "The people we talk to, both inside and outside the
> administration, say ...
> that these changes will in fact weaken, not
> strengthen the Clean Air Act,"
> said the Rev. Bob Edgar, a United Methodist minister
> and the church
> council's general secretary.
>
> "And we will in fact have dirtier air and less
> compliance," said Edgar, who
> served six terms in Congress in the 1970s and '80s,
> representing a suburban
> Philadelphia district. The council is urging
> ministers across the country to
> talk about the problems of air pollution during this
> week's services.
>
> Monica Myers, pastor at Seattle's Northwest
> Christian Church, a Disciples of
> Christ congregation, said she doesn't plan to bash
> Bush in her sermon
> Sunday. Instead, she said she'll simply remind her
> congregation that
> pollution and other environmental problems tend to
> affect the poor more
> harshly than those who can afford to live in places
> far away from polluting
> factories or toxic waste sites.
>
> "I want to emphasize that their faith should direct
> them as they vote," she
> said. "Responsible Christians should weigh the
> teachings of Jesus Christ,
> especially as they speak of those who are poor and
> marginalized."
>
> The council joined the Evangelical Environmental
> Network in a "What would
> Jesus drive?" campaign in 2002, urging the auto
> industry to adopt stricter
> emissions standards and calling on SUV owners to
> switch to more
> fuel-efficient vehicles.
>
> Find this article at:
>
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/22/churches.bush/index.html
>
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