Sierra Club SC Action Daily #128 October 21, 1998 -------------------------CONTENTS------------------------------------------- - --------------- SINE DIE: CONGRESS GOES HOME!!!! CONGRESS ADJOURNS AFTER PASSING GIANT RIDER-LADEN BUDGET BILL TAKE ACTION: WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON THE SPENDING BILL!! GLOBAL WARMING: NEW POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR ACTION WORKING ON A CAMPAIGN FOR THE SIERRA CLUB: MAKING IT A GOOD EXPERIENCE --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ********************************************************************* SINE DIE: CONGRESS GOES HOME Heave a deep sigh of relief, the 105th Congress has adjourned Sine Die and will not return to do more harm to the environment until the new Congress convenes on Jan 6th. They may come in for impeachment hearings, but no other legislative business will be conducted. The following is as good a report as we can pull together about what is in and out of the Omnibus budget bill. We will do more on this later in the week or early next week as our community gets a chance to wade through the 40 pound monstrosity. Many of you may have a chance to talk to various campaigning politicians over the next few weeks, potentially even Vice President Gore. If you do have the opportunity to deliver a message to any elected official, particularly the President, the Vice President, or House or Senate Leadership, please try to convey the following short basic message about the budget bill and the anti-environmental riders: "This was a fatally flawed process, that yielded a terribly flawed bill, it must not happen again next year." ===================================================== Below is the Sierra Club's press statement on the budget bill: CONGRESS ADJOURNS AFTER PASSING GIANT BUDGET BILL WITH ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS The 105th Congress adjourned today after passing a giant omnibus spending package containing many anti-environmental riders. The bill was thousands of pages long and weighed forty pounds. Members of Congress did not even know many of the details of the bill they voted on. In the words of Senator Byrd of West Virginia, "Only God knows what's in this monstrosity!" Despite the hard fought efforts of the Clinton Administration, a number of destructive anti-environmental riders remain buried in the final $520 billion budget bill, which the House passed last night on a 333-95 vote. The Senate passed the bill this morning on a 65-29 vote, and President Clinton signed the bill into law today. "The leadership of this Congress has once again turned a deaf ear to the American people who -- by a large majority -- want our wild lands protected from development and want cleaner air and water. We oppose this bill and we oppose this way of doing business," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope explained. Pope characterized the leadership of the 105th Congress as "sneaks who worked in backrooms and used legislative riders to erode and weaken the laws that protect our environment. To them we say 'Good-bye and good riddance.'" After two years of doing nothing to protect America's environment, the 105th Congress spent its final days trying to push through provisions that would clearcut National Forests, punch roads through wildlife refuges, and kill initiatives to curb global warming. "The Clinton Administration's efforts to clean up the worst provisions amounted to damage control, but still produced a bill full of unacceptable anti-environmental provisions. And the sad fact that these negotiations occurred at the end of the legislative process -- after the bills were already larded with scores of anti-environmental riders -- meant the final outcome would inevitably include compromises damaging to the environment," Pope explained. "This is a flawed process and it led to a deeply flawed product. That's why we're asking the President to begin the next Congress with a declaration that he will have no tolerance for anti-environmental riders." "While this budget bill includes some good news -- increased funding for clean water, land acquisition and addressing the problem of global warming -- we oppose the bill because it still contains riders that do serious harm to the environment," concluded Pope. The Rundown on Riders: Those destructive riders include, but certainly aren't limited to: · the Quincy Logging Bill, which will double the timber cut in three National Forests in California's Sierra Nevada mountains · a provision that prevents the Interior Department from requiring companies to repair damage to lands they have mined · a measure that betrays the Clean Air Act by mandating a four year delay in the phase-out of the pesticide Methyl Bromide, a chemical that has serious health effects and contributes to ozone depletion · an item that would allow grazing on 25 million acres of public lands without environmental review · a provision that worsens pollution and speeds global warming by preventing the Department of Transportation from improving fuel economy standards · a provision that limits E.P.A.'s ability to enact new programs to curb global warming pollution · a provision which limits the environmental review process and facilitates building a new toll road through pristine wildlands in Orange County California There were also a few wins for the environment and many other attacks on the environment were stripped from the bill with the help of the Administration and environmental leaders in Congress. The good news is: . a provision to allow helicopters in Alaska's wilderness was stripped from the bill . a provision was stripped that put the brakes on salmon restoration efforts in the northwest by requiring congressional approval for changes in dam operations · A provision was stripped from the bill that would grant officials of the International Monetary Fund the power to tell Third World countries which environmental laws to eliminate as "trade barriers." The Democratic Leadership The Democratic Leadership (Reps. Gephardt and Bonior) teamed up with members of the Foreign Operations Approps Committee (Pelosi and Obey) to strip language from the bill that would have made the IMF judge, jury, and executioner of international trade agreements · The final bill softened language that would have barred the EPA from dredging river bottoms to protect us from PCBs · Congress reinstated the contraceptive coverage bill that requires most federal health plans covering prescription drugs to also cover prescription contraceptive drugs and devices · Language was stripped from the bill that would have required parental consent/notification language for teens seeking contraception at Title X clinics · The anti-democratic Mexico City Global Gag Rule which punishes non-governmental organizations for lobbying or speaking about abortion with their own funds was stripped from the bill · Many other anti-environmental riders were neutralized or greatly improved during negotiations including provisions that would punch a road through the Chugach forest in Alaska, regulate fishing in Glacier Bay in Alaska, and mandate huge increases in logging in the Tongass. We want to thank all Sierra Club activists who have worked to oppose the riders!! Your postcards to the White House, calls to Congress and letters to the editor helped send a strong message that we oppose sneak attacks on our environment. Indeed, many attacks were successfully fended off, thank you!!!! SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Like most Americans, I've been pretty fed up with Congress for quite a while now. But the last few days of the Congress were downright embarrassing. After an entire year of doing essentially nothing, the Congress rushed in the final hours before their adjournment to pass a massive budget bill to keep the government running. None of our elected representatives knew what was in the 4,000 page, 40 pound bill when they voted on it, and it could be months before average American citizens find out what damage was done. Take the environment, for example. This Congress has spent two years trying to undercut environmental laws, but they were not successful using the regular legislative process. The public does not support their extreme anti-environmental agenda. So in the final days of Congress, many of these unpopular measures were loaded into the massive budget bill and pushed through without any debate. The Clinton administration made valiant efforts to remove many of the anti-environmental provisions from the spending bill. But there so many in the bill that it was inevitable that some would slip through. Included in the bill are provisions that would sacrifice many of California's last remaining ancient forests to the chainsaws, and open up our fragile Florida coasts to real estate developers. In short, this Congress just doesn't get it. Americans want to see the environment protected, not sold to the highest bidder. This is no way to run a government. I urge my fellow citizens to send a message to the Congress on election day -- no more special interest politics. Protect our environment, for our families, for our future. Sincerely, ================================================== GLOBAL WARMING: NEW POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR ACTION Americans Strongly Support Pollution Curbs According to a poll released yesterday (10/20/98) by the World Wildlife Fund, nearly eight out of 10 Americans support the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and a strong majority believes the United States should act to cut its greenhouse gas emissions regardless of what other nations do. The poll, conducted for WWF by the Mellman Group surveyed 1,000 registered voters around the country. By an overwhelming bipartisan majority, 79 percent of the voters said they favored an international agreement to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. By political affiliation, 84 percent of the Democrats, 79 percent of the independents and 73 percent of the Republicans surveyed said they would support a treaty to reduce CO2 emissions. More than one-third of the voters surveyed--34 percent--said they thought the Kyoto Protocol should be strengthened, while 66 percent said the US should act unilaterally to reduce domestic CO2 emissions, regardless of what other countries do. An even larger majority--71 percent--said they disapproved of Congressional efforts to block the EPA from implementing domestic carbon pollution reduction programs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send email to [log in to unmask] Make the message text (not the Subject): SIGNOFF IOWA-TOPICS