January
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August
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January
5: "I Love this Hat." Washington, D.C. -- President Clinton
happily accepts a Sierra Club "Protect Our Wild Forests" hat the day
after announcing the final roadless policy, which includes the
protection of 60 million acres of wild forests, including the
Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The plan is later put on hold by
the Bush administration.
16: Everglades Airport Plan Doesn't Fly Miami, Fla. --
The Clinton administration confirms an Air Force decision to reject
a plan to build a commercial cargo and passenger airport on the
former Homestead Air Base. The decision, which follows a six-year
fight by Florida Chapter members, protects the nearby Everglades and
Biscayne national parks from harmful noise and air pollution.
22: Global Gag Restricts Human
Rights Washington, D.C. -- In his first week in office,
President Bush reinstates the Global Gag Rule, harming
family-planning efforts worldwide. The rule cuts off U.S. funding to
any international family planning organization that uses its own
money to provide abortions or even talks about them, even when such
efforts are paid for with non-U.S. funds.
February
4: Off the Hook Delaware -- The National Marine
Fisheries Services announces a ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs,
which predate dinosaurs, in the new 1,500-square-mile Carl N.
Schuster, Jr. Horseshoe Crab Reserve off the coast of Delaware. The
crabs are popular as fishing bait, but will be spared, thanks to the
ban, which goes into effect March 7.
27: Smoking Trucks Washington, D.C.-- In a
unanimous decision, the Supreme Court confirms former President
Clinton's 1997 soot and smog standards, ruling against the trucking
industry. The decision supports health-based standards, not
cost-based as recommended by the trucking industry. Keep on
truckin', but limit that exhaust.
28: Casing the Factories Washington, D.C. -- The Sierra
Club joins the Waterkeeper Alliance as a full partner in litigation
against major pork-producing operations.
March
20: Mattaponi River Avoids Diversion Norfolk, Va -- Norfolk
District Army Corps of Engineers Col. Allen Carroll denies a permit
to build the King William Reservoir, which would flood Native
American lands, harm wetlands and displace wildlife. Unfortunately,
it's not the last word. A final decision by Army Corps Gen. Rhodes
is expected in early 2002.
27: Kaput Kyoto Washington, D.C. -- After
President Bush declines to sign onto the Kyoto Protocol, an
international treaty to help stem global warming, Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Christine Whitman announces that the
Kyoto Protocol "is dead."
27: Chief Dombeck Bows Out Washington, D.C. -- Forest
Service Chief Mike Dombeck steps down from his post citing
differences with the Bush administration. Dombeck is responsible for
moving the Forest Service in a new direction, away from mining and
clear-cutting, and toward conservation.
April
4: Senate Clamps Down on Campaign Coffers Washington,
D.C. -- The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passes in
the Senate with a margin of 59 to 41. In May, a similar bill
sponsored by Reps. Shays and Meehan, is presented in the House, but
is promptly ushered into committee.
21: Trek to Quebec Quebec City, Quebec -- Dozens
of Sierra Club and Sierra Student Coalition members, including
then-SSC president Camilla Feibelman, at left, speak out and march
against the proposed Free Trade Area for the Americas treaty. They
are among the tens of thousands kept out of the Summit of the
Americas site by a two-mile-long concrete wall and chain-link fence
perimeter. The Club opposes the FTAA because it would allow foreign
companies to challenge domestic laws protecting the environment.
22: Tired of Pollution Bozeman, Mont. -- Chapter
volunteers Shannon Persio and Margot Zell wrap innertubes around
their heads - and join staff member Katie Craig outside a Ratdog
concert to gather signatures against a proposal by a local cement
kiln to burn waste tires.
May
9: Filling a Charity Gap San Francisco, Calif. -- The
Sierra Club's Youth in Wilderness Program picks up the slack of a
bankrupt Pacific Gas & Electric, when the utility announces that
it will suspend $7 million in charitable donations. The Club donates
$25,000 to the San Francisco Conservation Corps, which provides job
training for disadvantaged youth. Club Executive Director Carl Pope,
second from left, shakes every hand he has with SFCC
representatives.
18: Starving for Justice Sydney, Nova Scotia --
Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, ends
a three-week hunger strike that helps bring attention to the plight
of residents living near toxic tar ponds in Sydney, her hometown. To
May's relief, the government will test the residents for health
problems and those who have chronic health risks will be
relocated.
20: Take Me to Your
Leader San Francisco, Calif. -- The Sierra Club Board of
Directors unanimously elects Jennifer Ferenstein of Missoula, Mont.,
as president. Ferenstein, at right, is the youngest woman - she's 36
- to serve as president.
21: Bikes, Feet and Automobiles Raleigh, N.C. -- The
North Carolina General Assembly passes its first smart-growth bill
of 2001, ensuring that land-use planning will occur before any
highway is approved and that alternative transportation, including
pedestrians and bikers, will be considered in projects.
June
4: Green Bush? Everglades National Park, Fla. -- Waving
signs bearing "Bush oil and our water don't mix," dozens of Florida
Chapter members gather at practically a moment's notice at
Everglades National Park to demonstrate against President Bush's
plan to drill for oil off Florida's coast. Bush spoke at the park in
order to play up his greener, more environmental side, but Sierra
Club activists showed the audience his true colors.
11: Schoolchildren Get Spoils Washington, D.C. -- The
Club releases its "Spoiled
Lunch: Polluters Profiting from Federal Lunch Program" report.
Taxpayers learn that their dollars are buying school lunchmeat from
slaughterhouse and processing plants that consistently violate clean
water and clean air regulations and labor laws. Another helping for
you?
17: Club Upstages Bush's Energy Show St. Paul, Minn. and
Lancaster, Pa. -- President Bush visits Minnesota and Pennsylvania
to tout his new energy plan, which he claims is environmentally
sound. But Club activists get there first, staging rallies in front
of dirty plants, and frame the real story - the administration's
plan won't work, it's too heavy on fossil fuels and nuclear energy,
too light on energy conservation and renewables.
July
11: Stopping the Bombing Austin, Texas -- With
lightning speed, the Lone Star Chapter and other groups mobilize a
protest against a Navy proposal for a 222,000-acre bombing range in
south Texas - only to have the Navy abandon the site as
"impractical." "The last thing we need is one more environmental
nightmare, especially across from a federally protected national
seashore," Austin volunteer Fred Richardson says of the plan.
31: Driving the Distance on Less
Gas Washington, D.C. -- The National Academy of Sciences
releases its report on fuel economy standards. Not only does the NAS
report state that the technology exists to make cars and trucks go
farther on a gallon of gas, it says it can be done safely and
economically. Environmentalists plan to get good mileage from these
findings.
August
1: GE Must Pay Saratoga Springs, N.Y. -- Responding to
years of pressure from the Sierra Club and other groups,the EPA
announces that General Electric must pay for the removal by dredging
of cancer-causing PCBs from the Hudson River. Before PCBs were
outlawed in 1977, GE dumped more than 1.3 million pounds into the
Hudson, leaving the 200-mile-long river bottom covered in poisonous
chemicals.
8: Atchafalaya
Acquisition Baton Rouge, La. -- Louisiana Club members
celebrate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' acquisition of a
50,000-acre wetland parcel in the Atchafalaya Basin, which will be
restored as fish and wildlife habitat.
14: Studying Pays Off Washington, D.C. -- After 12
years of ignoring community pressure, the D.C. Department of Health
asks the Center for Disease Control to investigate health concerns
in the River Terrace neighborhood near the PEPCO power plant. The
timing is no coincidence. The next day, 40 neighborhood residents,
joined by the American Cancer Society, the Ward 8 Coalition and the
Sierra Club, release the results of their own study, detailing rates
of asthma and cancer three to five times the national average. At
left, D.C. Chapter members canoe in front of the power plant.
September
6: Roadless Redux Salt Lake City, Utah -- The Sierra
Club, represented by President Jennifer Ferenstein, and other
environmental groups deliver 500,000 letters and cards to the
federal building in support of protecting roadless areas in our
national forests. The Bush administration had opened a new 60-day
comment period in the hope of generating more support for logging
and mining, but the public was just as supportive of roadless area
protection as in previous comment periods.
6: Burn That Book Austin, Texas -- At a Texas Board of
Education hearing, religious-right groups criticize proposed science
textbooks as "pro-environment," saying that topics such as global
warming, acid rain and rainforest destruction should be removed from
the books. "I think we've found the alternative fuel source that
everyone is looking for and that is burning these," State Republican
Executive Committee member Michael Franks tells the board.
8: E-I-E-I-O Louisville, Ky. -- About 180 people attend
the Kentucky Chapter's conference called "Old McDonald vs.
Industrial Agriculture: Farmers, Safe Food and the Environment."
Organizers are pleased to say that all weekend they served produce,
chicken and catfish that was organic, antibiotic-free and grown on
Kentucky family farms.
October
2: Monumental Confirmation Washington, D.C. -- The nation's
capital is a far cry from the Giant Sequoia National Monument in
California, but that didn't stop Judge Ricardo Urbina from
protecting the 328,000-acre Clinton-era monument. Judge Urbina
rejected a lawsuit that sought to take away the monument status of
the Giant Sequoia area, making it susceptible to logging, mining and
off-road vehicle use. Not only does Judge Urbina's decision protect
the California sequoias, but it also confirms the legitimacy of
Clinton-era public land protections.
2: The Right Stuff on Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. --
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) attaches the House-passed Bush energy
plan as a rider to Defense Authorization bill. But the Senate
rejects it 100 to 0, sending a solid message that it will not
exploit the Sept. 11 tragedy to make bad energy policy. The House
bill would give energy industries large government subsidies and
open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling.
Two subsequent attempts to attach the Bush energy plan to unrelated
bills are also defeated.
16: Testing 1,2,3 Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky,
Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas -- The Club announces first-time
chapter grants for water quality monitoring in seven states. The
sites will test for toxic chemicals, sediment, nonpoint runoff and
mining impacts. Sites include Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii; the Fox,
Kankakee and Kishwaukee river basins in Illinois; the Licking,
Tradewater and Lower Green river basins in Kentucky; the Pine River
in Michigan; the Blue, Brush, Indian, Dardenne, Peruque and River
Des Pere in Missouri; Dicks Creek and the Miami river in Ohio; and
the Leon and N. Bosque river basins in Texas.
25: Tour de Stench Calhoun, Ky. -- Aloma Dew
hosts Kentucky's second annual Tour de Stench, visiting homes where
the stench from adjacent factory farms is overwhelming. But it is
not just the unbelievable smell that the tour highlights. This year,
participants meet Howard McGregor, whose honey business and craft
store have been ruined by flies and mice from nearby factory farms.
Dew hopes the tour will help improve waste disposal standards and
limit the number of factory farms permitted in the area.
November
8: Due Process Overdue Mexico City, Mexico -- Mexican
President Vicente Fox announces the release of Rodolfo Montiel and
Teodoro Cabrera, two environmentalists who were wrongfully
imprisoned in 1999. Under torture, Montiel and Cabrera confessed to
crimes they did not commit, and despite cries of foul play, the men
remained in prison. Numerous human rights groups, including the
Sierra Club, expressed support for the two innocent men and applaud
their release.
10: Something Wicked This Way Lurks Memphis, Tenn. -- A
new Sierra Club report, "Shelby County Terrible Ten," released
today, exposes the factory sources of the toxic pollutants - more
than 9 million pounds in 1999 - released into Memphis' water and
air. Seven of the 10 companies are based in historically
African-American communities. Local environmental justice organizer
Rita Harris warns that despite having higher asthma rates and cancer
deaths than the national average in their neighborhoods, most
residents still don't realize the true health risks they're exposed
to.
16: Highway on Hold Denver, Colo. -- A federal
judge suspends construction on the proposed 125-mile Legacy Parkway
in Utah, which would destroy some of the most important inland
wetlands in the country. Although the project has been approved by
the Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Highway Administration, the
Club is prepared to prove that the highway is ill-conceived and
should not be built. A full hearing is scheduled for March 2002.
16: Voice from the Past Three
Forks, Mont. -- As part of a press conference by the Club's
Headwaters Group, Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition (a.k.a. Ritchie Doyle), returns to the headwaters of the
Missouri River to express his shock that a local cement kiln is
planning to burn tires under the guise of recycling.
December
5: Hurrah on the Hudson! Washington, D.c. --
Environmental Protection Administrator Christine Whitman tells
General Electric to clean up its toxic mess. In August, Whitman made
the initial ruling requiring GE to dredge the thousands of pounds of
PCBs that it leaked into the Hudson River before the chemicals were
banned in 1977. But then came a 30-day review period during which GE
continued its extensive public relations campaign, denying the need
to clean up the river. The cleanup, which will take place in two
stages, will cost half a billion dollars.
5: Pataki Goes With the Flow New York, N.Y. -- Gov.
Pataki designates the Croton watershed as a "Critical Resource
Water," protecting it and its tributaries and wetlands from
pollution. Home to New York's oldest reservoir system, the watershed
provides drinking water for 9 million residents of New York City and
Westchester County. The Club's Lower Hudson EPEC campaign, and the
Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, of which the Club was a
founding member, fought for this designation for more than two
years. At left is New York City volunteer Robyn Camparo at a Clean
Drinking Water Campaign event.
6: Congress Surrenders Power Washington, D.C.-- By a
215-214 vote, the House of Representatives approves the Trade
Promotion Authority Act (H.R. 3005) giving President Bush
"fast-track" authority on trade issues.Under fast track, Congress
cannot amend any proposed trade pact, only vote it up or down.
7: No-Fly Zone for Everglades Miami, Fla.-- The
Miami-Dade County Commission votes 8-5 to drop its lawsuit to keep a
plan to build a commercial airport on the former Homestead Air Force
Base adjacent to the Everglades and Biscayne national parks. The
lawsuit was an effort to override former President Clinton's
rejection of the plans. The area may be converted into a haven for
visitors, National Park Service staff, Everglades restoration and
scientific research.
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