|
Introducing Bush Administration "Sweet Deals Trail Mix" Stay Energized And Aware On The Trail This Summer Washington, D.C. -- As Congress heads out on August recess and summer vacation season peaks, the Sierra Club is supplying many Capitol Hill staff members with bags of trail mix for their outdoor adventures. Inspired by the Bush Administration’s environmental policies, "Sweet Deals Trail Mix" is designed to keep energy levels high while informing people about the threats to America’s special places. "Summer is the time when Americans explore our magnificent natural treasures, and the Bush Administration is threatening to forever change these special places," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "Trail mix has long been a staple of the avid outdoor explorer, but we’ve had to modify the ingredients to reflect Bush Administration policies and keep Americans energized and aware." Whether people spend their vacations hiking in California, viewing wildlife in the Rocky Mountains, paddling in the Pacific Northwest, fishing in Florida, climbing in the Southwest, camping near the Great Lakes, or rafting in West Virginia, this trail mix is a reminder that many of these places are in grave danger from a host of Bush administration proposals that threaten to carve roads, punch oil wells, or otherwise impair these lands that belong to all Americans. "We're sure that four out of five dentists can see right through the Administration's sugar-coated names for anti-environmental policies, like the Clear Skies plan which would allow polluters to pollute far more than the current law," said Pope. Recipe for Bush Administration "Sweet Deals Trail Mix": Swedish fish (mercury): The Bush Administration plans to allow more mercury released from power plants than under the existing Clean Air Act. Mercury released from coal power plants rains back to earth and accumulates in fish that are sometimes eaten by people. Communities around the country advise people not to eat local fish because of high mercury content. Mercury can cause brain, lung, and kidney damage, as well as reproductive problems, particularly in children. Black Licorice (coal): The Bush Administration's energy plan encourages increased use of coal while the Administration's Clear Skies Initiative and other changes to the Clean Air Act will weaken the protections we have from the pollution produced by coal. Out of the entire electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96% of sulfur dioxide emissions, 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions, 88% of carbon dioxide emissions, and 99% of mercury emissions. These pollutants contribute to asthma-inducing smog, acid rain, global warming and other public health risks. Fireballs (wildfires): The Bush Administration used last summer’s wildfires to introduce the ill-named "Healthy Forests Initiative," a thinly-veiled attempt to increase logging under the guise of "fuel reduction." Instead of using limited resources to protect homes and lives, the Bush Administration is ignoring sound science with a plan to allow timber companies to log deep in the backcountry, miles from communities. This legislation passed in the House and now moves to the Senate. Tootsie Rolls (logs): After failing to defend the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule in court, the Bush Administration finally got around to axing the rule. By settling with the State of Alaska to exempt the Tongass from the rule -- wiping out a full quarter of the protected area -- and allowing individual states to seek exemptions, the Bush Administration is now moving forward to erase historic wild forest protections state by state. Sticks of Gum (roads): Across the West, state and local governments are exploiting a loophole in a vague, long-repealed road statute to lay claim to thousands of miles throughout our public lands. Earlier this year the Bush Administration reopened this loophole, known as RS2477 (Revised Statute), that allows special interests the opportunity to criss-cross America's National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, and other special places with roads and development. Gummi Bears (grizzly bears): Grizzly bears, protected by the Endangered Species Act in 1975, are a key indicator of the health of wildland ecosystems in the Western United States. However, the Bush Administration has approved the proposed Rock Creek Mine under northwest Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, impacting the region’s threatened grizzly bears and bull trout. The mining operation and associated activities would doubtless disturb the handful of grizzlies clinging to existence in the area, while also destroying some of the best habitat left in the ecosystem. Root Beer Barrels (oil barrels): Public lands across the West are being targeted by the Bush Administration’s unabashed efforts to dramatically increase oil and gas leasing. In its first year, the Bush administration increased the number of leases for oil and gas development and coal mining on public lands by 51 percent. This spring, the Bureau of Land Management approved the drilling of 82,000 new oil and gas wells in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, including 66,000 coal bed methane wells, which would span 12 million acres. Rock Candy (mountaintop removal mining): The Bush administration and its friends in the coal industry support a form of strip mining known as "mountaintop removal mining." This practice blasts off the tops of mountains and pushes the so-called "mining waste" into the mountain valleys below, forever burying the headwaters of some of West Virginia's pristine mountain streams. Gum Coins (corporate donations): En route to the White House, President Bush raised more than $191 million, and corporate lobbyists have since been swarming the nation’s capital seeking paybacks. The Sierra Club has sued the Bush Administration to find out exactly who the Cheney Energy Task Force met with in secret. The American public deserves to know how much influence polluting industries had over the Administration’s destructive energy policy that is the basis for the disastrous energy bill currently before the Senate. To request a bag of "Sweet Deals Trail Mix," please call Annie Strickler at (202) 675-2384. For more information, please visit: http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/summer2003/index.asp ### |
