CONSERVATION AND POLITICAL ACTION PAGE
Page continually under development by Alan Journet

THE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION NETWORK
If you would like an easy method for contacting politicians, business leaders, and organization officials about critical and current environmental issues, please sign up to join my ACTION NETWORK.  I subscribe (it's free!) to the action networks of several environmental and conservation organizations.  These groups periodically send out news releases regarding current. critical issues, and provide addresses to their web pages.  From these internet pages it is possible to learn more about the issues, and then e-mail and/or fax appropriate letters of concern to relevant individuals.  These letters are usually already written (although in some cases you are encouraged to add and personalize the letters) and require only that you complete a form with information about yourself, and then click to send them.  Some samples of letters that I recently submitted through one of these web pages are available at Submitted Action Alert Letters.

If you'd like to join my network, please click here and send me your e-mail address, indicating only your e-mail address (automatically attached if you are sending from your home computer) and that you'd like to join the Action Network: Action Network Sign-up

I generally forward 5 - 6 messages per week; from amongst these, recipients then select which Actions they'd like to take.  Members may withdraw from the network simply by asking me to take their name off the list.

If you'd like contact information for our local elected officials, please visit the Environmental Information Page.

  THE ONE MINUTE ACTIVIST
If you have a critical issue on your mind, and you'd like simply to register your opinion with your Federal Representative: just call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for the office of your Senator or Congressional Rep. and register your opinion.

Environmental Updates
From time to time (my schedule permitting) I will post here a sampling of current news events gleaned from the Action Alerts that I receive. 

Letters to Editors (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) on Environmental Issues. Please send me your letter for inclusion on this page.  We will post letters as submitted or as published - whichever you prefer.

Images of Forest Management in Missouri and Oregon.
A set of slides compiled as a result of visits to Iron County to investigate the result of Chip Mill activities, with views of Oregon forestry in action. 

Logging Our National Forests.
The Sierra Club's End Commercial Logging campaign is designed to promote an end to commercial logging in our National Forests.  Follow this link to read Six Common Myths Regarding Commercial Logging in our National Forests

Environmentally Sensitive Living
        We are all very much aware that the economic choices we make in our day-to-day living have a profound environmental impact. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to keep up with current knowledge such that we know the right choices to make.  On the page linked from here, I will try to provide information and links to sources where you can find out what you might buy, or where you might shop if you wish to behave in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. 

If you are aware of sources that are missing from this page, please let me know by clicking here: 
Alan Journet's e-mail address

GLOBAL WARMING LINKS

The Union of Concerned Scientists

EPA Global Warming Site

Global Warming Central

Sierra Club Global Warming Page

National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration

Global Warming International Center

Global Warming: Early Warning Signs

THE BUSH RECORD

1)    Campaign and beyond - proposes and supports legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

2)    January 2001 Attempts to delay and then roll back environmental protection proposals from Clinton Administration regarding roadless areas in National Forests.

3)    February 2001: Nomination of anti-environmentalist and LCV zero-rated and defeated Missouri Senator John Ashcroft to  become Attorney General

4)    February 2001: Nomination of the Polluting Corporations' best friend Gale Norton to become Secretary of the Interior.

5)    March 2001 - Reneges on a campaign promise to reduce carbon dioxide releases.

6)  March 2001- Reverses Clinton EPA and Administration proposal to reduce concentration of carcinogenic and toxic arsenic in drinking water.

7)  March 2001 - Interior Secretary Gale Norton moves to kill rules requiring mining companies to post bonds to ensure that they clean up after themselves when they close their mines.

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

One of President Bush’s most controversial campaign proposals was to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, inevitably despoiling a national treasure, threatening wildlife, and polluting the environment. Last week, President Bush and members of his cabinet seized on California’s rolling blackouts and higher natural gas prices as further justification for opening the refuge to drilling.

However, this thinly disguised industry initiative would do virtually nothing to satisfy America’s energy needs. First, less than one percent of California’s electricity is generated from burning oil, and the refuge is thought to contain relatively little natural gas. Second, the amount of oil that could be recovered from the refuge if drilling were permitted is relatively small. The U.S. Geological Survey believes that only 3.2 billion barrels -- less than a six-month supply for the U.S. at current consumption rates -- could be recovered in an economically feasible manner. In contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that if the fuel efficiency of America’s cars, minivans, and sport utility vehicles were increased by just three miles per gallon, we’d save more oil in ten years than would come from the refuge.

NATIONAL FORESTS - ROADLESS AREA CONSERVATION RULE

In January 2001, President Clinton issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, ending virtually all logging, road building, and mineral leasing on roughly 58 million acres of national forest lands. The rule was the direct result of a tremendous outpouring of public support. Over 600 public hearings were held around the nation, and the public provided more than 1.6 million comments on the rule -- more than any other rule in the nation’s history.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule would provide valuable long-term protection for the last few remaining wild areas. These precious lands provide habitat for threatened and endangered species, supply opportunities for recreation, protect against the invasion of non-native species, and ensure clean drinking water. As we detailed in last week’s WildAlert, the Bush administration is refusing to defend the Roadless Area Conservation Rule from industry-sponsored lawsuits in hopes that it will be overturned.

HARD ROCK MINING

In January 2001, after a comment period lasting several years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) adopted new rules governing hard-rock mining on public lands. The new regulations strengthen environmental standards for water quality and mine reclamation and allow the BLM to deny permits for mines that would threaten environmental or cultural resources.

On March 21, the Bush administration announced it would seek to suspend the new hard-rock mining regulations. The BLM has asked for public comment on whether to adopt the new rules or return to the older, weaker standards. The current rules will remain in effect until the 45-day comment period ends on May 7.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton recently stated that the Bush administration would be looking at “all public lands” for new sources of energy, including the new national monuments designated by President Clinton. This echoes a March 13 statement made by President Bush: “there are parts of the monument lands where we can explore without affecting the overall environment.” According to The Denver Post, Norton and Bush “have stopped short of trying to directly repeal monument designations. Instead, they are looking at ways to pare them back and allow more uses, such as off-roading and mining.”