Monday, 10 Apr 2000

Go With the Phloem

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman recommended on Friday that President Clinton give national monument status to 355,000 acres of national forest in California's Sierra Nevadas, a move that would safeguard about half of the giant sequoia groves remaining in the U.S. Federal policy already forbids the cutting of massive sequoias, but Glickman suggested that logging of other nearby trees be banned as well because such logging can harm the sequoia groves. Clinton is expected to designate the Sequoia National Monument soon, perhaps on Earth Day, April 22. He can do so without Congressional approval. Talk of the move is angering some House Republicans, who claim it will hurt the timber industry.

Pope Denounces Chinese Trade ... Carl Pope, That Is

The Sierra Club today launched a campaign to defeat the U.S.-China trade pact that the Clinton administration is trying to push through Congress. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope made the announcement by the side of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, as the labor federation gears up for a rally against the deal on Capitol Hill, which is expected to draw more than 10,000 protestors. Pope said the trade agreement doesn't include adequate protections for the environment or workers. Congress is expected to vote on the deal in May; the Senate is likely to approve the pact, but its fate in the House is unsure. Some Western Republicans in the House have hinted that they may refuse to support the China trade deal unless Clinton agrees not to designate any more national monuments.

Snake Bites

The Lower Snake River in Washington state was declared the most endangered waterway in the U.S. today by the environmental group American Rivers. Others in the group's annual list of the most endangered rivers included the Missouri, the Ventura in California, and the Copper in Alaska. The Snake made the top of the list because the group says that four dams on the river have brought salmon runs to the brink of extinction. Enviros are waging a national campaign to breach the dams. Meanwhile, a separate study released today by two other enviro groups found that the electric power provided by the dams on the Snake could be replaced for as little as $1 to $3 a month per household by investing in wind, solar, and geothermal energy, as well as energy conservation.

I Should Have Had a G-8!

Environmental ministers from the world's eight leading industrialized nations ended a conference in Japan yesterday without agreeing on a deadline for ratifying the Kyoto climate change agreement. The European Union and Japan want the treaty ratified by 2002, while the U.S. and Canada resisted any specific timeframe for ratification. The chief U.S. representative, W. Michael McCabe, said that agreeing to a deadline without the approval of the U.S. Congress would be inconsistent with "political realities." Congress has been stubbornly opposed to ratification. Participants at the Group of Eight meeting also discussed plans to hold a Rio+10 conference on environmental issues in 2002, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Taint Nuthin'

Environmentalists joined labor unions and Washington state officials in celebrating their victory this weekend after thwarting plans to unload and temporarily store 110 tons of toxic waste in Seattle. A ship carrying PCB-tainted waste from U.S. military bases in Japan arrived in the Port of Seattle last week, and the U.S. Defense Department attempted to have the waste unloaded in the city while it figured out what to do with it. Environmentalists threatened to sue if the waste was taken off the ship, and members of the local Longshoremen and Teamsters unions refused to take the cargo ashore. The ship left Seattle on Friday, headed for Vancouver, Canada, but Canadian officials have also refused to allow the waste to be unloaded. The Defense Department said a final destination for the contaminated cargo has not yet been found. It may be sent back to Japan.