In 65 chapters and hundreds of local groups spanning 21 ecoregions and
two nations, Sierra Club members are hard at work protecting our natural
heritage.
By Tracy Baxter
American Southeast: DIRTY BUSINESS
Under a loophole in federal pollution law nearly as big as the Lone
Star State itself, cement manufacturers can use hazardous waste to fuel
their furnaces without meeting the same emission standards as commercial
incinerators. Only too happy to take advantage of the regulatory glitch,
Texas Industries in Midlothian has turned a handsome profit by offering
discounts to refineries and chemical plants for waste disposal, burning
their effluvia under conditions that do not completely destroy the toxins.
After doubling its poisonous releases to 60 tons in a single year, TXI
vaulted into northern Texas' polluters top-ten. Its process so contaminates
the kilns with metals that the Home Depot chain has banned the cement from
its stores. The Dallas Chapter is now appealing to the state to revoke
the permit for TXI's lucrative and lethal sideline.
STOCKS AND BOGS
It rankles Sam Booher when his opinions are given short shrift. "I
wrote to DuPont's chairman of the board back in November 1996, when I first
heard about the company's proposal to extract titanium ore at Okefenokee
Swamp," says Booher, a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection
and of the Georgia Chapter's executive committee. "No response. I
wrote again last February, copying my congressman and senators." Still
nothing. So Booher and his wife hopped in their car and drove 1,500 miles
from Augusta, Georgia, to join a Georgia Chapter protest, and to confront
DuPont's board of directors in Wilmington, Delaware.
A DuPont stockholder, Booher addressed the company's board, rapping
the shortsightedness of mining a common ore near an uncommonly beautiful
and sensitive wilderness. DuPont subsequently pledged to hold off on drilling
near the swamp until it could allay concerns about its operation. This
summer, the chemical industry colossus invited Booher to a conference to
discuss Okefenokee's future. Booher hopes that DuPont will permanently
abandon its project, but to hedge his bets he's ready to exercise another
stockholder prerogative: putting the issue before DuPont's stockholders
for a vote.
"Why would we want to join the
ranks of coal-plant polluters of the Grand Canyon, clear-cut loggers around
Yellowstone, and other damagers of America's national heirlooms? Our public
image and stock value will decline."
-Sam Booher
Pacific Northwest: MUSICAL MESSAGES
Ah, the joys of activism! As they gathered signatures in support of
worldwide family planning programs at this summer's all-female rock festival,
the Lilith Fair, Sierra Club volunteers were treated to electrifying performances
by artists including Sarah McLachlan, Tracy Chapman, and Fiona Apple. The
Club was on board at all 38 stops of the sold-out tour, which began in
George, Washington.
Great North American Prairie: PLAIN RELIEF
In a new report, the Sierra Club's Midwest Office explains how human
activity abetted Mother Nature's recent assault on Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The town of 50,000 was nearly washed off the map when the Red River, swollen
with heavy rains, snowmelt, and agricultural drainage, burst its banks
this spring. To prevent similar catastrophes, the report advises a halt
to floodplain sprawl. Nearly three-quarters of the original 12 million
acres of wetlands have been developed--95 percent of the permits to destroy
wetlands issued in the past eight years. Restoring a mere 6 percent of
these wetlands could have curtailed the Red River's flood damage significantly,
and would have cost far less than the $1 billion to $2 billion now needed
to bail out sodden Grand Forks. To order a copy of Red River Rampage--How
Restoring Wetlands and Moving Homes from Flood Plains Can Reduce Future
Flood Risk, call (608) 257-4994.
Pacific Coast: WATERY WILDS WINNING
The Angeles Chapter and other environmentalists in Southern California
are keeping bulldozers at bay in the unprotected coastal wetlands of Bolsa
Chica. In February, after years of appeals from green advocates, the California
State Lands Commission purchased nearly 900 acres of wetlands to preserve
as open space. Another valentine followed in June when a superior court
judge blocked the construction of 3,400 homes on and near the Bolsa Chica
Mesa, site of a Shoshone Gabrielino burial ground and a significant raptor
habitat. With the creation of a 1,700-acre wildlife refuge as their goal,
environmentalists are now working with the U.S. Department of Interior
to protect the remaining 350 acres.
Great Lakes: GOOD NEWS FOR GREAT WATERS
Though some toxins in the Great Lakes can be traced to discharge pipes
from local chemical, steel, and paper plants, air pollution is a main source.
About 90 percent of the PCBs and mercury contamination in Lake Superior
are transported by air, says the Environmental Protection Agency. Yet despite
its own data--and a 1990 Clean Air Act mandate to develop a Great Waters
program--the EPA stalled, prompting the Sierra Club and its allies to sue
the agency last year. As a result, the EPA agreed in May to report to Congress
on the links between air pollution and water quality and to enact policies
by the year 2000 that will protect the Great Lakes and coastal waters from
toxic fallout.
Elden Hughes of Whittier, California, is the 1997 recipient of the Sierra
Club's highest accolade, the John Muir Award, which celebrates distinguished
achievement in national or international conservation causes. His work
was pivotal in passing the California Desert Protection Act, which resulted
in the establishment of the Mojave National Preserve, and the elevation
of the Death Valley and Joshua Tree national monuments to national-park
status. Says Hughes, "This award is a true honor. But the real reward
is visiting the desert, knowing that my grandchildren and theirs will get
the chance to explore its splendor." Hughes joins such luminaries
as Ansel Adams, David Brower, Wallace Stegner, and Edgar Wayburn in receiving
the tribute.
