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April - June 2005
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Rape …on the Jacks Fork River
by Tom Kruzen, Mining Chair/Ozark Chapter/ Sierra Club and Director
of the Center for Responsibility and Accountable Public Servants (CRAPS)
Rage could have described my aura last October as I walked through the
door, however, Angel told me that there has to be another word that more accurately
described my mood of that day. Several years ago I swore to my wife and myself
that there would be a kinder/gentler (at least a more civil) Tom. This was not
working that cold day in October 2004.
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Conservation Lobby Day
April 13, 2005 from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. at Missouri’s
State Capitol in House Hearing Room 2
Let your elected officials know about issues of importance to you.
We’ve Been Framed: Lakoff Lessons for Progressives
by Alan Journet, Conservation Chair, Trail of Tears Group
What Happened?
Following the 1964 GOP debacle when Republican Presidential candidate Barry
Goldwater was trounced by incumbent Lyndon Johnson, a group of right wing extremists
embarked upon a scheme to turn the tide. Back then ‘conservative’
was as dirty a word as ‘liberal’ is now. A consequence of that plan
was the wave of electoral victories that swept George Bush back into the White
House and a host of right wing Republicans into federal and state legislatures.
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Energy Notes
by Wallace McMullen
Lawsuit against wind power development dismissed
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in February filed by the Flint Hills Tallgrass
Prairie Heritage Foundation that had sought to stop/block development of a large
wind farm in Kansas. The proposed wind farm of 100 wind turbines, about 45 miles
east of Wichita, will be the state’s largest producer of wind energy.
Environmental Groups Appeal Permit For A New Coal-Burning Power Plant
Near St. Louis
The Sierra Club, American Bottom Conservancy, American Lung Association, Clean
Air Task Force, Lake County Conservation Alliance, and Valley Watch have appealed
the air pollution permit issued to St. Louis based Peabody Energy by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for its proposed Prairie State coal plant.
The groups filed the appeal with the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) of U.S.
EPA in Washington, D.C. The EAB is expected to take six to nine months to rule
on the appeal, so a decision may not come until 2006.
Food Feud: An activist slings a cleaver at the meat
business
by Bob Schildgen—Senior Editor, SIERRA Magazine
THE MEATYOU EAT: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food Supply
by Ken Midkiff (St. Martin’s Press, $23.95)
Henry Kissinger is a farmer. That’s one of the many revelations in this feisty exposé of how the corporate dominated food system damages the environment.
Former Sierra Club Clean Water Campaign director, Midkiff sounds like a local farmer grumbling while he sips coffee at the worn Formica counter in a local café. “Too much manure in one place,” is the problem with giant livestock operations. As one of his farmer friends puts it, “Mother Nature never intended for 80,000 hogs to shit in the same spot.”
Missouri Department of Natural Resources Faces Scrutiny
by Tom Kruzen
The Conservation and Natural Resources Committee of the
Missouri House of Representatives held a hearing to get public input on what
citizens thought of the Department of Natural Resources.
Although most citizens highly value clean air and clean water, they rarely have direct contact with the Department of Natural Resources as they are the agency charged with regulating business and polluting entities. Several Sierra Club members took time out of their busy schedules to share their thoughts on how important the job of the Department of Natural Resources is. Below is my story that speaks to the issue of the good work conducted by MDNR.
Ozark Chapter commits to long-range Strategic Plan
by Melissa Blakley, Chapter Development Associate
Ozark Chapter leaders
realize we are facing the toughest challenges we have ever faced to protect
our beautiful and natural state. Many Missouri legislators are determined to
roll back environmental protections that safeguard our water, our air and our
communities, and intend to render ineffective the state agencies responsible
for holding polluters accountable.
MoDOT’s Plan for I-70 Could Waste up to $1
Billion
by Ron McLinden
MoDOT is about to spend far more money than necessary
to rebuild I-70. It all depends on how they use tolls to pay for it. When they
studied the 200 miles of I-70 between Independence and Lake St. Louis, MoDOT’s
consultants estimated future traffic would require six lanes all the way across
the state. They advised widening the existing highway at a cost of $2.8 billion.
Tax Increment Financing—“Race to the
Bottom” hurts our Environment
by Ginger Harris*
Missouri is one of over 40 states that authorize the
use of tax increment financing or “TIFs” by local governments. Under
TIF, the increased tax revenue associated with a proposed project— the
“tax increment”—is used to help build the development. TIF
law allows a local government to sell bonds, thereby borrowing against future
tax revenues to help finance a project.
See You in September?
Largest Gathering Ever: Sierra Club Convention to Welcome Thousands
to San Francisco, Build Vision for Future
Sierra Summit 2005 was born at a Sierra Club Board of Directors meeting two
years ago.
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