BushAdministration:Earth Day

Sale

Summer 2002 Newsmagazine Volume 32, Number 2

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P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O L U M N

Bush Administration: Tools for Environmental

Destruction

In my more than 30 years ofworking to protect our planet,I have never seen an adminis-tration more eager to take astand against virtually every

environmental law and protectionever written or enacted.

We had withheld criticism of thepresident in the wake of the Sept. 11tragedy, and even withdrew fromplanned protests of a World Bankmeeting in Washington, D.C., thatmonth. However, Friends of the Earthis convinced that the administrationhas been using the cover of terrorismto dismantle decades of progress onbasic environmental protections andwe are speaking out.

We ran a series of ads in USAToday (see cover and page 14) accus-ing the Bush administration ofrewarding campaign contributors byweakening vital environmental pro-tections. Our Earth Day message toBush was: “Put human health and theenvironment first, not the wealthypolluters who contributed to yourcampaign.”

This issue of the newsmagazinedescribes how President Bush wentfrom rolling back environmental reg-ulations to slashing funding forenvironmental protections. The $5.6trillion federal surplus that was fore-cast at the start of 2001 has nearlyevaporated. Thus, budget battles arealmost guaranteed for months tocome.

Our new Green Scissors 2002report offers 78 common sense rec-ommendations to cut environmentallyharmful programs that benefit narrowspecial interests at considerable tax-payer expense.

The House and Senate havepassed different versions of energypolicy. The House Bill H.R. 4embodies Vice President Cheney’senergy plan–a plan devised behindclosed doors with representativesfrom the power, coal, oil, gas andnuclear energy industries. It calls forhuge subsidies for these high-pollut-ing and dangerous energy sources.Friends of the Earth was quoted inThe Washington Post on the currentsituation:

“While clearly superior to theHouse version, the Senate bill offersno coherent view of how to fuel oureconomy in a cleaner way. It wouldhave reflected forward-thinking whenGrover Cleveland was president.”There’s no way an environmentallyfriendly bill will be coming out ofany House-Senate conference com-mittee.

If President Bush also gets fasttrack trade negotiating authority, hewill proceed to negotiate environ-mentally damaging trade dealswithout any input from Congress.The administration favors trade legis-lation, like the North American FreeTrade Agreement, that allows corpo-rations to sue governments ifenvironmental regulations get in theway of profits. The House and Senatewill try to reconcile their differingversions of fast track. Meanwhile, weare publicizing and holding account-able members of Congress who votedagainst environmental safeguards intrade agreements.

We have a tough fight ahead ofus and this fall’s election will be cru-cial. As an act of good citizenshipand stewardship, Friends of the Earthis urging everyone to vote, and takeyour children with you to teach themthat voting is important.

Brent Blackwelder

Summer 2002 • Volume 32, Number 2 3

Table of Contents

Volume 32, Number 2 Summer 2002Friends of the Earth (ISSN: 1054-1829) is published quarterly by Friends of the Earth,1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005-6303, phone 202-783-7400, 877-843-8687 (toll free), fax 202-783-0444, e-mail: foe@foe.org, Web site:www.foe.org. Annual membership dues are $25, which includes a subscription to Friends ofthe Earth.

Northwest Office: 6512 23rd Avenue, NW, Suite 320, Seattle, WA 98117, phone 206-297-9460, fax 206-297-9468, e-mail: foenw@foe.org.

Northeast Office: 87 College Street, Burlington, VT 05401, phone 802-951-9094, fax802-860-1208, e-mail: foene@foe.org.

The words “Friends of the Earth” and the FoE logo are exclusive trademarks ofFriends of the Earth, all rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, articles may be reprintedwithout charge or special permission. Please credit Friends of the Earth and the articleauthor; send us a copy. Friends of the Earth is indexed in the Alternative Press Index.Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Friends of the Earth, Membership Dept. 1025Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005-6303.

Board of DirectorsEd Begley, Jr.; Jayni Chase; Harriett Crosby; ClarenceDitlow; Frances Dubrowski; Dan Gabel; Alicia Gomer;Michael Herz; Ann Hoffman, Chair ; Marion Hunt-Badiner, Secretary; Doug Legum; Patricia Matthews;Avis Ogilvy Moore, Vice Chair; Charles Moore;Edwardo Lao Rhodes; Arlie Shardt; Doria Steedman;Rick Taketa; David Zwick, Treasurer

StaffBrent Blackwelder, PresidentNorman Dean, Executive DirectorSandra Adams-Morally, Membership AssociateLisa Archer, Safer Food, Safer Farms Grassroots

CoordinatorLarry Bohlen, Director, Health and Environment

CampaignsShawn Cantrell, Director, NW OfficeMichelle Chan-Fishel, International Policy AnalystHugh Cheatham, Chief Financial OfficerKeira Costic, Publications ManagerLeslie Fields, Director, International ProgramColleen Freeman, International Grassroots CoordinatorLisa Grob, Executive AssistantMark Helm, Director of Media RelationsSteve Herz, International Policy AnalystDavid Hirsch, Director, Economics for the Earth

ProgramCheryl Johnson, Receptionist/Office AssistantDiane Minor, Director, Communications and

DevelopmentHarriet Nash, Fisheries CampaignerSherri Owens, Office ManagerChris Pabon, Director of Foundation RelationsErich Pica, Economics Policy AnalystLisa Ramirez, Policy Associate, NW OfficeJon Sohn, International Policy AnalystKristen Sykes, Interior Department WatchdogDavid Waskow, Trade and Investment Policy CoordinatorChris Weiss, Director of D.C. Environmental NetworkCarol Welch, Deputy Director, International ProgramSara Zdeb, Legislative Representative

Publications StaffKeira Costic, EditorDesign by JML Design

InternsAlexis Curry, Lisa Gilbert, Laura Gintz, Beth Lander,Jeff Mittelstadt, Wai-Ling Mui, Dave Newman, ScottSilberberg, Lisette Singer, Megan Stokes

ConsultantsMegan HavrdaBrian Dunkiel

Member GroupsArgentina, Australia, Austria,Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil,Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile,Colombia, Democratic Republic ofCongo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curacao,Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Ecuador, El Salvador, England-Wales-Northern Ireland,Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana,Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland,Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, MiddleEast, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria,Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Scotland,Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden,Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, United States,Uruguay.

AffiliatesInternational Rivers Network; Grupo de TrabalhoAmazonico (GTA); Rainforest Action Network;Rainforest Information Centre; Stichting De Noordzee;Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment andDevelopment (A SEED) Europe; REJULADS (ASEED Latin America); Project Underground; PeaceBoat; Mineral Policy Institute; Corporate EuropeObservatory; Amigos da Terra Amazonia Brazil

Bush Budgets for Corporations to Profit . . . . .Pg. 4

Blowing the Tops Off Mountains . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 6

Horror Stories from an African Mine . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 7

Your Tax Dollars at Work… For Enron . . . . . . . .Pg. 8

Green Scissors Could Cut CA Deficit . . . . . .Pg. 9

Genetically KRAFTed:Not in My Kitchen . . . . . . .Pg. 10

Court Victory on Sprawl! . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 12

Cloning Consequences . . . . . . . . .Pg. 13

Thanks . . . . . . . . .Pg. 14

Help Elect Environmentalists! . . . . . .Pg. 16

EarthShare giving campaigns allowyou to designate a donation to Friendsof the Earth. Federal employees candonate through the Combined FederalCampaign by marking #0908 on theirpledge forms.Friends of the Earth is printed with soy ink on

100% recycled paper, 30% post-consumer content. Bleached without chlorine.

Friends ofthe EarthInternational

UNIONBUG

By Keira Costic

The Bush administrationbegan its assault on theenvironment by placingindustry executives inkey agency jobs. They

followed it with a series of regulatoryrollbacks, including their short-livedattempt to block a rule protectingdrinking water from arsenic, a highlytoxic substance. Now, the Bushadministration is using a new tool toundermine environmental protection:the federal budget.

“The White House is using Enronaccounting to hide assaults on cleanwater, clean air and conservation pro-grams,” said Sara Zdeb, legislativerepresentative for Friends of theEarth. “If President Bush has his way,we’ll be spending $1 billion less toprotect the environment and publichealth than we did last year.”

Wanted: Money toEnforce ourEnvironmental Laws For the second year in a row, theBush budget guts the EnvironmentalProtection Agency’s (EPA) enforce-ment programs. These programs–civilenforcement, compliance monitoringand incentives–allow EPA to deterpolluters from breaking the law. TheBush budget cuts $4 million fromthese activities, slashing personnelsalaries and cutting at least 200enforcement staff.

“With the environmental cop offthe beat, polluters will have free reinto break laws that protect our air andwater,” said Zdeb.

In a related instance of account-ing sleight-of-hand, the Bush budgetproposes to give more enforcementauthority to states–but does so bytaking away money from proven fed-eral enforcement efforts. Experiencehas shown that states often lack thecapacity or willpower to adequatelyenforce environmental laws. AndEPA has sole responsibility for someprograms, including cracking downon transboundary pollution–like mid-western power plants that cause smogand acid rain in the Northeast.

Draining Clean WaterProgramsThe White House is threatening topull the plug on $344 million ofwater quality programs and neglect-ing to fund longstanding successfulprograms.

Anyone who’s spent summers atthe shore knows that pollution canruin vacations at the beach. In fact,beach-water pollution is such a seri-ous problem that Congress passed alaw in 2000 to address it. TheBeaches Environmental Assessmentand Coastal Health (BEACH) Actprovides coastal states and cities withgrants to help them monitor, report

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C O V E R S T O R Y

Bush Budgets for Corporations to Profit

President Bush, pictured here on Earth Day, continues to wield his ax to chop away thebudget that protects our environment.

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and reduce beachwater pollution. Theonly problem? President Bush wantsto cut $20 million from the $30 mil-lion that Congress approved.

When it comes to clean water,the BEACH program is the rule–notthe exception–in the Bush budget.The budget cuts $138 million fromthe Clean Water State RevolvingFund, a program that helps statesfund municipal wastewater treatmentprojects and control non-point sourcepollution. That type of pollution isfrom rain and snow runoff carryingaway pollutants and depositing theminto bodies of water–including ourdrinking water.

While the budget appears not tocut any funds from the Safe DrinkingWater State Revolving Fund, itsiphons $27 million from this suc-cessful program to fund a newinitiative to help small communitiesreduce arsenic from drinking water.This is a worthy initiative, but onethat shouldn’t come at the expense ofan established program.

“I guess President Bush buysbottled water,” said Zdeb. “Otherwisehe wouldn’t be gutting programs thatprotect the tap water that ordinaryAmericans rely upon.”

In another accounting trick, theBush budget creates a brand new,undefined watershed protection pro-gram. Environmentalists worry,however, that money could be redi-rected from EPA’s main program forcleaning up polluted waters to fundthe new and completely voluntaryinitiative.

No Funds for Superfund One out of four Americans liveswithin a mile of a Superfund site, thenation’s most contaminated toxicwaste sites. And 85 percent of thesesites involve groundwater contamina-tion. There are over a thousanduncontrolled or abandoned toxicwaste sites, like New York’s LoveCanal. Unfortunately, Bush would

rather help his polluter pals than thecitizens living near these toxichotspots.

Congress established theSuperfund program in 1980 in orderto remediate these toxic sites. Theprogram is backed up by a trust fund,which is tapped to fund cleanupswhen the government can’t identifythe responsible party. A tax on pollut-ing industries generated about $1.5billion annually for the trust fund,which reached a high of $3.8 billionin 1996. The Republican Congresshas failed to reauthorize the tax sinceit lapsed in 1995, and this yearPresident Bush didn’t even ask themto.

The Superfund trust is now dwin-dling, and the pace of cleanupsslowing. This year, the Bush adminis-tration plans to clean up only 40 toxicsites–a 50 percent reduction from thefinal four years of the Clinton admin-istration. Even worse, as the trustshrinks, taxpayers are forced to foot

more of the bill for toxic cleanups.Under the Bush budget,taxpayers–not polluters–will spend$700 million on Superfund.

Public Lands inCorporate HandsAs campers and hikers enjoy nationalparks, wildlife refuges and other pub-lic lands, Bush is taking money awaythat maintains these national treas-ures. Even worse, the budget shiftsfunds from natural resource conser-vation and restoration to resourceexploitation and extraction.

Once again, Bush falls short onanother one of his campaign prom-ises: to fully fund the Land and WaterConservation Fund (LWCF). Thisfund, created by Congress in 1964,provides money for federal, state andlocal governments for land acquisi-tion and protection.

Summer 2002 • Volume 32, Number 2 5

Documents Show Ethics Violatoinby Deputy Secretary of Interior According to documents we uncovered DeputySecretary of the Department of the Interior J. StevenGriles violated two recusal agreements. These agree-ments were supposed to take him out of the loop for ayear on decisions that involved his former clients. Buthe continued to lobby on behalf of a company he for-merly owned and from which he is not fully divested.

A memo from Griles, on Interior Department let-terhead, to Deputy EPA Administrator Linda Fisherasked EPA to work out their differences with Interiorbefore EPA sends out “environmentally unsatisfac-tory” comments on a draft Environmental Impact

Statement for coal bed methane projects in the Powder River Basin.“The memos reveal that Friles violated his recusal agreement and

helped his former clients and friends in the mining industry.” said Friendsof the Earth Interior Department Watchdog, Kristen Sykes. “The Bushadministration hired a fox to guard the henhouse—that’s been theirapproach to environmental protection and enforcement since day one.”

Visit http://www.foe.org/eco/interior/griles/index.html to read the whole story,including recusal agreements, memos and background information.

C O V E R S T O R Y

J. Steven Griles wascaught lobbying theEnvironmentalProtection Agencyon behalf of formerclients after he hadsigned anagreement not to.

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C L E A N W A T E R

By Sara Zdeb

Across the SoutheasternUnited States, a prac-tice called mountaintopremoval is destroyingcommunities and lay-

ing waste to the environment. In thisruthless practice, mining companiesliterally blow the tops off ofAppalachian mountains in order toreach seams of coal. They then dumpthe millions of tons of waste they’vegenerated into nearby valleys, bury-ing streams and killing aquatic life.In West Virginia and Kentucky alone,these “valley fills” have buried morethan 1,500 miles of streams.

The blasting associated withremoving the tops of mountains dev-astates nearby communities. Itbombards residents with noise,cracks the foundations of theirhouses, covers their homes with coaldust and occasionally launches rocksat their roofs. Under these circum-stances, residents face anunappealing choice: pack up andleave their generations-old commu-nity, or stay and endure theconditions.

Remarkably, there is no law pre-venting coal companies from blowingthe tops off of mountains. WhenCongress passed the Surface MiningControl and Reclamation Act in

1977, the practice was limited.Officials barely contemplated theexpansion of mountaintop removal,or the scope of today’soperations–some of which bury milesof streams at once.

Therein lies the hope for environ-mentalists and coalfield residents.While the surface mining law doesn’tprohibit mountaintop mining, theClean Water Act outlaws buryingstreams with mining waste. For years,the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)has turned a blind eye to this land-mark statute, issuing illegal permitsfor coal companies to fill valleys andbury streams. Kentucky citizensknew that the Corps was acting ille-gally, and in 2001 filed suit in afederal court.

The Bush administration realizedthey were vulnerable to this courtchallenge. In an attempt to head off aloss this spring, the administrationfinalized a Clean Water Act rule thatmarks the most dramatic rollback ofthe law in nearly 30 years. Theadministration’s move seemed to say: Why bother enforcing the law ifyou can simply rewrite it?

The White House’s attempt tolegalize valley fills by rewriting thelaw hinges on a few words in a tech-nical, regulatory definition. Underthe Clean Water Act, the Corps can

issue permits to “fill” waterways.Since 1977, the agency has defined“fill material” as anything that raisesthe bottom elevation of a waterway,with one critical exception: wastecannot be used as fill. In practice,this meant a developer could placematerial in a stream to build anembankment for a bridge, but couldn’t dump trash there.

On May 3, the Corps revised therule, deleting the waste prohibition.In so doing, the White House resur-rected a rule originally proposed byPresident Clinton in 2000 who aban-doned it after overwhelming publicopposition. The Bush administrationattempted to portray the change as asimple bureaucratic matter of word-smithing. In reality, the change rollsback three decades of progress underthe Clean Water Act, codifying a pre-viously illegal practice that hasobliterated the very waters the law issupposed to protect.

Worse, the rule change won’t justexpedite mountaintop removal’sdestruction of Appalachian streams.It will allow the Corps to authorizethe dumping of hardrock miningwaste, construction and demolitionwaste, and other types of industrialwaste into waterways across thecountry. If the Bush administration

Blowing the Tops Off Mountains

The Bush administration re-wrote the Clean Water Act to legalize dumping mining waste and other waste into waterways across the country.

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Summer 2002 • Volume 32, Number 2 7

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Horror Stories from an African MineBy Steve Herz

Irecently traveled toTanzania to investigate alle-gations of a CanadianMining Company, SuttonResources, bulldozing over

mining pits and burying alive 52small-scale miners. In August 1996,Tanzanian authorities forciblyevicted a community of tens ofthousands of small-scale minersfrom their homes and worksites tomake way for Sutton Resources atthe Bulyanhulu gold mine – thelargest mine in East Africa.

None of the displaced peoplewere compensated for the loss oftheir homes, possessions or liveli-hoods. It has also been suspectedthat the evictions were brutal andswift and caused enormous eco-nomic and social harms

Despite these claims, theMultilateral Investment GuaranteeAgency (MIGA), the World Bank’spolitical risk insurance arm, provideda guarantee to the project’s currentowner, Barrick Gold Corporation.Barrick is another Canadian corpora-tion that bought Bulyanhulu fromSutton Resources.

I joined an international NGOfact-finding mission to inquire intothe events at the Bulyanhulu goldmine. Our group included journalistsand activists from the United States,Canada and the Netherlands.

But the Tanzanian police physi-cally obstructed the road toBulyanhulu to prevent us from visitingthe communities in the area, andordered us to return immediately to thecapital, Dar es Salaam. They claimedthat we lacked appropriate authoriza-tion and had misstated the purpose ofour trip on our visa applications.

Despite the efforts of theTanzanian authorities to stop us, we

were able to interview a variety ofindividuals with differing perspectiveson the Bulyanhulu controversy.Fifteen individuals–mostly small-scalepit owners from the communitiesaround Bulyanhulu–met us at ourguest house and related their experi-ences. Many claim to beeye-witnesses to various relevantevents and some said they lost lovedones in the pits when they were bull-dozed.

The people told powerful, some-times harrowing stories of the allegedevictions and the violence and brutal-ity with which they were carried out.We were impressed by their willing-ness to take significant risks to theirown personal safety to come andspeak with us. We also learned thatsome 250 others waited several hoursfor us to arrive in Bulyanhulu so thatthey, too, could tell their stories.

Our experiences in Tanzania con-vinced us of the necessity of anindependent, impartial, transparentand comprehensive inquiry into the

allegations of uncompensated massevictions of small-scale miners andtheir communities, and killings ofminers at Bulyanhulu during thesummer of 1996. We are more cer-tain than ever that publicinstitutions involved in the currentproject–MIGA and the CanadianExport DevelopmentCorporation–should fulfill theirpublic interest mandate by releas-ing any results of theirinvestigations that may shed lighton the truth of these allegations.

Recent Developments:In early May, the Tanzanian gov-ernment brought sedition chargesagainst one of our hosts, TunduLissu of the Lawyer’sEnvironmental Action Team, hiscolleague Rugemeleza Nshala and

Augustine Mrema, Chairman of theTanzanian Labor Party, for theirefforts to publicize these allegations.Since they have publicly discussed thegovernment’s role in the evictions,they face imprisonment for makingstatements which “bring into con-tempt or to excite disaffection againstthe lawful authority” of theGovernment of Tanzania. Mr. Lissuand Mr. Nshala are appealing for helpfrom individuals and organizationsaround the world.

Take action! Register your concerns

regarding the sedition charges, go tohttp://www.foei.org/cyberaction/tanzania.php

Go tohttp://www.leat.or.tz/active/buly/to find out more about the

mine. Visit http://www.foe.org/interna-tional/index.html for the full trip report.■

Melanie Baesi waited for her sons, Jonathon andErnest, to come home from mining in their open pitthe night of August 7, 1996. But only her friendreturned home to tell Baesi her sons had beenburied alive with 10 others.

8

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

By Jon Sohn

The Washington Postbroke a story promptedby Friends of theEarth’s findings thatbankrupt Enron

Corporation received $2.4 billion ofU.S. taxpayer money for outstandingloans, guarantees and insurance fromthe U.S. Overseas Private InvestmentCorporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States(Ex-Im). Since Enron was so skillfulat blocking bad publicity, are theproblems with these damaging proj-ects finally coming to light.

In the case of Enron’s disastrousCuiaba pipeline project, which runsfrom Bolivia to Brazil, the Bushadministration was facing a toughdecision: release hundreds of millionsof dollars to Enron for this pipeline

that has fractured indigenous commu-nities and the last intact tropical dryforest in Bolivia, or cancel the loan.

Enron lobbied Congress to saveOPIC from extinction, and in returnOPIC approved the project in 1999.The pipeline is a year behind sched-ule due to “unanticipated“environmental problems. It is notonly destroying the world’s largestremaining tract of primary tropicaldry forest–the Chiquitano Forest–andharming the Pantanal - the world’slargest wetland -but it directly vio-lates OPIC’s own environmentalpolicies.

Friends of the Earth has beenworking with non-governmentalorganizations and indigenous groupsin Bolivia to stop this project fromthe start. Recently under increasedcongressional and public scrutiny,

OPIC cancelled the loan, seeking towalk away from the problems enabledby the U.S. government.

“While taking taxpayer dollarsaway from Enron is good, the damagehas already been done, and promisesof a $20 million conservation fundfrom Enron and their minority part-ner Shell, which were a key conditionof OPIC Board approval of the proj-ect, have evaporated,” said Friends ofthe Earth President BrentBlackwelder.

Separate field visits and reportsby non-governmental organizationsall reveal contractual violations andchronic environmental problems. Keyviolations include: unfettered accessto the right of way; creation ofunplanned access roads; failure toimplement a long-term IndigenousPeoples Development Plan; negative

Your Taxdollars at Work… For Enron

A holding area for pipeline supplies off of one of the many service roads cutting through the Chicquitano Dry Tropical Forest, the world’slargest remaining tract of primary tropical dry forest. Roads have opened the area to poaching, old growth logging, illegal cattle grazingand hunting.

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Summer 2002 • Volume 32, Number 2 9

impacts to the Pantanal Wetland;destruction of primary tropical forest;and associated impacts including theopening of a gold mine in the middleof the Chiquitano Forest.

Economic issues are astoundingas well. According to The WashingtonPost, Enron booked $65 million inrevenue in 1999 for the pipeline witha pair of accounting tricks. Enronwanted to record profits from theproject by using market-to-marketcalculations, an accounting trick thatallows projected revenue to bebooked in the current year. But it wasillegal for Enron to use such a calcu-lation because its pipeline ultimatelyconnected to an Enron power plant.To get around that, Enron sold a 13percent stake in the plant for $11.3million to LJM1, a partnership ofEnron executives. That allowed Enronto book the revenue, and it did so inthe last two quarters of 1999. All thiswhile the pipeline was not even deliv-ering gas to the power plant that

would allow real revenue to be pro-duced.

Now rather than face the prob-lems it has caused and its own lack ofdue diligence for loans, OPIC hastaken a hit-and-run strategy. Friends

of the Earth maintains that OPIC andEnron owe an ecological debt to theindigenous peoples of Bolivia andBrazil for harming their communitiesand the ecologically sensitive forest.■

The state of Californiahas a $23.5 billion dol-lar deficit, the highest instate history, and legisla-tures are faced with

some tough choices. Unfortunately,state officials are cutting importantprograms and polluters are getting afree ticket to pollute.

We, along with a coalition of 26taxpayer, environmental, and con-sumer interest organizations,published Green Watchdog 2002. Thisnew report outlines $28 billion in statebudget savings that would protect theenvironment and improve publichealth in California. We propose elim-

inating wasteful subsidies, tax loop-holes and other activities thatencourage environmentally harmfulpractices with 18 budget-cutting rec-ommendations.

The recommendations include:requiring refineries instead of taxpay-ers to pay for the clean up of MTBEcontamination – a toxic gas additivethat poisoned ground-water; delayingthe initial construction of the UCMerced Campus until all environmen-tal studies are complete; and requiringthe agricultural industry to pay for theclean up of pesticide run-off.

To view a copy of the report visitwww.greencap.org. ■

Green Scissors Could Cut CA Deficit

Friends of the Earth’s Recommendations to OPIC:■ OPIC should acknowledge the problems it has caused with Enron in

Bolivia and lessons learned for future lending practices using U.S. tax-payer dollars.

■ Use a portion of the over $4 billion in reserves it claims to establish as areparations mechanism for damage caused to the environment andindigenous communities in Bolivia.

■ Establish a moratorium on fossil fuel extraction projects, followed byclear plans to establish no-go zones in areas of high conservation and aphase-out of fossil fuel extraction with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

■ Set up targets for clean, renewable energy, like solar and wind, in theirenergy portfolio as required pursuant to the National EnvironmentalPolicy Act.

■ Institute congressional hearings as a requisite before OPIC and Ex-Imare able to provide insurance or financing to these projects.

10

By Lisa Archer

Do you know what Kraftis putting in your food?It’s untested, unlabeledand could put yourfamily’s health and the

environment at risk. It’s “geneticallyKrafted” and people across NorthAmerica are telling Kraft: Not in mykitchen!

Round Two for SafeFood: April Week ofActionThousands of consumers sent Kraftdemands to remove genetically engi-neered ingredients from its productsafter our first day of action inFebruary with events in 170 cities.The launch of the campaign was fea-tured in The Wall Street Journal,Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times,Boston Herald, and on nationwideradio and television news includingCNN Headline News. Despite theconsumer uproar and press coverage,Kraft still did not respond to ourrequest for a meeting with companyofficials to discuss our concerns.

We countered this apathetic movewith a week of nationwide consumeractions starting April 17 and culmi-nating on April 22, the day of Kraft’sfirst annual shareholder meeting sinceits split from parent company, tobaccoking Phillip Morris in July 2001.

This second round of actions wasan even bigger success than the first,with events in close to 200 citiesacross the United States and Canada.Actions included leafleting and edu-

cational events outside of grocerystores and at Earth Day events. Wealso organized a national call-in weekthat generated thousands of calls fromconcerned customers to Kraft.

Why Kraft?Kraft Foods is the largest food com-pany in the country, and the secondlargest in the world, with productsthat can be found in 99 percent ofU.S. households. Yet many of theseproducts, such as Taco Bell tacoshells, Oreos, Lunchables andStovetop stuffing, are likely to containuntested and unlabeled geneticallyengineered ingredients that may putKraft’s customers at risk.

Risks include health and environ-mental hazards such as new allergies,new plant toxins, harm to other plantsand animals, the creation of “super-

weeds” from cross pollination and theuse of more pesticides. Almost two-thirds of genetically engineered cropsgrown on a commercial basis in theUnited States have been modified totolerate certain proprietary herbicides.Farmers, therefore, can douse theirfields with herbicides without havingto worry about killing their crops.

Kraft officials are aware of thepotential health and environmentalrisks of genetically engineered foods.In the fall of 2000 Friends of theEarth discovered StarLink corn, agenetically engineered corn notapproved for human consumption, inKraft products, which resulted in thecompany recalling millions of boxesof taco shells at a cost of tens of mil-lions of dollars. Kraft was forced toswitch to non-genetically engineeredwhite corn in its corn-based taco

S A F E F O O D U P D A T E

Kraft Food products can be found in 99 percent of U.S. households. Many Kraft productssuch as Oreos, Lunchables and Stovetop Stuffing are likely to contain untested andunlabeled genetically engineered ingredients that may put Kraft’s customers at risk.

Genetically KRAFTed: Not In My Kitchen!

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products to avoid further contamina-tion.

However, Kraft continues to usequestionable genetically engineeredingredients in many of its other prod-ucts. Although in Europe it avoidsusing genetically engineered ingredi-ents in all of its products because ofconsumer demand there for geneti-cally-engineered-free products. U.S.consumers are demanding this changeas well, as evidenced by poll afterpoll showing that between 85 and 93percent of Americans want labeling ofgenetically engineered ingredients infoods they buy.

At the ShareholderMeetingKraft held its first AnnualShareholder Meeting on Earth Daythis year in an obscure corporatefacility in East Hanover, N.J.Protesters with signs and banners andsome dressed as tacos and macaroniand cheese boxes, braved torrentialrain to greet shareholders as theyentered the meeting.

A representative from GeneticallyEngineered Food Alert was able toenter Kraft’s shareholder meeting on aproxy from Green Century Fund, anenvironmentally responsible invest-ment fund. While inside, we raisedthe health, environmental and finan-cial risks that genetically engineeredingredients pose to Kraft Foods in aquestion addressed to the Board. TheGenetically Engineered Food Alertrepresentative also had the opportu-nity to speak directly to Kraft CEO

Betsy Holden, and ask for a dialoguewith the company. Holden feels it isunnecessary for us to meet, sinceKraft is following federal regulations.

Take Action For Safe Food:

Go to www.gefoodalert.org andclick on “Take Action” to send an e-mail to Kraft CEO Betsy Holden.

Kraft at 1-800-323-0768, andsay that you want to speak to BetsyHolden and ask that they stop usinguntested, unlabeled genetically engi-neered ingredients.

Ms. Betsy Holden,President and CEO Kraft Foods, 3Lakes Drive, Northfield, IL 60093.

In the campaignand our next round of actions. Pleasecontact Lisa Archer at larcher@foe.orgor 1-877-843-8687.

From our Web site formore information, updates, upcomingactions, press stories and photos ofevents! www.gefoodalert.org. ■

GET INFO:

GET INVOLVED:

WRITE:

CALL:

EMAIL:

“In all likelihoodsome of our products

do contain biotechingredients from

[genetically modified]crops.”

Kraft Foods, consumer letter, Oct. 1999.

S A F E F O O D U P D A T E

has its way, our nation’s rivers,streams, lakes, wetlands and coastalareas could become little more thandumping grounds for polluters.

Environmentalists weren’t theonly ones expressing outrage over theadministration’s decision. JudgeCharles Haden, the federal districtjudge whose impending decision onthe Kentucky citizen suit providedthe impetus behind the rule change,issued a ruling shortly after the WhiteHouse acted. His opinion said thatnot only is it illegal for coal compa-nies to bury streams beneath miningwaste, but that the Corps had no legalauthority to rewrite its own rules.The administration has asked the

judge to suspend his ruling, pendingan appeal.

In the month since the WhiteHouse issued the new rule, environ-mentalists and local citizens haveworked to reverse it. Activists fromWest Virginia and Kentucky havetraveled to Capitol Hill twice, team-ing with national groups like Friendsof the Earth to educate members ofCongress about the rule change andrally opposition against it. Inresponse, a bipartisan group of Housemembers, led by Reps. Chris Shays(R-Conn.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)introduced legislation to reverse theadministration’s rule, and Sen. JosephLieberman (D-Conn.) has pledged todo the same.

Together, the court decision andrecent legislation serve as a ray ofhope for citizens whose communitiesand environment have been devas-tated by coal companies bent onprofit. Friends of the Earth will workto defend them, and in so doing pro-tect the remaining mountains,streams and communities ofAppalachia–and the rest of thenation.

Take action! Contact yourmember of Congress and askhim or her to co-sponsor

H.R. 4683, the Clean WaterProtection Act.

For more information, visitwww.saveourwaters.org ■

continued from page 6

12

L I T I G A T I O N

By Keira Costic

Pursuant to the settlementagreement secured byFriends of the Earth, theArmy Corps of Engineershas withdrawn a permit

under which it illegally allowed devel-opers to issue any new permits thatallow developers to drain and fill wet-lands and streams in Virginia. For thepast three years, Friends of the Earthhas been monitoring and challengingthe sprawl-inducing decisions of mul-tiple federal agencies in the D.C. area,and finally secured a settlement withthe Corps in federal court after 18months of litigation.

The Corps was permitting devel-opment that contributes to urbansprawl in Virginia without complyingwith federal environmental lawsincluding the National EnvironmentalPolicy Act, the Endangered SpeciesAct and the Clean Water Act.

“The settlement addresses Friendsof the Earth’s concerns and offersgreater protection for wetlands,streams and the countless species that

depend on these aquatic environmentsthroughout Virginia,” said ChrisWeiss, D.C. Environmental Networkdirector at Friends of the Earth.

The settlement agreementincludes measures designed to insurethat the Corps complies with theNational Environmental Policy Act,the Clean Water Act and theEndangered Species Act before issu-ing additional development permits.

Specifically, the settlement agree-ment:• Prohibits the Corps from issuing

any additional development per-mits under ASP-18–a blanketpermit that allows the Corps tobypass complete environmentalassessments of projects.

• Places limits on the extent towhich existing permits grantedunder ASP-18 can be modified.

• Requires the Corps to complete asupplemental environmentalanalysis disclosing the direct,indirect and cumulative impactsof all of its permitting activities in

the State of Virginia.• Requires the Corps to consult with

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicein regards to the effects of its per-mitting programs on threatenedand endangered species if theCorps determines that such pro-grams may affect these species.

Friends of the Earth has an additionalsuit pending against the U.S. SmallBusiness Administration raising simi-lar concerns.

“The Army Corps is just one ofmany federal agencies fueling sprawlin the D.C. area,” said Weiss. “Theseactions, along with other legal effortswe are using, like challenging inade-quate water pollution permits forD.C., will result in meaningfulimprovements to the region’s ecosys-tems and residents’ quality of life.”

For more information aboutthe D.C. EnvironmentalNetwork call

(202) 783-7400 x120 or e-mailcweiss@foe.org. ■

Court Victory on Sprawl!

For the past 20 years, the Army Corps of Engineers has illegally authorized the development of hundreds of thousands of acres ofsubdivisions, strip malls and freeways without complying with well established federal environmental laws like the Clean Water Act.

Summer 2002 • Volume 32, Number 2 13

By Larry Bohlen

Pet CloningGenetic Savings & Clone can nowreplicate your family-pet, if you putup the money. On Valentine’s Day thenews media announced the first suc-cessfully cloned cat created by TexasA&M University, partner of GeneticSavings & Clone. The picture of thecute kitten in a lab-beaker shown innewspapers and on television tuggedat people’s heartstrings. But beforeyou go and clone your pet, youshould know the facts.

Typically, an immense number ofanimals die in the process of produc-ing one clone. Before Dolly the sheepwas cloned, about 200 experimentsended in failure and loss of life.Some cloned animals also grow dis-proportionately large in the womb,killing the mother.

Friends of the Earth joined TheHumane Society in opposing petcloning in a letter to Texas A&M. Itsaid, “We are concerned about thewell-being of the animals involved inthese experiments and about thelarger environmental and animal wel-fare issues that would emerge from awider application of this procedure.”

Endangered SpeciesCloningCloning companies say cloning is afuture means to recovering endan-gered species. The technique may notbe possible though, as their experi-ments are producing previouslyunknown creatures like one withpanda genes inserted into rabbit eggsincubated in brown bears, and genesof a rare ox inserted into a cow’s egg.

Even if endangered speciescloning were possible, environmen-talists assert that habitat protection isthe number one means to ensure thatspecies survive. In fact, investment incloning may actually divert resourcesfrom the critical need to protect dis-appearing landscapes.

“Trophy specimens in laborato-ries or pens are not the same asanimals living in the wild in theirnatural habitats,” said Friends of theEarth President Brent Blackwelder.

Companies that stand to benefitfrom the destruction of animal habi-tat are funding environmental frontgroups like the Audubon NatureInstitute (ANI)–not related to theNational Audubon Society–thatendorse cloning to protect endan-gered species. ANI is a member of acoalition of oil drilling and land spec-ulation companies that actuallylobbied against the Endangered

Species Act, and the head of ANIworks for a cloning company.

Human CloningFriends of the Earth teamed with sev-eral national environmental groups tosend a letter to the U.S. Senate inFebruary calling for a ban of humanreproductive cloning and strict gov-ernment regulation of embryocloning for research. The letter said,“such research clearly increases therisks of fully-formed human cloneseventually being born.” On the list ofenvironmental concerns, the groupsadded that human cloning andgenetic modification “will lead usdown a slippery slope toward theredesign of all life.”

Read about Friends of theEarth’s Campaign to StopCloning materials at

www.foe.org/stopcloning ■

Cloning Consequences

Doctors Tae Young (left) and mark Westhusin of Texas A&M University hold up the first-ever cloned kitty.

C O M M U N I T Y , H E A L T H A N D E N V I R O N M E N T

14

What looks like a proposal tofully fund LWCF with $911 mil-lion in actuality falls short. After acloser analysis, the budget onlyallocates $486 million to originalLWCF programs and the rest of themoney comes from shifting numer-ous other activities into the fund.

“President Bush continues totry to fool the public,” said KristenSykes, Friends of the Earth’sInterior Department watchdog.“Hopefully, members of Congresswill see through his accountinggimmicks and give our preciouspublic lands the funds they trulyneed.”

The Bush budget also fallsshort on the administration’s prom-ise to eliminate the maintenancebacklog at our national parks. Aspecific park in danger is theFlorida Everglades. It is one of thetop-ten most threatened nationalparks, according to the NationalPark Conservation Association.The park is damaged by pollutedrunoff from agriculture and fromflood-control projects.

A project underway, theModified Water Deliveries Project,

would help restore the Evergladesto its natural state, but Bush’sbudget cuts its funding in half. Theadministration even goes so far asto zero out the research budget forthe park.

While the Bush budget slashesfunds to protect public lands, itincreases funding to exploit them.The budget increases funding forthe Bureau of Land Management toimplement the Bush energy plan, inturn helping the oil, mining and gasindustries. It boosts funding for theMinerals Management Service by$5 million to promote drilling onthe Outer Continental Shelf. TheBush budget also has $650,000 forcoal leasing to promote more leasesales per year.

The Bush administration is sobusy protecting its corporate back-ers with favors and money; theenvironment is stuck in the waitingroom. We need your help to edu-cate members of Congress, theadministration and your friends.

Take action! Keep visitingthe take action section ofour Web site,

www.foe.org/takeaction. ■

Continued from Page 5

This full-page ad we ran in USA Today andaccused President Bush of handing theenvironment over to corporate contributors topollute and abuse for profit.

Novell, Inc. donated $15,700 of Netservices software to Friends of theEarth.

“Novell’s generous software dona-tion will give our computer network amuch needed shot in the arm, “ saidFriends of the Earth ExecutiveDirector Norman Dean. “This technol-ogy will be invaluable in our efforts to

work with citizens and communities toclean up the Earth’s environment.”

Novell’s software donations arepart of its Community Relations pro-gram, which seeks to enable nonprofitorganizations to develop and realizetheir visions through the power oftechnology.

For more information aboutNovell Inc. visit,www.novell.com and for Gifts

In Kind International visit,www.giftsinkind.org. ■

Thanks

Elemental T-Shirt

$15 members, $18 non-membersThis vibrant four-colored cotton teeboldly represents the fourelements–fire, wind, earth and water.Available in sizes Large and ExtraLarge.

Bumper Stickers $2 each, $5 for all threeShow the world how you feel abouthigh-polluting Sport Utility Vehicles.The slogans came from a contest heldat www.suv.org.

NEW Large Tote Bags!$10 members, $15 non-membersThe perfect alternative topaper and plastic shop-ping bags! This newversion of our popular totebag features organic cot-ton and brighter shades ofblue and green.

Reuse Envelope Labels $5 members, $7 non-membersSave trees! Reuse your envelopes withFoE’s labels. Just stick the 3” x 5” label over the old address andyou can reuse old envelopes, reducingthe amount of waste that you produce.

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Volume 32, No. 2

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Good environmentallaws start with goodenvironmental law-makers. That’s whyFriends of the Earth

Action needs your help. Friends of the Earth’s

hard-hitting, non-tax deductible sisterorganization, Friends of the EarthAction, is making sure members ofCongress are held accountable fortheir environmental records. Through

paid newspaper and radio ads andthrough media outreach we are call-ing attention to those members ofCongress who are doing the most toharm the environment.

And through our affiliated politi-cal action committee, we will be“putting our people where our poli-tics are” in this November’s elections.We will place environmentaliststrained in essential campaign skills towork supporting candidates we’ve

endorsed in the most critical electoralraces around the nation.

Among the dozens of environ-mental organizations nationwide,we’re one of a few with a politicalarm. Check out Friends of the EarthAction on the web at www.foeaction.org to see how we areusing political power to protect theenvironment. ■

Make checks payable to “FoE Action.”(Contributions are not tax deductible.)

To join Friends of the Earth Action,fill out the form below and mail withmembership fee to:

FoE Action1025 Vermont Ave., NWSuite 300Washington, DC 20005-6303

Help Elect Environmentalists!

As you may have noticed we launched a new Friends of theEarth logo with the Summer 2002 newsmagazine. The newlogo was adopted by a vote from our 69 member groups.