The Illinois Coalition for Responsible Outdoor Lighting and Lewis University are sponsoring a day-long conference on outdoor lighting March 11. Information about the conference is available online. I will be in Japan, but I would love to be able to attend this event. Light and noise are among the most pervasive forms of pollution that degrade our quality of life, in my opinion. Try living next door to a yapping dog, for example. Good luck to those who will be in attendance.
All posts by tedleeeubanks
Who Advocates for Birding?
The January issue of Birding magazine published an article about who advocates for birding by Ted Eubanks. The article is available online (through ABA) as a PDF.
In like a lion, out like a lamb?
This morning’s weather radar image dramatically illustrates the veracity of the old saw. Two major systems are sweeping toward the northeast. I visited Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago, and the city had already received a record-breaking 74 inches of snow this winter. More fell last week, and still more is coming.
We’ll see if this lion calms to a lamb by month’s end. Given the ferocity of this winter, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Ted
All For Naught?
Karla Klay alerted me to this article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. This is one in a series that the paper has been publishing on the loss of coastal wetlands in Louisiana. For a gist of the story, here is the opening paragraph:
Even under best-case scenarios for building massive engineering projects to restore Louisiana’s dying coastline, the Mississippi River can’t possibly feed enough sediment into the marshes to prevent ongoing catastraphic catastrophic land loss, two Louisiana State University geologists conclude in a scientific paper being published today.
The result: The state will lose another 4,054 to 5,212 square miles of coastline by 2100 — an area roughly the size of Connecticut.
Ike offered Galveston a peak into the future, I believe. Our sand-starved island (victimized by a variety of engineering projects both local and inland) is simply not prepared for the additional blow of sea level rise. With the passage last week of legislation in the House to finally move the U.S. off of dead center, perhaps at last we can begin to develop the strategy necessary to moderate the impacts of global warming. I find it hard to imagine anyone opposing such a tiny first step (the battle in the Senate will be tough), but, as usual, Texas finds a way to put its best foot forward. Rep John Culberson of Texas, a Republican, said the bill “is the equivalent to a light switch tax – if this bill becomes law, Americans will pay higher taxes every time we turn on our lights.”
Brilliant.
Sierra Club Press Release on Border Wall
Today, 27 members of Congress urged Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to comply with all laws if she proceeds with the final approximately 40 miles of border wall construction still slated for environmentally sensitive areas in California and Texas.
The REAL ID Act of 2005 gave the Secretary of Homeland Security — an unelected official – the authority to waive any law in order to fast-track construction of infrastructure along our shared international border with Mexico. Bush administration Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff used this unprecedented authority five times, waiving more than three dozen cultural protection, religious freedom, public safety, and environmental laws.
“Ignoring laws to build walls has caused needless harm to families, communities, and wildlife,” said Michael Degnan, Sierra Club’s public lands representative. “We are heartened to hear members of Congress call on the administration to reinstate the rule of law to the borderlands, a simple act that would go a long way toward restoring responsibility to our border policy.”
In today’s letter, the 27 Representatives recognized the impacts of waiving laws at the federal, state and local levels, writing: “We believe damage that has occurred to community relationships and public lands is attributable, at least in part, to the haste with which construction has proceeded, the lack of compliance with laws and regulations, and the lack of consultation with property owners and land managers.”
In asking that the Secretary comply with all laws if additional border wall construction takes place, the members of Congress note that more “careful consideration now could save mitigation dollars later, as well as avoiding the type of impacts that will be difficult to mitigate at any cost.”
A diverse group of organizations have applauded Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) and his colleagues for taking a stand and urging action on this critical issue.
“I’ve seen nothing that even comes close to justify waiving laws in order to fast track border wall construction,” said Congressman Bob Filner. “It concerns me that this has taken place in the past and I urge Secretary Napolitano to prevent further damage to our border communities, natural resources, and fragile wildlife habitat.”
“We should not sacrifice bedrock democratic principles like ‘consent of the governed’ and ‘representative democracy’ at the altar of the border wall,” said Reverend John Fanestil of the United Methodist Church. “Kudos to legislators working to restore due process and the rule of law on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr., founder and president of Border Ambassadors and executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, Laredo Community College, said: “For those of us who live here on the border, we feel like our part of the United States is not recognized as equal to the rest of the country. When over three dozen Congressional acts were waived, we lost the legal protections that the rest of the United States enjoys. Some call our borderlands the ‘deconstitutionalized zone.'”
“The controversy over walls and waivers is far from over, despite hundreds of damaging miles of walls already built in disregard of laws meant to safeguard our lands and resources,” said Matt Clark, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “This is the time for President Obama and Secretary Napolitano to make a clear departure from the mistakes of the last administration and comply with the important laws enacted to prevent or minimize negative impacts to our wildlife and environment.”
For more information, visit http://arizona.sierraclub.org/border