28 Aug 1998 Greenpeace Promotes Environmentally-Harmful Legislation

Activities at the August Environmental Policy Task Force meeting, chaired by David Ridenour of The National Center for Public Policy Research ((202) 507-6398).

 

David Ridenour of The National Center for Public Policy Research discussed his new National Policy Analysis #206 paper, “Don’t Like the Weather? Don’t Blame it on Global Warming.” The paper identifies major problems with the President and Vice President’s assertions that global warming caused this summer’s weather events. First, Ridenour said, local weather events don’t say very much about the global climate. Second, according to NASA’s Tiros series of weather satellites, planetary temperature actually dropped slightly between 1979 and 1997. Third, high temperatures this year have not been record-breaking. Los Angeles hit 109° on July 12, 1891, ten degrees warmer than this year’s high; Little Rock broke 112° in July 1986, eleven degrees warmer than this year’s top temperature; and Death Valley hit 134° on July 10, 1913, five degrees warmer than this year’s high. Contact David Ridenour at (202) 507-6398 or [email protected], or visit https://nationalcenter.org/NPA206.html.

 

Stuart Hardy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce discussed “the pernicious concept of environmental justice,” which, he said, “is designed to link even legal pollution to so-called civil rights violations.” Hardy noted that the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Governors’ Association, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Archer of Detroit and many others are protesting the EPA’s environmental justice policies, which are denying business permits to people and denying jobs to many more, including many minorities. Contact Stuart Hardy at 202/659-6000 (http://www.uschamber.org).

 

Craig Rucker of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow reviewed his Briefing Paper #107, “Environmental Justice: How the Race Card is Being Dealt into the Game of Ecopolitics,” written with David Rothbard. The paper examines the growing environmental justice movement, examining the history of the movement, government involvement, some of the political motivations behind it (including environmental extremism), and academic studies that refute most of the claims of environmental justice advocates. Contact Craig Rucker at 202/429-2737.

 

Samuel Casey Carter, editor of Crisis magazine, discussed National Policy Analysis #199, “What Scriptures Tell Us About Environmental Stewardship,” a paper he wrote for the National Center for Public Policy Research about “the false appropriation of religious language [by some environmentalists] to ram a liberal environmental agenda down people’s throats.” Environmentalists, he said, are using religion to recruit conservatives. Contact Samuel Casey Carter via David Ridenour at (202) 507-6398 or [email protected] or read his paper at https://nationalcenter.org/NPA199.html.

 

Todd Williams of the staff of Rep. Richard Pombo discussed Pombo’s property rights concerns about S. 1221/HR 4180, the American Fisheries Act, because the bill would mandate the retirement of some currently-legal private fishing vessels. John Carlisle of the National Center for Public Policy Research, author of National Policy Analysis #209, “The American Fisheries Act: Special Interest Politics at its Worst,” explained 1) How the American Fisheries Act would harm the environment; 2) How proponents of the Act err when they say the bill would Americanize the fishing industry, because the bill would in fact transfer fish-processing business from Norwegian-owned factory fishing ships to Japanese-owned onshore processing factories; 3) Why allegations made by some in Congress that the Coast Guard has misinterpreted current law are false; 4) How many jobs this bill would kill. Myron Ebell of Frontiers of Freedom said this is Congress intervening in the market to drive the best competitor out of business, calling it “disgraceful.” Contact Todd Williams at 202/225-1947, John Carlisle at (202) 507-6398 or [email protected], and Myron Ebell at 703/527-8282, or visit https://nationalcenter.org/NPA209.html for more information.

 

Rob Quartel of the Jones Act Reform Commission addressed ways Americans are being hurt by the Jones Act, a 1920 law passed to protect a shipping monopoly. The Jones Act requires that ships travelling between two U.S. ports be built in U.S. shipyards, owned and operated by U.S. citizens, and have an American crew. The key problem is that it prevents Americans from selling competitively to Americans by artificially inflating transportation costs. Specifically, the Jones Act (and related laws): 1) Annually costs Alaskans $269 million to $674 million ($1921 and $4821 per household) and Hawaiians $800 million. 2) Inflates the price of U.S. autos sold off the mainland. 3) Raises the cost of shipping coal as much as 2 1/2 times. 4) Kills U.S. port jobs. 5) Harms the environment, as ships put out 30% less pollution than trucks, but the Act makes trucks more economical. 6) Costs several American cities millions annually because all but one of the major cruise lines are legally unable to sail from their ports. 7) Inflates U.S. petroleum costs. 8) Causes U.S. grain producers to lose business to Canadian producers. “We are on the verge of substantial progress” in reforming the Act, said Quartel, as Senator John McCain (R-AZ) plans hearings on the Act on September 8, the first such hearings in 50 years. Contact Rob Quartel at 202/775-6632 or [email protected].

 

John Peschke of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Damon Tobias of the staff of Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) discussed Senate efforts to prevent the Administration from enforcing the Kyoto global warming treaty even though the Senate has never approved the treaty (as required by the Constitution). The big problem, Tobias said, is that the Administration may do things because of Kyoto and tell the Congress it has nothing to do with Kyoto. Contact John Peschke at 202/224-2764 and Damon Tobias at 202/224-2752.

 

 

Bulletin Board: Publications, statements, activities and plans of conservatives in Washington.

 

Two recent studies, by Vanderbilt University researchers and the Commerce Department, have found a major disparity between black and white Americans in the digital world.

The studies show that white families are more than twice as likely as black and Hispanic families to own home computers.

The Commerce Department report, “Falling through the Net II,” said about 76% of white families with salaries over $75,000 own home computers, compared with only 64% of black families at the same income level. Across all incomes, about 41% of white families own PCs but only about 19% of black and Hispanic families have home computers.

Vanderbilt University researchers say the divide is largest among high school and college students, where less than one-third of black students own a home computer as opposed to 73% of whites.

“With gaps wide already in so many areas, news that minorities are being left behind in the all-important information age due to a lack of computer ownership, skills, limited access and lack of knowledge gained through the Internet is truly chilling news,” says Project 21 Director Roderick Conrad. “If black America is going to be progressively knowledgable and competitve in the high-tech job market of the next millennium, blacks have to get busy — real busy — by cultivating an interest in computers and what they can do.”