Sierra Club Currents - E. coli, It's What's for Dinner? Volume VI, #37 Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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-- Sierra Club
Quote of Note:
"No one has the right to use America's rivers and America's Waterways that belong to all the people as a sewer. The banks of a river may belong to one man or one industry or one State, but the waters which flow between the banks should belong to all the people."
-- Lyndon B. Johnson, signing the Clean Water Act of 1965
(1) Dangerous Waste: Another E. coli Outbreak Waiting to Happen? (2) Water Quality: Victory on the Ohio River (3) Take Action: Fast Track to Mountaintop Destruction (4) Take Action: Host an Energy Film Festival!
(1) Dangerous Waste: Another E. coli Outbreak Waiting to Happen?
Less than a week after the FDA lifted its ban on contaminated spinach, which lead to three confirmed deaths and hundreds of illnesses, a California lettuce grower has recalled green leaf lettuce after finding irrigation water contaminated with E. coli. These E. coli incidents are serious reminders of the need to properly regulate waste. Though large farming operations are one of the most common sources of pathogens like E.coli, and the FDA is investigating livestock waste as a possible cause of the spinach contamination, the government is doing little to ensure proper handling of the contaminated livestock waste. In a meeting with environmental groups last week the EPA said it has no plans to require any new controls on large livestock operations.
Learn more about large farming operations and see what you can do to keep livestock waste out of our waters.
(2) Water Quality: Victory on the Ohio River
Thanks to the efforts of Sierra Club activists and Rivers Unlimited who helped generate over 8,000 opposing public comments, the Ohio River Sanitation Commission rejected a proposal on Friday that would allow more raw sewage to be dumped into the Ohio River. The proposed lower standards drew criticism not only from residents and activists, but also from celebrities like internationally acclaimed swimmer Lynne Cox, who swam across the river to dramatize the dangers of the health-threatening proposal.
Read about other clean water victories.
(Photo courtesy Morgue File)
(2) Take Action: Fast Track to Mountaintop Destruction
The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to re-issue nationwide permits that are used by mountaintop removal mining operations to sidestep environmental laws and local community concerns. Issuing fast track permits makes it easier for big coal companies to dump mining waste and fill into mountain streams, burying and polluting local supplies of drinking water.
Take Action to protect Appalachian communities!
Learn more about what the Sierra Club is doing to protect the Appalachian Mountains on our website and view the actual impact that mountaintop removal is having at ilovemountains.org.
(2) Take Action: Host an Energy Film Festival!
Make your hometown the next Sundance or Cannes! We've got the movies for the Sierra Club Energy Film Festival and it's happening across the country.
Sierra Club Productions has created an exciting menu of recently produced feature and short documentaries focusing on energy -- like episodes of the Sierra Club Chronicles; the recent TBS global warming comedy special "Earth to America!"; and documentaries like Homeland, Kilowatt Ours, and Too Hot Not to Handle. We've got animated shorts, too.
For more information on hosting a festival contact screening.info@sierraclub.org.
Learn more about the films being shown and if a festival is being held near you! |