Monthly Newsletter of the Sierra Club Eastern Missouri Group
July 2015
Eastern Missouri Group Website | Join | Group Leadership
Friday, July 10 - Bastille Day at the Sierra Club
Please join the Sierra Club at the Bastille Day festival in Maplewood.The festival will begin at 6 pm on Friday, July 10. The festival will be based at the Sutton Loop Park directly across from our office at 2818 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood, MO 63143. At the festival we will have a petition in support of up-to-date energy efficiency building codes for new residential buildings in St. Louis County, which we plan to present to the St. Louis County Building Commission. If there are questions or to RSVP, contact Gretchen Waddell Barwick at 314-644-1011 or gretchen.waddellbarwick@sierraclub.org
Thursday, July 16 - Water Issues in St. Charles County
On July 16th, at 7pm at the Spencer Road Branch Library (427 Spencer Road, Saint Peters MO 63376) we will be meeting to discuss water and air issues in Saint Charles, especially linked to the Labadie plant’s sulfur dioxide and mercury pollution. A Kenn Miller, scientist from Washington University Environmental Law clinic, will come and talk about these issues. We are looking forward to meeting with you, if you have any questions, please contact Segolene Renazé by email : segolene.renaze@hotmail.fr, or by phone 314 239 0014 or at the Sierra Club office 314 644 1011.
Thursday, July 23 - EMG Monthly Meeting - Informal Dinner Gathering
Instead of a general meeting this month, we will gather for dinner, wine and conversation at the Olympia Restaurant (1543 McCausland, St. Louis, MO 63117). The dinner will start at 7:30 p.m. No registration required. For more information contact Ken Schectman at 314-721-7207 or ken@wubios.wustl.edu.
Thursday, July 30 - Day of Action on Climate Change
Thursday, July 30 at 6pm at the Schlafly Branch of the St. Louis Library – 225 N. Euclid in the Central West End – 4th Generation coal-miner Nick Mullins discusses the need to move to a Clean Energy future- please attend!
Monday, August 10 - Beer and Chococlate at the Alpine Shop for the Sierra Club
Come to the tenth edition of Alpine Shop's famous Pint Nights, at 440 North Kirkwood Rd., Kirkwood, MO 63122)! From 6-9PM, the Alpine Shop will sell limited edition pint glasses for just $10. Each purchase comes with a pour of The Modern Brewery beer, a ticket for one refill, and a custom s'mores truffle from Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company. All profits from the sales of the pint glasses will be given to Sierra Club Missouri Chapter.
Beer, chocolate and the Sierra Club. It will be a fantastic evening!
EMG Outings - July and August
Sierra Club Outings are open to the public. A dollar per person donation is requested. No guns or pets are allowed on trips. Use of audible electronics must be approved by the leader. Participants must sign a liability release. Outings Leaders are volunteers. Outings officially start at the trailhead or river access. Carpooling is encouraged but not the responsibility of the Leader. For more information contact the Leader of a particular Outing or for general information contact Doug Melville, (636) 288-1055 or douglas.k.melville@gmail.com.
Jul 10, Fri: Day hike: Our weekly 8 mile hike might be shortened and start earlier. For info contact thisissuzanne@yahoo.com or jleachross@hotmail.com
Jul 11, Sat: Cool off in the Castor River Shut-ins at the Amidon Memorial Conservation Area. We will first do a 2-mile hike on the Cedar Glade trail and then we will enjoy the shut-ins and swim if anyone would like. Call Jim Rhodes at (314) 821-7758.
Jul 15, Wed: Lake of the Ozarks S.P. To keep cool during the Summer we will be around a lot of water by hiking several of the trails that border the lake. The land around the lake is gentile hills with elevation changes of less than 50 feet. So for an easy hike around a wind swept lake, come join us for a day at the lake. Contact Doug Melville, (636) 288-1055 or douglas.k.melville@gmail.com for further information including starting time and location.
You can learn about more outings here.
McCaskill Needs to Support Clean Water!
by Caroline Pufalt
Senator McCaskill needs to hear from you to help defeat a dangerous Senate bill designed to impair the Clean Water Act (CWA) and foster fear and misinformation. The bill to defeat is Senate Bill 1140, falsely labeled as the “Federal Water Quality Protection Act” . SB 1140 would roll back recent clarifications in the CWA.
At issue is a new rule based on the CWA which clarifies more specifically what waters are covered by the act. The new regulations are in response to earlier Supreme Court decisions which called for such clarification. The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers followed the required process, including massive public input, to develop criteria for covered waters. The new rule changes no other aspects of the CWA. The changes it does make are minor but important and will create more certainty and timeliness.
Unfortunately interests such as big agriculture and developers, who often quarrel with the CWA, have grossly distorted the new rule, calling it a “land grab and overreach”. This ignores the relatively minor change involved in the definition of “waters of the U.S.” and ignores the fact the current, far reaching exemptions and protections for farming, ranching and forestry in the CWA remain unchanged.
The new definition of waters of the U.S. clarifies that protecting smaller streams with connections to watersheds is important for clean water. One in four Missourians get drinking water from sources that depend on small streams.
SB 1140 would rescind the new definitions, thus negating years of work, it requires a whole new process with predetermined limitations designed to hobble objective review. A vote against SB 1140 is a vote for clean water.
Ask Senator McCaskill to support the Clean Water Act by opposing SB 1140. You can email her at: http://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/
Conservation Battle Moves to the Senate - Bring Our Senators On Board
by Caroline Pufalt
What’s in an acronym? A lot, when it’s LWCF which stands for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This landmark legislation, dating back to 1964, is designed to provide federal funds for land/water based conservation efforts, often in partnership with state and local governments. Federal funds come from royalties paid by offshore energy contracts.
The LWCF is a critical component to ongoing conservation efforts, but the law expires in less than 100 days. LWCF usually attracts some bi partisan support. However, the current Congress is rarely in a bi partisan mood. And there is a real danger that the law could be reauthorized but not funded -thus ending as an empty promise designed to provide environmental cover for duplicitous lawmakers.
Fortunately, Senate Bill 830 would both reauthorize and permanently fund the LWCF. At this writing SB 830 has several Senate supporters, but neither of Missouri’s Senators are among them. Both Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt need to hear that Missourians value the Land and Water Conservation Fund and want the historic law to be reauthorized and fully funded. Ask them to support S.B. 830. Contact them at :
http://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/
http://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/
The Sierra Club is joining with other environmental and conservation organizations in urging members to speak up loudly in supporting the LWCF. Please step forward and make your voice heard. To learn more about the LWCF see: http://lwcfcoalition.org/legislation.html
Green Time TV
August Green Time episodes explore how we should leave the environment for the next generation. Green Time appears in four Missouri areas. See the webpage at greentime.tv. In the St. Louis area it airs at noon on Saturdays on Channel 24-1 and at 8 pm on Mondays on Channel 24-2 on these dates:
· August 1 & 3: “Lead: The Unseen Burden” Lead poisoning damages the kidneys and central nervous, cardiovascular and reproductive systems. Don Fitz, Jed Hawkes Koball, and Bob Criss, discusses inherent problems with lead. Lead uses have changed over the last 1000 years but problems with mining and processing remain.
· August 8 & 10: “Energy Efficiency and Our Future” Gary Steps and Terry Walsh join Host John Hickey to ask how homeowners can increase the energy efficiency of their homes and why they should invest in an energy audit. They also look at how mechanical insulation can impact the environment and create local jobs.
· August 15 & 17: “Antibiotic Overdose” Nearly 80% of antibiotics sold in the United States are used on factory farms. At the same time, two million Americans get an antibiotic resistant infection annually. Alyssa Hartman and Don Fitz discuss the FDA’s being aware of these problems since the 1970s but continually failing to act.
· August 22 & 24: “Karst in the Ozarks” Karst areas are formed when limestone-based sedimentary rock is dissolved underground. This creates caves, springs, sinkholes and losing streams. Don Fitz and guest Denise Vaughn discuss how karst areas can easily be polluted. Karst geology also creates many popular Ozark destinations. In Missouri, this includes Jack’s Fork River, Greer Spring, Grand Gulf and Tumbling Creek Cave.
· August 29 & 31: “Building on Ozark Karst” More than 800 people got sick when the West Plains sewage lagoon drained into the groundwater. This was due to the karst geological formation which dominates southern Missouri. Host Don Fitz and guest Denise Vaughn discuss the need to keep areas around a foundation well drained.
The Sierra Club Eastern Missouri Group supports Green Time TV for its coverage of environmental, health, democracy and community fairness issues.
To volunteer to help produce Green Time call 314-727-8554 or email don@greentime.tv
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Eastern Missouri Group Outings Calendar
Sierra Club members and non-members are welcome to join Club members on our outings.
Visit the Eastern Missouri Group website for more information about outings, activities, and issues.
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