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November 1995

Sierra Club Lies

By ALAN CARUBA

In November I received a membership solicitation from Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. A four-page letter addressed his concern that “anti-environmental forces in congress are escalating their all-out war on America's environment. Their success, his letter said, would “pollute our air and water ... cut down our forests...close some of our beloved national parks...and threaten the health and quality of life of thousands of American families.” Pretty dire stuff. Still, given the fact that one third of all current Federal laws and regulations are devoted to environmental mandates, I wondered how “anti-environmental forces” could possibly dismantle that huge matrix of laws. Reading further, however, Pope said that, “if we FAIL to respond...many of us may have to live with an un-breathable brown pall over our cities...with barren clearcuts where once there were magnificent forests...with water that is unfit to drink...” Why, I began to wonder, were such boldfaced lies being put forth as truth? If the Sierra Club was so willing to lie to those receiving its mailing, what conclusions could one draw from this scare mongering? First, let's look at the Sierra Club's claims. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, despite a 36% rise in highway travel nationwide, the number of poor air quality days decreased by nearly 70% from 1983 to 1992 in twenty-three of the nation's largest urban areas. It continues to improve. So much for “unbreathable brown pall over our cities.” Then there's the claim that someone is trying to “cut down our forests.” Oh my! But wait. The United States still has 70% of the forests that existed in 1600, fully 737 million acres. Of these, 247 million acres are reserved from any harvest by law or represent slow-growing woodlands unsuitable for timber production. Of the 490 million acres called timberlands, i.e. forests that can produce more than twenty cubic feet of wood per acre annually, there are more trees today than forty years ago. Indeed, U.S. timberlands now contain 28% more standing timber than in 1952. So much for the claim that someone's trying to “cut down our forests.” It's doubtful that “our beloved national parks” will be shut down. Indeed, the National Wildlife Refuge system has grown from fifteen million acres in 1960 to nearly 95,000,000 acres in 1988. Our National parks system grew from about 20,000,000 to about 70,000,000 acres during that time and total public recreation lands have expanded from about 225,000,000 to 375,000,000 acres. The Sierra Club claim is a lie. Why does the Sierra Club claim that our water will be unfit to drink? Right now, Americans consume about 110 million gallons of water every day. The Safe Drinking Water Act, enacted in 1974, regulates the quality of public drinking water and all public water supplies using surface water sources are disinfected with chlorine, a chemical which another environmental group, Greenpeace, wants banned! The Sierra Club solicitation neglects to mention that all the water Americans consume is required to undergo a six-step process to insure it's safe. Some utilities regularly perform more than 10,000 water tests a year. The Sierra Club solicitation is so filled with outright lies, it's scary to think they believe they'll go unchallenged. Think, though, of how more than a quarter century of such misrepresentations have become the “factoids” the nation's press regularly passes along to readers and viewers. No one would argue with the need for environmental standards for clean air and water. The EPA, founded in 1970, has a staff of 18,000 bureaucrats. By 1990 the cost of complying with all the laws and regulations it has generated since its founding was, by its own estimate, costing $115 billion per year, almost $500 for every man, woman and child. This EPA estimate, however, has been widely challenged. In the real world, we're talking trillions. By way of example, let's look at an industry that represents the most sustainable, renewable resource that exists—timber. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have devoted themselves to crippling the timber industry, utilizing the Endangered Species Act. In the process, their efforts have added $5,000 to the cost of every home built in America today. The solicitation letter called “jobs vs. the environment” concerns “scare tactics and false arguments.” Tell that to the thousands of Northwesterners who lost jobs in the timber industry. The Sierra Club does a lot more than just publish some nice books and calendars. In 1991, it had a budget of $40.6 million! Its 650,000 members supported a professional and support staff of 345 people, devoted to lobbying, legal suits, and the kind of endless scare campaigns found in its latest membership pitch. The Washington Post called the Sierra Club “the most free-wheeling lobbying and political apparatus of any of the environmental groups.” The game plan of the Sierra Club was never a secret to those who actually read their statements. In March 1970, McCloskey wrote, “a revolution is truly needed—in our values, outlook and economic organization. That other revolution, the industrial one that is turning sour, needs to be replaced by a revolution of new attitudes toward growth, goods, space and living things.” A more current expression of similar views can be found in the Unabomber's manifesto! We have plenty of living space, but, thanks to the efforts of environmental groups, the government doesn't want anyone to live on it, farm it, use it for grazing, or even for recreation. The federal government currently owns 27% of the nation's land mass and spends $300,000,000 taxpayer dollars annually buying additional land. As for economic growth, it's so low and slow, we're struggling just to keep up with the national debt. If you join the Sierra Club or any other environmental organization, you're part of the problem, not the solution. Alan Caruba, a veteran business and science writer, is the founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about scare campaigns. Its poster, “The Earth Is Fine”, debunks environmental claims and is available for $4.95. Write to the Center at PO Box 40, Maplewood, NJ 07040.§