interesting news received in the Free Press mailbox

compiled by Denise Rhiner

Montana�s Bitterroot National Forest Gets New Plan

�All sides are hailing the negotiated settlement of a lawsuit challenging the Forest Service�s salvage logging plan[, one that bypassed normal channels for public appeal,] for Montana�s burned Bitterroot National Forest. On February 7, environmental groups, the logging industry and Bush administration officials announced a revised plan that removes 27,000 acres of sensitive roadless lands from the proposed 41,0000-acre timber sale, while allowing loggers to begin cutting this winter.� (High Country News, 2/18/02)

The combination of easy access to Idaho�s Rathdrum aquifer and to a natural gas line is creating a prairie power land. �Avista and Cogentrix Energy already operate a less than year old 270-megawatt plant [in Rathdrum, Idaho] which uses 1.1 million gallons of water a day. Now, two other power plants and one expansion are proposed in the same area.� With this expansion, an additional 13 million gallons of water would be used each day. Cogentrix is looking to purchase water rights from local farmers to sustain its plants. (Inlander, February 14-20, 2002)

Washington Toxics Coaltion Launches Mercury Reduction Campaign

Mercury is an extremely toxic substance released in Washington by coal burning power plants, incinerators, electronics manufacturers, pulp and paper mills, and is in consumer products such as thermometers, thermostats and automobiles. In January 2002, WTC helped to introduce two bills to address this danger. SB 6533 & HB 2686 will restrict sales of mercury-added products, increase the safe disposal and recycling of mercury, with manufacturers bearing most of the financial responsibility, will phase out the use of mercury in schools, hospitals and other health-care facilities, and require government to purchase mercury-safe products where possible. Call your state representatives to voice your support for these bills. (Alternatives, Winter 2002)

Seattle to Force Customer Payment of City Lighting

The Seattle Community Council Federation asks all of us to write our state legislators regarding House Bill 2665 and Senate Bill 6690. These bills would �legitimize Seattle�s illegal practice of passing along streetlighting costs to City Light ratepayers.�

Lock Down On Political Prisoners

The current administration�s strategies to fight �terror� go beyond keeping an eye on activist organizations and into the cells of current prisoners. A February 2002 article in Prison Legal News reports that under new rules issued last fall, the Department of Justice will be able to �select certain prisoners for �special administrative measures�.� This includes isolation and denying prisoners correspondence with anyone, including their lawyers �based on information from the head of a federal law enforcement or intelligence agency�. Additionally, client-attorney privilege is negated under these rules by allowing the Bureau of Prisons the right to eavesdrop on any and all conversations between prisoner and lawyer. Serving life in prison since 1973 �for the murder of a police officer and a fellow Black Liberation Army member,� Sundiata Acoli was placed in isolation shortly after September 11. Two Puerto Rican independistas were also segregated shortly after the events of September 11. One was denied both his lawyer and needed medication for an ulcer.The PLN article cites many other cases where prisoners have been denied direct and indirect access to their lawyers or legal information. Although prisoners and their lawyers attest to the fact they have not been allowed to communicate, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said to the best of her knowledge �that is untrue.�

Union Membership Sees Increase in Women Workers

Although 2 million workers were laid off in 2001, union membership in the US remains stable at 13.5 percent. The February 1, 2002 Northwest Labor Press also reports that �more women workers than ever before� are going union. �The number of women who are union members reached an all-time high of 6.77 million in 2001, an increase of 93,000 from 2000, including 42,000 Hispanic women who joined unions last year.�

Censorship of the Past and the Future

The National Coalition Against Censorship reports in its Winter newsletter on George W.�s Executive Order 13223 which serves to further destroy openness in government. �From now on, scholars, journalists and any other citizens will have to show a demonstrated, specific �need to know� in requesting documents from the Reagan, Clintion and two Bush presidencies�and all others to come. And if someone asks to see records never made public during a presidency but deposited in the National Archives by a former president, the requester will now have to receive the permission of both the former president and current one.�

Indian Nations Take Gale Norton to Court

A five and a half year legal battle reveals the extended mismanagement of monies held in trust by the Interior Department as royalties paid for allowing oil and gas, grazing and logging on Indian-owned lands. �Interior and Treasury have admitted in court that they do not know and have no way of knowing the correct account balances for 500,000 beneficiaries. Records for the trust, which takes in $500 million a year in revenues from Indian lands west of the Mississippi, have largely been lost or destroyed,� reports Elouise Cobell, a banker for the Blackfeet Nation and plaintiff in Cobell vs. Norton. In this most recent class- action suit, Cobell will ask the court for an �independent receiver who will take charge of the trust.� Norton and her department have attempted to stall court mandated steps towards accountancy and reform, going as far as including falsehoods in quarterly reports. Having an independent body in charge of the trust �is the only way true reform will occur.� (Elouise Cobell, High Country News, Feb 4, 2002)