Groups Launch Earth Day Campaign

4/3/2002

From: Julie Waterman, 202-682-9400, ext. 229

WASHINGTON, April 3 -- Sixteen national environmental groups today announced an intensive month-long public education campaign, coinciding with the traditional observance of Earth Day on April 22, to educate the public about recent and current efforts by the Bush Administration to weaken environmental protections.

In a statement released announcing the campaign, the groups noted: "Behind closed doors and away from public view, the Bush Administration is allowing big corporations to weaken our nation's environmental laws, so they can put more pollution in our air, put more poison in our water, cut down our national forests, damage our public lands, and make taxpayers, rather than polluters, foot the bill for cleaning up toxic wastes."

Over the course of the month of April the groups will conduct a series of events focusing on specific examples of efforts to weaken environmental laws. The calendar of specific activities highlighting key issues includes: -- April 4, Clean Air -- April 15, Toxic Waste -- April 16, Nuclear Waste -- April 17, Wildlife -- April 18, Forests -- April 19, Public Lands -- April 20, Clean Water -- April 22, Earth Day (general)

In addition, the groups will continue their ongoing efforts to focus public attention on the Bush Administration's anti-environmental energy plan. Specific public education activities that will be a part of the overall campaign include: -- Television ads and video news releases highlighting the general campaign; -- Background materials and new reports documenting the problems; -- Media events nationally and in key places across the country to highlight the issues; -- Issue-specific and general newspaper ads discussing the issues; -- B-roll on specific issues to dramatize the problems; -- E-activism and special web sites to encourage public involvement

The first of the several issue-specific days will be a major Earth Day initiative focusing on clean air on Thursday, April 4, 9:30 a.m. at the National Press Club. A coalition of groups will release a new report detailing increased air pollution from power plants, and will highlight specific instances where the Bush Administration, behind closed doors, is allowing the utility companies to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act. News events will be held in Washington, D.C., and more than 40 communities across the country. The groups will also announce a new Web site for this campaign: http://www.savethecleanairact.org/.

National groups that are a part of this general Earth Day campaign include: -- American Oceans Campaign -- Defenders of Wildlife -- Earthjustice -- Environmental Working Group -- Friends of the Earth -- Greenpeace -- League of Conservation Voters -- National Environmental Trust -- National Parks Conservation Association -- National Wildlife Federation -- Natural Resources Defense Council -- Ocean Conservancy -- Physicians for Social Responsibility -- Sierra Club -- U.S. Public Interest Research Group -- The Wilderness Society

For more info on the Earth Day campaign effort, visit the environmental community's collaborative Web site for environmental activism: http://www.saveourenvironment.org/.