🚀 go-pugleaf

------------------------------------------------------------

Faultline News May 12, 2002 Volume 2, Number 4

------------------------------------------------------------
NOW PLAYING AT WWW.FAULTLINE.ORG -
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Enron admits concocting 2001 energy "crisis"
=> The AB1058 story
=> Ants, ants, ants.
=> Toxic high technology
=> A plan for southern California's mountain ranges
=> New stuff in our bookstore
=> news

See "New On The Site", below editor's note

------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE
------------------------------------------------------------

"There are so many areas in the park where we just can't be."
- Steve Horvitz, superintendent of the Eel River section of
Humboldt Redwoods State Park, on a string of thefts of
mature redwood trees from the park. Quoted in the Sacramento
Bee, May 12.

------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
------------------------------------------------------------

Faultline has a new family member: our new intern, Emily
George. Since coming to us a month ago, Emily has already
spent a week in Monterey reporting on a conference and
compiled the next section of our Resources area. (See
"Coming Soon," below.) Emily is a recovering equity
researcher with an impressive c.v., including a stint at the
University of Virginia. We're pleased to have her aboard.

In the nearly two months since the last edition of Faultline
News -- a delay occasioned by the editor's household move,
and we apologize -- the California Senate passed AB 1058,
a measure that would allow the state to begin to figure out
just how much California's private vehicles contribute to
global warming.

We ran a story on this bill in January, when the Assembly voted
to approve it. The bill is now headed for the Governor's desk.

A couple weeks ago, the bill's opponents -- car sellers and
allied industries -- took out full page ads opposing the bill
in daily newspapers around the state. These ads included
allegations that the bill would add new taxes to the cost of
driving, including a mileage tax and an additional climate
tax at the pump.

The fact is, as is mentioned on Faultline's letters page,

http://www.faultline.org/news/letters.html ,

the bill includes no such taxes or fees.

Not that we at Faultline are complaining. For one thing,
letters accusing us of being fascist eco-cops are always
good to break up the daily routine. For another, thanks
to fortuitous placement of our story in January,
Faultline ranked fairly high on a few search engines'
returns for "AB1058", and our site traffic has tripled.

Still, it's disconcerting to see just how easy it is to
persuade people of a baldfaced lie, and it's even more
disconcerting that people react so much more strongly when
they think someone's going to take away their SUVs than they
do when people try to take away, say, their civil liberties.
We clearly have our work cut out for us.

------------------------------------------------------------
$ DONATE TO FAULTLINE $
------------------------------------------------------------

Did you find yourself wishing for a couple extra itemizable
deductions April 14? Want to make sure you have enough for
2002? We can help. To make sure the ITRS gets the absolute
minimum from your assets next year, send some of them to
Faultline instead! You can help us bring California
environmental news to the web, where it will be read by
ever-increasing numbers of AB 1058 opponents.

Visit our secure-server, credit-friendly donations page at

https://www.earthisland.org/faultline/donate.html

and drop the amount of your choice in the Faultline tip jar.
We guarantee none of your donation will be spent to buy
access to Gray Davis.

------------------------------------------------------------
NEW ON THE SITE
------------------------------------------------------------

Enron-omics
by Tim Neagle
Recently leaked memos prove Enron deliberately manipulated
the California power market to rake in the bucks. And Tim
Neagle isn't happy about it.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/05/enron.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Mockingbird Hell
by Joe Eaton
Love 'em or hate 'em, there's one thing you can say for sure
about California's noisiest nocturnal bird: they're here.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/place/2002/05/mocker.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic Tech
by Ann Hwang
The gloss of Silicon Valley's fast-lane economy obscures a
legacy of hazardous materials, electronic waste, and workers
harmed by on-the-job exposures. Also: the growing problem of
electronic waste.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/place/2002/04/toxictech.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Argentine Antagonists
by Joe Eaton
Best known as a household pest, the Argentine ant does far
more damage out of doors. Faultline's Nature Editor puts
this annoying, destructive invader under his magnifying
glass.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/place/2002/03/ants1.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Before the Gold Rush
by Tim Neagle
Lands of Promise and Despair: Chronicles of Early
California, 1535��1846, Heyday Books' fascinating compendium
of documents from before the Gold Rush illustrates life in
Old California. Now in the Faultline Bookstore.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/bookstore/2002/03/landsofpromise.html

------------------------------------------------------------

AB1058 Leaps Legislative Hurdle as Opposition Mounts
Climate change bill approved by Senate, heads back to
Assembly

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/05/AB1058.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Cash For Cows? 
Conservationists propose voluntary buyout to 25,000 public
lands ranchers.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/04/grazingbuyout.html

------------------------------------------------------------

BLM Closes West Mojave Roads to ORVs
Move intended to protect Rand Mountains tortoises

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/04/Rand.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Plan Proposed for SoCal Forests
Groups advocate ecosystem-level management.

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/04/scnatfors.html

------------------------------------------------------------

BLM Caves at Algodones
Agency may reopen 40,000 acres of dunes to ORVs

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/04/BLMcaves.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Klamath Third-Most Endangered River
Annual tally of endangered waterways gives north state river
dubious honor

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/04/klamath.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Mojave Preserve Among Most-Endangered Parks
Development, lack of funds threaten resources

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/03/mojavepreserve.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Settlement Protects Central Coast Rivers
Forest Service to act after six-year delay

Read it at:
http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/03/ccoastrivers.html

------------------------------------------------------------
VOLUNTEER WITH FAULTLINE
------------------------------------------------------------

Got an article you've been wanting to write about life,
politics and the environment in California? Have a couple
extra hours a month you'd like to spend copyediting? Want to
put your web surfing to constructive use? Own a series of
compelling photographs you think would look their best at
300 by 185 pixels?

Let us know. Email editors@faultline.org and we'll put your
talents to use.

We're especially interested in writing, artwork and research
on topics such as public health, regional and local issues,
environmental justice, watershed restoration, travel,
recreation, and the arts. But don't limit yourself. Pitch
us!

------------------------------------------------------------
COMING SOON . . .
------------------------------------------------------------

Environmental Justice Resources
Faultline's new Intern Emily George has been hard at work
compiling a list of statewide websites dealing with race,
class and the environment. They'll be online in our
Resources section in a week or so.

Statewide Wilderness Campaign launched
Larry Hogue reports from San Diego on a new campaign to
protect a huge amount of new wilderness in California

Losing our Leatherbacks
The leatherback sea turtle is on the brink of extinction.
Emily George reports from a conference of concerned
turtle-philes in Monterey.

------------------------------------------------------------

Tell a friend about Faultline: feel free to pass this
newsletter on to people you think may be interested.

------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2002 Faultline Magazine
Faultline is a publication of the Faultline Media Project,
a project of the Earth Island Institute.

Faultline's intent is to bring Californians accurate and
compelling environmental news and information, on subjects
ranging from environmental justice to wilderness protection.
We want to foster a sense of awareness of California as a
unique place with unique issues, to accentuate and promote
the community of environmentally-aware Californians, and to
encourage ways of living that are appropriate to the state's
distinct environment and diverse cultures.
------------------------------------------------------------