Headlines: E-LAW in the News, Winter 2003

Uganda Tobacco Victory

January 30, 2003 -- The New York Times reports on how Ugandan E-LAW advocate Phillip Karugaba is taking on the tobacco giants in Africa -- and winning!

Reporter Marc Lacey writes: “President Yoweri Museveni said recently that his prayers would be answered if a thousand major cigarette companies operated in Uganda instead of just one.”

Lacey reports how Phillip`s commitment to protecting his fellow citizens from the dangers of tobacco is making a difference, even when the president disagrees.

In December, Phillip and his organization, The Environmental Action Network (TEAN), won a landmark victory in High Court declaring smoking in public places a violation of non-smokers` constitutional rights to life and to a clean and healthy environment. The judge ordered Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority to make regulations to prohibit smoking in public places within one year.

Phillip wrote to us recently: “E-LAW is where it all began. You gave me the cases and the support. You made it happen.”

Controversial Power Plants Slated for U.S. Mexico Border

January 2, 2003 -- The Lehrer News Hour reports that huge power plants designed to feed U.S. energy demands are under construction three miles south of the U.S. border and generating a tense cross-border dispute between environmentalists and big power companies. E-LAW Advocate, Carla Garcia Zendejas, is featured in this report. Carla is a Mexican public interest attorney working with the Border Power Plant Working Group to provide local communities with accurate information on the environmental impact of power plants, liquified natural gas (LNG) pipelines, and LNG terminals. Carla has worked with E-LAW since 1998.

Chile’s Native Forests Threatened

January 1, 2003 -- “The Chilean government is protecting corporate profits instead of our forests,” says E-LAW advocate Miguel Fredes in the International Environment Reporter. Miguel is representing a property owner in Chile’s southern Lakes Region who alleges people have illegally cut endangered alerce trees on his property, for export to the U.S. and Japan. The alerce, the world’s second oldest living tree, has been declared a national monument in Chile and live trees are protected from cutting.

Ugandan Advocates Seek to Prohibit Environmentally Dangerous Plastics

December 27, 2002 -- The Monitor (Uganda) reports that E-LAW Advocate Kenneth Kakuru and his organization, Greenwatch, have filed a petition in Kampala’s High Court seeking to prohibit the manufacture, use, sale, and disposal of thin polythene plastic bags.

The Governments of Bangladesh, Ireland, South Africa, Taiwan, and several States of India have enacted laws banning plastic bags (less than 100 microns thick) for consumer use. Indiscriminate disposal of these bags has resulted in unsightly litter and the clogging of drains in urban areas, and other ills.

Greenwatch’s petition claims that the plastic waste is a violation of a citizen’s right to a clean and healthy environment.

E-LAW U.S. has worked with Greenwatch for several years to protect the environment through law in Uganda.

A Small Town Pays For Lead

December 12, 2002 -- KMOV-TV (St. Louis) reports that a polymetallic smelter owned by Doe Run is having negative health impacts on the community of La Oroya in the Peruvian Andes. Children in La Oroya have dangerously high blood lead levels attributed to toxic smelter emissions. E-LAW advocates in Peru have worked for many years to defend the health of residents in La Oroya.

Advocate in Argentina Designated “Most Important Leader”

December 8, 2002 -- La Nacion (Argentina) reports that E-LAW advocate Carolota Sánchez Aizcorbe has been designated one of Argentina’s 100 most important leaders. Carlota has devoted herself to the protection of the Rio de la Plata Tigre River Basin (near Buenos Aires) since 1983.

Carlota works with local community representatives and environmental groups to defend water resources through the Fundacion ProTigre y Cuenca de la Plata, where she serves as president. She has worked with E-LAW U.S. since 1995.

Chileans Challenge Proposed Aluminum Plant

Fernando Dougnac, Chile

October 19, 2002 -- El Diario de Aysén (Chile) reports that E-LAW advocates at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) will appeal the Government of Chile’s decision to move ahead with an ill-advised project to build an aluminum plant in the sparsely populated Aysén region in southern Chile. The proposed Alumysa-Noranda project includes construction of three hydroelectric dams that would destroy lakes used by the public.

The court at Puerto Aysen rejected a petition filed by FIMA on July 2, 2002 on behalf of local citizens who oppose destruction of lakes Yulton, Meullin, and the Quetro Lagoon.

“Personally, I have no doubts that this decision will be overturned by the Court of Appeals at Coyhaique,” said Fernando Dougnac, president of FIMA. “We will appeal and get the final judgment to enforce the law correctly.”

E-LAW U.S. has worked with advocates at FIMA since 1994. FIMA is doing outstanding and precedent-setting legal work on key cases to establish environmental law as a powerful instrument for the defense of the public interest in Chile.