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Report:

Earth Day Protest of Administration's "Clear Skies" Policies at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Bush Fails to Show Up

by Avram Friedman, Executive Director of the Canary Coalition

www.canarycoalition.org

On Earth Day, 2005, George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to honor Park volunteers and to promote his "Clear Skies" initiative, but because of weather and protests he didn't show up.

With the state of extreme co-option of the mainstream media today, it has become difficult or impossible to get news other than stories viewed from the perspective of  government or commercially influenced sources.  In this case, George W. Bush's aborted visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the message he delivered on this Earth Day, were given broad national media coverage, with only passing, non-in-depth coverage of the profound protest activity that his anticipated visit spawned.  It has become evident that wherever GW Bush goes, protests are materializing, but it typically is under-reported, or not covered at all by the mainstream press. This report will attempt to help fill this void of information for at least one day of protest that occurred at the juncture of two supposedly very Red states.

Like so many other staff members of environmental organizations across the country, on Friday, April 15, I was feeling overwhelmed in preparation for the coming weeks of "Earth Day" activities that have spread throughout the calendar in both directions well beyond the original and official Earth Day of April 22.  In addition to the upcoming street festivals, concerts and  forums, the North Carolina legislative session was reaching a fevered pitch as "crossover day" rapidly approached, there was an important regulatory date approaching on my calendar, my organization was coordinating a major field trip for elected officials to the TVA wind farm for May 6 and there were the day to day operational tasks to look after. 

Then I received a phone call from Valerie True of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in Tennessee. George W. Bush was planning to come to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to deliver his Earth Day message. Would I be interested in helping to coordinate a protest during his visit? At first stunned by the news, my reaction was, "I'm so busy, I couldn't possibly do that." But, as a few moments passed and the conversation continued, the enormity of the importance of this information began to sink in. Bush's visit would overshadow everything else happening on this day. The news media would flock to his side. He would most likely be addressing air quality issues, that is, the issues that are at the core of the purpose of the Canary Coalition. There was no way I could avoid involvement in this chain of events. But, it was so soon. Just a week away!

I immediately began to think of ways I could possibly weave this effort into all the other activities already on my plate. There was no way. Some things would fall by the wayside. There was no choice. I cancelled plans for tabling at three of the five Earth Day events we had committed to. I had planned to spend three days in Raleigh in the coming week to speak to legislators in the period of time surrounding the meeting of the Legislative Rules Review Commission I had to attend. Instead I drove the six hours to Raleigh on Wednesday evening, attended the 10 AM meeting on Thursday and drove directly back to my Smoky Mountain community of Sylva, maintaining a constant stream of cell phone calls in both directions. During the entire week prior to Bush's expected visit, sleep was a luxury of which I sparsely indulged myself.

There were two coordinating conference calls during the week for all the groups involved in the effort: National Parks Conservation Association, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Appalachian Voices, Canary Coalition, Virginia Forest Watch, Sierra Club, Western North Carolina Alliance, Southern Environmental Law Center, Tennessee Environmental Council, and Clear the Air. In addition there was a tele-press conference call between four of the groups (NPCA, SACE, Sierra and App. Voices) and the news media.  Unfortunately, logisticly this needed to be  scheduled at the same time my essential meeting in Raleigh took place, so I couldn't participate. But, the press conference was enormously successful in attracting news reporters from coast to coast including some of the most well known and prestigious news organizations in the country.

SACE spearheaded the site logistics since Bush's event was slated for Cades Cove on the Tennessee side of the Park. They secured the protest permit and maintained communications with the Park Service and the Secret Service that was, of course, providing security for Bush. Whenever new information was gained, SACE passed it on to the rest of us. The flow of information from the Bush camp was thin. We didn't know until late in the week exactly where in the Park he was planning to stage his event, or on what issues his statement would focus. The Canary Coalition spearheaded the turnout drive in the western-most part of North Carolina while Appalachian Voices organized mostly in the Boone area around Appalachian State University.  Since we only had a few days to coordinate potential protest participants, we developed a plan to tell people to meet at a truck stop off Interstate 40 at 7:30 AM, on Earth Day, for a carpool/caravan, although we didn't yet know what the ultimate destination would be.

My time was spent relentlessly making phone calls, composing and receiving email messages, contacting list after list of organizations and key people throughout the state.  I was constantly updating the Canary Coalition webpage to include new information as it came in.  I wrote and sent out a press release to local newspapers, radio and TV stations in western North Carolina. I'm sure all the others were working as feverishly as I was.

I don't think I can adequately describe the positive feedback I was getting from most of the people I contacted during this week.  Most were very thankful to hear that this type of effort was being made and that there would be a protest at the Park while Bush was visiting. Word spread like wildfire and people were calling and emailing continuously, wanting to know more details and how they could participate.

But, it became clear by Thursday evening that it was going to be difficult to get a very large turnout in the Park the following day.  Not only were most environmental activists committed to various Earth Day events previously scheduled, but the weather forecast was predicting heavy rain and violent thunderstorms. Also, it's a two-and-a-half hour drive from Asheville (the nearest NC urban area) to Cades Cove, so participants would be dedicating an entire day to the protest and on very short notice.

On Friday, Earth Day, the day of the event, I was awakened at 5AM by a reporter from the ABC-TV affiliate in Asheville, NC who wanted details about where the caravan would meet. I turned on the radio and listened to All Things Considered, on NPR, report on Bush's planned visit and heard Stephen Smith of SACE being briefly interviewed. It was refreshing to hear this fairly detailed report that included Stephens reasoned statements in opposition to the "Clear Skies" logic of the Bush Administration. Then I got in my car and drove to the rendezvous point, exit 24, about 35 minutes away.

First arrivals at truckstop rendezvous en route to protest Bush at the Park

 

When I arrived at about 7:10 there was already a group of people waiting and more quickly began to drive up. By 7:45 a crowd of about 20 had accumulated. We carpooled in five vehicles and left for the Park. Close to two hours later we pulled into Townsend, Tennessee, two miles away from the protest site, and others joined us from both states.  We left some of the vehicles in Townsend as Valerie True came to pick us up in a van SACE had rented. Others drove ahead in their own vehicles to the site.

Waiting for the van at Townsend parking lot

Reporters waiting for protesters at Cades Cove junction
We parked the van in the visitors parking area where others had already arrived.  There were people from Tennessee and several carloads that traveled through the Park from the North Carolina side.  I walked over to the protest permitted area about a hundred yards away where a few reporters were milling around, waiting for something to happen. Eager for news, they each briefly interviewed me and we exchanged photo opportunities. 

The protest area was a grassy patch adjacent to the junction in the road that led to Cades Cove.  At the edge of this area a portable sign was placed officially designating the area as a "First Amendment Expression Area."  Of course, the irony of this sign was that by default it was defining everything outside these small, arbitrarily defined boundaries as "non-First Amendment Expression Area."  I think the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution may have something to say about that. 

Security

First Amendment  Area Sign (or tombstone?)

There were security agents, Park Service officials, mounted police and police vehicles everywhere.  The road to Cades Cove was barricaded off.  Half the main road, on the protest side, was also closed to traffic, but protesters weren't permitted to wander into this section of the road.  We were repeatedly warned during the course of the next few hours to remain behind the large rocks that lined the edge of the grassy area, although we wouldn't be within ten miles of Bush's helicoptered entrance, it was hours before his scheduled arrival and the crowd of protesters was the most obviously benign group of people that could be imagined. One couldn't help being reminded of the line in "This Land is Your Land" that was written by Woody Guthrie, but is never taught in the public schools, "This side (of the sign) was made for you and me."

As the crowd began moving over from the parking area to the "First Amendment Area" it started to rain, suddenly and hard. Umbrellas and raincoats appeared as the protesters showed their preparedness and resilience of will. Some of the hand-made signs got wet and started to run, but most were made from weather-proof materials.

Members of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy set up an inflatable power plant borrowed from Clear the Air, an impressive prop that gave the protest an air of professionalism and served as a reminder that this protest represented people everywhere in the country. This was a national protest at a National Park. To their credit the Park Service officials permitted this to happen, as long as it stayed behind the rocks with the rest of us.

In the hours of setting up and waiting for Bush, many cars passed by the protest in the one lane still opened to traffic. Some honked approval. Others seemed to just stare out of curiosity. I observed no hostility from any of the park visitors.

When it came close to the time of Bush's expected arrival, we observed busloads and motor- campers with dignitaries and "invitees" being allowed to pass through to Cades Cove.  The feeling of second-class citizenship began to clearly sink in. The feeling of resentment rose strongly within me that our National Park was being used for political purposes by a private party for partisan purposes. Only those who agreed with the Administration's policies were permitted to this party, funded by taxpayers money and guarded by a federal police force. Dissenters were not welcomed and were kept out of sight, out of mind. Or, that was the intention.

Suddenly, at about 12:30 sirens started screaming and a motorcade from Cades Cove interrupted the peacefulness of the day as police motorcycles and cars roared through the intersection without warning and headed in the direction of Townsend. Speculation was that the weather wouldn't allow Bush to helicopter in, so the motorcade was sent out to bring him in on the road.  Our spirits perked up with the thought that the insulated leader would have to witness the dissent after-all, if briefly, as his motorcade passed the intersection.

The attitude of the police and Park Service officials changed at this point, as well.  Once more we were warned to stay behind the rocks.  This time the warning was accompanied by the threat to set up a fence line to keep us in.  Minutes later several security agents appeared about 50 feet behind us on the grass and started to unroll an orange plastic fence line.  We were told that we'd have to move behind that line if people kept wandering in front of the rocks. For the first time protesters started grumbling.  I heard several voice resistance saying they would refuse to move behind the fence which would put us essentially out of view from the road where Bush would travel.

I don't know if it was because of the grumbling, but for some reason the police gave up on the fence, rolled it up and took it away. There was no more mention of it thereafter, although more than occasionally people still harmlessly wandered into the forbidden zone beyond the rocks and onto the closed half of the road. My own feeling is that many within the security force were themselves sympathetic to our message and were seeing the absurdity of the restrictions they were being told to enforce. 

The weather alternated between sunshine and rain all morning and into the afternoon. Then, at about two o'clock a very dark sky started moving in our direction rapidly over the mountain to the west of where we stood. We all took notice instantly of this unusually fast and ominous motion in the sky. A minute later a Park Service official came over and told us that Bush wouldn't be coming. His appearance had been cancelled and we should all disperse, or risk getting hit by lightening, because a violent thunderstorm was on its way. My first impulse was one of skepticism. Was this just a ploy to remove the embarrassing protest for Bush's arrival? But, when I saw the security guards removing the barricades hurriedly, I realized it was over.  

I didn't feel the sense of disappointment that might be expected from such an anti-climax. To me seeing George W. Bush in person doesn't hold the same awe inspiring potential as seeing say, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, or even someone like Ronald Reagan.  For one thing, I can't ignore the fact that I'm not personally convinced of the legitimacy of this Presidency in light of the massive number of irregularities that occurred in the last election including the lack of a physical paper trail that could prove who the actual winner was and in light of the fact that exit polls didn't corroborate the "official" vote count. But, even if this major flaw were ignored, there is generally so little substance in anything GW Bush has to say, his appearance and speeches are rendered irrelevant, at least in my eyes. Certainly his air quality policies are substance-free, just filling space on the airwaves or in newspaper print because of the deference given to someone in his political position. If he were in any other position in life, no one would pay attention to any of his stumbling, empty words. This may unavoidably sound extremely partisan in nature, but it really isn't.  The Clean Air Act was first passed by Congress and signed into law by Richard Nixon, a Republican President, in 1970.  It was subsequently amended to strengthen it, remove loopholes and enhance its enforcement mechanisms by Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush senior and Clinton.  These men, both Republican and Democrat deserve credit for the progress that was made on this issue, regardless of what other good or harm may have happened on other issues during their years in office. But, this is the first Chief Executive in the 35 year history of the Clean Air Act to attempt to weaken, if not dismantle it.  It's no longer possible to speak meaningfully of progress on issues related to Clean Air without confronting the regressive policies of the GW Bush Administration.  The Clear Skies legislation and the regulatory gutting of the New Source Review provision of the Clean Air Act leave no room for doubt that political payback to large industrial campaign contributors has superseded decision-making for the public welfare. No, this rant is not based on partisanship. It's based on the reality and frustration that thirty years of bi-partisan progress is being reversed at the time when the world can least afford a reversal. The Bush Administration, in CAPITOL LETTERS, is the stumbling block that has to be overcome for progress to be made on issues related to Clean Air. 

It's difficult to measure the success of a protest because, for one thing,  it depends on how "success" is defined. If immediate ultimate success is the criteria, then, with few exceptions, all protest demonstrations fail. Immediate ultimate success stories like Aquino's or Yuchenko's ascendancies in the Phillipines and the Ukraine respectively, after corrupt elections, are few and far between. Most protest movements succeed cumulatively over months or years of sustained activity by growing numbers of people. In the early stages of their movements there were very discouraging moments and days for abolitionists, early labor organizers, women suffragettes, civil rights workers, anti-Vietnam War protesters and anti-nuclear power activists. But, these movements all ultimately prevailed to one degree or another because of their persistence and because of the substantive truths at the core of each of these causes.

The Earth Day demonstration in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park against the Bush Administration's clean air policies was a remarkable success on several levels. The expectancy of this visit galvanized members of the environmental community in three states into a coordinated effort that will have a lasting positive organizational effect. Vast networks of inter-issue related organizations and individuals were formed, renewed or expanded as a result of this effort. National, statewide and local TV, radio, newspaper and magazine news agencies received a hard wake-up call that made them aware of widespread and determined opposition to Bush's policies. Under very adverse conditions including the weather, the remote location and the competition with other long -planned Earth Day events, a rather large group of protesters showed immense integrity and determination by, on short notice, getting up very early in the morning, traveling 2-4 hours, standing for four hours braving the weather, and calmly, respectfully and peacefully withstanding the subtle authoritarian intimidation. We counted forty-eight protesters at about 1PM and then a second wave arrived from Boone, NC with about eighteen more, just as things were breaking up. There's nothing to be ashamed of in those numbers.  If Bush had displayed the integrity to fulfill his commitment to the volunteers he was there to honor, he would have been the first Chief Executive since FDR to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But, because of a little rain, and a sizeable group of protesters he wished to avoid, he squandered that historic opportunity. At least we showed up. And don't think for a minute that nobody noticed.

 

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