In a surprise move, the Grand Canyon Private Boater's Association (GCPBA), the organization which originally sued the Park Service in 2000 claiming that the Park Service was derelict in their duties and leading to the Park Service's currently contested Colorado River Management Plan, has moved to intervene in our lawsuit. What's surprising is that GCPBA is moving to intervene on the side of the Park Service, abandoning previous claims for resource protection and equitable allocation made in its 2000 lawsuit. Attorneys for Rock the Earth and its co-plaintiffs have opposed GCPBA's arguments to join the lawsuit in defense of the National Park Service in a brief filed Monday, August 8, 2006.

In replying to the GCPBA motion for intervention, the plaintiffs' opposition brief notes "The GCPBA has flip-flopped on the issues and is seeking to intervene to defend the NPS's CRMP - seeking to defend a CRMP that authorizes certain types and levels of use that the GCPBA specifically challenged in its original lawsuit….

The court has already agreed to consider the case in two parts. The first part is based on the merits of the case, while the second will be a remedy phase deciding how to move forward to address issues raised in the case. The plaintiffs' legal team has asked the judge to limit the participation of both GCPBA and Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association to the remedy phase of the case. A ruling on the GCPBA's Motion to Intervene will be forthcoming shortly. Stay tuned to the RtE website for the latest news!

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Supreme Court Dilutes Clean Water Act

In a recent newsletter, Rock the Earth discussed legal developments relating to the Clean Air Act. This month, we take a closer look at the Clean Water Act. On June 19, 2006, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in the case of Rapanos v. United States, 126 S. Ct. 2208; 165 L. Ed. 2d 159 (2006). Rapanos (consolidated with the case of Carabell v. United States Army Corps of Engineers) involved questions regarding the scope of regulation under the Clean Water Act - the basic and crucial question of when the Federal government may act under the law. Rapanos represents the third major Supreme Court decision in this area, following United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc., 474 U. S. 121 (1985) and (Riverside Bayview) and Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook Cty. v. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U. S. 159 (2001) (SWANCC).

The scope of jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been hotly contested for decades. For Constitutional reasons, Congress limited the scope of the Clean Water Act to "navigable waters" of the United States. From its passage in 1972, federal and state agencies, courts and private parties have understood the Clean Water Act to regulate the discharge of pollutants into "traditional" navigable waters, their non-navigable tributaries, and wetlands adjacent to these bodies. Although many states have more expansive clean water programs than the federal government, the scope of federal regulation is crucial because it provides a "floor" that applies throughout the United States. [more...]

Continue reading this article.

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RtE and Jam Cruise are Greener than Ever

For its fifth adventure, Jam Cruise has outdone itself with an outstanding lineup of musicians aboard the beautiful MSC Opera. The ship gets under way from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 2, 2007, sailing for five days and five nights with stops in the Turks and Caicos Islands and a special private island, Cayo Levantado in the Dominican Republic. Rock the Earth will be taking on Jam Cruise's greening efforts for the second year in a row. The goal is to continue to make positive and progressive steps to reduce Jam Cruise's ecological footprint.

The efforts for the upcoming cruise are still in development and will require hundreds of hours from RtE's dedicated green team. The main objectives are to conserve resources, minimize waste, educate passengers about ways to live more sustainably in every day life and to get artists involved with generating awareness of these efforts. RtE and Jam Cruise are currently undertaking discussions to implement the use of biodiesel on Jam Cruise 5 in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of reduced CO2 emissions. Stay tuned in the coming months for updates on our progress. Don't miss the boat. Be part of Jamcruise 5 by going to www.jamcruise.com. Together we will leave a positive legacy in our wake.

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Summer Tour: The Long & Winding Road

RtE Executive Director Marc Ross with Bela Fleck

Three quarters of our way through our third Summer Outreach and Education Tour and it has become quite apparent that RtE is shattering all previous records! Membership is at an all-time high, easily surpassing the magic number of 1,000 paid members (we're over 1,100 members as we go to press!), and thanks to the dozens of volunteers who have helped us out, the number of events that we've worked this summer has been equally impressive, some nights putting us in four venues at the same time!

After finishing up our tour of stadiums with Bon Jovi and Nickelback, RtE began our tour with Guster and Ray LaMontagne as a traveling resident in the Reverb Green Highway Eco-Village. Tabling alongside groups such as Music for America, Rock for a Remedy, Hoosier Environmental Council and the Sierra Club, Rock the Earth was a big hit all along the tour. Our travels with Reverb on the Guster tour merged into our return to the Dave Matthews Band tour, culminating in Dave's big festival on Randall's Island in NYC with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Gov't Mule, Yonder Mountain String Band, Tea Leaf Green, Slightly Stoopid, and David Gray. Just as the Guster tour segued into the DMB tour, we then picked up the east coast leg of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones' Acoustic Planet Tour (with Natalie MacMaster, Del McCoury Band, Marc Broussard, and Umphrey's McGee).

Meanwhile, as our team continued on the east coast, another team of RtE volunteers were working hard in Minnesota at one of our favorite festivals, the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, MN. This wonderful, 4-day fest featured headlining sets by String Cheese Incident, Phil Lesh & Friends and Trey Anastasio (with Mike Gordon and the Duo), in addition to an all-star lineup that included Railroad Earth, the Everyone Orchestra, Tea Leaf Green, Vince Herman's Great American Taxi, Assembly of Dust, Backyard Tire Fire, U-Melt, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Turbine. The weekend resulted in 20 new members to Rock the Earth and many additions to our mailing list.

RtE Summer Tour Intern Bridget Carey

As we go to press, our team is getting ready to embark on the Allman Brothers Band/Gov't Mule tour! This is our second summer tour with the Mule and we're absolutely thrilled and honored to be taking the trip with them on the ABB tour, during which guitarist-jedi Warren Haynes will be doing double duty each night. We'll be following the ABB tour west back to Colorado where we'll pause for a 2-night run at Red Rocks (with our friends in Yonder Mountain String Band), before heading to the west coast for our final run with Dave Matthews Band, followed by a summer ending stint on Bonnie Raitt's Green Highway.

We're in the home stretch now and hopefully we'll see some of you again out on the road. For stories from the road, show reviews, pictures and set lists, check out our Tour Blog. For the latest news and tour dates, see the RtE website.

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Rockin' the San Francisco Bay: A Benefit for Rock the Earth

Rock the Earth is pleased to announce that we will be the beneficiaries of an all-day benefit concert, put on by Gone Global Productions, in San Francisco on Sunday, September 17, 2006 from Noon to 6:30. This very special event will be held at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre in John McLaren Park. The concert will feature a wide variety of talented musicians.

The headliners will be an All-Star Band, Rubber Souldiers, featuring:
Chris Rowan
Lorin Rowan
David Gans
Robin Sylvester (Ratdog)
Barry Sless (Phil Lesh & Friends, David Nelson Band, Flying Other Brothers)
Adam Perry (The Love X Nowhere)
And some very special guests

Additional bands playing throughout the day include:
Blue Turtle Seduction
Mark Karan's Buds (Ratdog, The Other Ones, Jemimah Puddleduck)
Zoo Station (a tribute to U2)
The Trespassers

Admission will be FREE (with a suggested donation of $25). There will be Food and Craft vending and while there will not be any alcohol for sale, guest will be permitted to bring their own alcohol into the venue. Join Miss Robyn and Friends at the Childrens' Earth Creative Corner for Music, Crafts, and Creative Movement. Sponsored by the Rainbow Montessori Preschool of San Francisco.

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Membership Benefits Continue to Grow

As a Rock the Earth member, you can receive discounts on concerts & festivals, special members-only merchandise offers, 10% off EcoExpress gift baskets and 20% off SCIGear and Bamboosa products! Send your friends (or yourself!) great gift baskets of bath & beauty products, music from around the world, scrumptious organic treats or games and gardening kits from EcoExpress! Visit their website, www.ecoexpress.com, to see their wide selection!

Support sustainability and enjoy breathable, durable clothing that is as soft as silk with Bamboosa's 100% bamboo clothing. Bamboo clothing you say? Yes! Bamboo is nature's most sustainable resource, grown without pesticides and 100% biodegradable. Bamboosa is a member of 1% for the Planet and all products are made in America. Go to www.bamboosa.com to read more!

FUNK Festival is Coming Up!
RtE Members can purchase tickets to F.U.N.K. Fest in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 25-26 for only $40! That's a savings of $25 off the early bird price! Drawing strongly off Victor Wooten's highly successful Bass Nature Camp, the F.U.N.K. Fest combines the atmosphere of a music & camping festival with workshops on music, nature and more! With two music stages, performances that include Umphrey's McGee, Honkytonk Homeslice and the Victor Wooten Band, as well as great food & drink, unique merchandise vending and onsite camping, what more could you ask for? Join RtE at this great Midwest festival!

Stay tuned to our website, www.RockTheEarth.org, and our monthly newsletter for more information about discounts for RtE Members! To take advantage of any of the above Member benefits, write to Membership@RockTheEarth.org.

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RtE Needs IT

Do you have experience in website development and are looking to help out Rock the Earth? We're looking for someone to help us overhaul our website.

We ask that volunteers have experience with HTML programming, and as many of the following skills as possible: PHP, MySQL, Access, Excel, OS Commerce, Dreamweaver, Cold Fusion, incorporation of multi-media functions, and building back-end database systems.

Other important skills include hosted web site administration (cPanel, phpMyAdmin), domain and certificate administration and knowledge of eCommerce.

If you're interested in volunteering or finding out more, write to Marc Ross, RtE Executive Director, at marcr@RockTheEarth.org. Please submit links to sites that you have developed. Thanks!

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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy!

Over the past few weeks, Rock the Earth has been popping up all over the National and International news as the media has begun to feature a wave of articles on nonprofits who work with the music community. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, on August 2, RtE was featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. A little over a week later, we were mentioned in an article in the Christian Science Monitor - our first international publication mention that we know of! To our surprise, USA Today picked up the CSM article and published it nationally. To top it off, an extensive interview with RtE Executive Director, Marc Ross, was also just published on the Rex Foundation’s website. As a result, we've gotten quite a few calls in the past week as our reputation for being the environmental advocacy organization to work with the music industry has grown exponentially!

Read the articles about RtE:
• Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Christian Science Monitor
• USA Today
• Rex Foundation

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Rockin the Earth in Oregon: Photo

Rock the Earth members Ira and Linda Steinberg in Cannon Beach, Oregon