Sierra Club: Highway suit prompting threats

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

Members of a nonprofit environmental group whose lawsuit is stalling the widening of U.S. 95 say they are being harassed and threatened by angry motorists.

Jane Feldman, conservation coordinator for the Southern Nevada chapter of the Sierra Club, said Tuesday that she and the local group's members have received a stream of threatening phone calls and e-mails since the nonprofit organization in 2002 sued the Federal Highway Administration to delay widening a stretch of U.S. 95 between Martin Luther King and Rainbow boulevards from six to 10 lanes.

Since July 29, the day the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order was issued, the organization has received more than 100 threatening phone calls and one death threat, enough to prompt the club to divert all incoming calls directly to a voicemail system, Feldman said.

One of the most worrisome threats came from someone who said " 'I know your name and I know where your office is,' " Feldman said. "All of us are concerned. It's a bad situation we're living with."

Feldman said the organization has not yet filed any police reports or pursued legal action but they are carefully monitoring phone and e-mail traffic.

The club has also drafted a form letter that is automatically sent to those who contact the club by e-mail, Yukiko Takagi, the Sierra Club's Web master, said. Overall, the club has only received a handful of threatening electronic messages at its various members' e-mail addresses, Takagi said.

Most callers and e-mail writers have resorted to name-calling, telling members their policies are stupid or short-sighted, Feldman said.

"We know this is an emotional issue so people's passions are going to be stirred up," Feldman said. "We expected there to be a backlash. That's OK but what's not OK is when people get hurt."

The long-running controversy has even received national attention. A 2003 article appearing in USA Today quoted Gov. Kenny Guinn threatening to erect billboards along the five-mile stretch that say, "Traffic congestion brought to you by the Sierra Club" if the group was successful in further delaying the project.

The suit was dismissed in March but a court order issued late last month will allow the Sierra Club to appeal the decision as early as mid-October. The $370 million project is expected to begin in September, but if the order is upheld it could push the completion date from late 2006 into 2007.

The Sierra Club alleges that a previous environmental impact study conducted by the Federal Highway Administration does not adequately address health risks stemming from emissions along the larger freeway system.

The group wants the federal agency to spearhead a new supplemental environmental impact study that takes into account previous studies that link highway pollution to cancer.

With last week's court order, the highway administration is only allowed to construct drainage systems and sound-deadening walls, Greg Novak, a spokesman for the federal agency, said.

"We're trying to move forward as best we can with whatever we can come up with that's not widening (the highway)," Novak said. "We'll wait to see how the court turns things out."

Novak said he had not heard about drivers becoming so upset about the court's decision that they would threaten the Sierra Club.

"It's a controversial, important project and there's bound to be strong feelings on both sides," he said.

Bob McKenzie, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said the state agency tasked with constructing the project has not received any complaints from frustrated drivers.

"I really haven't noticed it so it would be really hard for me to comment (on the Sierra Club threats)," McKenzie said. "As a rule people don't like congestion."