NOW more than ever the Earth needs a good lawyer, and EarthJustice fills that need where it can. Please see this update from EarthJustice, participate in any or all of the actions and make a donation if you can...
TAKE ACTION: Stop this ultra-deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico 18JUL25
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MY e mail to the Interior Dept on Boundary Waters: I am writing to oppose the rescission of Superior National Forest mineral withdrawal in the Rainy River Watershed. The Boundary Waters is the most visited Wilderness Area in the country, with over one thousand lakes and hundreds of trails that offer superb camping, fishing, canoeing, and hiking for every American to enjoy. By undoing the federal mineral withdrawal in the Rainy River watershed, your Department is opening the door to a foreign sulfide-ore copper mine that would permanently pollute this irreplaceable landscape. This pollution will not be contained in the Boundary Waters area but will flow into Lake Superior and so the rest of the Great Lakes as well as Hudson Bay and the Mississippi River. Satisfying corporate greed can never justify widespread environmental damage to wildlife and humanity. The Boundary Waters is an engine that powers Northeastern Minnesota’s outdoor recreation economy, which sustains 17,000 jobs and over $1 billion in sales every year. Economic studies show that protecting the Boundary Waters would produce far better outcomes for job creation and generated income than opening the area to copper mining. Your Department wants to “unleash American energy” by mining near the Boundary Waters. But the minerals produced in the Twin Metals mine would be shipped outside of the US for processing and then sold on the world market. The mine would do nothing for American energy. The science is clear: Sulfide ore mining would cause irreversible pollution and environmental degradation if allowed along the rivers and streams flowing into the Boundary Waters. I urge you to protect this American icon from foreign mining pollution by keeping the Rainy River watershed mineral withdrawal intact. MY e mail to Department of the Interior, U.S. Congress, Department of Transportation, and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: I am your constituent, and I support the Marine Mammal Protection Act. I ask you to oppose all legislative attempts to weaken this important law. In 1972, Congress responded to overwhelming public support for marine mammals by adopting the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Since that time, this landmark law has protected the country’s dolphins, whales, manatees, seals, sea otters, polar bears, and other much-loved species from harm. Not a single species has disappeared from American waters even as our use of the ocean has increased. Unfortunately, this successful law has come under increasing and relentless assault from some corners of Congress in recent years. Over one-third of marine mammals are threatened with extinction globally. The Marine Mammal Protection Act is one of our strongest tools to fight this extinction crisis and ensure healthy, abundant marine mammal populations for future generations. Humans are connected to the ocean and all of the life it sustains. How we treat it impacts our own existence. Marine mammals are an important part of marine ecosystems, helping keep our coasts and ocean productive. They’re also culturally significant to many communities, support coastal economies, and loved by people across the country. Now is not the time to give handouts to polluting and extractive industries at the expense of marine mammal survival. Marine mammals simply can’t afford it, and Americans don’t want it. Those in government and business who claim to be religious should be aware that the majority of people of any faith believe God / the gods command humanity to protect the Earth and all creatures on it and also believe the cost of protecting the plants, animals and people on the Earth is justified. Please consider your claim to faith (if any) and you faith teachings and prevent the weakening of the MMPA. I hope you will be a defender of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and all of the species it sustains.
MY e mail to Department of the Interior, U.S. Congress, Department of Transportation, and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: I am writing to demand safer conditions, proper training, and fair pay for truckers hauling hazardous materials from oilfields. The hazardous materials laws on the books aren’t being enforced, which is seriously concerning for worker and public safety. Keep in mind this is an risk not just for the general public, it is also a risk you are exposing your families and friends to every time they are on the road. Are corporate political donations or guarantees of executive positions in these companies worth putting your family and friends at risk? Many truckloads of oil and gas waste are not being tested before they are loaded and transported across U.S. highways and communities. Some truckloads can be more than 2,000 times the consignment threshold for radioactive material under Department of Transportation regulation. This is unacceptable and unsafe. If the Department of Transportation enforced the laws on the books, things would be much safer for us all. Oil and gas companies would have to test and classify their loads before putting it on trucks to drive down the highway. The truck drivers hauling these hazardous materials would have HAZMAT certification, the proper equipment, and appropriate pay for hauling hazardous materials. The trucks would be clearly marked as hazardous materials so our local firefighters and first responders would know how to respond in the case of a bad accident. Enforcing the law isn’t just justice for truckers — it’s safety for every community with a road running through it.
MY e mail to Department of the Interior, U.S. Congress, Department of Transportation, and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: You must disapprove BP’s proposed Kaskida ultra-deepwater drilling project. Even with the modified proposal from BP, Kaskida, as proposed, poses significant risks to our economy, the marine and coastal environment, and the humans who depend on it. BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which caused $17.2 billion worth of damage, dealt significant blows to the regional economy, including eliminating 25,000 jobs in the Gulf. Deepwater Horizon also led to billions of dollars in financial losses including gross regional product, lost labor income, and federal, state and local tax revenues. It was particularly cruel to the Gulf’s tourism and fishing industries, the latter of which suffered an estimated $1.5 billion in lost revenue alone. Kaskida, which is proposed in more extreme conditions, could repeat Deepwater Horizon’s economic devastation to the Gulf if it were to fail. With Kaskida, BP is asking to develop oil and gas reserves at even greater depths than where its Deepwater Horizon rig suffered a loss of control incident – an event that killed 11 people and turned into the worst marine oil spill in U.S. history. The Kaskida project proposes to drill wells in waters up to 6,200 feet deep — whereas BP’s well that blew out in 2010 was about 5,000 feet deep. It would also be one of the first development projects in the region to use oil well equipment that needs to be able to handle pressures up to 20,000 pounds per square inch. By comparison, the faulty blowout preventer used in Deepwater Horizon could handle pressures of only 15,000 pounds. In its proposal to the government, BP has failed to demonstrate that the company can safely operate a high-pressure, high-temperature well like Kaskida. BP has not obtained U.S. certification to operate a high-pressure, high-temperature well and has not pointed to experience drilling these types of wells in other places. In other words, BP is pushing ultra-deepwater drilling to extreme depths while relying on still-emerging technologies to prevent disaster. This is concerning and highly risky, since the likelihood of well blowouts and uncontrolled oil spills increases exponentially with depth and pressure, and spills from this type of drilling are harder to respond to and contain. In fact, reports have shown that projects like Kaskida are six times more likely to experience an incident due to the extreme pressures and temperatures at such great depths. In addition to significant oil spill risks, this project would negatively impact already overburdened Gulf communities, sensitive deep-sea ecosystems, and imperiled marine life such as Kemp's ridley sea turtles and the critically endangered Rice's whale, whose population was significantly harmed by Deepwater Horizon. Past deepwater drilling incidents show us what is at stake, and the Gulf of Mexico cannot handle another catastrophic disaster. Past incidents also show how unprepared these companies like BP are for these catastrophic disasters, how protecting their profit margins are more important than clean up, environmental restoration and healthcare and economic compensation. There was even an attempt by BP and associated companies to leave the American taxpayers financially responsible for their catastrophe in the Gulf. Please deny BP's request for approval of their Kaskida Project. You have another opportunity to make the right decision and fully reject BP’s proposed Kaskida project.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
No comments:
Post a Comment