TWO updates from 350.org on the fight against the keystone xl pipeline from Canada, lobbying the US State Dept, coal ports, mountaintop removal mining and a good read in Rolling Stone...
The
next critical phase of our fight against Keystone XL is here. Here's
what will be a long - but I hope useful - update that I'd like to share
with you, the folks who led this campaign as part of the Tar Sands
Action, about where we're at.
Your work stopped TransCanada in
its tracks - and forced them to take drastic measures to try to get the
pipeline built. They broke the pipeline in two - getting fast-track
approval for the southern leg through Oklahoma and Texas, and forcing a
re-review of the northern half.
The fight you started last summer is continuing, and on more fronts than ever.
There
is a budding resistance movement developing along the Southern pipeline
route that is stepping up to use direct action to stop the pipeline.
The
Tar Sands Blockade is leading the way -- when TransCanada begins
construction they'll be met by a coalition of landowners, Tea Party
types and environmentalists engaging in non-violent resistance to stop
the pipeline. It's critical that we support these efforts, both
for their own sake, and to show our leaders that they can expect
serious backlash whenever they build dirty tar spewing pipelines from
now on. Click here to join the Tar Sands Blockade:
tarsandsblockade.org/join-us/
As construction begins on the Southern leg of the pipeline,
the
State Department is re-starting its environmental review of the
northern leg of the pipeline, putting us on track for an early 2013
decision on whether to move forward with the critical northern link to the tar sands.
We need to show, once again, the connection between Keystone XL, the
tar sands, and climate change. Extreme weather is the most important
story of 2012 so far, and connecting this pipeline to the incredible
devastation caused by runaway climate change gives us an incredibly
powerful tool to keep this thing bottled up.
Last year, thanks
to your pressure, President Obama said that he would consider the
climate impacts of the tar sands when considering approval of Keystone.
Right
now, The US State Department is deciding how they will review the
pipeline, and it's not clear that they will examine climate change.
Yesterday, 10 of the nation's top climate scientists sent a letter to
State insisting that climate impacts be included in the review of
Keystone XL.
Can you join them and make sure that the State
Department knows that climate change is not in our national interest,
and must be considered as part of the Keystone XL review?
Click here to send a message to the State Department: act.350.org/letter/keystone-state-climate/
Also, we need to make this a fight about the toxicity of the tar sands themselves.
The federal government just released their report about the largest tar
sands spill to date, which took place in Michigan in 2010, and it
showed that the industry is failing to protect people, land and water
along the pipeline routes. The tar sands are an inherently corrosive,
toxic product, and should not be allowed in anyone's back yard.
We're
continuing the broader fight against tar sands oil by coordinating with
folks across New England who are working to stop a proposal to move tar
sands oil through an aging natural gas pipeline, for export to the
Atlantic. It's the same kind of pipeline, and pipeline company, that
spilled millions of gallons of tar sands oil in Michigan two years ago,
which is why
we're supporting a day of solidarity actions on July 25th, the anniversary of the spill, called We Are the Kalamazoo. Several dozen events are planned along pipeline routes across the country --
click here to join one near you: tarsandsfreene.org/find-events
The fossil fuel industry's role in wrecking the planet and our democracy could become a defining issue this fall.
People are waking up to the impacts of climate change. And they're
getting mad about the fact that we're paying for the damage by
subsidizing the very industry that is responsible for the wild weather.
If we can keep organizing around climate change and extreme weather to
show that there is enormous political opportunity in standing up to stop
the tar sands, we'll be much closer to stopping Keystone.
There
are already dozens of visits to campaign events planned to put members
of Congress on the stop for their stances on fossil fuel subsidies (it
would be great if you could join - click here to sign up act.350.org/signup/heat-subsidies/).
Also the spark you helped set last fall has ignited a string of exciting civil disobedience actions this summer.
There is a whole summer of bold action planned
- a Summer of Solidarity - spanning from West Virginia to Montana to
New York, where folks are standing up to stop dangerous fossil fuel
projects.
Click here to find out more about what is planned this summer: summerofsolidarity.tumblr.com
Duncan
HERE is the update from Bill McKibben
There's a piece of mine on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine today
that I think may be the most important writing I've done since
The End of Nature, way back in 1989. (And no, it's not
the profile of Justin Bieber)
Warning: it’s pretty long, and it’s not entirely cheerful. Indeed, it
shows that the business plans of the fossil fuel industry will wreck
the planet -- that they’ve already got enough carbon in their reserves
to drive the heat past anyone’s definition of okay.
Click here to read and share the piece: www.350.org/rollingstone
If you read it, you’ll get a sense of the direction
350.org is headed.
I'll be hosting a video chat early next week to help cover all of
these topics - in particular Keystone and the article I just released -
and if you'd like to join that particular conversation, I'm told you can
RSVP by clicking here:
act.350.org/sign/bill-video-chat-july/
In the meantime: as we see it, we’ve got iconic battles underway in
every part of the country, and against all the forms of fossil fuel. And
they’re beginning to coalesce into a true movement against the heart of
this most dangerous industry.
1) Keystone XL.
Centered along the pipeline route in the middle of the country, this
battle against opening Canada’s vast tarsands has been in a holding
pattern for a while, but that’s changing. On the southern half of the
pipeline,
our friends in Texas
are actively planning for civil disobedience. Meanwhile, thanks to your
efforts, a narrow Congressional plurality has blocked GOP attempts to
force through the northern half of the pipeline this year. Now the ball
is back in the State Department’s court -- and so far they’re fumbling
it. They need to conduct a new review, but they’ve not even agreed to
look at the climate effects of the project (my take on how Sec. of State
Hillary Clinton is mishandling this particular issue
is here).
We’re going to need your help to put pressure on them -- and also to
help mobilize against metastasizing tarsands pipelines, like the
so-called Trailbreaker project across New England. Mitt Romney has
promised opening Keystone will be his first act; we’re by no means
certain Obama wouldn’t bend to corporate power either. We may need to go
back to jail; no matter what, we’ll do our best to keep figuring out
the incredibly murky Washington politics and trying to work out useful
plans.
2) Coal ports.
Stymied by great organizing against coal-fired power in this country,
the mining giants are scouting new markets in Asia -- and building the
ports along the Pacific to let them send that carbon overseas to be
burned.
People are mobilizing
effectively to try and block those plans (and three coal-train
derailments last week made it a little clearer to everyone what a bad
plan this is). Meanwhile,
mountaintop removal foes
continue to press their case across Appalachia. Together we’ve all
managed to blacken coal’s name considerably, and we can’t let up.
3) Fracking.
Opposition to fracking for gas has been loudest along the East Coast,
atop the Marcellus Shale. We’ve been working in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
York (and other places, like Vermont, where a statewide ban on fracking
was enacted this spring). Given the deep pockets of the gas companies
it’s a hard battle, but you’d be amazed at the depth of the local
organizing; the drillers are being met by an aroused citizenry wherever
they go!
So -- oil, coal, gas; Midwest; Pacific; East. These fights are all
crucial, but they’re also all part of the much larger battle, which is
against carbon in the atmosphere. We’ve got to fight them all, but we
can’t win one pipeline or port at a time. We’ve also got to change the
basic ground rules.
Which is why we’re also engaged, right through election day, in the
fight against fossil fuel subsidies. It’s gaining momentum -- almost 60
Senators and Representatives have signed on in support of the
Sanders/Ellison bill to end the giveaways to the richest industry on
earth. Teams of people are fanning out across the country this week and
next to ask their public officials: “Where do you stand on removing
fossil fuel subsidies?”
All this activity is playing out, of course, against the backdrop of
one of the greatest heatwaves and droughts in American history, a
constant reminder just how high the stakes are. People are noticing --
the polling indicates steady increases in concern about climate change
-- and now our job is to build that diffuse sentiment into a strong
movement.
I'm awfully glad you're a part of this movement, and hope you're managing to stay cool.
On we go,
Bill McKibben for the crew at
350.org
P.S. And if you have reactions to and thoughts about that
Rolling Stone piece please send them in to "
thoughts@350.org".
The analysis -- the math -- that's in there is going to form the basis
of a lot of our work going forward, and it would be useful to hear how
it strikes you.
So,
that's the big picture. The last year or so has been a wild ride for
this movement, and your work to stop Keystone has been one of the
highlights, showing what we can do with focus, some courage and a lot of
people. I am eager to see what we will do together next.
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