It’s Getting Hot In Here

Pictures coming soon!

The EPA was visiting with industry today in West Virginia when three activists unveiled a banner that said “EPA stop MTR” at Massey Energy’s Edwight mountaintop removal mine. Five people were arrested: the three activists Charles Suggs, Madeline Gardner, and William Wickham, and independent photographer Antrim Caskey and independent filmmaker Jordan Freeman. The activists chose the Edwight mine because Massey has recently begun blasting directly above the town of Naoma, W.Va., and the grave danger its slurry dam poses to Marsh Fork Elementary. This is the fifth in a series of such actions over the last 3 months that Climate Ground Zero has taken against Massey Energy and mountaintop removal coal mining.

“With the EPA seemingly considering actually doing its job, we believe they will realize that mountaintop removal is illegal and put a stop to it,” Mathew Louis-Rosenberg said, referencing the five mountaintop removal permits EPA has put on hold for review in recent weeks.

Police arrested the activists.

Continue reading ‘Activists hang “EPA stop MTR” banner on Massey mine, arrested’

This morning (coverage here and here), President Obama announced his  plan to spur the creation of a high-speed rail network across the country.  With $8 billion allocated for high speed rail corridors from the recovery package, this move would both upgrade existing rail corridors to accommodate high speed travel and establish new corridors to bring rail service to previously un- or under-served areas.

High speed rail is defined in this country as trains traveling more than 90 mph. The European Union standard is above 125 mph.  This investment into high-speed rail will upgrade our national system and eventually create a national corridor between larger cities connecting communities and serve them at a speed similar to those in Europe (avg 133 or above) and Japan (180mph).

The plan highlights ten potential high-speed intercity corridors, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.  This map from the Department of Transportation shows some of the proposed corridors.  Continue reading ‘Obama Choo-choo-chooses High Speed Rail’

Sarah Karlin, an editorial intern at Campus Progress, attended an event at Heritage Foundation hosting industry lobbyist and anti-environmentalist crusader Steven Milloy. Check out an excerpt of her piece exposing the hipocrisy of the speaker and the insanity of his claims.

… one might find it hard to trust the scientific credibility of a man who has spent years lobbying on behalf of tobacco and energy companies. For example, in 1993 Milloy was hired by Philip Morris and their public relations firm to defend the tobacco industry. The Americans for Nonsmokers Rights report found that in 1993 Milloy dismissed the US EPA’s studying linking second hand smoke to cancer as a “joke.”

When I asked Milloy about his credibility he became agitated and defensive. “That’s a great spin you put on that,” Milloy said. “You take some contributions to organizations I’ve been affiliated with and spin it into this advocacy for hire and I really think that’s nothing but spin. Let’s look at Al Gore who stands to make more than 2 million dollars for all his energy stuff….So when you guys start doing some introspections looking at your own motivations them you can start throwing stones at other people.”

Milloy repeatedly dodged other tough questions. When a concerned woman wearing a polar bear mask, claiming to “represent the polar bears,” asked Milloy if he believed the polar bears were being threatened, he simply laughed her off. “Well you seem to be doing quite well, you’re down here and its 50 degrees.”

Read the whole story and check out a video of the  Polar Bear Ambassador here.

I have a confession. I have been a political activist for over a decade and I just lost my lobbying virginity. And it was AWESOME! I can only hope it was the beginning of a long and beautiful relationship with Senator Diane Feinstein.

During the April congressional recess we’re encouraging young people who want to keep the Power Shift going to have meetings or town hall forums with their representatives to reiterate our demand for bold, federal energy and climate legislation being passed this year. After working with students in Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Georgia, and a bunch of other places over the last weeks I was starting to get jealous. Why were they having all the fun?? I wanted to meet with my representatives, too.

With Congresswoman Pelosi (Speaker of the House) and Senator Boxer (Chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee) and Senator Feinstein I’ve got some pretty powerful women representing me. And like a good citizen (and youth climate activist) I got my political action on!

Today at 1:30 pm a bunch of rad youth organizers met with Senator Feinstein’s Director of Field Services Gina Banks. We prepped for this first “date,” researching the Senator’s positions, dissecting the ACES bill introduced by Markey and Waxman, and divvying up talking points, and an agenda.

Like every good relationship, we started with getting to know each other. Lauren talked about her work organizing constiuents in Northern California, Mike spoke about being a student at City College and getting a green jobs training program going there, Dominic spoke about being at the UN climate negotations, and I spoke about how AMAZING and POWERFUL and UNSTOPPABLE the youth climate movement is. Continue reading ‘My First Lobby Meeting’

Join the action www.stopcliffside.org

Dear Mr. Rogers,

Next Monday, we and many others will march to Duke Energy headquarters
and seek your written agreement to stop construction of the Cliffside
coal-fired power plant and turn all efforts toward climate protection
through clean, efficient energy. Many of us feel called to conscience
so strongly that we are willing to peacefully risk arrest in order to
prevent the crime against humanity that would result from Cliffside
opening in 2012.

We again urge you to become the leader depicted by your public relations
team, and use your extraordinary influence to stem the health, economic
and environmental damage caused by the use of coal, including an
accelerating climate crisis that is already causing devastation in many
parts of this nation and around the world. We are compelled to act for
several reasons:

* Duke Energy’s use of coal is destroying our Appalachian
mountaintop communities and waters.
* Duke Energy’s coal combustion is poisoning our children with
unnecessarily high emissions of mercury and other pollutants.
* The new Cliffside unit has been proven unnecessary in several
ways, most recently by Dr. John Blackburn, retired chair of the Duke
University Economics Department – using your own data.
* Your Save-a-Watt scheme indicates you are not serious about
energy efficiency. We urge you to stop opposing the NC SAVE$ ENERGY
bill.
* Duke Energy’s corporate influence over elected and regulatory
officials is subverting our democracy – as fully evidenced in the
Cliffside case. We hereby withdraw consent from critical public
decisions being dominated by Duke Energy’s corporate interests.
* Coal combustion is fueling a climate emergency that continues to
accelerate beyond predictions of just two years ago.

Continue reading ‘Mr. Rogers, we’re coming to your neighborhood. An open letter to Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers’

An address from Todd Stern, Special Envoy on Climate Change, for the Nationwide Town Hall on the Clean Energy Future:

Our deepest thanks to Jeff Gustafson, SustainUS and the US State Department for making this happen.

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) joined students from Drexel University, community members and business leaders for a discussion on tackling climate change and seizing the opportunities of the new energy economy this Monday in Philadelphia.

The event kicked off a series of 103 town hall-style forums, part of a nationwide Town Hall on the clean energy future sponsored by Focus the Nation, a clean energy youth empowerment group based in Portland, OR.

The Philadelphia town hall even featured presentations from Audrey Zibelman, CEO of Viridity Energy, a cutting edge carbon and energy management firm, representatives of the Philadelphia department of sustainability, Senator Specter and others. Afterwards, a select group of participants, students and community members from the Philadelphia area, had a closed-door meeting with one of Specter’s advisers on energy and environment issues, James Decker, to continue a conversation about clean energy solutions.

Senator Specter may be the most crucial swing vote in the Senate as Congressional leaders gear up for a national debate on climate and clean energy legislation this year. As Newsweek recently noted:

“His colleagues may wince, but for reasons of math Specter now finds himself the most sought-after, and sucked-up-to, member of the Senate. He could wind up casting the deciding vote on major issues, including health-care and energy reform. Here’s why: Senate rules say the Democrats need 60 votes to keep Republicans from filibustering. Even if Al Franken is (finally) seated, they’re one maddening vote shy. They’ll need a Republican defector, not an easy thing to get. On big votes, leaders bully members into standing with the party, and senators, fearing retaliation, usually comply.”

“Sen. Specter’s participation in the launch of this national discussion epitomizes the opportunity America has to redefine the kind of leadership it will take to keep our country at the forefront of building the clean energy future,” said Garett Brennan, executive director of Focus the Nation. “This is our window to shift our economy from crisis to opportunity. Legislators need to hear that serious investment in green jobs and affordable clean energy isn’t bold to their constituents at all. It’s common sense. It’s what they want and it’s what our economy needs.” Continue reading ‘Senator Specter Kicks Off Nationwide Town Hall on Clean Energy Future, Cong. Cao Event Streams Live Today’

Yesterday, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers spoke at the 6th annual Sustainable Energy Conference in Raleigh to promote Duke’s clean energy agenda which includes building a dirty coal plant in Cliffside, North Carolina.

That doesn’t sound like “clean energy” to me.

A lot of other people in North Carolina agree.

So much that they’ve taken to following Rogers wherever he goes and holding him accountable.  Yesterday, a dozen people from a number of groups ( NC WARN, Interfaith Power and Light, Croatan Earth First!, Mountain Justice, Southern Energy Network and Greenpeace) held a protest outside his appearance in Raleigh. Continue reading ‘Upstaging Duke Energy’s Greenwashing Antics’

Rumor has it that the Obama administration is looking to select a new director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). This office helps enforce  (can you guess?), surface mining and the reclamation of our land. 

Message: I urge the administration to nominate a new director of the Office of Surface Mining who is not from the coal industry or OSM. We desperately need someone who will fix this troubled agency and see that the surface mining laws are fully and fairly enforced.

Please call as soon as you get the chance. The nominee could be named any day.

Continue reading ‘Call Today! Put the Office of Surface Mining in Capable Hands!’

Hello!  Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) is on the scene and looking to help high school students plug into the growing youth climate movement.  You may have heard of us… especially if you live in Cali or attended Power Shift 2009… but for the thousands of people we haven’t met yet…

Below the fold is the scoop on who we are, what we’re all about, and how to get involved.  We’re based in Oakland, CA, and we’ll be in the Chicago-region, Houston, and New England by the fall.

ACE wants to connect with other groups out there led by high school students, groups working with high school students, and anyone else interested in what we do.  We are not looking to re-create the wheel, here, so I hope we can connect and multiply our efforts!

Lower Your Emissions, Raise Your Voice
ACE came into existence because we firmly believe that high school students have a powerful role to play in reducing our carbon emissions and raising our united voice for a cleaner, brighter future.

We’re working hard to let high school students around the country know that young people, us – you – our generation, are old enough to take bold, powerful action on the issue of climate change and bring about lasting change on the individual, community, and national levels. Continue reading ‘Coming to a High School Near You’