Watching Tim speak in the courtroom, watching him utter words that would be echoed and transported across oceans, seeing him in all his candor and vulnerability, I realized that it’s the most powerful I’ve ever seen him. As he earnestly looked the judge straight in the eye asking him to join him — to join us — I simply could not ignore the eery yet deeply moving sensation that this statement would be one for the history books.

“This is what hope looks like… This is what patriotism looks like… This is what love looks like.”
-Tim DeChristopher. July 26th 2011. Salt Lake City Federal Courthouse (Read full statement here)

On that day, in that courtroom, his invitation fell on deaf ears. Judge Benson did not open up his heart to Tim’s plea and instead chose to respond with the inflexible “rule of law,” the systemic stance that an empowered citizen effectively challenging the status-quo should be contained and silenced.

In those initial nauseating and destabilizing moments, I simply could not process the judge’s words. 24 months of federal incarceration? To be taken into custody forthwith by US Marshals? Chained up like a dangerous criminal? All after making it crystal clear that the prison sentence was the result of Tim’s outspoken political views?

Crushed by the daunting realization that there would be no final good-bye, no last hug, I rushed down the courthouse steps, dizzy and in shock. Despite my personal trauma, the world needed to know, needed to hear Peaceful Uprising’s outrage and our call for a peaceful, directed, and sustained response.

Two weeks after his sentencing, I feel as though I’m finally emerging from a state of shock. Speaking to him through a monitor at the local county jail, seeing his strong smile, I finally accepted the fact that my friend is behind bars and will remain there for another 102 long weeks.

With every supportive message, email and phone call I’ve received, I’m gratefully reminded that this IS what love looks like. Love is an entire community crying, raging, screaming, breaking down, and holding one another. Love is the tough conversations that ensue, the restorative gatherings, the gardening and digging up dirt together, the willingness to stand for one another – despite our mistakes and shortcomings. Even when my knees go weak, even when my body won’t sustain its own weight, I know that someone is there to catch me.

Reverend C.T. Vivian, a civil rights activist, once said that you do not walk away from a movement. A fervent admirer of that era, Tim has often daydreamed of a Climate Justice movement in which every single one of us feels empowered to act, knowing that someone somewhere would have our back.

Tim never ran from the punishment he faced, knowing that his sacrifice could stir something up in us, in our community, in our movement. It has. Witnessing the massive out pouring of support that his unjust sentence has generated, my heart swells and I smile, knowing that it now feels as real as ever.

Our hearts are broken today, as we witness our industry-ruled justice system attempt to alienate us from one another, but we can choose our response – because only WE govern our principles. The best gift we can offer Tim today is a Climate Justice movement that acts on its ideals, committed to an authentic nonviolent resistance.

Every one of us is a powerful agent of change and we are not alone — we are all of us fingers, connected to a mighty fist.

I invite you to take a stand in your community, to develop your vision of a healthy and just world with your neighbors, and act with the full confidence that there is an entire movement standing behind you. Personally, I make a commitment to you, to my community, to honor you and the work that you do, no matter how hard the going gets. Join one of the numerous peaceful, sustained uprisings emerging all over the country these coming months?

Drawing from the movements of the past, we will relentlessly continue to seek a “society that can live at peace with its conscience,” as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once called for.

Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to 2 years in prison today at the Salt Lake City federal courthouse. He was taken immediately into custody, being denied the typical 3 weeks afforded to put his affairs in order and say goodbye to his friends and family.

Federal prosecutors asked for Tim to receive an extra harsh prison sentence in an effort to intimidate the movement that stands with him. They hoped that by condemning him to years behind bars, they would “make an example out of him” and deter all of us from taking meaningful action. But Tim is already an example. He’s an example of the courageous acts that people across our movements are taking to fight for justice and a liveable future. We support Tim by continuing to organize. Our response to this sentence is an affirmation: we will not be intimidated.  What’s your response?

The government’s statement is clear. Tim has been sentenced to 2 years as punishment for his politics; for the uncompromising content of his speeches and organizing in the two years since his act of civil disobedience protected 150,000 acres of land. Ironically, his principled views and motivations behind his actions he took were never allowed to enter a courtroom, due to their “irrelevance.” In a highly political trial, the jury was unjustly stripped of its right to be their community’s conscience and manipulated into making a political prisoner of a peaceful and concerned young man.

Author and activist Terry Tempest Williams said, “To think that a young man in an act of conscience might [do any amount of time] in a federal prison for raising a paddle in an already illegal sale of oil and gas leases, compared to the CEO of BP or the financial wizards on Wall Street who have pocketed millions of dollars at our expense  – and who will never step into a court of law to even get their hands slapped, let alone go to jail, is an assault on democracy.”

She’s right. But we have the power to turn this assault on democracy into a battle for democracy. Today the Salt Lake City community is expressing both their love and their outrage.

Fossil fuel lobbyists knew that Tim would be indicted the evening before it was officially filed, Jury members explained that they were intimidated throughout the process. The fossil fuel industry should not control our justice system.

Unless we decide to respond accordingly, as Tim serves his time, the real criminals — the fossil fuel industry wrecking our planet and our communities — will continue to run free, unaccountable for the countless oil spills, asthma attacks, contaminated waterways, cancer clusters, and carbon seeping into the air we breathe every day. If the justice system is intent on prosecuting the people protecting rather than pillaging the planet, we must confront the real criminals ourselves. With our heads held high, we continue to stand on the moral high-ground – and will do what’s right, despite the consequences. We know that mother nature’s consequences of inaction are far harsher than any imposed by a court system.

But we are not isolated individuals. We come together with our communities as groups of empowered agents of change who know our system is broken and does not represent us. Our communities represent us, and our vision of a resilient, just, and sustainable world that we are fighting for.

Tim’s sentence is a call to action.

For those of us who’ve been following his story fervently, our hearts were broken today. It is a sad moment. But we now have an opportunity and a responsibility to act on those feelings of hurt and outrage. For Tim’s sacrifice to truly mean something, for the spark it ignites in each of us to burn, we all must take action.

2011 has already become a year of peaceful uprisings around the country. As Tim once said, we were never promised that it would be easy. We know it will take courage, sacrifice and a willingness to sustain our resistance in our fight for real Justice. Tim has taken a step and we will take the next thousand.

Here are a few upcoming action opportunities to join:

• On Aug. 4, community members are calling for direct action at BP’s New Orleans offices in protest of the oil company’s continued lack of accountability for the devastating oil spill.
• On Aug. 12, Rising Tide North America and the environmental justice community is teaming up with economic justice and labor groups in St. Louis to fight corporations destroying jobs and homes with economic malfeasance and the climate with coal.
• In late August and early September, thousands are converging and risking arrest over 15 days at the White House in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline.

We’ll see you on the streets,

Peaceful Uprising and Tim’s community of courage.

Crosspost from www.GaSmartEnergy.wordpress.com

Plans to construct two coal-fired power plants in middle Georgia were dealt a blow last Thursday as Dwight Brown, CEO of Cobb EMC- one of the nations largest Electrical Members Corporations (EMC)- was indicted on 31 accounts of corporate theft by taking, racketeering, making false statements, and conspiracy to defraud the government entities.  The charges come after 2 years of citizen activism and litigation, and help highlight corrupt business practices that allegedly continue within the organization today- as the EMC proceeds with $4.2 billion coal development plans.

Cobb EMC is the lead financial and logistical supporter of a coalition of electrical corporations called Power4Georgians LLC, attempting to build two 850MW coal plants in middle Georgia, despite the fact that no new coal plants have been started in the United States in the last two years.  In state filings Dwight Brown is identified as the lead “organizer” of the consortium, and is the lead signature in the plants’ permit applications.

The detailed indictment of CEO Dwight Brown lays out criminal business practices in which Brown and other EMC board members of the not-for-profit EMC created a for-profit business called Cobb Energy, and allegedly used EMC membership funds to piggy-bank multi-million dollar salary and compensation packages for Brown and Board.  Mr. Brown, after transferring nearly all not-for-profit assets to the for-profit Cobb Energy, charged the 200,000 person EMC membership an 11% mark-up on services that the EMC previously rendered, used EMC membership data to sell SCANA natural gas services at huge profits for Cobb Energy, and granted Brown a $3 million personal loan- which was soon after forgiven- used to purchased preferred stocks in Cobb Energy.  All of this while Brown lied to and deceived the EMC membership, who in organizational Bylaws are charged with democratically operating and affectively owning the not-for-profit entity.

Yeah, Shady (at best) right?

But it only gets better…

Power4Georgians LLC, the coalition of 6 state EMC’s attempting to build coal plants in Washington and Ben Hill Counties, is currently managed and operated by Allied Energy Services- a wholly owned subsidiary of Cobb Energy, funded by Cobb EMC membership.  Allied Energy Services CEO Dean Alford- also now the spokesperson for Power4Georgians- is a Cobb Energy Vice President, holder of 30,000 shares (worth $750,000) of preferred stock in Cobb Energy, and Dwight Brown real-estate partner and good friend.

Allied Energy Services won the no-bid-contract to develop the coal-plant projects because the consortium was looking for “the most qualified people, not necessarily to go get the lowest bid.”  Yet, neither Allied Energy nor Cobb Energy has ever constructed or developed a coal plant.  To date $27 million has been given to Allied Energy for development of the Power4Georgians coalition and projects, $11.5 million coming from Cobb EMC rate-payers and the rest from smaller EMC’s around the state.

It is easy to see that plans to construct two new toxic coal fired power plants, built at-least partially from EMC membership monies and amidst growing community opposition, are born from questionable corporate inbreeding which has itself focused on the projects profitability to a very small network of company executives.

Alford’s suspicious character isn’t a new development.  He caused a bit of a stir back in 1991, when, as a Georgia state representative, he voted for a bill mandating the Public Service Commission approve a $1.045 million contract that he had been hired to manage as a private businessman. In the past several years he has also been the target of several community-led protests drawing attention to his involvement in insider dealing and the lack of transparency in his organizations.

To top it all off, Dwight Brown is currently forcing EMC membership to cover his legal fees (ringing in to the tune of +$700 an hour for one attorney- former Ga. Gov. Roy Barnes).

All this corporate intersecting might otherwise seem “conventional”, but like all EMC’s, Cobb EMC is set up as a cooperative, where customers are given shareholder rights: democratic voting powers at annual meetings and annual dividends on company profits. However, Brown and cronies have  failed to communicate the EMC’s relationships, not allowed a democratic membership meeting since 2007, and annual dividends have been withheld for nearly 30 years.

At a Cobb EMC meeting of members held in the September of 2008, members voted nearly unanimously to oust all existing board members and to withdrawl the EMC from all Power4Georgians projects.  Needless to say, Dwight, Board, and legal team stated that no motions passed at that meeting were binding because existing litigation against the cooperatives leadership was/is ongoing.

Back in 2009, after learning about Georgia Bureau of Investigation raids on the homes and offices of Dwight Brown and several other EMC board members, 4 Georgia state EMC’s- then representing 50% of the Power4Georgians financial stake- dropped out of the coal development plans, citing the uncertain impacts of looming federal climate legislation and decreased demand in energy.

Citizens in Cobb County, where Cobb EMC operates, and citizens in Washington and Ben Hill counties where coal plants are proposed, are currently working together to publicize critical questions and concerns regarding the health, safety, and trustworthiness of the planned development.

TransCanada: their product's not the only thing that's filthy about them

Cross-posted at Climate Crossroads

Canada may be stereotypically associated with politeness and friendliness, but one of its major oil companies is bullying and intimidating American property owners. Canadian oil giant TransCanada has told landowners along the path of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline that if they don’t sign over their land by the end of the month, TransCanada will take it by force through eminent domain proceedings.

A letter sent to a Nebraska landowner by TransCanada executive Tim Irons and obtained by the National Wildlife Federation states that the company “is constructing and will operate a 1,833 mile crude oil pipeline, which […] will cross a portion of your property.” The letter continues, asserting, “In the event we cannot reach an agreement, Keystone will use eminent domain to acquire the easement.” (emphasis added)

Such threatening language is an attempt to intimidate and silence the many landowners who have voiced safety concerns about the Keystone XL pipeline. Nebraska landowners in particular fear that a spill would contaminate the shallow Ogallala Aquifer which provides a third of the water for the nation’s crops. TransCanada is trying to trick politicians into believing the pipeline is safe, and knows that these landowners can’t be fooled. Spills from pipelines are common and harm the land and the people who depend  on it. Last month’s Enbridge oil pipeline spill of more than 800,000 gallons into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan is the latest of more than 2,500 significant pipeline incidents that have occurred in United States over the last decade, which have resulted in 161 fatalities and 576 injuries.

Such behavior on the part of TransCanada is not just an atrocious example of a foreign company attempting to turn profits at the expense of the American people. It’s also stunning evidence of the contempt and disrespect the company is showing to the U.S. government. TransCanada’s letter declares that its risky pipeline will be built—but conveniently leaves out the fact that Keystone XL has not yet received a permit for the construction of the pipeline. In fact, growing concerns about the project from Congress, the EPA, and the American people are making this approval less likely by the day. Perhaps that’s why the company’s resorting to desperate, underhanded tactics.

TransCanada should stop trying to bully landowners. The State Department can protect Americans by denying TransCanada’s permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Massey Energy has filed a politically motivated civil suit, also known as a Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit, against fourteen activists arrested last year in relation to a protest on a mountaintop removal mining site. (Photos.) The suit seems to be part of a larger strategy on the part of the mining company to intimidate and silence critics of the company’s safety record and controversial mining practices, particularly mountaintop removal coal mining.

Since the spring of 2008, Massey has filed at least four SLAPP suits against activists in West Virginia working to end mountaintop removal, none of which have yet been resolved. Commonly used to exhaust critics by burdening them with the cost of a massive legal defense, SLAPP suits have been banned by at least 26 states and one territory has protections against SLAPP suits. West Virginia does not have a ban, but its courts have adopted some protections against them.

Donate to the activists legal defense.

“We think that Massey should have higher priorities than suing environmental activists who object to an extremely disastrous mining policy,” said Larry Hildes, an attorney representing the 14 activists. “With a record like theirs, they need to be focusing on measures to help local communities impacted by their mining and working to prevent future disasters in their mines.”

Massey Energy is already publicly notorious due to their history of safety violations and damage to local communities. In April 2010, Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va., suffered a preventable disaster that took the lives of 29 miners and was widely covered by the press. Thousands more safety violations have been reported in Massey mines throughout West Virginia and Kentucky since the Upper Big Branch disaster. Massey also continues to be one of the leading proponents of controversial mountaintop removal mining practices. Above ground, over 500 mountains, 2,000 miles of rivers and streams and over a million acres of forest have been decimated by mountaintop mining operations.  Finally, Appalachian communities near Massey mountaintop removal operations are harmed through coal dust, regular blasting, dirty water and coal waste.

Rainforest Action Network activists climbing a "dragline"

“Not only is Massey destroying Appalachia’s mountains and water, and criminally neglecting the safety of their own workers, but they are also using their vast legal and financial resources to sue environmentalists instead of cleaning up their mess,” said Charles Suggs, a resident of Rock Creek, W.Va., and one of the climbers on the dragline. “This SLAPP suit is intended to intimidate and silence their critics so that Massey won’t have to actually make right the damage they’ve done.”

On June 18, 2009, in Twilight, W.Va., the 14 activists named in the lawsuit risked their safety to stop massive, 20-story earth-destroying piece of mining equipment known as a ‘dragline.’ Their action was intended to protect the families whose lives are harmed every day by this destructive mining practice. Massey now seeks $350,000 in damages for loss of coal production on that day.  All fourteen activists had their criminal charges resolved in a W. Va. court in September, 2009.

Donate to the dragline 14′s legal defense.

Yeah, we’re still fighting them too.  If you’re like me and want a little bit of good news amongst all the bad news from the Gulf, today is your lucky day. Today, the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they are going to stop rubber-stamping valley fill permits in Appalachia.

As of today, the Corps will stop issuing Nationwide Permit (NWP) 21, which is has been used to “authorize discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities.”  Valley fills are a crucial aspect to mountaintop removal mining, because once the mountaintops are blasted off, all that material needs to go somewhere.  In Appalachia, that somewhere has been streams and headwaters.  Without the ability to shove all that rubble, i.e. former mountain, into valleys, mountaintop removal mining becomes far less…well, feasible.

The suspension in Appalachia will remain in effect until the Corps takes further action on NWP 21 or until NWP 21 expires on March 18, 2012. While the suspension is in effect, individuals who propose surface coal mining projects that involve discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States will have to obtain Department of the Army authorization under the Clean Water Act, through the Individual Permit process.   The individual permit evaluation procedure provides increased public involvement in the permit evaluation process, including an opportunity for public comment on individual projects.

NWP 21 was intended for dredge and fill projects that would results in minimal aquatic impacts.  By any estimation, destroying headwaters, creating new topography and polluting downstream habitats is not minimal.  While this move by the Corps does not entirely eliminate the potential for additional valley fill permits in Appalachia, it does mean that there will be opportunities for public notification, comment and involvement.  Nor does it stop existing mountaintop removal mines from creating valley fills.  However, in this regulatory climate, it is not likely that many, if any, new individual permits will be approved.

This decision involved more than just the Army Corp of Engineers.  At hearings last fall, the coal industry packed public hearings with their supporters, attempting to intimidate and drown out supporters of the Corps proposal.  According to the Corps, approximately 23,000 comments were submitted, and the substantive comments were nearly evenly divided between support and opposition for the proposal.  Thanks to the many brave residents of the coalfields who stood up to the coal industry and made their support known and heard.  Submitting public comment is rarely a sexy form of action, but it is critical to influencing policy in the federal agencies.

Today is a good day for the mountains.  Now, to stop valley fills and mountaintop removal altogether.  Urge your member of Congress to cosponsor and pass H.R. 1310, the Clean Water Protection Act, and permanently ban valley fills.

<cross-posted on SustainUS’s Agents of Change blog and The Climate Community

The United States earned the 1st Fossil of the Day Award here at the  United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn. Nearly a week had passed where no country had acted badly enough in the negotiations to deserve a shameful Fossil, until the U.S.’s nomination.

The U.S. grabbed the title for blocking a discussion on greenhouse gas mitigation actions. The discussion would have helped build consensus on post-2012 actions to stop greenhouse gas pollution. Lack of a clean energy and climate law is pushing the U.S. to block an international discussion on future climate agreements (sound familiar?).

The discussion had been proposed by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Many AOSIS countries are under extreme threat from rising sea levels and other worsening climate impacts. They also have some of the least capacity to deal with these impacts, and have contributed to climate change pollution the least of most nations.

The Fossil of the Day awards, run by the Climate Action Network (CAN), were created to highlight the countries doing the most to block progress in the United Nations negotiations.

Official press release from CAN:

FOSSIL OF THE DAY AWARDS

Bonn, Germany, June 5, 2010

The Climate Action Network (CAN), a coalition of over 500 NGOs worldwide, gives out “Fossil of the Day” awards to the countries who perform the worst during the past day’s negotiations at the UN climate change conference.

The award given out on June 5, 2010 in Bonn, Germany was:

The United States of America was awarded First Place. The U.S. earns the Fossil of the Day for blocking the common space discussion on mitigation in the Ad Hoc Working Group for Long-term Cooperative Action yesterday. Failing to pass a strong climate and energy bill is keeping them from participating in cross-cutting discussions, like the one AOSIS proposed, to build a post-2010 agreement to reduce global warming emissions.

The Fossil-of-the-day awards were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, also in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum.

During United Nations climate change negotiations (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), a worldwide network of over 500 non-government organisations, vote for countries judged to have done their ‘best’ to block progress in the negotiations in the last days of talks.

www.climatenetwork.org

The focus on international climate change negotiations has receded since Copenhagen last year. Copenhagen was seen as a disappointment, with its much touted outcome, the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ looking like it could lead to an almost 4C in temperature rises, causing massive devastation – and solidifying the opposition to the Accord among many vulnerable countries such as Tuvalu and the Cook Islands.

So with less fanfare than last year, the countries of the world have returned to the table to negotiate further agreement on international climate action. The second official meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for 2010 will begin Monday in Bonn, Germany, with countries hoping to begin work on a pathway toward new legally binding agreements on emission reductions, funding for adaptation to climate impacts, and international institutions/governance.

There are plenty of new things to get your head around in the climate negotiations this year. There is a new executive secretary (starting in July); a new draft-negotiation text that has just been released; and a new infusion of ideas, courtesy of the People’s Summit held in April in Cochabamba, Bolivia. There is also, of course, new science, which shows that the situation for the planet is getting worse and that climate impacts could be more severe than previously projected.

Unfortunately, what’s old is the approach of the United States. Just six months after President Obama received his Nobel Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and his “constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting”, people across the world are beginning to question whether he has lived up to that inscription in his actions.

Under President Bush the approach of the United States was easy to understand and easy to vilify. Bush denied climate change existed. He withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol. And he obstructed international negotiations. In a famous exchange at the Bali negotiations in 2007 a delegate from Papua New Guinea, asked the United states: ‘If you’re not willing to lead, then get out of the way.’

The approach under President Obama has been much more confusing – until now. It has been confusing because the US has actively engaged in the negotiations, not blocking with procedural issues, and actively taking leadership on issues, but often doing so in a way that hasn’t pleased campaigners.[1] Now, however, President Obama has followed up on his bald-faced blackmail of small developing countries to change their position in negotiations with a submission that clearly shows that the United States is not blocking negotiations but trying to take them backwards.

As the rules now stand developed countries have a collective target for emission reductions (an aggregate target) and then they negotiate their individual country targets underneath that aggregate. The negotiations focus on how comparable each countries’ individual target is, for example that the UK is doing the same amount of heavy lifting as Germany, and they work to make sure that the total sum of countries’ commitments will meet the agreed aggregate target. They then negotiate on the rules for meeting these targets and the penalties for failing to meet them.

The United States’ recent submission refuses to negotiate on any of these issues. President Obama rejects an aggregate target for the developed countries, which means we can’t be sure of how effective their contribution will be. He rejects that targets should be comparable, so different countries do their fair share of the heavy lifting. Now poor countries like India and Bangladesh will have to do a lot more than the US to keep temperature rises from wrecking havoc on their communities. Obama also proposes that there should be no rules about how targets are met or what penalties for not meeting them should be. In effect what President Obama has announced is that the US will not negotiate on emission targets – on their size, on how they are determined, or how they are achieved. In this context when the US says it’s for a ‘legally binding outcome’ I’m with outgoing UNFCCC Executive Security Yvo De Beor when he asks what does that mean in substance?

It’s also got the world asking the broader question: what’s the point of negotiating with the US at all? If the US will do whatever it decides (a 4% cut on 1990 levels by 2020 with unlimited offsets), no matter what the world decides, then what value is there for the world letting Obama save face by pretending to be a part of the solution? Increasingly the answer seems to be: very little. Perhaps someone at Bonn will say: ‘We want to go forwards. If the US wants to go backwards, please go by yourself. We’re going forwards and you can join us later.”

To see what is actually said at Bonn check back here as I (and others) provide updates – I’ll also be tweeting @climatedebtorg

On this historic 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, participants in The Leadership Campaign have once again reminded us all of the courage necessary to create the just and stable future called for in 1970. The Leadership Campaign is a Massachusetts coalition of students, community members, and members of the faith community. Together they have introduced legislation demanding that Massachusetts create a plan to reach 100% clean electricity by 2020. Since the introduction of “An Act to Create A Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force” on December 7, 2010 the campaign has worked diligently towards gaining support throughout the state for this bold and important bill.

Currently the bill is held up in the House Committee on Rules, headed by Representative John Binienda. Representative Binienda has the power to release the bill. He has claimed that he supports the goal of 100% clean electricity by 2020, but has nonetheless been blocking the bill and thus has prevented it from receiving a fair hearing. Today, the campaign conducted a stand-in direct action.

At eleven o’clock this morning, a group of students walked into Binienda’s office and told his staff that they were not leaving until the Representative explained why he has failed to release the bill, despite claiming to support the bill’s goal. Every fifteen minutes, more students joining those already in his office, escalating the pressure and attracting statehouse media to the scene.

After one round of students was peacefully escorted out the office by security, a second round of students immediately re-entered his office. Eventually, Craig Altemose, Coordinator of The Leadership Campaign, was able to speak with Binienda on the phone. Below is the video of their conversation. Binenda said he would release the bill but did not give a time frame.

At the same time, Jamaica Kelley, the organization’s State Legislative Coordinator, met with Speaker Robert Deleo and his constituents from the First Church of Winthrop. Speaker Deleo is also an important target related to the success of the bill on the House side. In the meeting, the Speaker stated that he wants Massachusetts to be a leader on climate issues. We will find out this afternoon if he’s actually willing to push the bill.

Members of The Leadership Campaign are now meeting to discuss what to do next. Check out our blog for an update on the current status of our bill and the live blog taken during the morning lobby efforts of earth day.

Video: Conversation with Binienda

Today, An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force — written by Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF) and others in The Leadership Campaign — was released from the Senate Ethics and Rules Committee during the 6th Day of Climate Court Hearings for the Boston Common Sleep-out.

Each day last week, citizen-activists marched from the Court House after paying their court fees to the State House to show legislators the depth and breadth of support for the bill.  Well over 100 people faced the courts last week for sleeping out on the Boston Common after the park had formally closed (a misdemeanor trespassing offense).

After scores of people visited his and other key legislator’s offices indicating their support, Senator Frederick Berry, Chair of the Senate Ethics & Rules Committee (and Senate Majority Leader) released the bill from his committee and moved it along to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy.

“We are extremely thankful to Senator Berry for releasing our bill from committee, opening debate to legislators across the state and allowing us to focus our energy on gathering the votes needed to pass it this spring,” said Martha Pskowski, Hampshire student and Western Massachusetts Legislative Coordinator for SJSF.

The bill, introduced on December 7th in both houses of the State Legislature after 7 straight weeks of sleep-outs and lobbying, would create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force that would have a six-month mandate to evaluate the steps required to obtain 100% clean electricity by 2020, and issue a report with regulatory and legislative recommendations.

The Leadership Campaign, a coalition of groups in support of the bill – and the broader goal of 100% clean electricity – will now be turning its attention to show support to Senator Michael Morrissey and Representative Barry Finegold, Senate and House Chairs, respectively, of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy.

Further MA citizens will face the courts tomorrow and on Thursday as the court dates had to be spread out over the course of 10 days (the last two court appearances will be in May and September for students who had traveled abroad).

The next statewide sleep-out will occur on the Amherst Common on February 20th, followed by the Cambridge Common on March 28th, with a return to the Boston Common scheduled for April 21st (the night before the 40th anniversary of Earth Day).

“We’re very excited to be able to move forward with our bill, and are looking forward to working with community members, students, organizations, and businesses as we enter the next stage of the bill process.” said Jamaica Kelley, a graduate student of social work at Simmons and the State Legislative Coordinator for SJSF.

Participants in sleep-outs have included Bill McKibben, Dr. James Hansen, Green-Rainbow Party Gubernatorial Candidate Jill Stein, Rev. Fred Small, Rev. Jim Antal, and hundreds of inspiring students, faculty, and community members.  The leading organizations of The Leadership Campaign include the Mass Council of Churches, Unitarian Universalist Mass Action, Somerville Climate Action Network, and Students for a Just and Stable Future.