Tues. 2/13 – Public Land Garage Sale! Guess who’s buying!

Just a note before we start this morning…

How many of you saw this article?

Not only is this a theft of our rights to access public land, as signs like this will go up everywhere…

Not only is it allowing private companies to destroy our most beautiful national treasures…

But it’s also killing us.

In 2013, an MIT study “…tracked ground-level emissions from sources such as industrial smokestacks, vehicle tailpipes, marine and rail operations, and commercial and residential heating throughout the United States, and found that such air pollution causes about 200,000 early deaths each year. Emissions from road transportation are the most significant contributor, causing 53,000 premature deaths, followed closely by power generation, with 52,000.

More reading:

So here we go…

#1 – Oppose the give-away of public land to the fossil fuel industry.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a Secretarial Directive last week that guts environmental review and public scrutiny to speed oil and gas development. Not only will this destroy public access to these lands forever, and poison our land, water and air, NASA scientists have confirmed that the oil and gas industry is responsible that the largest share of the world’s rising methane emissions, a major factor in climate change.

Readers – this is a hard one to fight! Our environmental expert, James Hines of the Sierra Club, states that “Secretarial directives” are often used by Cabinet Secretaries to get around the public comment process.” Here are his suggestions. All of us can do “A”. Many of us can do “C” too.

A. “It can be challenged in court.“ California has a strong Attorney General and a history of fighting to protect our environment and defending our climate program. Send Xavier Becerra a note asking him to add this to his list (over 17 suits against the administration and counting).

Minimal email script to CA State Attorney General Xavier Becerra: (Submit here. Make it sound like you.) Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has just released a Secretarial Directive that guts environmental review and public scrutiny for proposed gas and oil developments on public land. This poses an unacceptable threat to our environment and to the safety and health of our population. We respectfully request that you sue their corrupt behinds and stop this. Thank you. (You’re not from CA? Find your Attorney General here)

B.”We can ask Zinke or Trump to rescind it.”

(Not bloody likely.)

C.”Deny funding to carry out the directive and hold hearings in the GOP-controlled committees.“
This will require encouraging our Red state voters, our friends and families, to swamp their offices with calls. Here are the odds…

House Committee on Natural Resources (GOP members from: UT, AK, TX, CO, VA, CA (McClintock, Cook, Denham & La Malfa), NM, PA, AZ, ID,FL MI, WY). This group is 25-18 against us, but even the GOP’s kids need to breathe.)
Senate Committee on Environment (listed below). We just need to flip one in the Senate group!

Minimal script to GOP Committee member (constituents only): I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to deny funding and hold hearings on the immoral and environmentally disastrous Secretarial Directive that Zinke has just released. We care about our air, water and public land and if you don’t stand up to protect them, we will be sure to remind you of that at your next election. http://www.phoneyourrep.com

Additional Reading: What it’s like to raise a child in the second most toxic city in America (rantt.com)

#2 – Just in! The give-away is in the 2019 budget package too!

Jim Hines has noted that there is also a provision in the 2019 budget package which would give the President of the United States the authority to sell off federal lands such as national parks etc. This has never happened before in our nations history.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to oppose giving the President the power to sell off our public lands to his friends in the 2019 federal budget.

Rep. Julia Brownley: (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779

or Rep. Salud Carbajal: (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348

Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430

and Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

#3 – Oppose these specific give-aways of public land to industry

http://montanauntamed.com/ravalli/news/local/article_51f32c35-d91f-5376-bde6-f8d1fa72cb39.html

Three very bad bills (S.1222, S.1481, S. 2206) are coming up for a vote this week that will strip environmental protections from public lands and serve as a giveaway to private interests. These bill remove vital environmental safeguards and allowing these lands to be exploited by the logging and mining industries.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Senator [___] to oppose the anti-environmental bills S.1222, S.1481, and S. 2206.

Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430

and Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/public-lands-02-06-2018.php

#4 – Support the “Antiquities Act of 2018 – Protect our national monuments.

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) has introduced S. 2354, the “America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States” Act (ANTIQUITIES Act) of 2018. This bill codifies into law the boundaries for over 50 national monuments and validates that only Congress has the authority to reduce or diminish national monuments. Senators Feinstein and Harris have already co-signed. Check here for others.

Minimal Script: I’m calling (or emailing) from [zip code] to thank Senator [___] for supporting S.2354 – “The Antiquities Act.”.

THANK Senator Feinstein: email,DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430

and THANK Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More info: http://krwg.org/post/congress-moves-protect-existing-national-monuments-through-antiquities-act-2018

Interesting Resources:

The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information, since the November 2016 election.