(Sierra Club) “Make Polluters Pay for Climate Disasters!
From deadly heat waves to raging fires to devastating floods, fossil fuel pollution is fueling extreme weather that endangers lives, destabilizes ecosystems and communities, and costs billions of dollars per year. Families nationwide are left with higher insurance costs, rising food prices, and mounting health bills, all while Big Oil rakes in record profits and pays nothing for the damage they’ve caused.
It doesn’t have to be this way: The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act in Congress, introduced by Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Judy Chu (D-CA) would require oil and gas companies to contribute just a fraction of their profits to a federal Climate Superfund. That funding would go directly to rebuilding communities, protecting frontline neighborhoods, and preparing for future disasters.”
Action Call: It’s time to put people over polluter profits. Tell Congress to act now!
America’s roadless forests are sanctuaries for grizzly bears, gray wolves, salmon, spotted owls, and hundreds of other species. These lands — nearly 60 million acres of national forests — are some of the most intact, connected wildlife habitats left in the United States.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected roadless forests since 2001, keeping them free from logging, road-building, and other industrial development.
Road-building and logging in roadless forests will fragment habitats; disrupt wildlife migration routes; introduce invasive species; and bring noise, dust, pollution, and human pressure deep into the quiet backcountry, threatening already vulnerable and endangered plants and animals. Once these areas are gone, they’re gone forever. Roadless forests are the beating heart of biodiversity, where the wild can still be wild. The United States wisely protected these places decades ago.
Note: The US Forest Service comment period will open on Friday, August 29. To help show broad support for the Roadless Rule, make a comment –You can find all sorts of talking points down below under “Deeper Dive.”
UPDATE! This is as urgent as it gets – we need to prevent the utility regionalization bill that would give away control of California energy to coal states and to Trump. Leaders in the Assembly may come up with a gut-and-amend bill at the last minute, but it would mirror SB 540 Pathways, which was unable to move through Assembly committees due to its unpopularity.
The two people who can stop this backroom dealmaking are Pro Tem McGuire and Senator Limon, Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, who will be the new Pro Tem next year.
Everyone can call both McGuire and Limon because they are the present and future leaders of the Senate. But if you’re a constituent of either, please mention that in your call. The next three days are crucial!
ACTION #1: Make sure legislators are awake and aware that WE ARE WATCHING THEM!
Part 2 – The party of Grifters, Oligarchs and Polluters would very much like to neuter the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which is the regulation enacted by Nixon in 1970 that keeps them from poisoning us without consequences. (Comment Period Ends: Mar 27, 8:59 pm PDT)
They are our national parks, national monuments, national forests and national wildlife refuges and the GOP is planning to loot them all for their donors.
(From Indivisible CA Green Team) On April 17, Assembly Energy Chair Petrie-Norris allowed poison pill amendments to AB 2256 and AB 2619, gutting two great bills that would have required the CPUC to include all the benefits of rooftop solar in their NEM proposal. These amendments were so unacceptable that both authors had to pull their bills.
This coming Wednesday, April 24, we have another shot. AB 2256 is on the agenda, and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin’s bill – AB 1999, the repeal of the utility tax, needs to be heard, as well. We need everyone to call Asm Petrie-Norris to pass these 2 bills with no amendments and our own assemblymembers to have them apply pressure! The utilities are doing everything to kill these bills that harm their profits so that our rates can continue to go up with no end in sight. (First post on this issue here.) Note:
Everyone, even non-constituents, can call Ass. Petrie-Norris, as she is the chair of the committee.
We need your calls today and Monday! CA should be a leader in rooftop solar and it should be affordable for everyone!
After our utilities and our CA Public Utility Commission colluded to tank our solar industry and eliminate 17,000 good jobs, a group of state lawmakers are proposing to get rooftop solar growing again while also protecting our right to make solar energy without taxes or penalties. The hearings on this are next week, Tuesday and Wednesday. The utilities are pulling out all stops to kill our important bills, especially AB 1999, the repeal of the utility tax.
Call your state assemblymember and senator to tell them to pass these bills and get rooftop solar growing again.
2035 – the year that all new cars should be electric zero-emission models to meet the Paris Accord goals, is just 13 years away.
The transportation sector contributes 27 percent of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions – the biggest single culprit. Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill contains $7.5 billion for building a national network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers to compete with nearly 117,000 gas stations. On the state level, Gov. Newson signed an executive order requiring that 100% of new passenger vehicles sales in California will be ZEVs by 2035. Meanwhile, polls indicate that while three quarters of Americans see electric vehicles as the future of transportation, initial high cost and lack of easy access to a charging station hold many back. Here are some CA proposals to help solve these problems.
Action #1: Tell your CA state senators that we need SB-1230 & SB-1482!
Action #1 – Call your legislators with support for two local environmental bills.
(Message from Jim Hines, Sierra Club) Good Morning Ventura and Santa Barbara County Friends!: Noon (west coast time) February 12th…vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on:
Both bills protecting lands within Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
It has been exciting working on these two bills, lobbying members of congress for passage and now we will see tomorrow if we are successful.
for the wild, Jim
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep. [___] to know how important [his/her] support for HR 2199 – Central Coast Heritage Protection Act and HR 1708/S.774 – Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act is for the protection of our environment and wildlife.
Rep-check for HR 2199 here – Brownley has cosponsored, Carbajal is the original sponsor.
Rep-check for HR 1708 here – Brownley has cosponsored, Carbajal has not.
Contact Rep. Julia Brownley:email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779 or Rep. Salud Carbajal:email. (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348 Who is my representative/senator?:https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Action #2 – Put your legislator on notice – “Don’t let selling off our public lands and our national parks to destructive industries happen on your watch.”
“There’s a quiet, almost covert, effort to dismantle the public lands management infrastructure,” said Jim Lyons, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Interior Department in the Obama administration. “It’s very effective. I call it evil genius.” So let’s let in a little sunshine, folks!
Indivisible Ventura is still in mourning over Congressman Elijah Cummings’ passing. In his honor, we encourage everyone to do these actions for democracy listed on our10/16 post.
Action – Tomorrow – Thursday 11/21 – Meet at Santino’s for pizza, good conversation, and social justice – every Third Thursday starting at 11:30 am
Where: Santino’s Pizza. It’s at 4231 Telegraph Rd., Ventura, 93003
When: Thursday, Nov. 21st, 11:30am – 1:30pm.
RSVP for our supporters: Nope. Just come. Invite your friends!
We do, however, reserve the right to refuse any volunteers and their services.
What to bring: We provide the pizza, postcards, stationary. If you prefer, you may bring your own stationary for letter actions.
Donations gratefully accepted: A postcard stamp is $0.35! We’re trying to achieve 300 finished postcards, which equals $105. Donations of money for stamps and pizza or rolls of postcard stamps are gratefully accepted.
Postcards: We’re going to be writing 300 postcards to voters in Texas in connection with the NAACP and the Center for Common Ground‘s – Reclaim our Vote campaign!
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 