Tag: Environment

Tues 9/11: Nope, we’re not going back to the dark old days. And we’re not halting our environmental protections either.

Keep working on Kavanaugh here.

Action #1 – Stop the proposed rollback of CA Clean Car Standards

The Trump-controlled EPA announced that they will be abandoning the long-term fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks for 2022-2025, freezing everything at 2020 levels. Worse, but not unexpected, they are trying to revoke California’s Clean Air Act Waiver that allows us to set our own air quality standards along with our own fuel economy standards. That would force us, along with 13 states (and DC) that follow our lead on fuel economy, to use less stringent federal standards for polluting emissions and fuel efficiency. Both proposed provisions would significantly undermine our efforts to control automobile emissions, protect our citizens’ health and slow dangerous climate change.

Oppose the rollback of key federal clean car standards and the elimination of California’s ability to set more stringent standards. Continue reading “Tues 9/11: Nope, we’re not going back to the dark old days. And we’re not halting our environmental protections either.” →

Thurs 9/6: The Regulation Clock is ticking on baby bears & fracking! They are done, tonight and tomorrow.

Action #1 – Stop “sport hunting” of predator species to make more game for human hunters. – Deadline tonight!

We need more people to write a short note on the Rules site. You have until Sep 6, TONIGHT, at 11:59 PM ET to tell the Interior department that this is wrong. Go here for all the links. image.png

Action #2 – Stop fracking in CA. Deadline tomorrow, 9/7.

Continue reading “Thurs 9/6: The Regulation Clock is ticking on baby bears & fracking! They are done, tonight and tomorrow.” →

Sat – 8/11: Saturday chores: vacuum, clean sink, STOP FRACKING IN CA…

Participation in government is no longer just a once-every-election activity…

Action: Stop oil drilling and fracking on our public lands in CA!

Comment today and often to prevent the Trump Administration from declaring open season for drillers to pollute 1.6 million acres of CA’s public lands. We’ve listed three ways to do it. Use them all!

  • Comment: here using the portal from ForestWatch
  • Email: here directly to the Federal Register.
  • Mail: Bakersfield Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Bakersfield RMP Hydraulic Fracturing Analysis, 3801 Pegasus Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • Here is the original notice to review at your leisure.

Public pressure works! Environmental groups like ForestWatch and rural landowners stopped the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from selling off public lands for $2.00 an acre in 2006. They need the rest of us to help out now. Comment deadline is September 7th, 2018.

Continue reading “Sat – 8/11: Saturday chores: vacuum, clean sink, STOP FRACKING IN CA…” →

Fri 7/20: 2nd action – Even scary animals need our protection. Also due today!

Snakes are just the start…

Check out the Advocates for Snake Preservation and help them submit as many comments as possible by JULY 20. Use their convenient form here.

Background
Two snake species, the narrow-headed gartersnake and northern Mexican gartersnakes, live in wetland areas alongside rivers, where they hunt for tadpoles and minnows. They’ve have suffered catastrophic population declines in recent decades as over 90 percent of their riverside habitats have disappeared due to overgrazing, water diversions, wildfires and drought.

Now, the Gila River, an area proposed for long-term protection under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, is under threat of diversion for agricultural use, threatening the habitat of these snakes, five other threatened or endangered species, one of the largest concentrations of breeding birds in North America and the most intact native fish community in the Colorado River Basin. Continue reading “Fri 7/20: 2nd action – Even scary animals need our protection. Also due today!” →

Tues 5/22: Protect marine mammals against H.R. 3916. (A Letter from Jim Hines)

Greetings Activists:

Whales, dolphins, sea otters, sea lions and other marine mammals evoke a powerful emotion within us to protect these magnificent creatures which call the oceans home. We are dazzled by breaching whales, fall in love with cute sea otters and marvel at how dolphins seem to dance in the ocean.

America’s commitment to protecting marine mammals in federal waters has worked for the last 46 years ever since congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). No more killing of marine mammals allowed, federal actions in ocean waters have to address the impacts to marine mammals the MMPA requires.

But that is all about to change for there currently is legislation in congress to move the marine mammal protection program from NOAA a science-based agency, over to the U.S. Dept of the Interior, a politically driven agency.

HR 3916 The FISH Act (Federal Integrated Species Health Act) has passed the House Committee on Natural Resources. This bill by congressman Calvert (R-CA) was introduced at the request of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke who would like to gain control over ALL federal ocean management programs. In fact the Secretary’s’ office is also working on legislation to move the National Marine Sanctuary System also currently within NOAA over to Interior.

“Marine sanctuaries need to be open for oil and gas drilling” the Secretary has often said to me. Continue reading “Tues 5/22: Protect marine mammals against H.R. 3916. (A Letter from Jim Hines)” →

Mon. 5/14: Environmental actions in the House! 3 calls and one written action.

Call for each action separately (more accurate) or combine them. 5 minutes total max!

#1 – “NO” on H.R.4239 – “SECURE American Energy Act”. Migratory birds vs. Exxon and friends…

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), enacted 100 years ago, helps protect over 1,000 species of birds from unauthorized hunting, toxic waste, wind turbines, oil spills, and other industrial threats.  The MBTA has been an effective tool to hold oil and gas industries (such as BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster) accountable for the deaths of over a million birds.  However, Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) has proposed an amendment into HR 4239, a larger (and very troubling) energy bill, that will gut this landmark legislation and shield corporations and industries from being held financially accountable for actions that negligently kill and injure wild birds.

Minimum Script: I am calling from [zip code] to urge Rep. [___] to vote “NO”  on HR 4239.

More script if you want it: I strongly oppose the gutting of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by the Cheney amendment contained in HR 4239 and urge the strengthening of protections of our migratory bird populations.

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

#2 – “NO” on H.R. 2  –  Hey! What part of “farming” is starving kids? Oil drilling on AG Conservation lands? Poisoning water? Killing endangered species?

Continue reading “Mon. 5/14: Environmental actions in the House! 3 calls and one written action.” →

Mon. – 4/30 – Last day for this action.

(4/30 deadline) – The Beaufort Sea needs to remain off-limits.

Currently at 8,867 comments, up from 40 comments last week! Come on, fellow resisters – let’s put this on the map!

Oil companies don’t behave well, even when they’re close to home…
Here’s a interesting point of comparison… Oil companies drilling in off CA, including in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, have had nearly 400 violations since 2015! From failed and missing tests, to spilling 120,000 gallons of crude oil, oil companies prove daily that they are not trustworthy partners.

Can we trust them in the isolation of the far north? No, of course not.
In Dec. of 2016,  Obama said that the  Beaufort Sea and the entire Chukchi Sea was off-limits to drilling per “the scientific assessment that, even with the high safety standards that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region’s harsh conditions is limited. By contrast, it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region—at a time when we need to continue to move decisively away from fossil fuels.”

Trump don’t care. His administration is proposing to resume leasing areas of Alaska’s Beaufort Sea to oil drilling as soon as next year. Tell him to leave the Beaufort Sea off-limits!

Comment here by Apr 30, 2018 11:59 PM ET. Continue reading “Mon. – 4/30 – Last day for this action.” →

Mon. – 4/30 – 3 quick environmental actions

Coal-Ash disaster from lingers in Tennessee as regulation fight rages. People continue to die of the health effects to this day. In 2008, a 5.4-million-cubic-yard torrent from a coal ash slurry-filled pond choked waterways and created a moonscape of mounds residents dubbed ‘ashbergs.’ Photographer: Wade Payne/Bloomberg via Getty Images

1. Deadline is TODAY, April 30th. – Don’t Weaken Coal Ash Disposal Regulations.

coal ash

Scott Pruitt is proposing to weakening the Coal Combustion Residuals rules that safeguard communities from coal ash contamination.  A toxic by-product of coal burning power plants, coal ash contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other contaminants, and its disposal was regulated in 2015 by the EPA to reduce health and environmental risks to communities. But at the behest of the utility industry, the Trump Administration has proposed the first of two rules that would weaken the essential protections that those EPA rules provide.

Deadline for comments is TODAY April 30th.  Comment to EPA here, by 11:59 PM ET.  Continue reading “Mon. – 4/30 – 3 quick environmental actions” →

Fri. – 4/27 – Yes, your phone calls do matter. Thank you.

Greetings Activists:

 YOU are amazing, YOU are inspiring, thanks to all of you for your dedicated efforts so far this year which has allowed us to win some major victories in protecting our environment.

YOU made the difference in getting the just-passed federal spending bill to include  funding for many environmental and national public lands programs even though the Administration asked for them not to be funded.

Your individual voice added with those of others across the nation has forced the Dept of the Interior to put on hold a planned massive increase in entrance fees to YOUR national parks.

Your efforts have stopped congressional legislation which would eliminate national parks, national monuments and other national public lands units, YOUR public lands.

YOU in your persistent letter writing, phone calls, and faxes plus face to face meetings with elected and appointed officials, speaking at public hearings and attending rallies made the difference.

YOU are the voice for the land which calls out for help, YOU are the voice for wildlife which is voiceless, YOU matter, YOUR voice made the difference and its shows. Continue reading “Fri. – 4/27 – Yes, your phone calls do matter. Thank you.” →

Fri. – 4/27 – Some good environmental news!

Greetings Activists:

I have more good news to report on our work to ban the use of nylon drift nets used in the commercial fishing industry off the coast of California.

Our team has been working with the offices of California U.S. Senators D. Feinstein and K. Harris and we now have for the first time ever a federal bill to phase out the use of these deadly marine mammal killing nets.

The bill, which does not have an official Senate number yet but has a name ‘Drift Net Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act‘  was just introduced on April 26th. We have a ways to go to get it passed by the U.S. Senate and then the U.S. House of Representatives. We are told to expect the Trump Administration to oppose this bill.

But for now let’s all contact Senators Feinstein and Harris and thank them for putting this bill together and introducing the bill  into the U.S. Senate.

Continue reading “Fri. – 4/27 – Some good environmental news!” →