On July 23, 5 banks have to decide whether to renew three major loans to Enbridge for Line 3, or walk away. Help them decide.

Don’t make grandmothers do all the heavy lifting here!

Action #1: Call Wall Street Banks to Defund Line 3
Action #2: Email Wall Street Banks to Defund Line 3
Action #3: Grandmother letter-writing campaign to Dr. Jill Biden
Related action: Call to legislators and email to Biden here.

Action #1: Call Wall Street Banks to Defund Line 3

There is an actual deadline. On July 23, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America & Royal Bank of Canada have a major decision to make: renew $4.6 billion in loans to Enbridge, or walk away from Line 3.

Join in “Stop the Money Pipeline’s” well-designed campaign to contact any or all of their CEOs here. You can fill out their form and they’ll even dial the numbers for you automatically.

They’ve helpfully included tips for making your calls more effective and a short script to get you started.

Action #2: Email Wall Street Banks to Defund Line 3

Continue reading →

Mon 5/20: Urgent – Remind your senators that Daniel P. Collins should not be a judge.

Action – Trump really wants to destroy OUR court, the Ninth Circuit. Thank our senators for their dissent and get people with other senators to call!

The Senate is in at 3 PM with a 5:30 PM vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Daniel P. Collins to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

Collins’ bio on the Munger, Tolles & Olson website highlights his history representing Big Oil in climate cases: “Mr. Collins also successfully argued two major cases in the Fifth and Ninth Circuits that effectively brought an end (for the time being) to efforts to hold the energy industry liable in tort for injuries allegedly caused by global warming.”

Daniel P. Collins, a former associate deputy U.S. attorney general specializes in defending the oil industry in high-profile climate and environmental cases, including the current crop of climate liability lawsuits. One of his clients Royal Dutch Shell, is among the companies being sued by a group of California communities trying to hold oil companies accountable for climate change-related damages. Certain aspects of those lawsuits are already being appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which covers California, the Pacific Northwest as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

We think we’ve already bagged our limit on corporate shills. Continue reading “Mon 5/20: Urgent – Remind your senators that Daniel P. Collins should not be a judge.” →

4/23: It’s today! Tuesday’s agenda includes gun shows & oil drilling!

April 20th, marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, which changed everything…

Update with your Tuesday morning coffee: Reach out and say “Hi” to your County Supervisor!

Email: Use this form here to send a message. It has an example letter you can alter or use as is.

Call – Minimal script: I’m calling from [town/area] and I want Supervisor [___] to vote “YES” on the oil well moratorium this afternoon. Over 2.5 million Californians are already exposed to chemicals in their water, with the highest burden placed on low-income and minorities. Please don’t risk our people, don’t risk our water.

Contact:
District 1: Steve Bennett (805) 654-2703, District 2:: Linda Parks (805) 214-2510, District 3: Kelly Long (805) 654-2276, District 4: Bob Huber (805) 955-2300, District 5: John Zaragoza (805) 654-2613
Which one is mine? Check here.

Action #1A – Come support a ban on gun shows at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. DAA Board Meeting – TUESDAY, April 23rd, 9 am.

Momentum is building up across California to get our state out of the gun dealing business. Guns shows have already been banned at Del Mar and at the Cow Palace. (There’s also an impending law banning gun sales at the Cow Palace, see below.)

Email to the Fair Board: Talking points from the Brady Campaign here. Use personal stories if you can. Send to bquaid@venturacountyfair.org
Show up at the meeting – Fairgrounds at Derby Hall, 10 W. Harbor Blvd.
Share flyer on social media – flyer
Call/email Governor Newsom – You can use the same talking points, contact information here.

“In these times of horrific gun violence, no state agency should be promoting and profiting from the proliferation of firearms and ammunition in our community,”- Ruth Borenstein, a leader of the San Francisco chapter of Brady United Against Gun Violence.

Continue reading “4/23: It’s today! Tuesday’s agenda includes gun shows & oil drilling!” →

Mon – 1/28: Reminder – TODAY is the last day to write a comment on 750 new oil wells up the road.

Photo: from video on steam injection enhanced oil recovery.

Some may say “This isn’t our county…not our problem.”
That’s not how resistance works.
We are indivisibly linked, not just with our own town or county, but with the issues that threaten our neighbors, our state and our nation. Help make California inhospitable for the toxic oil drilling industry, not just in Cat Canyon, but everywhere. (See maps at the bottom for future installation fights. One is probably close to you or your water source.)

Three companies are proposing to drill over 750 new oil wells in the northern part of Santa Barbara County. The draft Enviromental Impact Report (EIR) for one of these companies – Aera – was released in December and is open for public comment until 5:00 this afternoon.

Action #1 – Write a Public Comment TODAY, until 5:00 pm.

Anyone can submit a comment on the draft EIR directly to Kathryn Lehr: klehr@countyofsb.org or through http://350sb.org/public-comment/. Note – all comments must be made to be referring to the draft EIR itself. Here are some links to help. Continue reading “Mon – 1/28: Reminder – TODAY is the last day to write a comment on 750 new oil wells up the road.” →

Thurs – 1/24: ” It’s Not a Shutdown. It’s a Right-Wing Coup.” The looting of OUR resources has already begun…

According to this powerful article from The Nation.com, what we are facing is a “liberal” government shutdown. “The military, Trump’s luxurious vacations, soft power, our bombing of seven Muslim-majority countries, NSA bulk surveillance, agencies that prop up the oil and gas industry, the CIA’s arming and funding of Syrian rebels, and the FBI’s entrapment regime will continue on, while programs important to the poor and working classes, such as libraries, tax collection, national parks, labor and safety regulators, the Small Business Administration, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (which oversees the derivatives market), environmental regulators, financial regulators, welfare, and WIC will all be shuttered.”

Well, at least partially shuttered. If a national park or refuge contains a resource that a corporate friend of the administration wants, the government will force unpaid workers to help them access it.

Action – Call your legislators and the House Natural Resource Committee to shut this down.

Minimum script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Committee [___] to call for an investigation of violations of the Antideficiency Act in regards to ALL fossil fuel and timber-related activities on public land, (including drilling, logging, permit processing, inspections, public meetings and regulatory documents) and the immediate cessation of discriminatory access for hunters until the shutdown is completely lifted. All these activities are “NON-ESSENTIAL” for the safety of human life or the protection of property. (31 U.S.C. § 1342.)

Continue reading “Thurs – 1/24: ” It’s Not a Shutdown. It’s a Right-Wing Coup.” The looting of OUR resources has already begun…” →

Wed – 1/16: Trump’s relentless and corrupt extraction of OUR resources continues despite the shutdown.

Action – Call your legislators and the House Natural Resource Committee to shut this down.

Last Thursday, we published a shout-out from Jim Hines of the Los Padres Sierra Club describing calls he’d had with Dept. of Interior (DOI) staff that the shutdown was being used to mask mining drilling activity in our national parks, with staff ordered to continue issuing permits. Well, now Trump has ordered more staff back to work on offshore oil and gas projects and he also sneak-signed an executive order to allow logging to continue and expand in our national forests during the shutdown.

Minimum script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Committee [___] to demand that ALL OIL AND GAS-related activities on public land, (including drilling, permit processing, inspections, public meetings and regulatory documents) and ALL TIMBER OPERATIONS on public land be halted until the shutdown is completely lifted. Continue reading “Wed – 1/16: Trump’s relentless and corrupt extraction of OUR resources continues despite the shutdown.” →

Mon – 1/14: 750 new oil wells in north SB county! Go to the hearing, write a comment, or do BOTH!

Photo: from video on steam injection enhanced oil recovery.

Action #1 -Submit a comment at a public hearing on Jan. 17th.

On January 17 at 6PM, there will be a public hearing where anyone can come and submit a comment on the draft EIR. Note – all comments must be made to be referring to the draft EIR itself. Here are some links to help. Continue reading “Mon – 1/14: 750 new oil wells in north SB county! Go to the hearing, write a comment, or do BOTH!” →

Thurs – 1/10: The art of distraction…The administration is using the shutdown as cover for drilling in our national parks.

Photo: oil rigs in Texas wildlife refuge

Is the Trump Administration using the suffering of government employees and contractors to hide oil company shenanigans? Why yes… yes they are!

Action #1 – Call your legislators and the House Natural Resource Committee to shut this down.

Minimum script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Committee [___] to demand that ALL drilling permit processing, drilling rig setup and operations subject to BLM inspection, public meetings and regulatory comment pages be halted until the shutdown is completely lifted.

Contact
House Natural Resource Committee: If you don’t have a legislator on this committee (check here), contact # to be confirmed with their staff…in the meantime, use nrdems@mail.house.gov
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?: hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com

They are using the shutdown as cover.

From Jim Hines, of the Los Padres Sierra Club: “I just got off the phone with several of the executive staff at the U.S. Dept of the Interior which oversees the National Park Service and other federal land management agencies. They tell me that the White House wants to keep America’s national parks closed and not staffed for as long as possible. The reason is that this will allow mining and oil drilling companies to set up their operations in our national parks without any national park service personnel oversight. How sad is this, using America’s national parks as a political game to get what the extraction industry both domestic and foreign companies to get what they want. @POTUS open and staff America’s national parks.” Continue reading “Thurs – 1/10: The art of distraction…The administration is using the shutdown as cover for drilling in our national parks.” →

Mon 12/17: Three actions today.

Two proposed rules changes close out today and some continued support for your legislators to do the right thing.

Those of us who aren’t scientists may feel we’re not qualified to write about methane pollution, or offshore oil drilling. Not true. Skim through the postings below to get an understanding of what’s being proposed. Stop and look at the links that interest you and reference them in your posts if you wish.

Your comment can be broad-brush : America’s reputation, our economy, government corruption, unbridled corporate power and greed, the environment, the future. Or just one aspect that affects you deeply: your air, your water, your joy, your health and the health of those you love.

There are no wrong answers. The only wrong action is letting this administration think that we don’t care enough to stop them.

Action #1 – DEADLINE TODAY! – December 17th, 11:59 EST

Continue reading “Mon 12/17: Three actions today.” →

Mon – 12/3: They stop our breath in wonder when we see them. When we hear them. Now it’s time to fight for them.

(Photo by Andy Jackson/Stuff. Three more sperm whales washed up in May 2018 near the Kaupokonui river mouth South Taranaki bringing the total to 11 discovered in three days.)

Action #1 – Support HR 2158/S/1263 – Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act.

Marine animals are in danger from this destructive testing method. This bill amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil-, gas-, and methane hydrate-related seismic activities in the North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Straits of Florida planning areas of the outer Continental Shelf. It’s a good start.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to askRep./Sen. [___] to cosponsor [Reps. – HR 2158 / Senators – S.1258] – “Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act.”

Are they cosponsors already? Check here for reps and here for senators. (All of our people need to step up, Brownley and Carbajal, Feinstein and Harris.) Continue reading “Mon – 12/3: They stop our breath in wonder when we see them. When we hear them. Now it’s time to fight for them.” →