Against a torrent of oil, a trickle of responsibility

Of the many things lacking in the response to the BP spill, responsibility ranks pretty high on the list. From President Obama’s reluctance to reverse his decision to expand offshore drilling, to BP’s shameless attempts to play the innocent victim card, and the far right’s attempts to pin the blame on environmentalists, responsible words and actions have been in short supply. So it’s been refreshing to see at least some public figures attempting to reverse that trend.

In what could be the first inklings of a mounting wave of political push back against the reckless drill-baby-drill mentality, several political leaders from coastal states including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and six US Senators, have spoken out in defense of their states coastlines and common sense by calling on President Obama to reverse his offshore drilling decision.

Among the Senators were Maryland Senators Mikulski and Cardin, who as I noted in an earlier post, wrote a letter to Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman in March calling on the three to keep offshore drilling out of the climate bill they were working on.

That letter was unfortunately ignored, but now that the Senators have a more visible platform from which to trumpet their concerns it’s good to see that they are using it.

Even still, more is needed. Despite recognizing the unacceptable risks posed by a cavalier policy towards offshore drilling, the Senators stopped short of recognizing the unacceptable risks posed by our oil dependence as a whole. Instead they reiterated Obama’s claim “that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security,” adding that “it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment.”

Responsibility, safety, and energy security are not terms that should be used in the same sentence as the phrase oil production, unless juxtaposed against it. Given the threats of climate change, peak oil, and the thousands of oil-related air pollution deaths that occur every year, it’s hard to see how any policy except a policy to aggressively shift us away from the use of oil, could possibly be considered responsible with respect to the safety of our workers, the general public, our environment or our energy security.

As Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes pointed out last week, there may never be a better opportunity for our political leaders to make this case to the public. We have to demand that they do so. It’s the only responsible thing to do.

Tidwell Talks Oil Spill on the Diane Rehm Show

Coastal Louisiana author and CCAN director Mike Tidwell spoke to Diane Rehm this morning about the oil spill and its impact on the already vulnerable Louisiana coasts. Tidwell’s 2003 best-selling book “Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast” catalogued how the Louisiana wetlands are vulnerable to oil drilling activity as well as the related consequences of climate change.

Mike has reported extensively from the drilling fields of the Gulf of Mexico and can speak directly to the enormous scale and scope of the drilling operation there.

The show also features Jackie Savitz, Pollution Campaign Director and Senior Scientist for Oceana, Stephen Power, reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and Rayola Dougher, senior economic adviser for the American Petroleum Institute.

Listen now!

Tragic oil spill = smarter climate bill?

Several weeks before president Obama made the tragic decision to approve expanded offshore drilling, Maryland Senators Cardin and Mikulski joined eight other coastal-state senators on a letter to their colleagues Kerry, Lieberman and Graham pressing the trio to keep expanded offshore drilling out of their now-floundering climate and energy package.

In the letter the Senators warned about the serious threats such drilling posed to their coast lines:

While technological advances have attempted to lower the environmental and economic risks of drilling, experience has shown that no technology is foolproof. Since 1964 offshore operators have had 40 spills of greater than 42,000 gallons

Support Ted Glick! New trial date approaching

Our very own Ted Glick is headed to a jury trial on May 11th in Washington, D.C. All the way back on Sept. 8th, 2009 (the day Congress returned from its summer recess) he hung a banner that said: “Green Jobs Now, Get to Work.”

It’s ironic and sad that this call for action is as relevant now as it was eight months ago.

The trial was originally set to take place in late February but was postponed until May 11th. Prosecutors have made it clear that they want to make an example of Ted because of prior convictions for similar actions. Their plea deal, which he rejected, was that if he pleaded guilty he’d have to serve 30 days in jail.

Ted’s going to be defending himself, with the assistance of attorney Ann Wilcox. An important part of his defense will be to fill the courtroom with supporters. Can you come out and show your support?

Register>>

If possible, it’s preferable that you come in the morning when the jury is selected. Of course, if you can only make it for the afternoon, that would also be greatly appreciated. The trial will take place in the Superior Court building, 500 Indiana Ave. NW. Ted’s judge will be Judge Frederick Weisberg. Hope to see you there!

Please sign up if you are interested in attending.

Forget Humpty-Dumpty, Move Forward with CLEAR Bill

Rabbi Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center recently announced their support of the CLEAR Act. Here’s a piece he recently wrote about the legislation:

Even if Senators Kerry and Lieberman can put Humpty-Dumpty back together again after losing Senator Graham’s support for what used to be the KGL (Kugel) bill for climate control, far better is the CLEAR bill introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell (Democrat) of Washington State and Susan Collins (Republican) of Maine. It is often named “cap and dividend” because it prevents any Wall Street trades in carbon credits, and returns 75% of the money gathered from auctioning rights to emit CO2 to the American people: dividends of about $1,000 a year to every legal resident of the US. The other 25% will go to research on renewable energy sources.

It is now the only climate bill with bipartisan support, and could attract grassroots support because it gives most of the money to the people, not big corporations or the government.

Those dividends to the people will offset the cost of higher fuel prices for the poor and the middle class, and will build a Main Street rather than Wall Street political constituency for CO2 controls. CLEAR

A BIG Victory!

Wow. Today is a great day for the climate movement and our nation as a whole. After months of hearing rumors about the possible dreadful components of the Senate climate bill and President Obama’s announcement to open our coasts for offshore drilling, with Virginia at the top of that list, we finally have a victory to celebrate. This afternoon, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar announced his agency’s approval of the Cape Wind project. This project, nine years in the making, will meet 75% of the area’s electricity needs with clean, renewable energy. Finally, the US is moving toward a clean energy future.

This announcement is incredibly personal for me because I spent almost 4 years trying to make this project a reality. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see it through to the end but the victory is just as sweet from a distance. Now I am using my experience and knowledge to push offshore wind for Virginia, which hopefully won’t take another decade to come to fruition. Just yesterday I was appointed to DEQs offshore wind Regulator Advisory Panel to flesh out the permitting and siting guidelines for projects off our coasts. This is going to be a daunting task but I look forward to the adventure.

And on a side note, the DMME opened up the appliance rebate program for Virginia residents today so if you are thinking of buying a new energy star appliance check their website first! Hurry up though because these funds will run out quickly!