Dear friends,
Israel’s deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians continue. Meanwhile, the US continues to provide billions of dollars of military aid to Israel. The current crisis is a reminder that this is an unacceptable policy, to put it mildly.
Tell Congress: End U.S. complicity in Israel’s abuses of Palestinians; this is a ready-made action that you can personalize.
Working for justice requires imagination. One has to look up (not away) from the present situation and visualize something different. I get excited by people who have the capacity to picture a different reality and work to embody it. The Combatants for Peace is a group of Israelis and Palestinians who have rejected violence
to build the social infrastructure necessary for ending the conflict and the occupation.
Learn more about Combatants for Peace and support their work.
Climate activists are some of my favorite visionaries.
Please sign the petition to end federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.
If you are on social media, please join the campaign to get the Climate and Community Investment Act passed in NYS. This is our best chance to get the industry to pay for the damage they’ve done and to support a just transition. This campaign is important, so put your thumbs to work.
Use the NY Renews links to tweet for climate justice.
It has been an alarming week to be fossil-fuel dependent. The cyber-attack on the Colonial Pipeline highlighted the vulnerability of oil infrastructure to manipulation by hackers. The pipeline is back on line, but hysteria and hoarding are contributing to a sense of crisis.
Whitmer announced in the fall that it was her intention to revoke the easement for Enbridge’s Line 5, a 67-year old pipeline that has had a number of collisions with boat anchors and cables in the last two years. The oil pipeline runs to Canada through the Straits of Mackinac that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Enbridge “is currently working to tunnel beneath the lake bed to further improve the safety of the pipeline.”
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau insists that there is no reason for Whitmer’s action and that revoking the easement would be a violation of the Transit Pipelines Treaty between the two nations. Whitmer’s concern is that allowing the pipeline to remain in operation poses a significant risk; in 2010, another Enbridge pipeline spilled 845,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River.
I felt compelled to look at the treaty. Article V of the US-Canadian Treaty Concerning Transit Pipelines states:
In the event of an actual or threatened natural disaster, an operating emergency, or other demonstrable need temporarily to reduce or stop for safety or technical reasons the normal operation of a Transit Pipeline, the flow of hydrocarbons through such Transit Pipeline may be temporarily reduced or stopped in the interest of sound pipeline management and operational efficiency by or with the approval of the appropriate regulatory authorities of the Party in whose territory such disaster, emergency or other demonstrable need occurs.
The bold is mine. Whitmer has described Line 5 as “a ticking time bomb” and she has support from the “Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief, who represents 39 First Nations across Ontario” as well as environmental groups and Indigenous communities in Michigan. A US federal court ordered Enbridge and the state of Michigan to enter mediation, but there are questions about jurisdiction. I’m not a judge or a lawyer, but I can see the argument that this is a federal matter.
Call on President Biden to support Governor Whitmer’s decision to revoke the Line 5 easement. Here’s your ready-made text.
Tonight, seven mayoral candidates are participating in a debate. Ray McGuire, who was invited, opted out. That gives us more time to hear from the next mayor.
Watch the debate at 7 PM. Remember, we need to rank 1-5.
I realize that the debate conflicts with an exciting program in Brooklyn Public Library’s Inside Art series. You will get practice making choices tonight.
Sign up to attend Springs, Wells, Trees, and Shelters with Stanley Greenberg on Thursday at 7 PM.
Scott Stringer slammed the mayor for proposed cuts to the city’s libraries. I commend his idea to create “car-free zones outside public libraries and bring libraries to the streets.”
Let the mayor and council members know that libraries provide essential services and must be fully funded.
Have a great day!
with love,
L