Dear friends,
The big news is that the US Congress has passed infrastructure legislation. It should be pointed out that the previous administration promised to do so for four years and never came close. This achievement is no small matter.
Meanwhile, the larger reconciliation bill must pass both houses with the votes of contrarian Democrats. This larger bill contains a lot of the goods we have been fighting for, especially in terms of reducing emissions and investing in climate resiliency.
One of those contrarians is Joe Manchin, of course. Manchin is behind cuts to the Clean Electricity Performance Program, a program designed to use rewards and penalties to get utilities to transition to renewables.
Manchin owns millions of dollars in coal stocks and earns half a million dollars each year in dividends alone. So, it should be no surprise Manchin said earlier this year that the goal of eliminating fossil fuels is “very, very disturbing” and attacked environmentalists as unfairly targeting the burning of coal, as if it had almost no impact on climate change.
As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Manchin is responsible for regulating the fossil fuel industry and has enormous power over hearings on key climate policy issues, developing bill proposals, and reporting legislative recommendations to the full Senate chamber.
I am not the best student of political hardball, but it seems to me that Manchin could scarcely be less of an asset to the Democrats and that Schumer needs to take his chair away.
Call on Chuck Schumer to replace Joe Manchin as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources now.
This is a theme, of sorts, for today: we cannot address the climate crisis if the people calling the shots are the same ones — or beholden to the same ones — who are responsible for causing the crisis.
The next story should be the biggest story, but isn’t . . . yet: the fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at the COP26 climate summit.
Global Witness, Corporate Accountability and others who have carried out the analysis define a fossil fuel lobbyist as someone who is part of a delegation of a trade association or is a member of a group that represents the interests of oil and gas companies.
Overall, they identified 503 people employed by or associated with these interests at the summit.
They also found that:
Fossil fuel lobbyists are members of two country delegations, Canada and Russia
The fossil fuel lobby at COP is larger than the combined total of the eight delegations from the countries worst affected by climate change in the past 20 years
Over 100 fossil fuel companies are represented at COP, with 30 trade associations and membership organisations also present
Fossil fuel lobbyists dwarf the UNFCCC's official indigenous constituency by about two to one
One of the things I’ve learned from my favorite climate activist is that the only way to make good climate policy is to kick the polluters out of the room where it happens AND make them pay for the damage they’ve done.
Tell the U.S. delegation to stop pushing carbon markets and do their fair share to address the climate crisis!
The New York Times may have stopped producing advertising content for fossil fuel corporations, but they continue to undermine their own climate reporting by amplifying the messages from the industry. This week, at their DealBook Summit, they are hosting the CEO of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods. The Times promises that they’re
bringing together some of the most influential minds in business, policy and culture to take stock of a world in the midst of rapid reinvention, grappling with the ripples of Covid and rewriting the rules in real time.
Darren Woods is not a person who should be rewriting the rules or given more of a platform than he has. Tell the Times.
Adapt this ready-made letter to the editor — from End Climate Silence — to let the Times know that we expect them to find better minds for their discussion.
NYS is undertaking a study of the impact of climate change on communities throughout the state. This is a prelude to action:
The study comes as New York is working to implement a law that will shift energy usage in the state to renewable forms in the coming decades, with targets due to be hit by the end of the decade.
The review is meant to be a comprehensive one to determine the state's vulnerability to the impact of the changing climate as well as how to better prepare for further complications due to the crisis.
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) created the Climate Action Council. This group is finalizing its implementation plan for climate action by the end of the year. The trends in the state are positive (two natural gas power plants denied permits!) AND we need to raise our voices to prioritize frontline communities, invest in renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Last week, I attended a NY Renews strategy call at which a member of the Climate Action Council explained that the implementation of their most aggressive proposal, which would retire existing fossil fuel infrastructure, will save hundreds of billions of dollars because of improved human health! Thousands of heart attacks could be averted and tens of thousands of premature deaths (with all the attendant health care and social costs) prevented.
Contact the Climate Action Council to let them know that we are depending on them to deliver on the promises of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
The governor is saying many of the right things about addressing climate change; it’s time to get a broader commitment.
The Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA), the younger sibling of the CLCPA, is New York’s own mechanism for making the fossil fuel industry pay for emissions and the damage they wreak on human and environmental health, or rather, it will be when it passes.
Call Governor Hochul to include the Climate and Community Investment Act in the budget! There is a call script and this only takes a minute.
It’s not too soon to start planning for the weekend! This Saturday, there are rallies and marches planned in NYC, Albany, and Rochester to mobilize for the Climate and Community Investment Act. Let me know if you want to join me in the street.
RSVP to let the organizers know that you’ll be in Times Square this Saturday to march for the CCIA and to demand climate justice.
Last week, I thought I heard Eric Adams say some nonsense about getting his first paychecks as mayor in Bitcoin. I hoped that I was just overtired, but I apparently heard correctly. Adams has not demonstrated vision on climate issues, so I’m going to treat this as an educational issue.
Educate Adams about cryptocurrency. There’s a ready-made message and he really needs to hear from all of us!
Thanks for staying with it today. It’s an all-climate-action Monday.
with love,
L