Dear friends,
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which passes through a vulnerable waterway, but the Canadians are insisting on holding the state of Michigan to the language of a 1977 treaty that forbids interruptions to the flow of oil between the US and Canada.
A recent oil spill in California, however, has renewed scrutiny on energy infrastructure projects and the devastating cost to ecosystems when they fail.
Enbridge says it has never experienced a leak in the underwater section of Line 5. But in the last two years, the pipeline has been struck by boat anchors and cables. And in 2010, a separate Enbridge pipeline spilled 3.2m litres of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.
The president has been silent on the Line 5/treaty dispute. But silence is not neutral. Emily Atkin makes the case that the president has “undermined his own climate credibility, and the U.S.’s ability to influence abroad” by staying silent as Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline became operational at the end of last week:
[T]he president who promised swift action on climate change and indigenous rights said nothing. And while Biden himself remained silent on Line 3, his administration worked to ensure its approval. In court, Biden’s DOJ lawyers defended the project. On the ground, DHS helicopter pilots helped clear indigenous protestors by blasting them with sand.
If there’s any chance you have not signed this petition against Line 3, please sign it now.
Contact the president and let him know that we demand action to address the existential crisis of climate change. Here’s a sample message.
A $1 billion natural gas pipeline project from Pennsylvania to New Jersey was scrapped because the consortium of energy companies behind the project, which includes Enbridge, couldn’t get wetland permits. What the article doesn’t tell you is that residents and environmental groups have been fighting for seven years to kill the project.
Here in NY, we continue to battle new fossil fuel projects. It feels like whack-a-mole.
Tell Governor Hochul & DEC to Stop National Grid’s Greenpoint Liquefied Fracked Gas (LNG) Expansion.
If you’ve ever played whack-a-mole, you know that it’s a frantic, exhausting, and violent game. In other words, it’s not sustainable.
We are going to fight every pipeline and power plant, AND we’re also going to remind our leaders that we passed legislation — the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act — that should obviate the need to whack every individual fossil fuel project.
Remind the Climate Action Council that they need to honor New York’s commitment to prioritize frontline communities and invest in renewable energy. This is a ready-made action.
The DOE, after denying my clearance to work with students (with no explanation!?), cleared me to work in record time. This makes me feel bold and powerful in the face of soul-killing bureaucracies. And somehow that translates into you getting homework.
Your assigned reading is Dispatch From Deadly Rikers Island: “It Looks Like a Slave Ship in There.” In addition, here’s a brief excerpt from a piece called Closing Rikers Island is a matter of life and death:
The only adequate solution: shut down Rikers immediately and release its detainees, as four members of New York’s congressional delegation have demanded. This won’t mean letting convicted criminals walk free — most Rikers detainees are presumed innocent and simply unable to post bail. It hardly makes anyone safer to make them wait out trials in an environment breeding violence, sickness and resentment.
Protesters hit the streets yesterday to let prosecutors know that their
decision to seek bail is subjecting thousands of presumptively innocent New Yorkers to “torture.”
Tell the mayor (again!) to use his authority to release bail-eligible people. The message has been updated to reflect new developments.
A group of teachers tried to get a new injunction against the DOE’s vaccine mandate, but they were rebuffed. A federal judge denied their request for a temporary restraining order, citing “substantial legal precedent supporting vaccine mandates.” I celebrated by getting my booster shot before I go back to school.
And finally, a bit of good news: a federal judge has blocked enforcement of the Texas law that all but prohibits abortions. In this case, the legal precedent weighs against the law, which will now wend its way through the courts.
Just a reminder that work from home for justice is on a 3-day schedule until December, and that Thursdays are now the end of the week. Back in your in-box on Monday.
with love,
L