Dear friends,
Yesterday, I got a message from my springling, who will turn 26 next month:
all i want for my birthday is for the house oversight committee to put the fossil fuel industry on trial
The message came with a link to this announcement that the committee members have formally requested that executives from ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute, and the US Chamber of Commerce provide
The committee set Lena’s birthday — October 28 — for the executives to testify. This really is the perfect gift for a young person who only wants a sustainable future.
The letter from the leaders of the House Oversight Committee says:
“We are deeply concerned that the fossil fuel industry has reaped massive profits for decades while contributing to climate change that is devastating American communities, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, and ravaging the natural world. We are also concerned that to protect those profits, the industry has reportedly led a coordinated effort to spread disinformation to mislead the public and prevent crucial action to address climate change.”
The bastards have a lot to answer for.
In Minnesota, Indigenous-led environmental groups are fighting the hundreds of miles of crude oil pipeline Enbridge is constructing for its Line 3 project from Canada to Wisconsin. In North Brooklyn, New York, community groups are alleging a civil rights violation against Black and Latinx residents over National Grid’s plans to build a seven-mile natural gas pipeline through the area. In North Carolina and Virginia, tribal advocates are opposing a 70-mile extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline that would cut through Indigenous and Black burial sites and put a large compressor station near a largely rural Black and Native American population.
And those are just atrocities in the present tense.
To bring you completely up-to-date: Yesterday, Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources fined Enbridge more than $3.3 million for “breaching an aquifer.” Because the company did not adhere to their own construction plan, they are vulnerable to
criminal prosecution because Minnesota law bars the taking of "waters of the state without previously obtaining a permit from the commissioner."
Write to the Assistant Secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers to ask him to revoke the permits for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. This is a ready-made action.
The crisis on Rikers Island has not been resolved by the mayor’s emergency plan, nor has he responded to our calls to release people who are incarcerated in dangerous conditions.
Yesterday, Legal Aid brought a suit against the Department of Corrections. One of the targets of the suit is the Enhanced Supervision Housing Units, which were supposed to be closed when the city announced an end to solitary confinement. Legal Aid has filed Freedom of Information requests for documentation about conditions in the units.
Robert Quackenbush, a lawyer with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at Legal Aid noted that
DOC’s lack of transparency comes at an extremely dangerous time, as conditions in the city jails have become simply unacceptable by any humane standard.
Listen to Errol Louis’s interview with Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher.
Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher describes the conditions at the intake center on the island, where the staffing shortages have led to chaos. She pointed out that the humanitarian concerns extend to incarcerated people as well as staff at Rikers.
Call on Mayor De Blasio to grant immediate release to those in jail for non-violent criminal charges and misdemeanors. Here’s a ready-made message.
The cash bail system is, of course, part of the problem. On another day, we will take up the reform angle (again), but for now:
Contribute to the COVID Bail Out NYC to post bail for people facing acute dangers on Rikers Island
The governor responded more positively to calls for action and will sign the Less is More Bill this morning outside her Manhattan office. The Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice emailed last night to report the good news.
By overhauling how parole in New York works -- including limiting or otherwise prohibiting incarceration for most non-criminal technical violations -- Less is More will:
improve the lives of thousands + thousands of NYers and increase the likelihood people on parole will succeed when they come home;
further decarcerate prisons & jails (essential for the current crisis on Rikers);
enhance due process;
allow most people on parole to earn "good time" credits to shorten time on community supervision; [and]
strengthen public safety.
Last weekend, folks in Mott Haven came together for a celebratory sidewalk brunch to mark the one-year anniversary of their community fridge. Our community fridge was inspired by the ones that popped up in the Bronx and upper Manhattan. We’re celebrating almost seven months of community food with our own special event!
Join us tomorrow at our Community Free Store, at the KWT fridge, where everything is free.
Have a great weekend!
with love,
L