vote

What happened with Dominion Power in South Carolina

4 Comments / allies, Home, Opinion / By

On Friday, December 14, the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC-PSC) held a hearing to approve Dominion Power’s proposal to buy our largest utility, SCE&G and its parent company SCANA. As we wrote just before, it was a bad deal for the people of South Carolina, and for the environment and climate we all share. The SC-PSC and Dominion thought South Carolina was whipped. After years of fighting the VC Summer plant, paying the highest electricity bills in the country, and living with corporate polluters — they  didn’t imagine anyone would show up to oppose them as they stole a little more, wrecked a few more communities, and continued to ignore the climate crisis. We proved them wrong – we showed up with a team of half-a-dozen activists from South Carolina and North Carolina and took the hearing by storm. We stood up and shouted until they had to adjourn. When a PSC commissioner came out and asked us to be quiet — because he said he was undecided, and wanted to vote on a plan to add solar power …

What happened with Dominion Power in South Carolina Read More »

Last chance – act now to stop Bernard McNamee!

4 Comments / Action, Home / By

If you’re one of the more than 27,000 people who have already signed on to our public call to stop Bernard McNamee, Thank you. (if not sign here) But now I need your help to delay, and possibly derail McNamee’s nomination. Many of you have already called the Senate Energy Committee to opposed McNamee (thanks again!), but new evidence has come to light and the Democrats on that committee are asking to delay McNamee’s vote on Nov. 27th. Here’s the gist: In between stints at the Department of Energy, McNamee worked for a right wing thing tank funded by the Koch brothers and Exxon called the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). In that speech McNamee falsely claims renewable energy “screws up” the grid and environmental groups want to “return us to … administrative tyranny.” TPPF tried to delete the video, but some enterprising reporters dug up a copy, and a pro-renewables think tank released the whole thing last week while the Senate was on Thanksgiving recess. Now, the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (SENRC) say they need …

Last chance – act now to stop Bernard McNamee! Read More »

Last chance to Stop Trump’s climate-denying Energy Nominee

1 Comment / Action, Home / By

Donald Trump has nominated Bernard McNamee – a deeply unqualified, republican-hack, and climate-denier – to fill the vacant Republican seat at the Federal Energy Regulatory commission (FERC). The Senate is moving at “warp speed” to ram this latest dastardly, destructive nomination through. McNamee’s confirmation hearing has been scheduled for November 15 at 10am. We’re headed to DC now with friends from Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) to deliver more than 13,000 signatures opposing McNamee. If you haven’t signed yet, now’s the time! If you agree that we can’t afford one more climate-denying Trump nominee in charge of our energy policy, sign here to tell the Senate: vote NO on McNamee and stop Trump’s FERC! I wrote a longer piece with more footnotes and references that make the case for why and how Trump is stacking FERC with partisan fossil fuel warriors. Check it out and keep telling everyone that this is not normal, it is not ok, and it is essential that we take action in this time of climate crisis. You may also want to check out the excellent explainer on McNamee …

Last chance to Stop Trump’s climate-denying Energy Nominee Read More »

Last chance to #SaveSCOTUS and stop Kavanaugh

Leave a Comment / Action, allies, Home / By

Your remember Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s anti-environment, anti-worker, climate-denying, women’s-rights-decrying nominee to the Supreme Court? Yeah, he’s been hard ot forget lately – especially since he was accused of sexual assault. But here’s the thing: Donald Trump and his allies in Congress – they want you to forget all about Kavanaugh and his crimes (both alleged and perfectly well documented). Trump & co. are running the same play they always do when one of their own are accused of sexual assault or violence against women: they deny it, attack the accuser, and accuse anyone who says different of being part of a conspiracy. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to testify and share her story of how Kavanaugh assaulted her on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. But late last night ANOTHER accusation surfaced, this time from Kavanaugh’s time in college. And Michael Avenati – the same lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, the porn-star who had an affair with President Trump – says he is representing a THIRD woman. At 1 p.m. today thousands of our neighbors will walk out of work …

Last chance to #SaveSCOTUS and stop Kavanaugh Read More »

Make the call to Stop Kavanaugh

3 Comments / Action, Home / By

Have you met Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee to the supreme court? He’s everything you expect, and more: He’s ruled in favor of more mercury in our water, more pollution in our air, and he has it in for the EPA and climate science. But there’s something nobody knows about Kavanaugh, something the Washington Post this week called a “nightmare scenario” for the constitution and our country: Whether he would use his position on the Supreme Court to rule that Trump is immune from investigation and prosecution, creating a lawless presidency with Trump in control. Scared yet? Me too. Call (202) 224-3121 and tell your Senators to vote NO on Kavanaugh. Not sure what to say? Start here (and feel free to read the links below for lots more context and ideas): You’ll be connected to the congressional switchboard when you call. Tell them the name of your Senator, or which state you live in. They’ll patch you through to one of your two Senators and you’ll probably get a receptionist or a voicemail. You can just say something like: “Brett Kavanaugh …

Make the call to Stop Kavanaugh Read More »

Cracks between the FERC commissioners

Leave a Comment / Action, allies, Home / By

I’ve been fighting with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for years now. Most of the time, they seem pretty monolithic: in all the years they’ve existed, they’ve only said no to two (2) pipeline applications. And they’ve always steadfastly refused to acknowledge the damage that fracked gas does to our climate. That’s why, for the last four years or so, I’ve been working with Beyond Extreme Energy to resist FERC, tell the Senate not to confirm their commissioners, and generally shut down this rubber stamping agency. But now, for the first time I can remember, we are beginning to see cracks develop between the FERC commissioners: Just a few days ago, the two (minority) Democratic commissioners, Richard Glick and Cheryl LaFleur, voted to void the  FERC permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. There have also been news reports that the two Democrats are demanding a more thorough review of climate impacts – including one time LaFleur took it upon herself to just “do the math” without her Republican colleagues’ permission. Without question the unrelenting pressure of our movement has …

Cracks between the FERC commissioners Read More »

Sign here to Fire Pruitt as head of the EPA

Leave a Comment / Action, allies, Home / By

It’s past time to fire Scott Pruitt, Trump’s head of the EPA. Whether he’s tearing apart climate change regulations or making it easier to spread toxic pesticides, Pruitt stands out as the most dangerous, and effective, members of Trump’s cabinet. Your Representative can demand that Pruitt resign, and even fire him using the same impeachment process as for a President. But they won’t act unless and until we demand it. That’s why we’ve teamed up with a host of other groups to demand Congress take action NOW. Will you sign on in support so we can deliver your name to Congress while the headlines are still fresh? Pruitt’s been under fire for months over his bigoted, corrupt, and hurtful administration of our nation’s top Environmental Agency. But in the last week, it’s gotten really intense. The news has been so bad in the last week that when I confronted Republican Chair of the House oversight Committee Trey Gowdy (SC) — he of the Benghazi witch hunt — if he’d ask Pruitt to testify in his on-going investigation, Gowdy said “I’m …

Sign here to Fire Pruitt as head of the EPA Read More »

National Dream Act Day of Action Feb 7

Leave a Comment / Action, allies, Home / By

You probably remember, less than a month ago, when all but 16 hard-line Dream Heroes in the Senate (not-coincidentally some of our most reliable votes on climate change) voted to re-open the government. They did so based on a promise from Mitch McConell and Donald Trump allow a vote to protect Dreamers before February 8. This week, the bill for that bad bet comes due. Tomorrow is the 8th and no vote on the Dream act has been scheduled. The Government runs out of money, again, this Friday and we’ve made no progress. Today hundreds of young Dreamers from across the country have traveled to D.C. to demand that Congress pass a clean Dream Act. Click here to check out the live feed of their actions on capitol hill, and then call 478-488-8059 so United We Dream can patch you through to Congress. Tell them to pass a CLEAN Dream Act and protect immigrant youth without harming their families. As we explained last time, this Dream Act vote is a critical litmus test  for climate change. It’s also clear that we can’t trust most of the “deals” …

National Dream Act Day of Action Feb 7 Read More »

Democrats cave on Dreamers, here’s why it’s bad for the climate.

Leave a Comment / Action, allies, Home / By

Yesterday Chuck Schumer led Senate Democrats to abandon their bargaining position and re-open the government. For their vote, those Democrats got absolutely zero protections for Dreamers and only a verbal contract (worth the paper it’s printed on) that he’d allow a vote to protect Dreamers before February 8. Let’s be clear: Schumer made a BAD deal. Voters, especially young people and independents, already blamed Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown. And as we explained in our last post, huge majorities of people favor action on DACA (just like they do on climate). Also, as we explained last time, this was a critical litmus test vote for climate change. If we can’t trust Democrats and a handful of Republicans who ​say​ they back a wildly popular policy — in this case protecting nearly 800,000 young people from deportation, but the parallel​ to climate action are clear — ​to stand up and vote that way when given a chance, then we just can’t trust them. And unfortunately that mushy middle where most politicians live has collapsed again. All but 16 hard-line …

Democrats cave on Dreamers, here’s why it’s bad for the climate. Read More »

Shut. It. Down. Dream Act Now.

2 Comments / Action, allies, Home / By

There’s a principle in direct action called “shutting things down to open them up.” The basic idea is that since we know “power concedes nothing without a demand,” sometimes you have to shut something down in order to open up a conversation about the moral harm it creates. This week, there’s a critical opportunity to demand Congress take action – or else shut down the whole government. And we need your help: Click here to host or join a #NoDreamNoDeal rally near you this week. OR Click here or call 202-224-3121 and tell your Senators and Representative not to vote for ANY spending bill UNLESS it includes a clean Dream Act (the free click to call tool is sponsored by our allies at United We Dream). Congress has until Friday to pass a spending bill that will keep the government open — including the rogue deportation department called ICE — and we’re working in solidarity with a team that is demanding they say #NoDreamNoDeal and include a clean Dream Act. Anything less is a vote to fund the deportation of hundreds …

Shut. It. Down. Dream Act Now. Read More »

Scroll to Top