"...we must prevent the significant and irreversible damage that comes from mining pollution -- and the damage from this project would be irreversible."
-- Shawn Garvin, the EPA's mid-Atlantic regional administrator on the Spruce No. 1 mountaintop removal mine
In this issue:
1) Take Action: Keep Toxic Tar Out of Your Car!
2) Take Action: Tell your Representative to Support Biking and Walking
3) Coal: EPA Says Stop Massive New Mine
4) Lands: New Initiative Launched
1) Take Action: Keep Toxic Tar Out of Your Car!
On Thursday, a new pipeline, the Alberta Clipper, will complete construction and be ready to ship 450,000 -- 800,000 barrels a day of toxic tar sands to American refineries. Tar sands are dirtier than conventional oil, causing serious health and environmental problems. Unfortunately, very few Americans have ever heard of tar sands. Already 85% of Minnesotan gasoline comes from tar sands. And two other pipelines are in the works that would bring toxic tar to the Gulf Coast and Midwest.
Tell Congress to speak out against tar sands!
2) Take Action: Tell your Representative to Support Biking and Walking
In the United States, our auto-dependent transportation sector consumes nearly 14 million barrels of oil each day and is responsible for roughly 1/3rd of all our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Promoting alternate means of transportation can help reduce global warming emissions and our dependence on oil while making communities more convenient and livable.
Ask your representative to support active transportation, such as biking and walking, by cosponsoring the Active Community Transportation Act!
3) Coal: EPA Says Stop Massive New Mine
In a landmark move, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended restricting or prohibiting mining at the Nation's largest proposed mountaintop removal coal mining site. The Spruce No. 1 Mine, in Logan County, West Virginia, would bury more than seven miles of streams, destroy thousands of acres of land, and disrupt local communities in an area already suffering from the devastating impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining. Local residents have been actively challenging this mine for more than twelve years.
Learn more here.
4) Lands: New Initiative Launched
Climate change is the largest threat that our natural heritage has ever faced. The effects of climate disruption are already being felt on even our most pristine landscapes. Thanks to the new America’s Great Outdoor Initiative launched by the Obama administration the public will now be able to help shape the fate of our public lands.
The initiative kicks off April 16th so stay tuned for how you can help create resilient habitats where plants, animals and people are able to survive and thrive on a warmer planet.