FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7, 2010
Contact: Kristina Johnson (SF)
(415) 977-5619
David Willett (DC)
(202) 675-6698
Sierra Club Ad: BP Disaster is President Obama's Leadership Moment
New "Beyond Oil" Call to Action Prompts 23,000 Messages to Obama
Washington, D.C. - The Sierra Club is running a full-page ad in The Hill newspaper tomorrow, June 8. The ad features a stunning AP photo of a bird weighed down by a thick coat of oil and calls on President Obama to end America's dependence on oil in 20 years. You can view the ad here: http://sc.org/BeyondOilAd
The ad reads: "Tipping point, game changer, wake up call, the last straw...President Obama, we encourage you to embrace another phrase: Leadership Moment."
The ad is part of a new effort launched by the Sierra Club in the face of the BP Disaster, calling on President Obama to deliver a plan to move America beyond its dependence on oil in the next twenty years. Sierra Club has been organizing rallies around the country and reaching out to volunteers and supporters since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20.
As part of its ongoing response to the disaster, the Sierra Club will be holding events and rallies around the country, conducting robust outreach to its 1.3 million members and supporters as well as concerned citizens everywhere, and putting together videos and a short documentary film. On Friday afternoon, the group launched a new website, www.beyondoil.org.
The site already generated more than 23,000 comments to President Obama over the weekend.
Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune:
We have never needed President Obama's visionary leadership more than we do now. Tightening safety regulations and cleaning up the Minerals Management Service are important steps. But they're not enough. This is the worst environmental disaster in our history. It requires a response of the same scale.
We need a bold plan that will truly ensure that the disaster in the Gulf Coast never happens again. We are urging President Obama to deliver a plan to end America's dependence on oil over the next twenty years.
We know it won't be easy. But we can't waste any more time. We can't have any more disasters like the one we're watching in the Gulf. We already have solutions that will help put us on the path to a 21st century clean energy transportation system. We want President Obama to know that we are ready to stand up to Big Oil. We're ready to stop business as usual. We're ready to change course and end our oil dependence.