"We have negatively impacted your lives and made a mess of your properties and waterways."
-- Patrick Daniel, president and CEO of Enbridge, the company responsible for the massive oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
In this issue:
1) Take Action: The Senate's Turn to Reform Big Oil
2) Take Action: Say No to Another Tar Sands Pipeline
3) Protect: Alaskan Wilderness Spared from Oil, Gas Drilling
4) Research: The Science Stands on Climate Change
1) Take Action:The Senate's Turn to Reform Big Oil
Last week, the House passed a historic piece of legislation that will help clean up and properly regulate the oil industry to ensure that a disaster the magnitude of the Gulf blowout doesn't happen again. Now we must pass a similar bill through the Senate.
The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act includes many similar provisions to the House version that can help us clean up the oil industry and shift to a clean energy economy.
Tell your Senators to vote YES for the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act!
2) Take Action: Say No to Another Tar Sands Pipeline
Last week, a tar sands pipeline in Michigan ruptured, pouring more than one million gallons of toxic crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. Sadly, this shocking incident was one of more than 2,500 pipeline incidents that have occurred in our country in the last decade -- all the result of our continued dependence on oil. This country has seen too many oil spills and pipeline ruptures.
It's time to end our toxic and dangerous addiction to oil and say no to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Tell Secretary Clinton and President Obama to say no to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline!
Image Credit: Lucas Evans, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Intern
3) Protect: Alaskan Wilderness Spared from Oil, Gas Drilling
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced Friday that it will not sell oil and gas drilling leases in a biologically-sensitive area of National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) in northern Alaska. The area covers 170,000 acres of critical habitat in buffer zones near Teshekpuk Lake, an important wildlife habitat in the NPR.
We applaud BLM for protecting one of Alaska's wildlife treasures and recognizing the importance of the caribou, migrating birds, and communities that call this region home.
4) Research: The Science Stands on Climate Change
Last week the EPA denied petitions by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and nine other groups to reconsider the 2009 Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases section of the Clean Air Act (the "Endangerment Finding").
After careful review of the petitions, EPA reinforced that climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions threatens public health and the environment, and that the scientific evidence supporting the Endangerment Finding is sound.