All posts by Roger Straw

Editor, owner, publisher of The Benicia Independent
Local vigilance, Resistance, Trump

BENICIA VIGIL: Still Standing Strong after Trump’s First 100 Days

WeThePeople Benicia Standing StrongBENICIA RESISTANCE: OBSERVANCE OF TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS
Friday, April 28, 5 PM
City Park, First & Military Streets

WE WILL GATHER ON TRUMP’S 99TH DAY (…not on the 20th this month)

Shepard-GreaterThanFearWe found ourselves moved and encouraged on Inauguration Day, January 20th when we sang and held hands in the pouring rain just as Donald Trump took the oath of office.  We determined that day to organize, to keep watch, to remain vigilant, and to come together on the 20th of each month to support one another in our efforts to resist authoritarian governance of our constitutional democracy.

And so we did gather again – in the pouring rain each time – on February 20 and March 20.  In April, we will put off our gathering for a week or so, and meet on the day before the Trump Administration’s 100th day.  We will gather on Friday, April 28th.

Please share this invitation with friends and family, bring signs and banners, and prepare to have your discouragement and anxieties transformed into purpose and strength in the warmth and insight of our hopeful community of Benicia progressives. 

JOIN and SHARE on Facebook 
(or tinyurl.com/BeniciaVigil100)

Past Vigil Programs
Alberta Clipper pipeline, Diluted bitumen (Dilbit), Enbridge, GREET, Keystone XL, Tar sands crude

Tar Sands/Oil Sands Carbon Footprint Underestimated by Nearly 25%

Repost from The Energy Mix

Tar Sands/Oil Sands Carbon Footprint Underestimated by Nearly 25%

Inside Climate News, by Lisa Song, April 4, 2017
BeforeItStarts/flickr

In a finding that should resonate strongly for Canadian decision-makers charged with meeting the country’s climate targets, new research reveals that the carbon footprint of a litre of synthetic crude extracted from tar sands/oil sands bitumen is more than 23% greater than previously estimated.

The elevated figure, reported by InsideClimate News, is based on an assessment conducted by the U.S. State Department in the course of its consideration of a still-pending application by Calgary’s Enbridge Inc. to expand its Alberta Clipper pipeline to deliver synthetic tar sands/oil sands crude to Wisconsin. It updates an earlier finding produced by the same agency in 2014, during its consideration of TransCanada Corporation’s Keystone XL pipeline.

That assessment, ICN recalls, determined that “compared to other sources of oil that American refineries might use, the tar sands would be about 17% more polluting on average.” The calculation contributed to then-President Barack Obama’s decision to reject the Keystone XL proposal, a decision recently reversed by his pro-fossil successor.

A more recent review of Enbridge’s proposed line, however, produced “a gloomier picture of emissions.”

Employing “the most up-to-date studies and tools, including a model known as GREET, developed by the federal Argonne National Laboratory, which calls it the ‘gold standard’ for this kind of calculation,” the latest assay found that on a comprehensive “well-to-wheels” basis, “tar sands crude would have a carbon footprint of 632 kilograms per barrel, compared to an average U.S. refinery mix of 521 kilograms per barrel of carbon dioxide emissions. The difference is 111 kilograms per barrel—21 percent dirtier, not 17 percent.”

The four percentage-point difference in the new calculation means the full carbon footprint of tar sands/oil sands production, distribution, and use is 23.5% heavier than previously thought.

Local vigilance, Resistance, Trump

BENICIA STANDING STRONG: VIGIL ON THE SPRING EQUINOX

Next Monday!

– BENICIA STANDING STRONG –
VIGIL ON THE SPRING EQUINOX

WeThePeople Benicia Standing StrongMonday, March 20, 6 p.m. First & Military

We continue on the 20th of each month to stand strong, watching over the Trump administration’s disastrous agenda. AND…it’s important to remain focused on local & regional issues. TOGETHER, we are strong.

March 20th falls this year on the spring equinox, a season of increasing light, and a time when life springs forth from death.  We gather again to support one another in our efforts to resist the stifling of democracy and hope.

Bring information about groups you are working with.
Connect with others who are taking action.
Bring signs and banners.

TRUMP WATCH
HERE AT HOME
Among MANY other things…President Trump released his preliminary discretionary budget Thursday morning with its massive cuts to the arts, science, and the poor.  The proposal cuts the EPA and the State Department the most — by nearly a third.

Trump would eliminate funding for 19 agencies, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Chemical Safety Board.
  • Great news! The Phillips 66 proposal to bring oil trains through Northern California to San Luis Obispo was DEFEATED last week, thanks to vigorous local and regional organizing!
  • The Bay Area Air District is hosting a community workshop on Tues, March 28 at 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Benicia Library. A strong public presence is important to send the Air District the message that we cannot wait any longer and we need emissions caps now.
  • On April 4, there will be a nationwide screening of the 80’s movie 1984. In Vallejo, see the movie at the Empress Theater in Vallejo (more info on Facebook event page).
A few good local organizing links:


JOIN us at the vigil on March 20 and SHARE on Facebook: tinyurl.com/BeniciaVigil

We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, [at] the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967

Benicia vigil, Presidential inauguration

PERSONAL INVITATION: Inauguration Day Vigil

PLEASE JOIN ME ON INAUGURATION DAY: Stay vigilant, speak out!

RDS_2015-06-21_200pxFriends – Watching President Obama’s farewell speech with family and friends, we were so moved. We agreed that we should gather locally as citizen activists to mark the day of the inauguration with a commitment to keep vigilant about our constitution and democratic values. We need to live out our concern about the future, and hold up significant issues during and after this inauguration.

We will gather briefly in City Park, sing This Land Is Your Land, reflect on democracy, maybe hold up a few signs on issues of respect for Muslims, women, immigrants and people of color – and we will remember other issues that have arisen of late.  Bring a sign with a message if you want – and/or a small U.S. flag.  Please plan to attend.

So far there are about 2 dozen who have said they will attend the Benicia Inauguration Day Vigil (details below).  I expect many more of you will show up without signing the Facebook event page (tinyurl.com/jlyyt2e).

Roger Straw
The Benicia Independent

INAUGURATION VIGIL IN BENICIA

Friday, January 20, 9 AM, First & Military

we the people const flag

On Friday, January 20, Donald Trump will take the oath of office. He will pledge as President to “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States of America.”

facebook-button-join-event_176At 9 a.m. on Friday, January 20 (as the new president takes the oath of office, noon EST) a group will join in a vigil at City Park in Benicia. Please come!  This inauguration day vigil will be an affirmation of the constitutional conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it will mark our commitment to remain vigilant in these matters.

As President Barack Obama reminded us in his farewell address, “It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title: citizen.”

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/jlyyt2e