Tag Archives: Take Action

Crude By Rail, Take Action, Tesoro

CREDO Action generates over 47,000 letters opposing Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Repost from CREDO Action
[UPDATE – make that 67,883 letters as of midday, 12/28/5!  – RS]

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal
Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

This week, Congress give Big Oil a huge holiday gift: lifting the four-decades-old ban on crude oil exports.1  With the ink still drying on the landmark Paris climate agreement, this is a significant setback that could promote U.S. drilling and increase carbon emissions.

That makes it more important than ever to stop the next step in Big Oil’s plans: building huge terminals to export more crude overseas, like the massive Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal proposed in Vancouver, Washington.

Tesoro-Savage would be the largest oil-by-rail facility in North America,2 shipping up to 360,000 barrels per day of crude to be burned across the world — making the project nearly half the size of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Washington officials are now taking public comments on the plan. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has shown strong climate leadership, and it’s vital to let him know that people in Washington, and across the country are standing against this project.

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal. Click here to submit a public comment now.

Tesoro-Savage’s 360,000 barrels per day of crude would be carried across the country from North Dakota to Washington in dangerous, explosive oil trains, posing a huge risk to public safety every step of the way to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

And the damage to the climate affects all of us. Once massive oil infrastructure projects like pipelines and export terminals have been built, they keep running for decades. But when we stop them, we can help keep carbon in the ground.3

In Paris, the world signaled a historic consensus on moving away from fossil fuels. The last thing Governor Jay Inslee or the United States should do is allow oil companies to hijack that agreement by keeping the world market hooked on the oil that poses an existential threat to all of us.

Speak out against the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal before the January 22nd deadline.  Click here to submit a public comment now.

    1. “Big Oil Companies Can’t Wait For Repeal of U.S. Export Ban,” Newsweek, 12/18/15
    2. “Port of Vancouver Proposal,” Columbia Riverkeeper
    3. “A Convenient Lie: Why Fossil Fuel Supply Matters for the Climate,” Oil Change International, 9/3/15

Send an email.

Your comment to State of Washington officials:

Please reject the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail terminal. The project poses serious risks to the people of Washington State, everyone living along an oil train route, and the entire country by allowing oil companies to sell more fossil fuels overseas.  Building the largest oil-by-rail terminal in North America for yesterday’s energy is the wrong path to meet today’s energy needs. This project would jeopardize Washington State’s leadership in moving away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy solutions.

Click here to send this email.

 

 

Climate Change, Export of North American crude, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Fracking, Greenhouse gas emissions, Oil industry lobby, Take Action

Breaking: Emergency Calls Needed to Protect Oil Export Ban

Action Alert from the Center for Biological Diversity

TELL THE SENATE AND PRESIDENT TO PROTECT THE OIL EXPORT BAN

Fracking illustration
Fracking illustration courtesy Flickr/Jared Rodriguez, Truthout.

America’s decades-old crude oil export ban is under urgent threat of repeal through backroom dealing and an imminent vote on a congressional spending bill. The ban is a critical safeguard against climate change and the damages and risks of fracking.

Lifting the ban would massively boost oil production at a time when the science demands that we must leave at least 80 percent of remaining fossil fuels in the ground. The combustion of the additional oil that would be produced is estimated to generate more than515 million metric tons of carbon pollution per year — the equivalent annual greenhouse gas emissions of 135 coal-fired power plants or more than 100 million passenger cars.

If this horrendous bill passes, communities across America will face more pollution, illness and disruption from drilling and fracking. We can’t afford to lift the crude oil export ban just to contribute to Big Oil’s windfall profits.

Phone calls to your senators and the White House are urgently needed. Here are some talking points. Type in your ZIP code below to get your senators’ numbers, then let us know you called. 

For senators:

Hi, my name is ______, and I live in ______. I’m calling to urge you to vote NO on the omnibus bill that repeals the crude oil export ban. Lifting the ban would increase oil production and damage from fracking and other dangerous drilling while undercutting progress fighting climate change. It will increase Big Oil’s profits at our expense. No deal could justify lifting the 40-year-old crude oil export ban.

Please — vote against any bill that lifts the crude oil export ban or has other sneak attacks on our environment and democracy.

Can you tell me how Senator X plans to vote? Thank you.

For the White House: 

Hi, my name is ______, and I live in ______. I’m calling to urge you to veto the omnibus bill that repeals the crude oil export ban. Lifting the ban would increase oil production and damage from fracking and other dangerous drilling while undercutting progress fighting climate change. It will increase Big Oil’s profits at our expense. No deal could justify lifting the 40-year-old crude oil export ban.

Please veto any bill that lifts the crude oil export ban or has other sneak attacks on our environment and democracy.

Contact information for your Senators and the White House: Click here to go to the Centers for Biological Diversity page, then scroll to the bottom to look up and use your zip code for contact info.

Please take action by Jan. 31, 2016.

Climate Change, Fossil fuel divestment, Global warming, Take Action

Stanford Students Demand Divestment From Fossil Fuel Industry During Lengthy Sit-In

Repost from KCBS740 / 5KPIX
[Editor:  Interesting news video, but I apologize for the commercial ad.  Perhaps best to go to Fossil Free Stanford’s Latest Blog Updates or their Live Images and Tweets.  Go Stanford students!!  – RS]

Stanford Students Demand Divestment From Fossil Fuel Industry During Lengthy Sit-In

November 20, 2015 12:09 PM


STANFORD (CBS SF) — Stanford University students and supporters were holding a rally Friday culminating a five-day sit-in calling for the college’s divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

More than 100 students have been camping out at the main quad since Monday afternoon outside University President John Hennessy’s office demanding administrators divest from the top 100 oil and gas companies .

The action was organized through Fossil Free Stanford, a student organization that has been working on the effort for nearly three years, organizer Michael Peñuelas said.

The group was inviting the administrators to address any concerns at the 11 a.m. rally, when students will be prepared to accept any charges the university may file against them, according to Peñuelas.

On Thursday night, the university sent the group a notice stating that administrators are considering suspension of their request for divestment from oil and gas companies due to the action, which was a disappoint for Peñuelas.

The notice also stated that if students didn’t leave the quad with their belongings by 5 p.m. Friday the university would review them under its Fundamental Standard, which outlines conduct expected from students, Peñuelas said.

The students have also violated the college’s use of the main quad policy and trespassed in violation of state law since they are blocking an administration building, according to university officials.

The sit-in is surrounding a building housing the university’s president and provost offices, where no staff have shown up since Monday, Peñuelas said.

The students plan to leave the quad at the end of the rally to participate in a Transgender Day of Remembrance scheduled in the afternoon, Peñuelas said.

The university has a Thanksgiving recess scheduled next week.

The group held a meeting with Hennessy on the issue last week and attempted to schedule another one with him for Friday, according to organizer Michael Peñuelas.

Throughout this week, professors have held classes at the quad in support of the group’s cause and teach-ins on environmental issues, Peñuelas said.

About 30 alumni rallied with the students on Thursday calling for divestment and said they will not make contributions to the university unless they follow through with the divestment, Peñuelas said.

Seniors have also pledged to not donate to the senior gift, a fundraiser that helps contribute to The Stanford Fund to assist in university scholarships, academic programs and student organizations , according to Peñuelas.

Last year, the university divested from the coal industry after a petition brought forward by Fossil Free Stanford and recommendations from the Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing.

Climate Change, Take Action

Climate Mobilization: Rally in Oakland Saturday, November 21

Repost from NorCal Climate Mobilization

Northern California Climate Mobilization web banner

Join us in a Northern California
mass mobilization in advance of the 2015
UN Conference of Parties in Paris (COP21)

Saturday Nov 21, 2015

rain or shine!!

10:30 am – Gather at Lake Merritt Amphitheatre
12:00 noon – March
1:00 pm – Rally at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza

Meet at the Lake Merritt Amphitheatre (map)
March to Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza (map)
[march route map]

RSVP on Facebook

Check for shared rides or buses if you’re coming from afar!