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We wanted to bring to your attention a few victories that have transpired across the US in March 2016 that together give us hope and momentum that the “tides have shifted” and our nation as a whole is recognizing that a future that has fossil fuels in it, is no future at all.
Share these special landmark moments with the kids in your life. They too will want to know that the hard work happening in communities all across our country to end the era of fossil fuels and move us to an era of renewables, is paying off! Hopefully these developments will put “wind in the sails” of communities fighting to stop fossil fuel development – including drilling and the build out of fossil fuel infrastructure and – and shore up those communities fighting for renewable energy now.
We’ve list our current “Top 7”, only a handful of the many, many exciting developments that are taking place. We will leave it to you to follow the links provided for more information. Are there recent victories in your community you’d like us to share? Let us know!
1. Pennsylvania: Two Dimock families awarded $4.25 million in case against Cabot Oil and Gas. Jury found that drilling by Cabot had contaminated Dimock families water. In a statement immediately after the jury decision, the plantiff’s lawyer Elisabeth Radow said: “This is a good day, this is a really good day. The jury listened to these people and they listened to what they said. They believed they were honest and they were credible and that’s where the vote went.”
2. Oregon: In Eugene, 21 kids, age 8-19, were heard in Federal Court. The complaint by the children alleges violation of the kids’ Fifth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection. By failing to act on climate change, it argues, the government discriminates against youth as a class. Without access to a healthy climate, they’re deprived of their fundamental rights to life, liberty and property. http://billmoyers.com/story/should-kids-be-able-to-sue-for-a-safe-climate-this-federal-court-is-about-to-decide/
3. Oregon: Jordan Cove. The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) Rejected a multibillion-dollar proposal to build a LNG terminal that would export as many as two tankers of natural gas a week. They also denied its plan to build a pipeline with Williams Partners LP to supply gas to the terminal. This is the first and only pipeline ever rejected by FERC in it’s history.
4. Oregon: Phasing out Fossil Fuels. Oregon became the first state in the union to phase out coal-fired power plants while replacing them with low-cost utility-scale renewables. The new law will progressively wipe out coal-generated energy through 2030 and requires utilities to provide half of customers’ power with renewables by 2040, doubling the Oregon’s previous standard. The renewables portion places Oregon near the top of a handful of other states that have renewable mandates of 50 percent or more.
5. JP Morgan Chase: Announces it will no longer fund coal projects worldwide.
6. Atlantic Coast: The Obama administration bans drilling of the eastern seaboard. (However it continues to allows the sale of oil and gas leases in the Arctic and the South)
7. US Canada Agreement to work together on climate change. Mr. Obama and Mr. Trudeau promised that their two countries would “play a leadership role internationally in the low-carbon global economy over the coming decades.” As part of the announcement, United States officials said they would immediately begin a new push to regulate methane emissions from existing oil and gas facilities.”
Building Climate Hope!
Yours,
Climate Mama
