Who plans to be on this one?
JBK
Edward Mainland emainland@COMCAST.NET 6/4/2010 5:23 PM >>>
Michael Brune, Club Executive Director, will be hosting a call at 5 pm
Pacific/8 Eastern Monday June 7 for volunteers and staff to "talk about
our natural gas campaign and policies and answer questions". Call 1 866-501-6174 — code 223-9223#.
This call may be an opportune moment for the Club's grassroots to talk
to Michael about the need not only for more Sierra Club militancy on the Gulf oil tragedy but also more specificity on how the Club proposes
to "get off oil".
And it's not just a matter of "getting off oil". It's getting off all
fossil fuels as fast as possible and not wasting another generation of
infrastructure and investment on the illusory but fatal temptation of
so-called "transition fossil fuels" like natural gas. New NG capacity
will continue carbon spewing and fossil-fuel dependency while competing
with and slowing the massive transition to renewable power for which the Gulf catastrophe so cruelly demonstrates our need most dire.
-- Ed M.
- - - - - - - - - -
On May 24, 2010, at 3:17 PM Joe Cook wrote:
Barb, Wayne and others,
I agree that the Sierra Club appears to be missing in action at this
seminal moment for us to shine a light on this issue and engage our
membership to light a fire under and spray dispersant on Obama, his
administration and the Congress. Where is the net roots call to action and marching feet on the ground in DC to stop the leak, do the
clean up and call a timeout on offshore drilling? Now is the time to
expose the dirty, greedy and inhumane fossil fuel industry and tout
the alternative -- clean, renewable energy. At the same time, the Kerry-Liberman bill is a travesty in the face of the Gulf blowout and
should be exposed as such.
Joe Cook
On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Wayne Kenton waynekenton@comcast.net wrote:
Barb,
How do we get the Sierra Club leadership angry, how do we get them
to
respond, how do we get them to get a plan to engage their grassroots
– are we not a grassroots group? Where is the national call to action conference call today?
After two days of sending out emails like this I am asking everyone
on this list – where is the red button to push! Where is our action
team response? I want to know what is happening what we are doing
and how grassroots is being empowered.
I was sent this important web site to read up on what is happening
in
the Oil world, please read and digest.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6489#comments_top
www.NRDC.org has Robert Redford on CNN commercials airing as I
write
this call for political leadership today over the Gulf Crisis, where
is ours! You want to grow public support, then we need to get out
there with a message and plan that people can support, if you don’t
people we find a group that does support their interests and concerns. Redford is saying the same thing I have been saying, this
is urgent and to lead Mr. Obama.
Maybe we should be generating a list of actions the Sierra Club
could
be doing now, since nothing seems to be happening…
Wayne
PS. I am not on the leadership list server so some please tell what
is happening there????
From: Chp & Grp Global Warming Energy Chairs [mailto:CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG] On Behalf
Of Barbara McKasson Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 11:46 AM To: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Subject: Re: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] Brune video
We have been told that Micheal Brune, Carl Pope, Allison Chin and Robin Mann are responding to the oil spill situation. However, it
seems they are forgetting that this is supposed to be a grassroots
organization. I have not seen much on prompting grassroots leaders
and members to respond to this - and I am a Sierra Club group chair!. Let's use the unique strength of Sierra Club as a
grassroots
organization.
This is not the time to hold back!! We must push the Obama Administration to be more proactive on this. We need people calling
Congress and the White House to step up the government response and
to pressure BP to do more. Using toxic dispersants to hide the huge
amount of oil that scientists say is gushing out daily is not a good
solution, yet the Obama administration is allowing it to continue.
It seems the Obama administration is trying to silence the
scientists
also. If dispersants are used, it should be a less toxic solution!
We should be making A LOT OF NOISE about this. If we can't hold the
Obama Administration accountable, who will? The federal government
response so far has been underwhelming.
Also, we cannot afford to be cowed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh. I
have always been told that we should respond directly and quickly to
every attack on the Sierra Club. It doesn't seem that this is being
done this time!
Barb McKasson, Chair
Shawnee Group Sierra Club
In a message dated 5/23/2010 8:32:30 A.M. Central Daylight Time, Dave.Hamilton@SIERRACLUB.ORG writes:
No matter how Mike came off in that particular interview, (Mathews
is always tough) he is anything but tepid in the way he is responding or the way he is preparing the organization to address
the disaster over the long term. We have been putting together a
very aggressive policy package on oil savings, as well as ypositioning the issue as the central driver and game changer for
what happens in Washington for the foreseeable future.
DH
-----Rodney Robinson rodney@CAL.NET wrote: -----
======================= To: CONS-SPST-GLOBALWARM-CHAIRS@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG From: Rodney Robinson rodney@CAL.NET Date: 05/23/2010 03:25AM Subject: Re: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] Brune video ======================= Chris Matthews actually says "get on this the stick Michael!
You
don't seem very excited about this." and I would have to agree with Chris’ request. Get on the stick. Michael presents the Sierra Club as an entity to ignore. There is
no fire in the belly. Where is the outrage. A month into this and
this
is the response we get from the Sierra Club. Shameful.
I did not see, through the eyes of CBS News or any other source,
the gulf coast chapter members or anyone else on the beaches Friday scooping up the oil mess as it hit shore. Where are the BP execs
to
be found cleaning the beaches. °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° A friend just sent this to me. I missed the original 60 minute broadcast and had intended to catch it in the eworld.
Here it is in the event that you missed it or would want to pass
the link to a friend.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25474.htm
And... You may want to subscribe to the newsletter below.
Government of the USA in Exile Free Americans Reaching Out to Amerika's Huddled Masses Yearning
to
Breathe Free Via prez@usa-exile.org
May21, 2010
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/21/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1
Gulf Oil Spill Effects to Reach Arctic and Europe,
Expert Says
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 21, 2010 -- Updated 1801 GMT (0201 HKT)
Washington (CNN) -- The damaging effects of the massive oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico will be felt all the way to Europe and the Arctic, a top scientist told a congressional panel Friday.
"This is not just a regional issue for the wildlife," said Carl Safina, the president of the Blue Ocean Institute. Safina, who recently returned from the Gulf Coast region, presented several photographs, including one of an oil-covered bird.
"There will be a nest empty in Newfoundland," Safina said, noting
common migratory patterns. Safina warned that multiple forms of marine life in the Atlantic Ocean "come into the Gulf to breed."
Safina's briefing to representatives of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was scheduled as part of an ongoing effort to draw on a
broad range of expertise for cleanup efforts.
"We have to use science to find solutions," said Rep. Ed Markey,
D-
Massachusetts. Markey has been strongly critical of the current cleanup effort, calling it ineffective.
Meanwhile, another congressman, concerned about people who are working to clean up the spill, has asked the White House to set up temporary health care centers along the Gulf Coast to serve volunteers and workers.
Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Louisiana, envisions such clinics as providing "medical checkups to people who have come in contact
with
the oil and assist in monitoring the health effects of the oil
leak
on south Louisianians."
He sent the request Wednesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. There was no immediate response from the
agency.
"Many residents and volunteers are being exposed to hazardous materials on a daily basis, and some will have to travel hours to
get treatment at the nearest health care facility. It is imperative that temporary health care clinics be established to provide basic health care services in this geographic area," he said.
He has also asked Sebelius to "appoint a health care coordinator
to
oversee and streamline the health care response."
Melancon emphasized that BP should be responsible for such health
care services in his state. The energy giant was operating the oil rig
that exploded and sank in April, triggering the spill.
[snip]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10139730.stm
US oil spill: BP 'recovering less oil' thanestimated
BP has said the amount of oil recovered from a leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday was less than half an earlier estimate.
BP said it siphoned 2,200 barrels in the 24-hour period to
midnight
on Thursday, down from an estimate of 5,000 barrels earlier in the
day.
The US government has formed a team to develop a more precise estimate of the amount of oil gushing from the well.
[snip]
White House Covers Up Menacing Oil "Blob"by Wayne Madsen
Global Research, May 21, 2010 Oilprice.com
In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR)
has
learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to
the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains
frozen
at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths.
FEMA and Corps of Engineers employees are upset that the White House and the Pentagon remain tight-lipped and in cover-up mode about
the
images of the massive and fast-moving frozen coagulated oil blob
that is being imaged by Navy submarines that are tracking its movement.
The sources point out that BP and the White House conspired to
withhold
videos from BP-contracted submersibles that showed the oil geyser
that was spewing oil from the chasm underneath the datum of the Deep Horizon at rates far exceeding originally reported amounts. We
have
learned that it was largely WMR's scoop on the existence of the BP
videos that forced the company and its White House patrons to finally agree to the release of the video footage.
The White House is officially stating that it does not know where
the officially reported 10 miles long by 3 miles wide "plume" is actually located or in what direction it is heading. However, WMR's sources
claim the White House is getting real-time reports from Navy submarines as to the blob's location. We have learned that the
blob
is transiting the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, propelled
by the Gulf's Loop Current, and that parts of it that is encountering
warmer waters are breaking off into smaller tar balls that are now
washing ashore in the environmentally-sensitive Florida Keys and
Dry Tortugas.
Corps of Engineers and FEMA officials are also livid about the cover- up of the extent of the oil damage being promulgated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its marine research vessel in the Gulf, RV Pelican. NOAA stands accused by the aforementioned agencies of acting as a virtual public relations
arm
for BP. NOAA is a component of the business-oriented Department of
Commerce.
Similarly, the Coast Guard, which takes its orders from the cover-up operatives at the Homeland Security Department, is denying the tar
balls washing up on the Florida Keys are from the oil mass. WMR
has
been told the Coast Guard is lying in order to protect the Obama administration, which has thoroughly failed in its response to the
disaster. The White House's only concern is trying to limit political damage to its image in the electorally-important state of Florida
while the Pentagon has spent between $25 and $30 billion on oil spill operations in the Gulf and the Atlantic to date.
WMR sources also report that the oil mass has resulted in dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that have cut off oxygen and killed massive
numbers of marine creatures and plant life. Seafood wholesalers from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey and New York have been told that the
supply of shrimp, oysters, and other seafood from the Gulf is severely in short supply and that they can expect a possible total cut-off
as the situation worsens. The shortage will also affect the supply of
seafood, especially shrimp, to national seafood restaurant chains
like Red Lobster and Long John Silver's.
There is also evidence that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean sank a
drill to a depth of 35,000 feet at the Deep Horizon site some six
months ago without the required permits from the federal government. WMR has learned from U.S. government sources that the drilling at
35,000 feet caused a major catastrophic event that required the firms' oil rig personnel to quickly pull up the drill and close the drill
hole.
However, the Deep Horizon re-sank the drill some six months after
the unspecified "catastrophe," resulting in another, more destructive
chain of events following the explosion that destroyed the rig, killing eleven workers. When the Deep Horizon blew up, WMR has
been
told it also "blew down," cracking the the sub-seabed pipe that
may
have been re-drilled to a depth of between 25,000 to 30,000 feet,
again, without a government permit.
Government sources also report that BP is intent on recovering as
much oil as possible from the undersea geyser rather than simply plugging and capping the well, which would then place it off-limits to further drilling. The Corps of Engineers reports that BP is playing a game
with Obama, convincing him of the feasibility of "shooting junk"
into the subterranean pipe, which would stop up the pipe with a manufactured chemical compound called "MUD." However, WMR has been
informed that BP actually intends to shoot cement into the pipe in
an attempt to cap the well with the later intention of digging a trench for side drilling from the pipe to recover as much oil as
possible.
The technology that would be employed by BP is the same technology
that was used by Kuwait to conduct slant drilling of Iraq's Rumallah oil field -- an event that helped trigger Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait.
Corps of Engineers and FEMA sources also give a failing grade to
both Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who stands accused
of
being woefully incompetent in handling the disaster, and Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar. Government sources say both secretaries should immediately step down or be fired.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/21-6 Published on Friday, May 21, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Boycott BP
by Robert Weissman
Why?
Because BP must pay.
Eleven oil workers are dead. One of the largest oil spills in U.S.
history continues to worsen. BP's oil gusher at the floor of the
Gulf of Mexico may be 100 times worse than BP first estimated (and 20
times worse than the company presently claims). 100 times!
BP's oil gusher is now threatening coastal lands in Louisiana and
is almost certain to destroy fisheries and the livelihoods of people
who fish and shrimp in the Gulf, or rely on the Gulf for tourism business. The giant plumes of oil deep underwater will exact an unknown toll
on sea life. And the spreading oil may even wind up in currents that
eventually take it to the U.S. Eastern shores.
BP CEO Tony Hayward is sanguine about the whole problem. The Financial Times quotes him saying, "I think the environmental impact of this
disaster is likely to have been very, very modest."
A boycott will send a message to BP that its shoddy oversight of
this project and its history of environmental and worker safety violations is unforgivable. Take the BP Boycott Pledge, and commit not to buy
gas from BP for at least three months. Go here: www.beyondBP.org
BP cares desperately about its public image. This is the company
that has sought to rebrand itself as "Beyond Petroleum." BusinessWeek estimates the BP brand as worth $3.9 billion -- the highest among
oil companies. "Not even an Alaskan oil spill or an explosion at a Texas refinery has put a dent in BP's strong [brand] performance," said
BusinessWeek in 2006. This time must be different. A boycott will
express the organized consumer anger that BP so fears.
This is a company that should fear the public's wrath, for the Deepwater Horizon blowout was a preventable disaster. While much remains unknown, there is mounting evidence that BP could have averted the catastrophe. BP made a conscious decision not to install a $500,000 safety device that could have prevented the blowout.
There
is good reason to believe BP's contractors on the Deepwater Horizon
made multiple mistakes leading up to the disaster, but it is ultimately
BP's job to make sure its contractors are exercising sufficient care. And Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon, told 60 Minutes that BP pressured its contractors to
skirt
other safety measures that might have prevented the disaster.
All this from a company that made $14 billion in profits in 2009
--
a bad year. First quarter profits in 2010 were over $6 billion.
After the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, Tony Hayward reportedly asked why bad things keep happening to BP.
But this is not a case of bad things happening to good people. BP
has one of the worst environmental and safety records of any oil company operating in the United States. BP has pled guilty in just the
last
few years to two crimes and paid more than $730 million in fines,
penalties and settlements for environmental crimes, willful disregard for workplace safety and energy market manipulation.
BP sometimes says it will pay for the harms caused by the spill,
but at other times hedges what it may be willing to do. There will be
litigation and fines, and BP won't have the final say on what it
wants to pay. In any case, cash compensation for economic harms caused
-
James Kotcon