A Diverse NY Coalition Seeks to Pass Landmark Climate Policies Centered on Justice and Equity for Workers and Communities

NY Renews is a coalition of 109 labor, community, environmental, and social justice organizations across the state of New York from Buffalo to Brooklyn. The coalition seeks a transition from dirty fossil fuels to 100% clean renewable energy with good jobs, healthy communities, and climate justice for all New Yorkers.

NY Renews is fighting to pass the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA), which sets in law that:

• NYS must eliminate all climate pollution by 2050
• 40% of state energy funding must go to disadvantaged and environmental justice communities
• Fair labor standards must be attached to renewable energy jobs

In 2016, the CPPA passed the Assembly and got majority co-sponsorship in the Senate before being blocked by Senate Republican leadership.

NY Renews is also developing a new bill to fund a just transition to renewable energy by levying a penalty on polluters. This bill should be completed by August. If passed, it would be the first policy of its kind in the country.

Ultimately, NY Renews wants to build a stronger, more diverse climate movement in New York. The coalition wants to use that power to pass landmark climate policies that center justice and equity for workers and communities.

The state climate leadership is going to be critical under Trump.  If New York were a country, we’d have the 12th largest economy in the world. We have a huge opportunity to lead the rest of the country, and the world, toward equitable climate policy, and defy Trump’s insane climate denial.

Recently, Senators Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders introduced a federal bill, the ‘100 by '50 Act,’  which would provide job training for low-income Americans and Americans of color, as well as those in coal communities, to work in the renewable energy sector.

Similar campaigns are popping up in other states, from Washington to New Jersey.

NY Renews plans to complete the just transition bill this summer, and to launch it together with the CCPA as a package in September. NY Renews will push to pass as much of it as possible in the final state budget scheduled to be released April 1, 2018.

Learn how you can get involved with NY Renews. Sign up for actions and updates by visiting the NY Renews website.

Buffalo-area members of the NY Renews Coalition include:

Buffalo Coalition for Economic Justice
Climate Justice Coalition of WNY
Grassroots Gardens WNY
Interfaith Climate Justice Community of WNY
Massachusetts Avenue Project
OPEN Buffalo
Partnership for the Public Good
PUSH Buffalo
Sierra Club
UAW Region 9
Ujima Company
Urban Chamber of Commerce 
WASH Project
WNY Council on Occupational Safety & Health

Canadian Oil Sands: Keystone Pipeline - Buffalo Event - Environmental Fight - Trains?

Keystone XL Pipeline Decision Expected By June: WSJ .

The Obama administration will make its final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline by early summer, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The proposed pipeline, which would run from the Canadian oil sands to refineries in Texas, has been under consideration for years, but a final decision on it has been delayed several times due to requests for additional evaluations of the project's environmental impact.

The State Department's inspector general is looking into allegations that there was a conflict of interest with the company that prepared the project's latest draft environmental analysis. That report is expected to be released by the end of January. The State Department has the authority to approve the project because it crosses an international border.
The Journal reports that sources familiar with the decision said that the final environmental impact analysis is expected to be released next month. After that, the State Department will make a decision about whether the pipeline is in the national interest, and other agencies will have 90 days to comment on the verdict. That would put President Barack Obama in a position to make a final decision by May or June.

President Obama has said that the pipeline should be approved only if it is determined that it does not have a major impact on total carbon emissions. "Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interest," the president said in his big climate speech last June. "And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net effects of the pipeline's impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward."

Read the full article at the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal

Buffalo host site for Alberta Oil Sands info

The Consulate General of Canada in New York and the U.S. Commercial Service will co-host its fifth Canada Oil Sands Matchmaking Event in Buffalo on Feb. 3.

At the event, representatives from Alberta’s largest energy companies will host 15-minute meetings with area companies that want to be part of the oil sands supply chain. The rapid growth of the region, which hosts the third-largest proven oil reserve, has created demand for infrastructure, equipment and engineering services.

Read more at Buffalo Business First

Pipeline Fight Lifts Environmental Movement

WASHINGTON — Environmentalists have spent the past two years fighting the Keystone XL pipeline: They have built a human chain around the White House, clogged the State Department’s public comment system with more than a million emails and letters, and gotten themselves arrested at protests across the country. 

But as bad as they argue the 1,700-mile pipeline would be for the planet, Keystone XL has been a boon to the environmental movement. While it remains unclear whether Obama will approve the project, both sides agree that the fight has changed American environmental politics.

“I think it would be naïve for any energy infrastructure company to think that this would be a flash in the pan,” said Alexander J. Pourbaix, president of energy and oil pipelines at TransCanada, the company that has been trying to get a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline since 2008.

Environmentalists want to stop the transport of 800,000 barrels a day of heavy crude from oil sands formations in Canada to Texas refineries, and an oil extraction process that emits more greenhouse gases than other forms of production. Proponents of the Keystone XL project say that the oil will come out of the ground with or without a new pipeline and that other methods of transport, like rail, cause more pollution.

They point out that TransCanada began operations on Wednesday on a southern pipeline segment that connects to existing pipelines to provide a route from Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

Read more at the New York Times 

Transporting Fossil Fuels: Rail vs. Pipeline is the Wrong Question

Debating the best way to do something we shouldn’t be doing in the first place is a sure way to end up in the wrong place. That’s what’s happening with the “rail versus pipeline” discussion. Some say recent rail accidents mean we should build more pipelines to transport fossil fuels. Others argue that leaks, high construction costs, opposition and red tape surrounding pipelines are arguments in favor of using trains.

But the recent spate of rail accidents and pipeline leaks and spills doesn’t provide arguments for one or the other; instead, it indicates that rapidly increasing oil and gas development and shipping ever greater amounts, by any method, will mean more accidents, spills, environmental damage—even death. The answer is to step back from this reckless plunder and consider ways to reduce our fossil fuel use.

If we were to slow down oil sands development, encourage conservation and invest in clean energy technology, we could save money, ecosystems and lives—and we’d still have valuable fossil fuel resources long into the future, perhaps until we’ve figured out ways to use them that aren’t so wasteful. We wouldn’t need to build more pipelines just to sell oil and gas as quickly as possible, mostly to foreign markets. We wouldn’t have to send so many unsafe rail tankers through wilderness areas and places people live.

Read more at EcoWatch

Name Extreme Storms after Climate Deniers

CLIMATE NAME CHANGE: A satirical proposal to name extreme storms after politicians who deny human-caused global warming and obstruct climate policy.

This video, published by ClimateNameChange.org on Aug 26, 2013, has gone Viral. It has received over 2 Million hits!

Since 1954, the World Meteorological Organization has been naming extreme storms after people. But ClimateNameChange.org thinks it's time for a new naming system. If you agree with their proposal, endorse this CLIMATE NAME CHANGE plan by clicking here.

On Wednesday, there was a hearing of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the impact of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. Republicans argued against doing anything about carbon pollution. To see their five craziest arguments, and the rebuttals of those arguments, click here.

Don't let lessons of Hurricane Sandy pass us by!

From Ross Gould ~
Air & Energy Program Director,
Environmental Advocates of New York.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, our state is beginning to transition from recovery to rebuilding. And we all have to question: what did Sandy teach us?

Governor Cuomo has called climate change our new reality. Join Environmental Advocates of New York to pressure the Governor and his state agencies to turn their rhetoric into sound environmental policies that will keep New Yorkers safe amidst an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Governor Cuomo holds all the cards. And while many of his agencies will play a role in the months and years ahead, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is the primary advocate for green energy and infrastructure development.

Join us to urge Governor Cuomo and NYSERDA to take action. Climate change deniers will do everything they can to prevent progress, so the administration needs to know there are thousands of New Yorkers that want them to take bold action. We need you to add your voice to ours and call for the state to take bold steps forward.
Act now! There are two easy ways to do it—you can use Facebook, or you can pick up the phone.

1. Log into Facebook.
     
2. Go to Governor Cuomo’s Facebook post.
     
3. Post the following comment, or a personalized comment to show your concern:
     
   Governor Cuomo, will you act now to fight climate change and prepare New York for future storms by investing in green energy and modernizing our infrastructure?
     
4. Go to NYSERDA’s Facebook wall.
     
5. Post the following comment, or a personalized comment to show your concern:
     
   Will we act now to fight climate change and prepare New York for future storms by investing in green energy and modernizing our infrastructure?

If you’re not on Facebook, you can call Governor Cuomo’s office at (518) 474-8390 and NYSERDA at 1-866-NYSERDA.
We cannot let the lessons of Hurricane Sandy pass us by!
Thank you for all that you do!

CLIMATE CHANGE: What Can and Should We Do Now?

7:30 p.m., Monday, October 15

Daemen College

4380 Main Street, Amherst

Room 336, Duns Scotus Hall

Free and Open to the Public

Keynote speaker

Ross Gould, Energy & Air Program Director, Environmental Advocates of New York (www.eany.org)

Panelists

• Bob Berger, UB Law Professor (retired)
• Samantha Legros, Business  Major/Sustainability Minor, Daemen  College
• Terry Yonker, Chair, Energy & Climate Task Force, WNY Environmental Alliance

Moderator

• Walter Simpson, energy educator & activist, Daemen College Instructor (www.energyreallymatters.com)

Printable Flyer & Map: click here.

Scientists have known for decades that climate change is real and potentially catastrophic yet to a large extent we – as a society - have ignored and denied the problem and done little about it.  This panel discussion will present a positive statewide and national climate protection policy and activist agenda.  It will also address these questions:  Have we waited too long to protect the future for our children and avoid the worst consequences of climate change?  Is effective action -- proportionate to the threat we face -- possible given ongoing political conflict in our country and the power for fossil fuel interests?  What should those who understand the danger and care about the future be doing now?

This panel discussion is presented as part of the Alternative & Renewable Energy Issues course in Daemen's Global & Sustainability program.  For information on this exciting new major and minor, visit www.daemen.edu/sustainability.  For more information, wsimpson@daemen.edu or 839-0062.

Climate Change: Dr. James Hansen Speaks Out

Renowned climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, tells the story of his early involvement in the science of global climate change and subsequent participation in testimony and protest against government inaction.  He outlines the overwhelming evidence that human-made global warming is happening and that it's caused primarily by burning fossil fuels.  He expresses why these facts make him deeply worried about our future and that of his young grandchildren, whose photos are included.  Finally, Hansen describes a new policy to help restore climate stability.

 

Biography: James Hansen, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He was trained in physics and astronomy in the space science program of James Van Allen at the University of Iowa. Since the late 1970s, he has focused his research on Earth's climate, especially human-made climate change. Hansen is known for his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue. Hansen is recognized for speaking truth to power, for identifying ineffectual policies as greenwash, and for outlining the actions that the public must take to protect the future of young people and the other species on the planet.

Global Warming, Fossil Fools, and Real Science

Is the planet really warming? 
NASA scientists answer that question with an unequivocal YES! 
Below is a NASA video animation that shows 130 years of global warming in 26 seconds. Blue colors indicate Lower temperatures. Red colors indicate Higher temperatures. The year is shown at the bottom of the world map.

This visualization of the data is from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures. Temperatures are compared to the average temperature during the mid-20th century baseline period (1951-1980).

How can some people argue that global warming has stopped?
The video above shows a clear trend of increasing global average temperatures over 130 years. Dr. Peter Gleick, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an internationally recognized climate expert, wrote that "global warming has not stopped and those who repeat this claim over and over are either lying, ignorant, or exhibiting a blatant disregard for the truth."

Dr. Gleick explained: "All of the false claims take advantage of one fundamental truth about the average temperature of our planet: it varies a little, naturally, from year to year. Some years are a bit warmer than average and some are a bit colder than average because of El Niños, La Niñas, cloud variability, volcanic activity, ocean conditions, and just the natural pulsing of our planetary systems. When you filter these out, the human-caused warming signal is clear."

Those who make false claims about global warming to justify the continued burning of fossil fuels, are sometimes called "fossil fools." Gleick points out that false claims about global warming do not look at the 130 year temperature data set and examine the overall trend, which shows a clear temperature increase with time. Instead, they select specific data points within the natural variability, or select one limited time period, and use this "cherry-picked" data to support no temperature change or even cooling.

In conclusion, Dr. Gleick wrote: "The climate drives the weather. People care about the weather – what happens day to day – our weather can bring us joy or misery. It is time to care about the climate as well, because our decisions and actions today will reverberate in our weather for centuries to come."

For additional details, see Dr. Gleick's article.