From Stephanie Low: Grassroots, take it from here...
from Rob Jeresky-- Yes, the bill needs to be opposed: Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121 House switchboard: 202-225-3121 from Ken Gale-- Yes, the bill is worse than nothing. I said so on my show, with three guests from different groups to give details. That show is still on line: <http://www.archive.wbai.org>www.archive.wbai.org. Scroll to June 16, 11 AM. The coal industry was praising the bill even before it left the committee. That should have been a red flag. A lot of environmental groups were against this, including Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, Chesapeake CLimate Action Network, the American Solar Energy Society and a lot of regional groups. It was the large national groups that were for it: NRDC, EDF, National Audubon, League of Conservation Voters, etc. Sierra seemed on the fence. At least they spoke about the need to improve it. A lot of groups sent out e-mails after it passed the House of Representatives about how wonderful the bill is. Most groups don't have anyone who reads bills all the way through. They often read only summaries, which are often written to be misleading. Ask Annie Wilson about that. Sometimes they thank her for reading the bill and telling them things, sometimes they get mad at her for showing them up. What should we do? Educate and activate. What we always have to do: Try to expose the weaknesses in the bill. Ted Glick has a good analysis at <http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org>http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org. There should be information on FOE's web site and Public Citizen's. The climate bill changed a lot between March 31st and May 15th. It went from 600-some pages to 932. I think some environmental groups were caught off-guard by that. It's up to the grassroots. What I heard from groups that were for it was that it was better than nothing. I agree with you that it was worse than nothing and seems to have stopped a lot of people to get something that is better than nothing. from Lorna Salzman-- The plan should be KILL THE BILL. And hope that the Europeans can take a tough stand at the G8 and shame the US into doing something better. Call your friends in the Democratic Party and tell them to shape up or ship out. They must think we are all dummies. And tell them that this kind of bill is why people like me will never vote Democratic...nor will I vote for Obama again if this bill goes through and he signs it. from Julie McQuain-- One thing that would help our efforts is a list of the Reps and Sens who have weakened the bill in favor of polluters. Has anyone done that analysis so we can make calls and write LTEs in their districts? This blog <http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/07/09/obama-reid-dont-have-60-senate-votes-for-global-warming-cap-and-trade-bill.html>http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/07/09/obama-reid-dont-have-60-senate-votes-for-global-warming-cap-and-trade-bill.html quotes the Times: New York Times reports that "The world's biggest developing nations, led by China and India," are refusing to commit to specific goals to reduce greenhouse gases by 2050. In fact, India's Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, told <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aWs0Pts2Kxes> Bloomberg that "India will not accept any emission-reduction target?period." To emphhasize the point, Ramesh said: "This is a non-negotiable stand." (WHAT do we do about that?) and names some of the Senators blocking even the House bill: Claire McCaskill Robert Byrd Senate's "coal bloc," which also includes West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, and Virginia Democrats Mark Warner and Jim Webb --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
