Fracking Banned Until May 15th
A photo-text blast of a rainbow at the beach went out yesterday as an omen that the Thompson Moratorium on Fracking would pass, and surely it did, 48 to 9. This means that Fracking is Banned until May 15th, 2011. Activism may not feel as urgently necessary at this moment -folks shall breathe- but there are 9 months to raise awareness and accelerate the debate.
To keep momentum on the subject, the August 12th EPA hearing on Fracking to be held in Binghamton is an opportunity to keep the guard up. Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter and Frack Action invite all people to come on a bus from Barnes and Nobles-Union Square at 8AM, Wednesday the 12th, to return around 11PM. It is free but there is a suggested $25 or less or more donation. It is a hearing, which means that for five hours people for and against Fracking will awkwardly sit amongst each other in a room and debate the issue, in this case with the EPA. Before the hearing starts you can expect a spirited rally with signs, chanting and speeches outside of the building.Where Do We Go From Here?
Upper layer of The Irish Rogue, 44th Street, Manhattan, Tuesday evening, August 3rd. A NYPIRG, (New York Public Interest Research Group, a partner of 1SKY) representative hosted a meeting with Greater New York City for Change and representatives from Move On that have now become United for Action (a Fracking Opposition group), Climate SOS., the Coffee Party, Amp Up and Frack Action (just me), as well as independent parties and an organizer for the Houston Street BP Action last May.
The Climate Bill has just died, and as the NYPIRG rep narrated, it first surpassed superior bills, and then it imploded, and then it withered, and then it withered even more, and then it lay in the corner pathetically, and then it breathed its last breath. This was the context of the meeting, where do we go from here, but many variables were missing from the meeting in order for it to illuminate a clear path of where to go. Half of the people there were involved in Greater NYC for Change, and needed to be almost fully updated on the Environmental Movement. The representative of Climate SOS wanted to talk about the Radical Environmental Movement's side of the story. One woman wanted to argue whether or not Anger was a worthy element of activism. Lastly, most of the environmentalists there wanted to talk about Fracking and one incredibly vocal blogger wanted to dispute whether or not we should even oppose Fracking.
The representative of Climate SOS. passed out a Rising Tide pamphlet called False Solutions to Climate Change, 2nd Edition before the meeting began and they sat, stacked on the table in the middle of the room, while the NYPIRG rep addressed ACES as originally a "decent" bill. After the SOS rep called her out on giving a one sided "rendition" of the story, I added that mostly Environmental Justice groups did not sign onto the ACES bill because it did not address their Social Justice issues (Extraction and CC Inequality), but that Copenhagen was a good thing because it brought the concept of Climate Justice to the forefront and we've been seeing more Social Justice groups becoming involved in the movement. The Gulf and Fracking have accelerated the Social Justice aspect of Climate by "a million percent." Maybe I was cut off by the second moderator because I said, "million percent," but I was about to conclude that in this moment now we have the opportunity to march forward, united, with more people involved, and with more light on the social aspect of Climate Change.
The NYPIRG rep said that when the bill died, she got, "Really Angry and pissed off" but then she remembered that big energy industries, "have a grip on our political system." She said, "I will not allow them to control the discourse. We have to keep fighting even though we have lost. Every social movement that has won... has won with stumbles... This is not the time to be sad. This is the time to Mobilize and start a Revolution."
Talk of a march on Washington came up and one person, who was brought along but isn't usually involved in politics, said that the March on Washington is an iconic image but that we should do something new and different. Carmen Barnes, of Greater NYC for Change disagreed. She is a woman that has marched on the Capital many times and holds it as a quintessential action for our nation's major social movements.
One person pointed out that if you don't have a banner to rally behind, "-You've got nothing," Schuster finished, agreeing. This might have been in reference to the concept of Cap and Trade, which was so controversial within the Environmental Movement itself, as a carbon trading, capitalist method. The banner that Chris Williams, of ISO (International Socialist Organization) wants the march on Washington to rally behind is "System Change, Not Climate Change," an actual banner slogan used in Copenhagen.
The new solution that NYPIRG and 1SKY advocate for now is the Clear Act. The Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal Act has been introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. It would establish a monthly auction system where polluters would buy "carbon shares" or permits. This would create the incentive for polluters to transition to a different form of production and 75% of the revenue would be sent out to the American public in the form of checks. According to supportclearact.com(1), "a household family of four would receive a rebate from the government totaling $1,100 per year." That revenue would be distributed progressively based on income, "to offset costs... passed onto the consumers." The remaining 25% would go into "clean energy" programs. (There is no distinction made about Nuclear). It would "address regional disparities in the transition to a clean energy economy."
(1) http://www.supportclearact.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i10hDOGeCvw&feature=channel (Explaining CLEAR Act)
-1st Image: BP Protest on Houston Street, Gothamist.com
*For Bus Info: http://www.frackaction.com/content/sign-here-nyc-buses-volunteering-housing
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