On the 3 month anniversary of the catastrophic explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, an explosion that ended the lives of 11 workers and irreparably damaged the livelihoods of countless others, I was at a rally held across the street from the U.S. Capitol building.
Three Months, Three Years
July 20th will be the three month anniversary of the BP oil blowout disaster.
To call attention to this fact–to demand strong climate legislation that reduces carbon emissions and promotes clean energy–to call for getting dirty energy money out of politics, a broad coalition of 19 national, regional and state organizations (see list below) issued a call a couple of days ago for local “Congress: You’ve Got Oil on Your Hands” events around the country on July 20th. The coalition urges that actions be held in front of the offices of members of the Senate or the House who have taken a large amount of money from Big Oil or who have refused to support strong action on climate. More info on Big Oil campaign contributions can be found at http://www.followtheoilmoney.org. MoveOn.org is setting up a website operation where local organizers can register their events and get more information.
Given the continuing ecological and economic disaster unfolding in the gulf, and because the U.S. Senate will be debating and voting on offshore drilling/energy/climate legislation this month or early in August, it is right-on-time that these actions are happening. This is the time to really step up grassroots pressure on the U.S. Senate!! Continue reading
Congress: You've Got Oil On Your Hands
SAVE THE DATE: JULY 20TH, 2010
July 20th – On the 3-Month Anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster Continue reading
Good News for Deepwater Oil Junkies
We’ve all heard that we’re addicted to oil. But in the wake of the BP spill we might do well to take the oil-as-a-drug metaphor a little more seriously. For starters we need to understand that deepwater oil is the really bad stuff, the petrochemical heroin
Behind Obama's speech: a stale strategy and a value vacuum
If in the wake of the president’s flaccid oval office speech there is still any doubt lingering in anyone’s mind about whether the administration is planning to use the spill as a chance to unleash a game-changing energy policy strategy, a recent DNC oil-spill messaging briefing should put them to rest.The report, compiled by pollster Joel Benenson and the League of Conservation voters, shows an unequivocal voter tilt in favor of policies and politicians that support a shift towards clean energy and outlines an energy-messaging strategy the authors claim will help those policies and politicians win votes in the coming months. The “pillars” of that strategy, along with their “key dimensions” are:FRAME THE OPPOSITION– Big Oil and corporate polluters who have blocked energy reform for decades- Politicians protecting the special interests that fund their campaigns
ILLUSTRATE THE COST OF OUR DEPENDENCE
– Our dependence on oil hurts our economy, helps our enemies, puts our security at risk:- $1 billion a day on foreign oil, oil spill destroying jobs and livelihoods
TAP INTO DEEPLY HELD VALUES
– Put America back in control of our energy situation- Cut foreign oil spending in half- Invest in energy that’s made in America and creates millions of jobs for Americans
If, as Politico’s Mike Allen suggests, this briefing is the kind of thing the White House is using to shape its energy strategy, it’s no surprise that we were underwhelmed by the president’s speech the other night. While the oil spill may represent a potential turning point in US energy policy, the Benenson approach certainly doesn’t represent anything close to a potential turning point on energy policy messaging. Except for the bit about the “oil spill destroying lives and livelihoods” there is absolutely nothing in this messaging that politicians haven’t been saying for years. We’ve heard all about those big oil baddies and their buddies in Congress who have “blocked energy reform for decades” and kept us all dangerously dependent upon fossil fuels. And yet here we are with a stalled Senate clean-energy bill, a quickly changing climate and a Gulf full of oil.
Of course where this messaging really fails big time is on the “deeply held values” front. To win a policy debate it’s not enough to tap into values unless you tap into them in a way that gives you a rhetorical advantage over your opponent. But it’s hard to see how Benenson’s effort to tap values like independence or patriotism differs noticeably from the GOP approach. Sure, switching to clean energy would “put Americans back in control of our energy situation” and “cut foreign oil spending”; but according to Republicans so would expanded off shore drilling and mountain-top-removal mining. So where’s the rhetorical advantage?It’s no surprise though that the value pillar should be the weakest of the three. The tendency to put far too much trust in the polls and far too little trust in their core progressive values, has always been the Achilles heel of progressive leaders like the President. This kind maddening political calculus is undoubtedly what informed the decision to turn the president’s speech into a hollow piece of rhetorical posturing, and it’s exactly the kind of political calculus that will prevent the president and his allies in Congress from passing any really meaningful climate and clean energy policies. Only by turning away from the pollsters and back to his core progressive values like empathy, as George Lakoff brilliantly argued recently, will the President find the political and moral strength he needs to successfully lead the country out of the oil- spill and climate crises and into a clean energy future.
VIDEO: The BP Coffee Spill
From the Upright Citizen’s Brigade:
What's next?
BP Citizen's Arrest
Check out CCAN director Mike Tidwell speaking at the protest outside BP’s headquarters June 4th:
CCAN director tours oil disaster: video, photos, words
| Photo Album Photo Credit: Jeffrey Dubinsky, Gulf Restoration Network |
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| Photo of oil invading Louisiana wetlands as seen from the air. |
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| Tidwell flies over the oil disaster site with Aaron Viles of the Gulf Restoration Network |
| More pictures from Tidwell’s Gulf Coast trip>> |
I just got back from a four-day tour of the Louisiana coastline. I flew over the oil catastrophe in a small plane. I toured the oily marshes in fishing boats. And I walked the beaches myself, smelling what people here say is a mix of oil and “agent orange,” their name for the toxic chemical dispersant BP is spraying on the oil. Watch this short video. I went to Louisiana to see for myself just what’s at stake for Maryland and Virginia. Unless we re-instate a permanent ban on all new offshore drilling in the mid-Atlantic, this could be us. Thankfully, due to the activism of people like you, President Obama last week cancelled a plan to sell drilling leases just 50 miles off the Virginia coastline. That’s a good start. But it’s not a done deal. Please sign this petition for a permanent offshore ban. And donate to CCAN to help us keep up this critical fight. Based on my trip to Louisiana, I can tell you we’ll never be safe with oil. Never. It’s wrecking our climate, of course, and there’s no way to permanently eliminate human error and equipment failure through regulation. As long as we have thousands and thousands of drilling rigs off our shores, there will be another spill. I visited innocent Louisiana fishing families now being wiped out by the spill. Many of them weep openly as they talk. They describe spending their whole lives fishing only to be told last week that they’ll get a $10,000 fine if they drop a single net or line in the water. One fisherman said, “BP thinks they can repay us with money. But they’ve taken away something no money can repay. They’ve taken away our way of life.” If a similar blowout occurred off the coast of Virginia, we’d have oil from Virginia Beach to Cape May, NJ. And it would be innocent Virginia watermen crying. Innocent Maryland hotel owners and dockworkers crying. Please donate to CCAN to help us make sure this never happens. Offshore wind power in Virginia and Maryland is the better path, of course. Using only a small portion of the coast, windmills in Virginia alone could provide enough electricity to power 3.6 million electric cars [pdf] forever. That’s with practically zero pollution even if, god forbid, a hurricane blew through and knocked down some or all the windmills. It’s clean energy. We are all victims of climate change, of course. But the Louisiana families I visited last week are the victims, right now, of one the ugliest addictions within the climate crisis. It’s our responsibility to make sure their suffering is not in vain.
BP Citizen's Arrest – Friday, High Noon
This Friday at high noon join with CCAN, Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Energy Action Coalition, 350.org, Hip Hop Caucus and the Center for Biological Diversity as we hold BP accountable for its high crimes and misdemeanors. We need YOU to help us deliver our charges against BP!
Join us from 12-1 outside of BP’s D.C. headquarters at 1101 New York Avenue, NW.
Charge #1: Criminal negligence. BP has a long history of worker, consumer and environmental violations. BP’s culture of negligence, shunning of common safety devices and inability to adequately respond to the mounting catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding communities warrants a citizen finding of criminal negligence.
Charge #2: Unfettered corporate influence. Corporate meddling in the political process has led to oil-friendly regulators and lawmakers, and a blatant disregard for the regulatory process.
Charge #3: Need for clean solutions. Even with increased safety and environmental regulations, oil drilling is still inherently dangerous. The only way to ensure we don’t have any more catastrophes is to stop offshore drilling altogether. Instead, we should pursue clean energy and energy independence.
RSVP on facebook or using this google spreadsheet. Then help us spread the word!