Open thread for night owls: 100s of groups urge Obama to use climate emergency to ban oil exports
Nadia Prupis at Common Dreams writes—Groups to Obama: Declare Climate Emergency, Ban Crude Oil Exports:
Hundreds of organizations on Wednesday filed a legal petition (pdf) calling on the Obama administration to declare a "national climate emergency" and end all U.S. crude oil exports, which they say would keep millions of tons of greenhouse gas pollution from entering the atmosphere.
The petition comes as the U.S. nears a signing date for the COP21 climate agreement agreed to late last year in Paris.
Less than a week after pledging to lower greenhouse gas emissions, President Barack Obama in December also signed the omnibus spending and taxation bill that lifted a 40-year-old export ban on crude oil.
Environmental advocacy groups Center for Biological Diversity and Food and Water Watch, who organized the petition, stated:
As global temperatures hit record highs, the petition points out that “climate change is unquestionably a national emergency.” It also notes that halting crude exports is essential to the Paris Agreement’s goal “to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.”
And the U.S. Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill known as the Energy Policy Modernization Act that included, among other things, "expedited review" of natural gas exports.
"This is a most pernicious form of climate denial," said Friends of the Earth climate and energy program director Benjamin Schreiber. "Expediting approval of liquefied natural gas terminals will increase fracking and poison communities. Even as the American people are mobilizing to demand fossil fuels stay in the ground, the U.S. Senate is listening to Big Oil and helping to send them overseas."
Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity added, "President Obama must halt crude exports to give us a fighting chance to meet the Paris Agreement's crucial climate goals."
"The president has the legal authority to reverse the terrible mistake he made in approving the end to the longstanding ban on crude exports," Su said.
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, another signatory to the petition, added, "While Americans are increasingly turning against fracking and fossil fuels, President Obama has shockingly seen fit to double down on oil extraction to facilitate needless exports."
"But the president has a chance to make this right by acknowledging our emerging climate emergency and halting oil exports now. He must seize this opportunity," Hauter said.
In addition to climate damage, the petition notes the public health risks associated with fossil fuel extraction activities like fracking, which is linked to contaminated water suppliesthroughout the country.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—GOP wants Kerry to release military records:
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This one has me vexed:
What, does the GOP really want to give Kerry another chance to flash all his medals, all his heroic acts, and invite comparisons with Bush's AWOL record? If so, I'm not sure what Kerry is waiting for. And honestly, this really doesn’t look good for Kerry:
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On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, we pondered politics (plus PoliSci), post-primary, with Greg Dworkin, Armando and Joan McCarter. Who makes the rules for primaries, and should they be the ones to do it? Does Congress exist in any meaningful sense? And who should we send there next?
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