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My Ten Point Plan to Stop Fracking and Ocean/Estuary Destruction In CA
Activists should educate themselves about the role of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Big Oil in California politics - and work to reduce their enormous influence by supporting movements like the Move to Amend and campaigns for more openness and transparency in California politics.
Public trust advocates should form a new grassroots coalition, led by Indigenous Leaders, to connect the different water issues that impact one another, including the Shasta Dam Raise, Twin Tunnels, fracking, ocean oil spills, fish kills at the Delta pumps, the near extinction of Delta smelt and winter run Chinook salmon, dam removal on the Klamath River, California's deeply-flawed Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, and Big Oil, Big Ag and corporate control of the regulatory apparatus.
Photo of Tribal activists from the Klamath River at an anti-fracking rally in Sacramento in March 2014. Photo by Dan Bacher.
Public trust advocates should form a new grassroots coalition, led by Indigenous Leaders, to connect the different water issues that impact one another, including the Shasta Dam Raise, Twin Tunnels, fracking, ocean oil spills, fish kills at the Delta pumps, the near extinction of Delta smelt and winter run Chinook salmon, dam removal on the Klamath River, California's deeply-flawed Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, and Big Oil, Big Ag and corporate control of the regulatory apparatus.
Photo of Tribal activists from the Klamath River at an anti-fracking rally in Sacramento in March 2014. Photo by Dan Bacher.
My Ten Point Plan to Stop Fracking and Ocean/Estuary Destruction In California
by Dan Bacher
In response to one of my articles about offshore fracking, a reader asked, "What can we do here right now?" So here's my ten point plan to fight fracking and the destruction of our oceans and estuaries by fracking and other harmful activities by ocean industrialists and corporate interests.
1. People should support a complete ban on fracking in California, as called for by Californians Against Fracking and other groups. This can be done through local bans, as well as by putting pressure on Governor Brown to ban fracking statewide. Unfortunately, Brown has rejected the call for a statewide plan to date.
2. Activists should mobilize support for Senator Mike McGuire's SB 788, which I strongly support. This bill protects a marine protected area off the Tranquillon Ridge from oil drilling by removing an oil industry loophole in the California Coastal Sanctuary Act. I also urge folks to support Senator Holly Mitchell's legislation addressing the Refugio State Oil Spill. The only problem here is that I fear the oil industry will either defeat these bills, eviscerate them with bad amendments or get Jerry Brown to veto them if they ever pass the Legislature. (http://sandiegofreepress.org/2015/06/state-senate-passes-bill-banning-new-offshore-drilling/)
3. Activists should educate themselves about the role of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Big Oil in California politics - and work to reduce their enormous influence by supporting movements like the Move to Amend and campaigns for more openness and transparency in California politics. (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/02/06/big-oil-group-spent-89-million-last-year-lobbing-jerry-brown-and-california-officials)
4. People should support groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity in their lawsuits against fracking and offshore oil drilling, as well as regional, grassroots efforts to ban offshore oil drilling, including the campaign to declare a Chumash National Marine Sanctuary.
5. Activists should push for an independent investigation into the strange role of Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) as both a "marine guardian" and a Big Oil lobbyist. She must be questioned about what she knew about offshore fracking off the California coast while she was both serving as the WSPA President and the Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California. (http://www.calitics.com/diary/15750/lobbyist-for-oil-pipeline-company-oversaw-creation-of-fouled-marine-protected-areas)
6. Activists should pressure the Fish and Game Commission and Brown administration to permanently ban oil drilling, fracking, pollution, military testing and corporate aquaculture in marine protected areas, as the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 empowered them to do.
7. Activists should begin organizing more creative, effective direct actions highlighting and bringing to public attention the oil industry's power in California, such as maybe doing a march on Chevron, Aeera Energy or WSPA offices in California.
8. More activists in Southern California should join with their sisters and brothers in Northern California opposing Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the fish-killing Delta tunnels. If the Bay Delta Estuary, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, is destroyed by this project, it will greatly impact the salmon, halibut, anchovy, herring, sardine, crab, striped bass, lingcod, rockfish and other fish populations along the West Coast from Southern Washington to Southern California. And the water from the tunnels will inevitably go to support fracking and steam injection operations by the oil industry in Kern County. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/09/18774688.php)
9. People should support the Pledge of Resistance campaign to fracking, oil trains and the Tar Sands pipelines that is starting to mobilize. Not everybody feels comfortable doing the more strident type of direct actions, but those who are willing to do so need to grow greatly in numbers.
10. Finally, for the most important solution - public trust advocates should form a new grassroots coalition, led by Indigenous Leaders, to connect the different water issues that impact one another, including the Shasta Dam Raise, Twin Tunnels, fracking, ocean oil spills, fish kills at the Delta pumps, the near extinction of Delta smelt and winter run Chinook salmon, dam removal on the Klamath River, California's deeply-flawed Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, and Big Oil, Big Ag and corporate control of the regulatory apparatus. (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/04/18774455.php)
We may not agree on everything, but at least there would be a forum to bring up these issues, network with one another and move forward on concrete plans and actions that we agree upon. I've found that many well meaning activists aren't aware of the direct, undeniable connection between the expansion of fracking in California and the Shasta Dam raise and the tunnels plan - and we need to better educate the activist community, as well as bringing new activists into the fold.
Before embarking on new organizing campaigns, people should incorporate the insights of experienced organizers, such as those of Micah White, the cocreator of Occupy Wall Street, regarding the effectiveness of protests on the current political scene. (http://portside.org/2015-07-14/protest-broken-interview-micah-white)
by Dan Bacher
In response to one of my articles about offshore fracking, a reader asked, "What can we do here right now?" So here's my ten point plan to fight fracking and the destruction of our oceans and estuaries by fracking and other harmful activities by ocean industrialists and corporate interests.
1. People should support a complete ban on fracking in California, as called for by Californians Against Fracking and other groups. This can be done through local bans, as well as by putting pressure on Governor Brown to ban fracking statewide. Unfortunately, Brown has rejected the call for a statewide plan to date.
2. Activists should mobilize support for Senator Mike McGuire's SB 788, which I strongly support. This bill protects a marine protected area off the Tranquillon Ridge from oil drilling by removing an oil industry loophole in the California Coastal Sanctuary Act. I also urge folks to support Senator Holly Mitchell's legislation addressing the Refugio State Oil Spill. The only problem here is that I fear the oil industry will either defeat these bills, eviscerate them with bad amendments or get Jerry Brown to veto them if they ever pass the Legislature. (http://sandiegofreepress.org/2015/06/state-senate-passes-bill-banning-new-offshore-drilling/)
3. Activists should educate themselves about the role of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Big Oil in California politics - and work to reduce their enormous influence by supporting movements like the Move to Amend and campaigns for more openness and transparency in California politics. (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/02/06/big-oil-group-spent-89-million-last-year-lobbing-jerry-brown-and-california-officials)
4. People should support groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity in their lawsuits against fracking and offshore oil drilling, as well as regional, grassroots efforts to ban offshore oil drilling, including the campaign to declare a Chumash National Marine Sanctuary.
5. Activists should push for an independent investigation into the strange role of Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) as both a "marine guardian" and a Big Oil lobbyist. She must be questioned about what she knew about offshore fracking off the California coast while she was both serving as the WSPA President and the Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California. (http://www.calitics.com/diary/15750/lobbyist-for-oil-pipeline-company-oversaw-creation-of-fouled-marine-protected-areas)
6. Activists should pressure the Fish and Game Commission and Brown administration to permanently ban oil drilling, fracking, pollution, military testing and corporate aquaculture in marine protected areas, as the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 empowered them to do.
7. Activists should begin organizing more creative, effective direct actions highlighting and bringing to public attention the oil industry's power in California, such as maybe doing a march on Chevron, Aeera Energy or WSPA offices in California.
8. More activists in Southern California should join with their sisters and brothers in Northern California opposing Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the fish-killing Delta tunnels. If the Bay Delta Estuary, the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas, is destroyed by this project, it will greatly impact the salmon, halibut, anchovy, herring, sardine, crab, striped bass, lingcod, rockfish and other fish populations along the West Coast from Southern Washington to Southern California. And the water from the tunnels will inevitably go to support fracking and steam injection operations by the oil industry in Kern County. (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/09/18774688.php)
9. People should support the Pledge of Resistance campaign to fracking, oil trains and the Tar Sands pipelines that is starting to mobilize. Not everybody feels comfortable doing the more strident type of direct actions, but those who are willing to do so need to grow greatly in numbers.
10. Finally, for the most important solution - public trust advocates should form a new grassroots coalition, led by Indigenous Leaders, to connect the different water issues that impact one another, including the Shasta Dam Raise, Twin Tunnels, fracking, ocean oil spills, fish kills at the Delta pumps, the near extinction of Delta smelt and winter run Chinook salmon, dam removal on the Klamath River, California's deeply-flawed Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, and Big Oil, Big Ag and corporate control of the regulatory apparatus. (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/07/04/18774455.php)
We may not agree on everything, but at least there would be a forum to bring up these issues, network with one another and move forward on concrete plans and actions that we agree upon. I've found that many well meaning activists aren't aware of the direct, undeniable connection between the expansion of fracking in California and the Shasta Dam raise and the tunnels plan - and we need to better educate the activist community, as well as bringing new activists into the fold.
Before embarking on new organizing campaigns, people should incorporate the insights of experienced organizers, such as those of Micah White, the cocreator of Occupy Wall Street, regarding the effectiveness of protests on the current political scene. (http://portside.org/2015-07-14/protest-broken-interview-micah-white)
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The death of 47 residents of Lac-Megantic, victims of an oil train explosion, has been remembered in cities around the country.
Fracking pipelines and bomb trains were denounced. We were reminded that the blast zone extends a half mile on either side of the track.
Meanwhile 9 million gallons on crude oil roll along U.S. rails. Refinery expansion involving more rails are vigorously opposed now by coalitions of affected towns and cities. 20,000 negative comments pepper an environmental of a refinery proposal. A fiery derailment causes 5,000 Tennesseeans to have to evacuate their homes. The DOT avers that an oil train explosion in a metro area like Houston could kill thousands and cost billions. New, advertised tougher, DOT regs still don't have standards for stabilization, still allow the crude to be hauled in unsafe tank cars, and still don't strengthen requirements for rail inspections.
The Big 7 railroads enjoyed $6 billion in profits in 2008. Thanks to Bakken crude, profits have notched up to $14 billion in 2014. In that time, how much has gone into finding and fixing flaws in rails, switches, and bridges? How much has gone into escrow to pay for a disaster ours derailment? We often hear the hokey statistic that 99.97% of what is shipped arrives safely. How about some meaningful data about what is done with railroad profits?
So, more important than ever, derailment avoidance is the area in which to put resource. Better inspections, stricter maintenance schedules, tighter enforcement by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Sign the attached petition demanding that the FRA use its authority to promote safety, even at the cost of some profit for the railroads. Add a comment so they hear another voice besides the plaintive wail of the railroad lobbyists saying "Trust us, we know what we're doing."
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/enforce-railroad-health?source=s.fwd&r_by=1718159
Fracking pipelines and bomb trains were denounced. We were reminded that the blast zone extends a half mile on either side of the track.
Meanwhile 9 million gallons on crude oil roll along U.S. rails. Refinery expansion involving more rails are vigorously opposed now by coalitions of affected towns and cities. 20,000 negative comments pepper an environmental of a refinery proposal. A fiery derailment causes 5,000 Tennesseeans to have to evacuate their homes. The DOT avers that an oil train explosion in a metro area like Houston could kill thousands and cost billions. New, advertised tougher, DOT regs still don't have standards for stabilization, still allow the crude to be hauled in unsafe tank cars, and still don't strengthen requirements for rail inspections.
The Big 7 railroads enjoyed $6 billion in profits in 2008. Thanks to Bakken crude, profits have notched up to $14 billion in 2014. In that time, how much has gone into finding and fixing flaws in rails, switches, and bridges? How much has gone into escrow to pay for a disaster ours derailment? We often hear the hokey statistic that 99.97% of what is shipped arrives safely. How about some meaningful data about what is done with railroad profits?
So, more important than ever, derailment avoidance is the area in which to put resource. Better inspections, stricter maintenance schedules, tighter enforcement by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Sign the attached petition demanding that the FRA use its authority to promote safety, even at the cost of some profit for the railroads. Add a comment so they hear another voice besides the plaintive wail of the railroad lobbyists saying "Trust us, we know what we're doing."
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/enforce-railroad-health?source=s.fwd&r_by=1718159
As a blacklisted yardforman-conductor qualification, the simple truth is that the Canadian-U.S., Mexican Railways and railways around the world have been reducing by automation as austerity the crew sizes of the freight and passenger safety code necessity of five people per freight crew. That is the minumum crew size necessary to cover the safety codes.
Also the company orientated safety officials have allowed, as in the case of Lac-me'gantic, trains to only be tied up with the independent brakes of the head end locamotives. The rail companies don't allow the full application of the air brakes throughout the train when leaving the trains abandoned.
In Lac-me'gantic they didn't even set a derail device before leaving the train and that train was on top of a slope hill heading into the centre of the city and its industrial heartland.
Such careless ommission of duty rules on setting up a safe train was not allowed in the early sixties. Safety on the Canadian railways has been tossed out the window by the companies saying that it took too long to pump up the air brakes if set on the entire length of the train (fifteen minutes at most).
Such misuse of unjust rules that safety became not as it was before when the CNR-- Canadian National Railway was owned by Canadians they said and the rules were maintained that 'Safety is the first consideration and duty of the railway.'
For the sake of a fifteen minute air brake pump-up, 47 lives were lost and thirty factories, city history, and city social centre was raised to the ground.
Oil trains cannot be made safe that is just another company illusion. What needs to take place is a re-tooling of the industrial revolution to the renewable energy such as wind, tidal, and solar power that transforms to electricity.
Then to get out of the non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels of coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy.
Electricity from the renewables would allow liberation to occur again in that the present burn-out of oxygen wdould end and hence the green reolution could again replace the oxygen. Forty per cent of the oxygen has already been burned out by the first industrial revollution, don't aggressive war for the burn-out of the remaining 60% of the oxygen supply globally. Stop Big oil Fracking globally!!
You yet have a world to win!! End unsafe practices on the railways, electrifiy the world's railways from the renewable energy sources. End non-renewable power in the industrial revolution. Workers of the world unite!!
Also the company orientated safety officials have allowed, as in the case of Lac-me'gantic, trains to only be tied up with the independent brakes of the head end locamotives. The rail companies don't allow the full application of the air brakes throughout the train when leaving the trains abandoned.
In Lac-me'gantic they didn't even set a derail device before leaving the train and that train was on top of a slope hill heading into the centre of the city and its industrial heartland.
Such careless ommission of duty rules on setting up a safe train was not allowed in the early sixties. Safety on the Canadian railways has been tossed out the window by the companies saying that it took too long to pump up the air brakes if set on the entire length of the train (fifteen minutes at most).
Such misuse of unjust rules that safety became not as it was before when the CNR-- Canadian National Railway was owned by Canadians they said and the rules were maintained that 'Safety is the first consideration and duty of the railway.'
For the sake of a fifteen minute air brake pump-up, 47 lives were lost and thirty factories, city history, and city social centre was raised to the ground.
Oil trains cannot be made safe that is just another company illusion. What needs to take place is a re-tooling of the industrial revolution to the renewable energy such as wind, tidal, and solar power that transforms to electricity.
Then to get out of the non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels of coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy.
Electricity from the renewables would allow liberation to occur again in that the present burn-out of oxygen wdould end and hence the green reolution could again replace the oxygen. Forty per cent of the oxygen has already been burned out by the first industrial revollution, don't aggressive war for the burn-out of the remaining 60% of the oxygen supply globally. Stop Big oil Fracking globally!!
You yet have a world to win!! End unsafe practices on the railways, electrifiy the world's railways from the renewable energy sources. End non-renewable power in the industrial revolution. Workers of the world unite!!
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