ACTION: Tell President Obama to take fracking out of our international trade agreements.

Can an Australian corporation challenge court decisions upholding fracking moratoria and bans in the US? That could be the case if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is approved by the negotiating parties: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam and probably Japan. Set to be finalized next year, this massive new trade pact is being negotiated behind closed doors without any Congressional oversight, and away from the media. With the TPP in place then transnational corporations would be able to challenge virtually any US environmental law, regulation or court decision that negatively affects their expectation of profits as a “regulatory taking”. The matter would go to an international tribunal that circumvents domestic judicial systems. For a TPP toolkit prepared by the Sierra Club, click HERE. NOTE. The TPP will also ease the export of LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).

The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water is seeking help from Pennsylvanians whose water supply has been affected by natural gas drilling (or other gas extraction activities). Also of interest is if any tests were done by the Department of Environmental Protection. Please tell your story by filling out the form available HERE. Your information will be kept confidential. If you would prefer tell us your story over the phone, please call Steve Hvozdovich at Clean Water Action, 412-765-3053, x210.

ACTION: Contact your local newspaper, TV and radio stations and ask for more coverage of climate change news.

When recently asked what was the #1 problem of the day, former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu promptly answered “Climate change. We’re heading into an era where if we don’t change what we’re doing, we’re going to be fundamentally in really deep trouble. We’re already in trouble. So we have to transition to better solutions.“ In an interview with the Guardian former NASA scientist Jim Hansen expanded on his view that the Canadian government’s push for exporting crude oil from the Athabaskan tar sands is moving us beyond the point of on return for climate change.

We must admit it doesn’t always happen this way, but in the recent Primary Election ALL the candidates endorsed by the Sierra Club in western Pennsylvania won. Top of the list was Bill Peduto’s mayoral victory with 53 pct of the vote to Wagner’s 39 pct and Wheatley’s 7 pct. In a Pittsburgh City Council race with three good candidates, Dan Gillman earned 59 pct, Sam Hens-Greco 25 pct, and Jeanne Clark 16 pct. In a second City Council race Natalia Rudiak moved towards re-election with 52 pct of the vote against Johnny Lee’s 48 pct. Thanks to all who helped achieve these three important victories. NOTE: See a lively and interesting morning-after analysis of the local elections by Lynn Cullen and Chris Potter.

ACTION.  Read this report and then ask your Congressman and both Senators how they plan to reduce the cost of climate disruption in the next five years.

The cost of climate-related disasters has increased considerably over recent years. At a time when there is much discussion of reducing the Federal deficit, a new analysis from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) titled “Who Pays for Climate Change? “ shows that in 2012 “the costs of disaster recovery, flood insurance, crop insurance, and forest firefighting represent a major expenditure in U.S. federal budgets, reaching an all-time high of $96 billion in 2012. This high is in addition to the costs borne by private insurance companies.“

On Tuesday, June 4th, Pennsylvanians will convoy across the state to Harrisburg to rumble the Rotunda with the call for dedicated funding for our public transit systems. You are invited to join us!

Governor Corbett’s transportation budget falls far short of what is needed to keep our public transit healthy and fully accessible. Unless our state legislature acts to pass funding legislation to make up that shortfall, we will face more damaging fixed bus route and ACCESS system cuts in upcoming years.

Reserve your seat on the bus or to sign the petition in support of the Transit Bill of Rights. For more information, contact Mike Pastorkovich at 412-512-8928 or Treesnrivers at yahoo dot com

On May 16 the U.S. Senate confirmed MIT professor Dr. Ernest Moniz as the new Secretary of Energy. Among his responsibilities are oversight of investments in clean energy and Federal measures to address the global climate crisis. He will also have full authority to decide what role domestically-fracked gas will play in the nation’s energy future, which is of concern to environmentalists. Please view the OPEN LETTER to Secretary Moniz from Deb Nardone, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Natural Gas Campaign Director.

Graphic: NASA

In an analysis of more than 4,000 academic papers that considered the possibility of human activity being the root cause of climate change, John Cook of the University of Queensland found that only 0.3 pct disputed human influence and 2.2 pct were unclear. To learn more about climate change see an Introduction for Beginners, Debunking the Myths, NASA’s map of Global Warming, Rising Sea Levels, Chemistry Toolkit, and the weekly news summary at Climate Progress.

George Hawkins at Clean Rivers Campaign talk, May 13. Photo: Tom Hoffman

DC Water is changing the way stormwater is managed
in the most important metropolis in the country.

Under George Hawkin’s leadership DC Water is changing from strictly gray tunnels to large scale green infrastructure. It is doing so carefully and thoughtfully, with an eye towards creating an infrastructure that works, brings benefits to the community, especially jobs, and is an investment in the region’s future. Along with the Beyond Tunnel Vision talk he gave to over 100 people at the Phipp’s lecture hall, George met with key leaders in the ALCOSAN decision making process and was on WESA’s Essential Pittsburgh where he shared his vision and strategy. If a green infrastructure can be done in DC, why can it not be done in Pittsburgh?

The remote mountaintop Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) in Hawaii is an ideal location for monitoring the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. For 24 hours on May 9 the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere atop exceeded 400 parts per million, or 0.04 pct. That is the highest CO2 level for more than two million years, it is the highest concentration in human history, and is a historically rapid increase of about 120 ppm since before the industrial revolution began in 1750. Passing 400 ppm is also an indication that the current efforts to curb CO2 emissions are inadequate, and we are on course for dramatic changes in the Earth’s climate. (more…)

As part of a national ‘preview’ tour Gasland Part II will be shown free to the public on Thursday, June 20, at the Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland. Doors open at 6 pm with live music and the screening begins at 7 pm. Director Josh Fox will be present. Gasland Part II is an HBO Documentary Films release presented by Gasland Grassroots. It will premiere on HBO on July 8th.

Artwork: Mike LaMark

ACTION: Contact EPA’s Office of Chemical Pollution and request a suspension of the neonicotinoid seed coatings until independent scientists verify safety.

We recently reported on the suit against the EPA over honeybee collapse disorder, brought by a coalition that includes the Sierra Club. At issue is the suspicion that the world’s most widely used class of pesticides, neonicotinoids, may be the leading cause of colony collapse disorder. While we wait for EPA to act, on April 29 the European Commission announced steps to ban the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides for a period of two years for corn, rapeseed, and sunflower crops. Two European producers of the banned pesticides, Bayer of Germany and Sygenta of Switzerland, have said their products aren’t to blame for the bees’ decline. See Impact on PA and Fed report below. (more…)