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Marco Rubio: A Staunch Supporter of Dangerous Drilling
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig caught fire and sank off the coast of Louisiana. The subsequent oil spill is now leaking 200,000 barrels of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico and threatening Florida.
Unfortunately, there are some who'd like to expand dangerous offshore oil drilling, including U.S. Senate candidate for Florida, Marco Rubio.
Radio Ad Holds Murkowski, Pomeroy Accountable
Accuses senator and congressman of turning backs on their state's economy by thwarting climate solutions
Friends of the Earth Action began airing a radio ad taking U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to task for doing the bidding of corporate lobbyists by attempting to roll back the Clean Air Act. The group also began running a radio ad in North Dakota aimed at holding Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) accountable for advocating a similar proposal.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that two lobbyists helped Murkowski draft a legislative proposal that would prevent the Clean Air Act from being used to reduce emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. Later in the week, Politico reported Murkowski's staff had gone so far as to invite the lobbyists to run a conference call organized by her staff that was intended to promote the proposal to other Senate offices. The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (centerforethics.org) Murkowski accepted more than $50,000 in campaign cash from clients of the lobbyists and allied special interests that helped craft her proposal.
Hear the Murkowski ad | Hear the Pomeroy ad | Read the release
House Green Economy Bill Falls Short
Polluting special interests have weakened bill; it now falls far short of
vision for clean energy future Obama articulated during campaign
A bill intended to spur the United States’ transition to a clean energy economy and reduce global
warming pollution is advancing in Congress. The bill (H.R. 2454), sponsored by Representatives Henry
Waxman and Ed Markey, passed the House of Representatives June 26 by a 219 to 212 margin.
Unfortunately, special interest lobbyists paid by Big Oil, Dirty Coal and other polluters—as well as Wall Street traders—managed to substantially weaken the bill. (The fact that polluting corporations like Shell Oil and Duke Energy, which is trying to build new coal-fired power plants, back the bill demonstrates its impotence.)
Read more on why Friends of the Earth Action opposes the bill.
Budget Victory
The budget proposal released February 26, 2009, by the Obama administration would slash taxpayer giveaways to the oil and gas industries by tens of billions of dollars. The days of Big Oil earning record profits while feeding at the taxpayer trough are coming to an end. President Obama’s decision to put an end to these giveaways is a huge victory for taxpayers and the planet.
The Obama budget proposal includes:
- A tax on oil and gas companies that are failing to pay oil royalties on Gulf of Mexico leases issued between 1996 and 2000.
- The repeal of former Representative Tom Delay's Sugarland deepwater oil and gas research program.
- Repeal of eight land standing oil and natural gas tax breaks some of which date back to the creation of the tax code.
Take action now to encourage Congress to support Obama's proposal.
Friends of the Earth Action Fights False Choices in Effort to Combat Global Climate Destabilization
Friends of the Earth Action is blowing the whistle to stop waste of tax dollars on approaches that will actually set the United States further behind in fight on climate change. The reason is that spending the same amount of money on ready-to-go clean energy options will result in dramatically greater reduction of greenhouse gas pollution. Here is our list of the leading false choices:
Nuclear Reactors
Building new nuclear reactors will create more radioactive waste and subject communities all over our nation to shipments of radioactive waste headed to disposal sites—if any can be found.
Ethanol from Corn
If all the US cropland that feeds our population of 300 million were devoted to the production of corn for ethanol, we would not even displace 15% of our current gasoline consumption.
Biofuels: Palm Oil, Soy and Sugar Cane
Major palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia have decimated tropical rainforests either directly through clearance of the forest or indirectly by taking over existing cropland and forcing agricultural production to go onto forest lands.
Dirty Coal
Coal is inherently dirty, from the mining process, to the combustion at a power plant, to the disposal of the combustion waste from the power plant. No amount of advertising or technology can make coal anything resembling a clean fuel. It is devastating to our air, land, water and wildlife, and poisonous to human health.
Carbon Capture and Sequestration
In an attempt to rescue dirty coal, some are pushing for sequestration of the carbon dioxide deep underground. No one knows whether such sequestration can be accomplished on a major industrial scale.
