Thursday, December 17, 2015

Lifting the ban would VASTLY increase fracking, frack-sand mining, and exploding oil trains

Dear Friends:
 
This is an urgent message!!!!!
Lawmakers on Tuesday night agreed to end a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports as a condition of the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending and taxation bill, paving the way for a dramatic increase in drilling, fracking, and carbon emissions.
This GOP sponsored legislation  comes just days after the COP21 climate talks in Paris. It threatens to undo much of the progress to address climate change made at the United Nations-brokered negotiations.
Among other environmentally damaging impacts, lifting the ban would
VASTLY increase fracking, frack-sand mining, and exploding oil trains:
  • huge increase in pressure to mine frack sand
  • more exploding oil cars s every day
  • 3.3 million more barrels of oil every day
  • 7,600 new fracking wells every year
  • 135 more coal-fired plants
  • 100 square miles of land each year lost to drilling
  • export ban lifted in exchange for extended solar/wind tax credits for only 5 years.
  • even if we lose, the more pressure we bring to bear (mostly on Democrats) now, the easier our work will be in the coming months to pressure Obama to declare nat’l environmental emergency, which allows him to reinsert the ban for one year.
This is NOT a done-deal, despite what the media says. .
 
Please CALL your US senator, congressperson, and the President, and tell them they must NOT vote for this bill.
  • U.S. Senator 202-224-3121
  • Congressman 202-224-3121
  • President Obama 202-456-1111 or www.whitehouse.gov
 
Please join Environmental and Climate Action Groups all over the country in a fast lobbying response to defeat this very bad legislation.
 
Thank you.
 
Ken Tschumper
1640 Tschumper Rd,
La Crescent MN. 55947
507-894-4248
ktschump@acegroup.cc

 
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, April 23, 2015

ACT NOW (AGAIN!): Bill to Gut the MPCA Citizens' Board is on the MN House Floor Friday

Legislation that Guts the Power of the MPCA Citizens' Board
will be on the MN House Floor on Friday

Contact your state Representative today and tell them to stand up to corporate special interests and keep the MPCA Citizens’ Board strong. The House Omnibus Environment Finance Bill contains provisions that gut the authority of the MPCA Citizens’ Board and it will be on the House floor Friday, April 24.

Corporate ag is attacking the MPCA Citizens’ Board. In August 2014, neighbors to a proposed 8,850-cow factory farm in Stevens County called on the MPCA Citizens' Board to protect their community. Among neighbors’ concerns was that each year this factory farm would have used close to 100 million gallons of water and generated over 75 million gallons of liquid manure. The MPCA Citizens’ Board listened and for the first time ever ordered an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a factory farm. However, that’s one EIS too many for corporate agriculture interests.

Bobby King
Land Stewardship Project
612-722-6377
Posted by at No comments:

Proposed Minnesota state legislation establishes a self-appointed board of corporate ag interests that oversees millions in public funds.

Bill Would Put Corporate Ag Interests in Charge of Millions of Public Dollars
Proposed Minnesota state legislation establishes a self-appointed board of corporate ag interests that oversees millions in public funds. The House Omnibus Ag Finance Bill (House File 1437) aims to put corporate ag interests in charge of millions in public funds with no accountability. The bill creates the “Agriculture, Research, Education, Extension, and Technology Transfer Fund” and establishes a board that controls the funding. This board is made up primarily of corporate ag and commodity groups that appoint their own representatives to the board. This self-appointed board controls these public funds and the bill has no provisions for transparency or accountability.

The fund focuses on productivity, not sustainability. The bill directs the funds to focus on “investments that will most efficiently achieve long-term agricultural productivity . ” Directing research dollars to focus only on productivity, with no regard for stewardship of our land and water or profitability for farmers, is bad policy. This language needs to say “productivity and sustainability.”

It’s hard to believe such a bad idea could get so far. This is such a bad idea that the Star Tribune newspaper on Monday wrote a major editorial opposing the idea: "New Minnesota ag board would set troubling precedent." The editorial says, in part, “Essentially, the legislation creates a pot of public money and turns it over to interest group representatives with vague language about how it could be spent.”

Take action now to let your legislators know that you don’t want special interests put in charge of public dollars.
thedatabank, inc.
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Saturday, May 9th - a big conference for frac-sand activists

SAVE THE DATE!  
On Saturday, May 9th a big conference for frac-sand activists will be held in Lake City MN, for people from our entire region, both sides of Mississippi.

Join citizen volunteers from both sides of the Mississippi River for a day of network building and information exchange. Whether you are new to the issue or an experienced advocate, this conference is for you.  We are all working to protect our communities from the adverse impacts of industrial-scale silica sand mining, processing and transport. At the conference you will meet citizens and hear success stories from all over the region. You will leave with ideas that you can use in your own community.

Saturday, May 9, 2015
8:30 AM to 3:30 PM
St. Mary of the Lake Church
419 West Lyon Ave. (Hwy. 63), Lake City, MN 55041

Located 3 blocks from Hwy. 61 on Hwy. 63.
$15 includes lunch and breaks
Registration information below
Posted by at No comments:

Environmental Impact Statement on a factory farm


 In August 2014, neighbors to a proposed 8,850-cow factory farm in Stevens County, Minnesota called on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens' Board to protect their community. Among neighbors' concerns was that each year this factory farm would have used close to 100 million gallons of water and generated over 75 million gallons of liquid manure. 


The MPCA Citizens' Board listened and for the first time ever ordered an Environmental Impact Statement on a factory farm.


Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, March 1, 2015

No wonder Hackbarth reopened this issue for an industry whineathon

No wonder Hackbarth reopened this issue for an industry whineathon about regulations in his Mining and Outdoor Wrecks Committee without asking citizen groups as well.  See more in Mining & Outdoor Wrecks Committee: Hackbarth's frac sand industry showcase.
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Stand Up for Environmental Review & Citizen Input on Jan. 29



On Friday, January 23, 2015 10:46 AM, Bobby King (LSP) <bking@landstewardshipproject.org> wrote:

 
Forward this message to a friend.

LSP Action Alert

Stand Up for Environmental Review & Citizen Input on Jan. 29

Plan to Attend Senate Environment Policy Committee Hearing Thurs., Jan. 29, at Noon, on the Importance of Environmental Review & Citizen Input

A recent decision by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens' Board to order a much needed in-depth environmental review of an 8,850 cow mega-dairy has corporate ag interests out to gut environmental review and citizen input. (More details below.) Rather than let corporate interests set the agenda, Senator John Marty, Chair of the Senate Environment Policy Committee, is holding a hearing on the POSITIVE impacts of environmental review and citizen input in that process. The fact is that Minnesota is a better place to live because of policies that allow citizens to have a voice in decisions that will impact their community and that assess how potential environmental harm can be avoided BEFORE a project is permitted.
LSP dairy farmer-member James Kanne of Renville County will be testifying on why family farms and rural Minnesota are better off when we require large-scale factory farms to fully disclose the potential harm to the community through environmental review.   
Take Action to support strengthening environmental review in Minnesota and citizen input in the process.
1. Attend the Senate Environment Policy hearing Jan. 29, from noon to 1:30 p.m., in Room 107 of the State Capitol.
If you plan to attend, let Bobby King at LSP know at bking@landstewardshipproject.org or 612-722-6377. If you need a ride, we have a car coming up from southeast Minnesota and are arranging for carpooling in other parts of the state. If you do plan to attend, remember that there is extensive construction going on at the State Capitol and give yourself extra time to find parking. Parking information is here.
Can’t attend but want to watch? You can watch the hearing online here.
2. Contact members of the Senate Environment Policy Committee and let them know you think environmental review and citizen input make Minnesota strong and a great place to live and do business.
Suggested message: “As a member of the Senate Environment Policy Committee, you will be hearing about environmental review and citizen participation in the process at your Jan. 29 meeting. Minnesotans know that economic development does not have to come at the expense of our environment and that citizen input into major developments that will impact their community for decades to come is a good thing. This is what environmental review does. It assesses what the potential harm is up-front before permitting begins. This makes sense and I strongly support policies like these. Corporate ag interests want environmental review weakened because the MPCA Citizens’ Board made the right decision to order an Environmental Impact Statement on a proposed 8,000 cow mega-dairy. It would be wrong to weaken this bedrock environmental protection for corporate special interests.”
MORE DETAILS:
• The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board ordered an Environmental Impact Statement on an 8,850 cow mega-dairy in Stevens County. Each year this operation would have used over 100 million gallons of water and generated over 75 million gallons of liquid manure. Neighbors wanted a complete assessment of the impacts to their community before it was permitted. This proposal was massive and would have been the largest dairy in Minnesota where 92 percent of all dairy farms are under 200 cows. The MPCA Citizens’ Board listened and made the appropriate decision to order an in-depth environmental review. The response from corporate ag interests has been to push for weakening environmental review, including the extreme proposal of eliminating the MPCA Citizens’ Board. More details are in the LSP blog: LSP Applauds MPCA Citizens’ Board Ordering of EIS on Massive Dairy Factory Farm.
• How many and how large are dairy farms in Minnesota? There are 3,422 dairy farms in Minnesota. The average dairy herd size is 105 cows. The median herd size is 60. Ninety-two percent of all dairy farmers are 200 cows or under. Only 30 dairy farms (less than 1 percent) are over 1,000 cows.
• Read the commentary from Rep. David Bly which is currently running throughout rural Minnesota: Family farmers are 'real ag' and key to rural Minnesota’s future


thedatabank, inc.










Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)