Caving in to Big Oil?

Word came in this afternoon that rumors are flying that President Obama was about to cave in to oil lobbyists, and approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.   He had earlier found the approval process to be rife with corruption.  He promised a fair and transparent analysis, using researchers not on the payroll of  the oil industry.  He said the analysis couldn’t be completed till 2013.

But as you know, Ohio Congressman John Boehner jammed a provision requiring immediate approval of KXL into the President’s payroll tax extension bill.  Initially, Obama promised to veto any such bill.  But we warned you: The oil industry -- many of them foreign-owned -- spends $42 million on congressional contributions per year.  Bribery is legal in America.  And common people like us don’t have $42 million to buy our government back.

But we’re doing what we can.  This afternoon, opponents of the Tar Sands Pipeline jammed the White House phone system with their calls.  But now, the phone room is closed for the weekend.

Still, you can email the President.  Please do so!  Simply tell him that our children are at stake. We must get serious about global CO2.  We must not exploit the dirtiest of all fuels.  We must not build the KXL Tar Sands Pipeline.

Sometimes, truth is stronger than money. By God's grace -- and your efforts -- maybe it will prove to be so now.

Click here to write the President.

Thank you, and may God bless you.

J. Elwood

Follow @John_Elwood

Back Room Politics & the Tar Sands Pipeline

Over the last few months, I’ve worn you out with information about the Alberta Tar Sands, and the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline to carry tar sands oil across the United States heartland.

You’ve watched the tug-of-war between the people and the oil industry – with the Obama Administration in the middle.  You’ve followed me to the State Department, the White House, and even to a Washington DC jailhouse. 

 

I thank you for your patience with a struggle that has borne distinct political features. It hasn’t been fun, but the stakes for the whole world have been really high.

50 square miles of these "lakes," and growing daily

A few weeks ago, with fear and trembling, I dared to cheer the President’s decision to conduct a new analysis of the pipeline’s merits – this time using independent analysts, and not consultants hired by the oil industry.

Some of you wondered if I was being naïve.  It turns out, you were right.  It ain’t over, they say, till it’s over.

As you know, there’s a big fight in government right now over the President’s plan to extend the payroll tax cuts, and to fund them with an increase in taxes on millionaires.  Congress is under pressure, because polls show that most people think this is a good idea, even though most in Congress oppose it. 

So the House Speaker, John Boehner, has come up with a clever plan: He’s approving the payroll tax cuts, but only if the President approves the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline now.   Since almost everyone agrees that the payroll tax plan is a good one, the President’s opponents can either blame him for vetoing his own tax plan, or deliver the tarry goods to the oil lobby as the price of poker.

Now, Boehner’s plan will sail through the House.  But the Senate is another matter, where the leadership opposes the tar sands deal.  The problem is, virtually every senator takes money from oil and coal lobbyists.  And money talks. The President has promised to veto any bill that forces his hand on the KXL Pipeline. But you never know. He too is a politician.

NJ's Bob Menendez: Still deciding?

We need to stop this in the Senate. And your part is easy.

If you have 30 seconds (really!), all you need to do is click here, enter your zip code, and click “send” for a letter to go to your senators.  If you have a couple of seconds, customize it a bit.  But at least, send them the basic letter now.

Some of you have children, and you'll be doing it for them.  Some simply love a child, and you'll be doing it for him or her. Some of you believe in the Creator, and you'll be doing it for his creation.

Because stopping the KXL pipeline is vital to the future of our children, and for the children of the world.  Its approval would mark a course toward imponderable harm to the earth and countless living species – including mankind.

So please, take a moment, and write your senator.  Something so good and so urgent was never so easy.

And may God bless you,

J. Elwood

Follow @John_Elwood

Climate Justice 101

Everybody wants justice. We all do, right? 

So did the great Hebrew King David, some 3,000 years ago, when confronted with an almost incredible story told by the prophet Nathan.

You probably know it already.  Like many Bible stories, it involved a rich man, and a poor one.  The rich man had many flocks; but his poor neighbor had only one little lamb, a cherished pet in the household.  When houseguests arrived at the rich man’s house, he bypassed his own vast herds, seized the poor man’s beloved  lamb, and slaughtered it for his meal.

Of all the stories of injustice in the Bible, this one really gets my heart racing.  Why would a rich person ever disregard the desperate need of his poor neighbor, and seize his only – and beloved – possession? That’s the way King David reacted too.  “This man deserves to die!” screamed the king.

We all know Nathan’s response, don’t we? “You are the man!”

The horrid truth collapsed upon King David like an avalanche, guilty of seizing a poor man’s wife and then arranging his murder in secret.

Well, centuries have come and gone, but stories of injustice for the poor abound wherever you look.  Last week, this year’s Climate Risk Index (CRI) laid out a particularly compelling example.  The CRI named Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma) and Honduras as the three countries that have suffered most over the last 20 years from extreme climate events.

The CRI, compiled by a European NGO called Germanwatch, is an annually-published pointer of which countries are most in need of shoring up defenses against floods, storms, drought and heat waves, which climate scientists say will continue to worsen this century.  It measures direct effects of extreme weather events, from direct human fatalities to economic impacts, and adjusts them for valid comparison between richer or poorer countries. (See Note 1.) 

The CRI ranks almost all countries in the world according to their risk from extreme climate events.  And the ten most vulnerable over 20 years of observation are listed below.  Some you know: Bangladesh, Pakistan and Burma have seen repeated flooding from increasingly severe monsoon rains.  Nicaragua, Honduras and the Caribbean isles have experienced increasingly severe hurricanes.  But they share one thing in common:  All are poor, according to IMF data.

Such a pity: Why should the countries bearing the brunt of the changing climate be poor to start with?

I wondered about the countries that are emitting most of the greenhouse gases – the ones that are driving the climate trends that threaten these poor countries.  Are they also poor?  Well, here’s the list of the top ten CO2 polluters worldwide, measured on the basis of emissions per person.

Hmm.  That doesn’t look right.  These people are rich!  In fact, they’re 17 times richer, on average, than the CRI Climate-Vulnerable citizens.  But they emit 25 times more carbon pollution than their poorer, vulnerable neighbors.

Take a close look at the numbers side by side: ten countries with 413 million people enjoy per-person GDP of $43,079, and emit on average 19.5 tons of CO2 for each of their citizens every year.  And ten other countries with 601 million living souls who eke out a living on $2,500 per person – they’re left to deal with the climate effects of that carbon pollution, while emitting almost none themselves.

What would King David say about this?  Well, I could guess.  But I’m pretty sure about the Hebrew prophet Nathan. Everywhere in the industrialized world, the prophet’s words are for us: “You are the man! … Why have you despised the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?”

Now in our day, we all know what most political leaders would do with this fact set.  It’s not true! There’s still scientific doubt! It’s only a theory! It’s a massive hoax! My lobbyists have told me it’s not that bad! Don’t listen to those pessimists! Besides, we need more jobs!

Alas! We don’t have King David around today.  Here’s how he responded to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord.”  And later in song: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

It was too late for David to make amends for what he had done.  And for the next thousand years, it’s too late for the rich countries of the earth to reverse the carbon pollution that we’ve poured into the atmosphere over the last few generations.  But it’s not too late to demand – and take – serious action now to stop the ongoing harm that we are foisting upon the poor of the world.

And this is especially so for followers of Jesus of Nazareth.  Our sacred scripture tells us this about him:  “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.” Look again at the two lists of countries.  Who do you think that the poor man, who is now the Lord of Heaven, is preparing to defend in today’s world?

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you.

J. Elwood

Note 1:  The CRI rankings do not attempt to measure indirect effects of climate events, such as starvation, disease, and conflict related to drought and famine.  As such, it likely under-counts climatic impacts on African nations where climate-related hunger is most severe.

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The 900-Pound Gorilla: Party Politics

Here at the CR, we do our best to maintain our political independence.  Some of our best friends have strong party loyalties, but we’ve always held that we don’t.

Barbara and I recently attended an ethics forum in NYC with Rev. Tim Keller, and we were struck with the simplicity of his message on political opinion. As I recall it, he said: “You can be a liberal or a conservative. But be sure that your ethics aren’t determined by your political affiliation.  Your ethics must be determined by the Bible.”

My only bumper sticker ever: Sojo.

The Bible!  In a day when the media tells us that evangelical Christians are practically owned by one of our parties, that’s a strong call to be careful about political ideology.

And so, as advocates for creation care, we try to “call ‘em like we see ‘em,” without regard to politics.  Most of the vocal Republicans these days mindlessly deny the very facts of climate science, and we don’t shrink from pointing that out.  But we’ve been sharply critical of our Democrat-in-Chief as well, while he waffled on the Keystone XL pipeline.  We blasted Rush Limbaugh recently for his lunacy regarding some maniacal African murderers (that he called Christians); but we followed it with an admiring piece on Republican Bob Inglis and his call to engage climate science and affirm free market economics.

It’s not hard to find things to like or dislike in both parties.  But in our efforts to be evenhanded, we must not make the mistake of talking nonsense.  There’s a 900-pound gorilla in the room, and it’s no good tiptoeing around it.  I’m going to take a deep breath before saying this: If today’s Republican Party had its way, the damage to our Father’s world and its most vulnerable children would be almost incalculable.

Now, now, now, now!  I beg you, give me one moment, please.  After all, the only party I’ve ever been a part of is the GOP.

But we’ve gone a little crazy recently.  Consider the Clean Air Act. Maybe you don’t remember what urban air was like before Republican President Nixon signed this into law in 1970.  But it was pretty toxic stuff.

And in 1990, Republican President George H.W. Bush signed sweeping amendments to the Clean Air Act to deal with interstate movements of polluted air and water.  You see, whatever you think about Vegas, what happens in Pittsburgh doesn’t stay in Pittsburgh. The government – and the Republicans – understood this.

Finally, 21 years later, the EPA has gotten around to writing the regulations to enforce the Clean Air Act.  It’s called the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, issued in July, requiring 27 states to reduce power plant emissions that contribute to ozone and fine particle pollution in other states. They recognize that some states, -- like New Jersey and Delaware – have acted strongly to clean up air pollution, while some upwind states, like Pennsylvania, have not.

“No community should have to bear the burden of another community’s polluters, or be powerless to prevent air pollution that leads to asthma, heart attacks and other harmful illnesses,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson upon issuing the Rule. “This is a long-overdue step to protect the air we breathe.”

You may remember our recent post about the Portland Power Plant in Portland, PA.  It sits downwind of the entire Keystone State, but it sits upwind from our New Jersey church and our members’ homes.  And it emits more mercury than every single power plant in the state of New Jersey – COMBINED. Worse yet, Portland has 13 sister plants in PA, all of which are worse than it is. So they get the electricity, while we get the toxins: mercury, SOX, NOX and soot.

It took a long time, but the watchdog finally barked.

But not everybody is happy with this.  First, in September, the House of Representatives passed the TRAIN Act – a bill to nullify the Cross-State Rule. On its face, the TRAIN Act would have stopped the EPA entirely till 2015; but it also would have handcuffed them from protecting us from upwind cross-state negligence far into the future.

Of course, the TRAIN Act went nowhere in the Senate.  But last Thursday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) offered a resolution to kill the Cross-State Rule for good.  Thankfully it failed. And so the citizens of my state will eventually be protected from toxins from antiquated coal-fired plants in neighboring Pennsylvania. They will finally have to install the smokestack scrubbers that New Jersey did decades ago.

But did you ever wonder how the political parties came down on these two efforts to kill environmental protection?  Well, in the House, 98% of Republicans voted to kill the Clean Air Act rule, while 90% of Democrats voted – in a losing cause – to preserve it.  And in the Senate last Thursday, 87% of Republicans voted with Senator Paul to kill the protections, while 96% of Democrats voted successfully to preserve them.

What’s going on?  How did we come to a point where one national party could almost unanimously portray a healthy environment as a bad thing?  Only a few years ago, both parties thought that the ideas behind the Cross-State Rule obviously deserved support.  Even the latest Republican President Bush proposed an almost identical rule. But now, a huge majority of the GOP wants to kill it.

Many of us watched Gov. Perry’s funny brain freeze the other night. Remember? He was going to kill three Federal Agencies, but couldn’t remember what one of them was.  And in a spirit of levity, the other candidates began offering him a hand. “The EPA?” someone suggested, and with a chorus of laughter, Perry and much of the rest of the pack repeated: “The EPA!”

What has happened to us?  Republican presidents Nixon, Bush Sr. and even the latest Bush all knew that our people need protection from polluting industries.

And so, here at the Clothesline, we continue our effort to maintain our political independence.  But it would sure be nice if one or two Republicans would stand up and make our job a little easier.  After all, any child can tell you that you don’t throw your garbage into your neighbor’s kitchen.

Thanks for reading, and may God bless you. 

J. Elwood

P.S.  If you liked that bumper sticker, you can get it here.

Follow @John_Elwood

Did We Actually Win?

Funny thing about losing.  You fight, scratch, claw and struggle – and lose.  You think you’re doing the right thing, but you still lose. You commit your efforts to a sovereign Lord, but it seems you can’t stop losing.

 

And then, one day, you win. 

It happened in the last century’s epic struggle.  Until El Alamein in November 1942, the Allies never won a battle.  But with victory in this dusty North African outpost, the Yanks and Tommies never lost again.  Soon came Stalingrad, Sicily, the Italian campaign, D-Day and the Bulge – until Hitler finally collapsed.

Well, today, I am in shock.  Like all advocates for creation care, I’m used to losing.  But I read with near disbelief about our El Alamein:  President Obama has directed the State Department to scrap its flawed review of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada to the Gulf, and start over again.

The truth in a nutshell

This time, the review should be “an open, transparent process,” said the President.  And it should be “informed by the best available science and the voices of the American people.”

The State Department went even further: “Among the relevant issues that would be considered are environmental concerns – including climate change…” in assessing the KXL Pipeline project.

Well, if this can’t be done in back rooms by oil industry lobbyists, if it must listen to the best scientists and the American people, if it has to consider the impact on the global climate, then it’s pretty close to dead. Or so I think.

So did we actually win?  You wrote the president. You prayed for environmental justice.  You signed online petitions.  You traveled to Washington.  And you encouraged others to do the same.

And the impact was dramatic.  A month ago, this was a slam dunk for Big Oil. Energy insiders “virtually all” expected this to be a cake walk.  The pipeline company TransCanada was moving huge quantities of pipe across the border and seizing land by eminent domain, certain that its permit would be granted. They practically ran the State Department’s approval process, using their own consultants and hiring key government staffers. Who could expect to stop them, with their virtually inexhaustible hoard of cash, and so much of Congress in their pockets?

Well, whether you expected it or not, you did. Dare I say it? You stopped them. You won. You won! We won!

And maybe we’ll win again.  We’ll have to, you know. God’s creation remains on the same terracidal trajectory that it was on yesterday.  Defeat of this pipeline did nothing to heal the world’s broken climate systems, our acidifying oceans, our failing rivers, our flooded coastlands and our parched farms.  It only temporarily halted something that would have made it dramatically  worse.

So smile, for a moment!  Give thanks to God for his mercy and kindness.  But pray for the guidance and resolve to struggle again. The richest corporations in the world aren't giving up, so neither can we.

Thanks for your friendship and partnership in caring for the creation. And may God bless you.

J. Elwood

Follow @John_Elwood

Surround the White House Photo Album

What we saw last Sunday at the White House was an outpouring of public passion to protect the earth, our country, and indigenous people in Canada.  I had thought we might see 3-4,000 people.  But Lafayette Square Park was teeming with an estimated 12,000 people: students, parents, and grandparents of all walks of life. They carried kids on their shoulders, and wheeled the elderly in wheelchairs.  They wore military uniforms, college hoodies, and traditional indigenous garb.  And they were in full voice: chanting, singing and shouting at the tops of their lungs.

And far from needing  to stretch a thin human line around the White House, we were three ranks deep, shoulder to shoulder.  The spirit was passionate and urgent, although entirely peaceable. 

Will the testimony of so many Americans change the president’s heart?  Will he remember his promises to lead us to a sustainable future for our children? Will he recall his commitment to help us break our oil addiction?  Or will he yield to the oil and coal money that’s incessantly bombarding us with deceptive ads promising jobs and energy security?  

I chose some good pictures to give you a sense of the power behind this protest.  If you have time, take a look at the video as well.  And thanks for following us in this!

I couldn't begin to count the crowd in Lafayette Square. Estimate 12,000

Children:  This is why so many of us came

Remember your promises: Obama seems to have forgotten his

Who would think a pipeline would have galvanized all these people?

Too young to spell: but he knows you don't "brake" your promises

And the old, standing -- if they can -- with future generations

Rev. Jim Wallis: Prophetic Christian voice at the protest

All walks: Christina, violinist; Barbara, home educator; Nathan, medical student

Surrounded!  Look close at the human wall around the President's house.

Close-up of the wall: Humanity's future must not be sacrificed to oil profits

And last of all, here's a short video to give you a real sense of what it was like.

All the money and political power is still on the side of the oil companies pushing this.  But maybe, just maybe, the efforts of the people are starting to pay off.  Please keep up the pressure.  And take a moment to send a note to the President right now (click here).  Your voice matters!

May God bless you.

J. Elwood

Follow @John_Elwood

Tar Sands Action: We’re Off!

In an hour, Barbara, Nathan and I head south to Washington.  We’re meeting our favorite musicians, Christina and Ben, and more than 6,000 other people who have registered to join hands around the White House  in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline: the one that will use the American heartland as a great conduit for the world’s dirtiest crude to reach world export markets.

I’ve talked a lot about the basics on the tar sands, but here’s the nickel version:

• Tar sands oil emits 83% more CO2 than conventional oil, turning your Hybrid into a Hummer;
• Tar sands mining totally destroys indigenous lands and waterways – like strip mining, but worse;
• It has caused outbreaks of rare cancers among native peoples who rely on the Canadian lands where it’s mined;
• It uses vast amounts of natural gas – relatively clean-burning stuff – to produce the oil, trading clean for filthy, and making it more difficult to replace coal-burning power plants with cleaner gas; we lose a gas-based power-generating alternative, and end up burning more tar sands oil and more coal;
• The KXL pipeline will carry this highly corrosive, hot and pressurized crude across 1,904 American streams and rivers, and across the massive Ogallala aquifer, threatening the U.S. agricultural heartland;
• The pipeline is NOT a jobs program – it will likely destroy far more than the 6,000 temporary jobs estimated during construction; and
• The pipeline does not contribute to energy security; rather, it gives foreign oil companies the ability to bypass the American Midwest and sell their oil on world markets.

Surely, the President is beginning to hear us.  You can help!

Our country desperately needs to develop a sustainable energy future.  But doubling down on the dirtiest crudes is exactly the opposite of what anyone who cares about our Father’s world and our children’s futures would hope for. That’s why we’re headed to DC.

But YOU CAN’T COME!  You’re in Kijabe, or Mundri, or Ann Arbor, or Los Angeles!  You’ve got six patients who need you on tomorrow’s day shift!  You’re teaching Sunday school tomorrow morning! These are important things, and we’re so glad you’re honoring your calling and commitments.

EVEN SO, YOUR VOICE CAN STILL BE HEARD!  In less than a minute’s time, you can write the President and tell him that you stand with us against the KXL Pipeline.  All you have to do is click here, and in no time, you will have doubled and tripled the effect of our efforts.

Maybe we’ll see you tomorrow.  But if not, we’ll be encouraged to know that many of you have joined us in asking the President to set our country on a track that will provide for our needs without sacrificing our children.

Thank you so very much. And may God bless you.

J. Elwood

Follow @John_Elwood