Sierra Club Seeks DOJ Investigation into Faked Climate Bill Letters

The Sierra Club has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate lobbying firm Bonner & Associates to see if it has faked letters to other legislators in the past after the firm was caught forging anti-climate bill letters.

Bonner & Associates sent letters purporting to be from two West Virginia minority groups to Rep. Tom Perriello in an attempt to trick him into voting against the Waxman-Markey climate bill that narrowly passed in the House last month. It didn’t work – Perriello voted for the bill anyway – but, the Sierra Club asks, how many other faked letters has this firm sent out?

From the Sierra Club’s letter to the Attorney General, via Treehugger:

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I am writing to urge you to initiate an investigation into the recent, apparently illegal activities of Bonner & Associates, a consulting firm located in Washington, D.C. In June of 2009 Bonner & Associates, on behalf of an unspecified client, sent letters via fax machine to the offices of U.S. Representative Tom Perriello. These letters purported to come from community organizations within Rep. Perriello’s Congressional district – including Creciendo Juntos and the Charlottesville, Virginia chapter of the NAACP – and utilized the letterhead of these organizations.

…The letters were sent without authorization of any representative of the community organizations. The individuals whose names and signatures appear on the letters do not exist.

…On behalf of Sierra Club, I therefore urge you to initiate an investigation into Bonner & Associates. First, the Department of Justice should ascertain whether forged letters were sent to other Representatives or Senators. Second, the Department of Justice should investigate whether other community organizations were similarly misrepresented.

That ‘unspecified client’ has turned out to be none other than the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a front group for the coal industry. ACCCE claims not to have known about the tactics, saying in a press release “we are outraged at the conduct of Bonner & Associates”.

The Sierra Club, for one, isn’t buying it. They ran a full-page advertisement today in CQ, The Hill, Politico, Roll Call, and the National Journal’s Congress Daily AM. Treehugger reports that the ad says “When Dirty-Energy Washington Lobbyists couldn’t get any real-life supporters to defeat comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, they made them up instead.”

Read the full letter from the Sierra Club to the DOJ (PDF) as well as ACCCE’s full response to the controversy.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user david drexler

Great Green Job of the Week: Fight Dirty Coal for the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is seeking an Associate Regional Representative in Little Rock, Arkansas to focus mainly on stopping dirty coal-fired power plants in Arkansas and promote clean energy alternatives.  The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization with chapters around the United States, and has hundreds of thousands of members.

Job Title: Associate Regional Representative

Reports to: Regional Staff Director, Southern Region

Context: Carries out the strategies and activities for the National Coal Campaign in Arkansas. Participates in the development of strategies and priorities for the National Coal Campaign, and for the Arkansas Chapter.

Scope: The Associate Regional Representative coordinates with chapter and national staff and volunteers on a broad, education effort on coal and related energy and conservation issues throughout the Southern Region.

Job Activities:

• Works to develop and/or support strong Sierra Club committees and presence in the state on issues of coal and related energy and conservation issues.
• Collaborates in development of campaign strategy and implementation, including developing strong grassroots networks.
• Represents Sierra Club to the public and in the media, including developing public education and media strategy, in coordination with staff and volunteers.
• Develops positive working relationships with existing coalitions on coal and related energy and conservation issues; works to build and sustain issue coalitions.
• Educates and trains volunteer leaders, including writing training materials.
• Lobbies public officials on issues of importance to Sierra Club.
• Coordinates preparation of special reports and other publications and alerts.
• Participates in political campaign strategy and works on electoral campaigns.
• Participates in various issue committee and conservation meetings.
• Monitors or participates in public meetings and local activities around the state related to coal development and related energy and conservation issues.
• Performs miscellaneous duties as directed. Seasonal Activities:
• Heavier seasonal workloads may occur as a result of project deadlines, staff absences and vacancies, and during peak activity periods.  Frequent weekend and/or evening work required.

For a list of knowledge & skills required, see the ‘Help Wanted’ section on the Arkansas Sierra Club website.  Apply via email to Jim.Price@SierraClub.org.

Link [Arkansas Sierra Club] via [Treehugger Job Board]
Image credit: Arkansas Sierra Club & Wikimedia Commons

Unleash Your Power! Demand Action on Climate Change

Don’t let politicians stand in the way of saving our planet for the generations to come. Demand that our leaders support bold and fast action on climate change. The Sierra Club has released this follow-up video to ‘Lawmakers in the Dark’, and it’s a good one!

“Right now, the people are ahead of the politicians. And if we are serious about fixing global warming, we must use our power to take climate change head-on.”

Link [Lightbulbs to Leadership] & [YouTube]

Lawmakers in the Dark – Lightbulbs to Leadership Campaign

“How many lawmakers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None. They’ll sit in the dark.”

The Sierra Club just released this hilarious new video highlighting the dumb things lawmakers have done and said about environmental initiatives and activism. Among them are James Inhofe, the Oklahoma senator who said in 2003 that there is “compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax”. The Sierra Club is urging you to not just switch out your lightbulbs and sit back: we need to act on global warming, and we need to do it now. The first step? Getting these idiots out of positions of power. Watch the video below.

You can learn more at LightbulbstoLeadership.org.

Link [Lightbulbs to Leadership]

Sierra Club Seeking National Online Organizer to Fight Coal Industry

Down with the coal industry! The Sierra Club has posted a job announcement seeking someone who can take over the efforts to fight the coal industry and push clean renewable energy in the U.S. Let’s help them find a good candidate for this important job! Here are the details – spread it around and email it to anyone you know who might be interested.

The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest grassroots environmental group has launched a nationwide campaign to stop the construction of new coal plants and end destructive mining practices in Appalachia. The campaign is part of the overall strategy to move the United States beyond coal and slash global warming pollution. Organizers or campaigners of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply for this full-time, paid position.

From the Sierra Club:

The National Coal Campaign online organizer will work alongside our top campaigners to stop the coal rush by fighting individual power plants, stopping mountain-top removal, and speeding up the deployment of clean and renewable energy sources across the US.

To apply, email natalie.foster -at- sierraclub =d0t= org with “Coal Online Organizer application” in the subject line. This position is geo-flex, full-time, and includes a competitive salary and full benefits.

Key skills we’re looking for:

- An organizer at heart. You should be eager to empower and engage others in the democratic process and work well with all types of people.

- Passionate about protecting the planet by building grassroots power. Saving the world is your life, not just your job.

- Calm under fire. When the Kansas legislature reverses the veto of Governor Sebelius to stop a coal-fired power plant, you quickly, strategically and coolly swing into gear.

- Leadership experience. You start projects, rally people, inspire others.

- Excellent writing skills. Your writing should be sharp, personable, and hard-hitting.

- Strong self-starter, entrepreneurial. You don’t need someone to tell you what to do.

- Willing to do what it takes to make a project come off. Low ego, high focus on getting stuff done.

- Hard worker, can do flexible hours and manage your time independently. You know that changing the country doesn’t always happen between 9 and 5.

- At ease with technology. You don’t have to know HTML, but you should know what HTML is.

Link [Sierra Club]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

“Blue Gold”: T. Boone Pickens and the Privatization of Water

Imagine a future where water is more valuable than gold – where corporations have control over the public’s water sources, and everyone has to pay a premium for access. It’s a scary thought for most of us, but for T. Boone Pickens, it’s a dream he’s banking on.

When Pickens, a billionaire oil tycoon, purchased eight miles of bare scrubland in the Texas panhandle recently, some people were confused: there’s no oil in them there flatlands. What he’s interested in, though, isn’t black gold, it’s blue gold: water, contained within the Ogallala Aquifer partially located under the ranch. His plan was to build a pipeline from the aquifer to larger cities, selling the water as a commodity that, at least in his mind, would undoubtedly be in demand during times of drought.

While it seems like there should be some kind of law against doing such a thing, the groundwater laws in Texas and many other states make it easy to get away with. When the laws were put into place, water was so abundant and readily available that no one ever considered the idea that people might try to buy and sell it in this way. So when it was time to vote on allowing the creation of Pickens’ water district, the only people required to vote on it were the people who live on the land: Pickens, his wife and three employees.

From Bloomberg News:

Pickens “has pulled a shenanigan,” said Phillip Smith, a rancher who serves on a local water-conservation board. “He’s obtained the right of eminent domain like he was a big city. It’s supposed to be for the public good, not a private company.”

Pickens and his allies say no shenanigans are involved. Once the district is created, the board will be able to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance construction of Pickens’s planned 328-mile, $2.2 billion pipeline to transport water from the panhandle across the prairie to the suburbs of Dallas and San Antonio.

Pickens was recently in the news for spending big bucks on wind farms. His move toward investing in alternative energy doesn’t mean he’s an environmental activist, though: he’s in it for the money. While there’s nothing wrong with businesses making profits off products, policies and practices that are beneficial to the environment, Pickens’ past and present ventures make it clear he’s no friend to the earth. In fact, he’s admitted that he’s taking advantage of public fears about climate change, and he’s obviously not too concerned about the environmental impact of draining the Ogallala Aquifer.

Amidst current awareness about global warming, he feels confident that he’ll soon be making big money off the business of selling water. Population growth, prolonged droughts and the production of certain biofuels continues to put a tremendous strain on water resources, and Pickens doesn’t see why he shouldn’t pad his bank account as a result.

The Ogallala runs through an area of America that’s already threatened. Annual withdrawal from this aquifer is already outpacing the recharge rate by 300%. The amount of groundwater in the aquifer has been steadily declining in recent years. The government also faces a hurdle that billionaires with access to oil might be able to jump more easily: the rising cost of energy needed to pump water from the aquifer is making it tougher to access it. The USDA laments that “even in areas where the pumping depth is economical, geology limits pumping access as the water table declines”.

Undoubtedly, a public water crisis is brewing. While other countries have been suffering a lack of water for years, America has remained largely insulated from the problem. We’re only beginning to experience the effects of a water shortage, partially due to unscrupulous deals made by bottling companies like Nestle along with America’s dependence on bottled water. The more people buy bottled water, the less money goes into the public water system. Corporations with dollar sign fairies dancing in their minds see it as an opportunity to grab and wield control over the supply. In a country dominated by a ‘winner takes all’ capitalist attitude, that sets us up for trouble.

What exactly would the corporate privatization of water mean to the public? For one thing, water would no longer be considered something that all people have a right to. It would be a commodity, bought and sold by private individuals and companies, based on availability and the public’s willingness to pay. Corporations tend to value profits over service. Obviously, we can’t live without water. We’d be at the mercy of the people in control.

T. Boone Pickens isn’t the only one grabbing up water rights. In fact, most of the companies that are buying land with access to aquifers are foreign. Major players here and abroad include Viviendi, Perrier, Suez, Bechtel and Monsanto. Right now, only 5 percent of the water supply is in corporate hands, but that could change at any time, especially as the World Bank and other organizations push for privatization.

The only obstacle that remains in Pickens’ and other investors’ path is finding buyers. Several water districts have already refused to sign up, mostly due to pressure from political and environmental groups campaigning against the privatization of water. The Sierra Club is one of them, and their efforts to educate the public in Texas might just pay off. Until the day that Texas gets so dry officials are desperate for water and willing to do just about anything to get it, that is. Then a ball may be set in motion that will change public water access as we know it. We can only hope that other solutions are put forth before that becomes a reality.

Link [Bloomberg News] + [USDA] + [Sierra Club]

Photo credit: Time Magazine + Sierra Club