Power Shift 2011: Monday
Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.
10:00am – 11:30am Action: Make Big Polluters Pay
April 18th is Tax Day and we’re hitting the streets to send a clear message: “It’s time to end handouts to Big Oil. Make Polluters Pay and fund OUR future: a 100% clean energy future that looks out for everyone.”
12:00pm – 4:00pm Lobby Visits
We’ll march from our demonstration to Capitol Hill to bring our demands to Congress. With thousands of us converging on Capitol Hill, it will be one of the largest citizen visits ever!
Power Shift 2011: Saturday
Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.
9:00am – 1:00pm Movement Building Sessions: Training & Planning
People will come together regionally to meet one another, share stories and ideas, and plan collective efforts. We’ll practice and learn the fundamentals of grassroots organizing that will give us a strong foundation for campaign work.
1:00pm – 2:00pm Lunch
2:00pm – 6:00pm Clean Economy Canvass
Attendees will have the opportunity to help build the clean energy economy in Washington, DC. Participants will be trained in the best ways to engage friends and neighbors in energy efficiency work.
2:15pm – 3:15pm Workshop & Panels: Session 1
3:30pm – 4:30pm Workshop & Panels: Session 2
4:45pm – 5:45pm Workshop & Panels: Session 3
6:00pm – 7:30pm Dinner & Caucuses
During dinner, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with other folks to talk about how their identity has impacted their experiences throughout the weekend.
7:30pm – 11:00pm Keynote & Concert
We’ll reconvene in a keynote session to hear from more movement leaders. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and 350.org founder Bill McKibben are confirmed as keynote speakers, and more will be announced soon!
Power Shift 2011: Friday
Power Shift, the biennial youth climate movement summit, runs from Friday, April 15, to Monday, April 18.
2:00pm – 5:30pm Generation Waking Up
An optional activity, Generation Waking Up will help us launch Power Shift fired up and inspired to take action. Through music, exercises, dialogue, and video, we’ll explore the critical questions facing young people and society
6:30pm – 9:00pm Opening Keynote
Our opening keynote will set the stage for the Power Shift 2011—we’ll give an overview for the weekend and start to hear from movement leaders and climate and energy experts. Al Gore and Van Jones are confirmed as keynote speakers for the evening.
9:00pm – 12:00am Films Fueling the Energy Revolution
We’ll be showing a handful of films discussing and investigating environmental issues. These films will kick off the Reel Power film series scheduled to air throughout Power Shift 2011.
Public Opposition To Dismantling The EPA
The Natural Resources Defense Council holds a conference call briefing, beginning at 11 a.m., to discuss and release a survey on data that show strong public opposition to “dismantling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) updates to clean-up standards for carbon, smog and other pollution” proposed by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.
Patricipants- Peter Altman, climate campaign director of the Natural Resources Defense Council
- Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling
Contact: Leslie Anderson, 703-276-3256, [email protected]
Call-in, 800-860-2442; ask for the “EPA/Energy and Commerce Committee member surveys” news event. A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available at 4 p.m. February 10 online: http://www.nrdc.org
Briefing by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Center on Climate Change and National Security
The Pew Project on National Security, Energy & Climate cordially invites you to a briefing by Mr. Larry Kobayashi, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Center on Climate Change and National Security.
January 13, 2011 3:30pm—5:00pm
RSVP: Registration is required for the free event. Please send name, organization, phone and email to David Catarious, [email protected] by Jan. 11.
Founded in 2009, the charter of the CIA’s Center on Climate Change and National Security is not the science of climate change, but the national security impact of phenomena such as desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources. The Center provides support to American policymakers as they negotiate, implement, and verify international agreements on environmental issues.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
901 E Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20004
Post-Cancun Update
The international community recently concluded the latest round of negotiations on an international climate change agreement. Despite significant hurdles, the negotiators made important progress by managing expectations and adopting a pragmatic and forward-looking approach.
The CSIS Energy and National Security Program invites you to a discussion with
- Jonathan Pershing, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State
- Sarah O. Ladislaw, Senior Fellow, CSIS Energy and National Security Program
Mr. Pershing about his views on what was achieved in Cancun and what the main challenges are going forward.
Registration required. Please send your confirmation to [email protected].
COP Opening Plenary
The 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change begins in Cancun, Mexico. webcast
NOAA Director: Undersea Cloud of 'Highly Toxic' Oil in Gulf 'Is Undoubtedly Poisonous'
From the Wonk Room.
The undersea cloud of “highly toxic” oil emanating from BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster “is undoubtedly poisonous,” according to President Obama’s federal oceans chief. Marine scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) director, described the threat posed by the “hidden” plumes of oil and dispersants diffusing into the Gulf of Mexico to its valuable ecosystem at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday. She told interviewer Andrea Mitchell that NOAA and independent scientists have identified “not a lake of black ooze” but a “cloud of very fine droplets spread over an area in the general vicinity of the well,” a prime spawning ground for bluefin tuna. This oil cloud “is undoubtedly poisonous” to the marine life in the Gulf:
As that oil, which is highly toxic, comes into contact with small larvae, with eggs, fish for example, or other creatures, it is undoubtedly poisonous to them.
Watch it:
“This truly is an environmental disaster but more a human tragedy,” Lubchenco said in her opening remarks. “Its impact is likely to be considerable,” she said of the oil hidden undersea, “but we don’t yet know what it will be.”
Bush MMS Director: 'When I Was There It Seemed to Work Well'
From the Wonk Room.
Johnnie Burton, former MMS director
As for allegations of lax enforcement at the Minerals Management Service, grossly inadequate spill response plans and other regulatory shortfalls, Burton said that as MMS director she was unaware of those problems. “I can’t answer all these questions at this point because when I was there it seemed to work well,” Burton said.
The agency worked so “well” that investigators found evidence of “cronyism and cover-ups of management blunders; capitulation to oil companies in disputes about payments; plunging morale among auditors; and unreliable data-gathering that often makes it impossible to determine how much money companies actually owe.”
Burton was in charge during the development of the offshore drilling plan that expanded drilling to the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Her Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2007-2012 included 2008’s Lease Sale 206, in which BP purchased Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (MC252) for $34 million. MC252, also known as the Macondo Prospect, has been flooding the Gulf of Mexico with oil for months now. Burton’s plan dismissed the environmental threat of that sale, primarily because no huge disasters had taken place since the Ixtoc I blowout in 1979, as these excerpts show:The analysis above shows that with regard to potential oil spill impacts, areas that contain wetlands and marshes such as the Central GOM are particularly sensitive. However, lessees have been producing oil and gas from the Central Gulf and other areas for over 50 years with a remarkable record of environmental safety. For more than 30 years, there have been no significant oil spills from platforms anywhere on the OCS. [p. 92]No Environmental Justice impacts from accidental oil spills are expected because of the movement of oil and gas activities further away from coastal areas and, also, the demographic pattern of more affluent groups living in coastal areas. [p. 60]
The Central Gulf coastal area ranks second in marine primary productivity only to the Mid-Atlantic. The marine primary productivity of the Central Gulf does not appear to have been appreciably diminished by offshore exploration and production activities. The same is true of other areas of the OCS with existing operations and production. Thus, the size, location, and timing of lease sales in the PFP are consistent with the marine primary productivity of the areas in which lease sales will be held. [p. 95]
Overall, impacts on national parks, national wildlife refuges, national estuarine research reserves, and national estuary program sites due to routine operations are expected to be limited under the proposed action because these areas are restricted from development. Impacts from oil spills are unlikely because it is anticipated that 75 percent of the hydrocarbons developed, as a result of the 2007-2012 leasing program in the GOM area are expected to occur in deep water (>330 m) usually located far from the shoreline. [p. 57]
Any single large spill would likely affect only a small proportion of a given fish population within the GOM, and it is unlikely that fish resources would be permanently affected. [p. 57]
In areas with a large proportion of impact-sensitive industry, such as tourism, the potential incremental impacts of oil spills would likely result in a one-time seasonal decline in business activity. [p. 59]
Impacts of accidental releases to water quality would depend on the size of the spill, type of material or product spilled, and environmental factors at the time of the spill. However, there would be no long-term, widespread impairment of marine water quality. [p. 60]
I remember enough to tell you, for the five years I was there, we never relaxed any rules – never changed any rules to make them any less safe.
In fact, Burton’s MMS followed the Bush agenda of “increasing domestic oil and gas production, offering more incentives to drillers in the Gulf of Mexico and pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other wilderness areas to drilling.” The “department trimmed spending on enforcement and cut back on auditors, and sped up approvals for drilling applications.” Auditing revenues plummeted by 86 percent from its 2000 peak even though oil prices soared, as Burton slashed auditing, fired effective auditors who challenged oil companies for bilking the American public and she resisted efforts to recoup money.
Thunder Horse platform, July 2005These are amazing times in the Gulf of Mexico. We are entering the second decade of sustained expansion of domestic oil and gas development in the deep water area of the Gulf.
The praise heaped on BP and the safety of offshore drilling from Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Burton’s boss, at the Thunder Horse celebration are painful in retrospect:
It is little noticed, and even less appreciated, but offshore production platforms have a remarkable safety record. Only about 1 percent of the oil in U.S. domestic waters comes from accidental spills, according to the most recent Oil in the Sea report from the National Academy of Sciences. . . .My second message today is about the importance of energy to the American economy, and the need for America to have its own domestic sources of energy. I recognize that this message is somewhat ironic, since today we are recognizing the accomplishment of a company well known as British Petroleum. Clearly part of what we celebrate today is the strong alliance that extends across the Atlantic Ocean. We recognize once again that two nations have grown from a common root, split apart, and matured. We feel assured that a business venture involving both nations is as secure as one done within our national borders.
Five months later, in July 2005, Hurricane Dennis nearly sank the Thunder Horse platform at Mississippi Canyon Block 778. After the dangerously listing platform was repaired, it was returned to production, where it continues to pump oil for BP and Exxon to this day, only a few dozen miles from the Deepwater Horizon wreck.
Touring the oil damage in the Gulf Coast with national religious leaders
The Sierra Club holds a conference call, beginning at 3:30 p.m., to discuss experiences touring the oil damage in the Gulf Coast with national religious leaders.
Speakers- Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, founder of Interfaith Power and Light
- Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor at Providence Missionary Baptist Church
- Fr. Dan Krutz, Episcopal priest and director of Louisiana Interchurch Conference
- Rev. Jim Wallis, editor in chief of Sojourners Magazine
- Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
- Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell of the Progressive National Baptist Convention
- Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America
- Lynn Hybels, co-founder of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago
- Rev. Kris Peterson, pastor of Bayou Blue Presbyterian Church
- Rabbi Julie Schonfeld of the Rabbinicial Assembly
- Pastor Chris Seay, senior pastor of Ecclesia Church
- Susan Stephenson, executive director of Interfaith Power and Light
CONTACT: Orli Cotel, 415-977-5627, [email protected]
Call in, 888-228-9795; conference ID# code: 86171908. RSVP to [email protected]