Oct. 20 2015 Update

100% Renewables Now NYS
Update – Oct. 20 2015
www.gelfny.org

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Veto Pt. Ambrose
The Road to Paris
Sign on Letter Paris re Fracking, 1000% Renewables
Round 2 of REV Hearings
NYC Divestment Halloween, Oct. 30 – Nothing is Scarier than Climate Change
100% Renewables Now – NYC Forum Nov. 19
Prosecute Exxon for Lying About Climate Change.
Sample Resolution(s) for Local Government to Support 100% Renew Energy 2030 state level, local

Cuomo can veto Pt. Ambrose LNG starting Nov. 6 – deadline is Dec. 21

It is time to tell Gov Cuomo to veto Pt. Ambrose Liquefied Natural Gas Facility and say yes to off-shore wind. Contact Cuomo (toll free 866-961-0200 or 518 474-8390. @NYGovCuomo.

For more info, see GELF news release. And Sane Energy Project.

On Thursday Nov. 12 at 5:30 PM, there will be a protest outside of yet another Cuomo fundraiser – this time at the Harvard Club. 36 West 44th St., NY.

 

What is at Stake in Paris – The Demands

Worldwide groups are organizing protests immediately before and after the Paris summit. Nov. 28 / 29 and Dec. 12.

350.org has three major demands for Paris: keep at least 80% of fossil fuels in the ground, finance a just transition to 100% renewable energy, and make sure communities on the front lines of climate change have the resources they need to respond to the crisis.

Climate Action Network (CAN) is the world’s largest network of civil society organizations working to promote government action to address the climate crisis, with more than 950 members in over 110 countries. All UNFCCC Parties agreed in Lima on a long-term temperature goal of limiting global average temperature rise to below 1.5°C or 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Since then, Parties have considered the possibility of adopting a complementary long-term goal (LTG) to operationalize this temperature target.

Four key demands 1. Ambitious near-term (2025) mitigation commitments from all countries, the nature and stringency of which will vary depending on their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDRRC);
2. A near peaking date (CAN is calling for a global emissions peak by 2015);
3. A LTG for GHG emissions reductions commensurate with the science of a maximum 1.5°C of global average temperature rise, and in line with agreed principles of equity;
4. Mitigation finance commitments to enable enhanced mitigation action in developing countries beyond these countries’ own ambitious near-term commitments, and in view of achieving the LTG.

Listen to a 10 minute interview by Mark Dunlea of Sean Sweeney. Prof. Sweeney recently joined the Murphy Institute at CUNY to direct the International Program for Labor, Climate and the Environment.

GELF’s response to Cuomo and Gore supporting the higher limit of 2 degrees of global warming.

Sign on Letter Re Paris, Fracking, Renewable Energy

The Global Frackdown to Paris. The number of organizations across the world signing on to the international letter calling for a ban on fracking and swift transition to 100% renewables continues to grow. There are now over 700 organizations representing 50 countries and 38 states in the US. http://www.globalfrackdown.org/organizational-sign-on-letter/

Let’s send powerful messages leading up to Paris that we need an energy future that does not include fracked gas and oil and is fueled by 100% renewable sources.

Round 2 of REV Hearings

 The Public Service Commission has announced a second round of public hearings re REV. Most comments will be on track 2 (which includes carbon pricing). The REV Track 2 Staff White Paper focuses mostly on proposed changes in utility regulations and electricity rates. But officially you can speak to the overall REV (e.g., need for a large commitment to off-shore wind, higher goals for renewable energy), Sierra Club wants you to speak out against coal. Notice is here. The first two are New York City Tuesday, October 27, 2015 – NYU at 6:00; Westchester at Yonkers Public Library, Wed. Oct. 28. Buffalo will be Nov. 4; Rochester Nov. 5; Kingston Nov. 12.

Some info on what other states are doing to promote low-income access to solar.

From Energy Democracy Alliance: We will call for clear clean energy goals, focused on real renewable energy and energy efficiency, not false solutions like natural gas and nuclear power. We will demand that all New Yorkers have the opportunity to benefit from energy efficiency and renewables, and that the state dedicate funding for clean energy development to the communities that need it most. We will stand up for consumer protections and a seat at the table in making energy decisions that affect our lives. We will call for green jobs in our local communities, and express our desire for local and community ownership models that will best benefit our neighborhoods

.There is also a hearing in Albany on Oct. 21 on the low-income proceedings. New York State Museum, Clark Auditorium. 222 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY. 2 PM and 6 P.M.

 

NYC Divestment Halloween, Oct. 30 – Nothing is Scarier than Climate Change

Climate change activists are organizing a Halloween-themed protest in front of the City Municipal building on Friday, October 30 to call upon the City Comptroller and other pension trustees to divest the City pension funds from all fossil fuels. The event will take place from noon to 2 in front of I Centre Street and will include some street theatre. The three year old campaign has been calling upon the city to immediately halt all investments in fossil fuels, and to divest existing holdings over five years.

Mayor De Blasio recently issued a call for the city to immediately divest its pension funds of its $33 million investment in coal companies and to study divesting from all fossil fuel investments. City Comptroller Stringer and Public Advocate James have indicated that they would support the move, which still has to be presented to the various Pension Trustee boards for a vote. Divestment activists want the city to commit to divest the billions of dollars in all fossil fuels in the pension funds, not just from coal.

PCM NY Forum on 100% Clean Energy by 2030 – Nov. 19.

The People’s Climate Movement NY is holding a forum on how to get NYC to 100% clean energy by 2030. The event with be at the Transit Workers Union, 195 Montague St., Brooklyn. Doors open at 6, event starts at 6:30.

The first panel will discuss how to get to 100% clean energy. The second panel will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in getting therm. Speakers include Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food and Water Watch; Mark Dunlea, 100% Renewable Now NYS Campaign, GELF / 100% Renewables Now NY; Kassie Rohrbach, Senior Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace US; Peggy Shephard WEACT, Leslie Cagan, and More.

RSVP here. Limited seating.

 

Prosecute Exxon for Lying About Climate Change.

Several members of Congress have recently called for the prosecution of Exxon. Now a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney who prosecuted and won the massive racketeering case against Big Tobacco thinks the agency should consider investigating Big Oil for similar claims: engaging in a cover-up to mislead the public about the risks of its product. ExxonMobil and other members of the fossil fuel industry could be held liable for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) if it’s discovered that the companies worked together to suppress knowledge about the reality of human-caused climate change.  Article.

 

GELF and other environmental groups have also been pushing for state Attorney General Schneiderman to take action against Exxon, citing stock price manipulation and the extreme weather damages contributed to by their false information about climate change.
Urge Your Local Government to Support 100% Renewable Energy

 

We want local governments in NYS both to pass resolutions urging the state to go to 100% renewable energy by 2030, but also to adopt the 100% renewables as their own community-wide goal. Check out our webpage for some models (including the Town of East Hampton on Long Island)

 

Below is a model resolution that we are developing (at the end we have a statement re adoption of a local goal). Input appreciated.

 

Sample Resolution for Local Governments to Support 100% renewable energy

 

Whereas, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that if the world hopes to avert catastrophic global warming, the next 15 years are critical to achieve sizeable reductions in carbon emissions.

Whereas, In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, we must reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere down to 350 ppm, and we must ensure that 80% of the world’s existing fossil fuel resources are not converted to greenhouse gas emissions,

Whereas, Transitioning to 100% renewable energy (including energy conservation) by 2030 in New York State would create more than 4 million (nearly 300,000 40-year job equivalents) during the build out) and an estimated 58,000 permanent jobs, while reducing electric rates by more than 50% compared to continued reliance upon fossil fuel and nuclear power.

Whereas, Going to 100% clean renewable energy for all sources in NYS would avoid 3,140 annual deaths from air pollution while reducing health care costs by more than $30 billion annually.

Whereas, studies have demonstrated the feasibility of reaching this transition’s goal.

And Whereas, Any transition to a clean energy future must be a Just Transition, embracing energy democracy, with equity for those most impacted by climate change, and ensuring jobs and training for any workers displaced by such a transition,

Be it therefore resolved that we support having New York transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

 

Be it further resolved that we recommend that the State legislature enact A7497 / S5527 to make such goal the official state policy through the state energy master plan

 

 

Be if further resolved that (name of local government) adopts a goal of meeting 100% of its community-wide energy needs within the by 100% by clean, renewable energy.