Tens of Thousands Demand DNC Add National Fracking Ban to Party Platform
Source: CommonDreams by Staff Writer Nadia Prupis
Climate activists on Wednesday delivered more than 90,000 petitions to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) demanding that the party's 2016 platform include a nationwide ban on fracking. As the DNC convened in Washington, D.C. for its open forum on shaping the platform, activists with Food & Water Watch, 350.org, Honor the Earth, and other groups handed over the appeals and said officials must acknowledge the harm that fracking has caused the environment.
"The Democratic Party has been complicit in the U.S. fracking boom which is poisoning communities and our climate," said Emily Wurth, water program director at Food & Water Watch. "Any serious plan to combat climate change must include a ban on fracking, and as the committee develops the platform, they should heed the calls of the growing movement to ban fracking and keep fossil fuels in the ground." The groups noted that more than 137,000 fracking wells have been opened in the U.S. since 2005 as part of President Barack Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy policy that included promoting the use of natural gas. By contrast, the 2016 presidential election has seen candidates backing away from the fossil fuel industry, with Bernie Sanders standing out for his support of a nationwide ban on fracking. ...
And as Environmental Action policy director Anthony Rogers-Wright explained, the majority of people that now find themselves in proximity of a fracking well are in communities of colorwho largely vote Democratic. "This is the face of fracking in America: Latino, Native, African American and other communities are disproportionately impacted by the toxic effects of fracking and its infrastructure," Rogers-Wright said. "It's time for the DNC, a political party that is totally dependent on the participation of People of Color, to show that our health is as important as our votes. Including a fracking ban in the party platform is an essential step to demonstrate this."
A recent Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans are opposed to fracking for the first time, with more and more communities continuing to ban the controversial gas extraction technique. "History will not be kind to those who insist on continued burning of fossil fuels long after the science of climate change was crystal clear," said Ben Wikler, Washington director for MoveOn.org, one of the groups that delivered petitions to the DNC on Wednesday. "The Democratic Party Platform Committee should echo the voices of grassroots activists and the public at large and state unequivocally that fracking has no place in our clean-energy future."
Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/08/tens-thousands-demand-dnc-add-national-fracking-ban-party-platform
Trajan
(19,089 posts)'It's too hard' to stop fracking ...
pangaia
(24,324 posts)laserhaas
(7,805 posts)lewebley3
(3,412 posts)firist.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)dflprincess
(28,057 posts)You don't think she's actually going to read it, much less act on it, do you? (I suppose it's possible she and Biil read the more traditionally Democratic parts of it and laugh.)
Rafale
(291 posts)France. Fracking was banned in France in 2011 and the ban was upheld in 2012.
Bulgaria. After France banned fracking, Bulgaria followed suit in 2012, becoming the second European country to ban this dirty practice.
Germany. Germany first enacted a ban on fracking in 2012, and it was upheld in 2014.
Scotland.
Tough fight considering how much sway the oil industry ha$ in global politic$. #wars #tradinglivesforoil #sosaysaveteran
laserhaas
(7,805 posts)Rafale
(291 posts)Major leap I know because it seems no one in the so-called mainstream in the US values this anymore!
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)But the party should. So much has changed in 50 years. #DemEqualsGOP? #Confusing #ButWhatAboutFreedom
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)laserhaas
(7,805 posts)Gee....I wonder why?
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)Exxon is saddled with high cost production offshore and in remote locations.
The frackers in West Texas are killing him.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)the new DLC and Third Way will not allow a representative from the nurses union be on the platform committee, you know that pesky item called working class-----------------unless you or anyone else has heard otherwise, Frank Thomas got it right in his book Listen Liberal
larkrake
(1,674 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)get along too good with them.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)After all, she is a Goldwater Girl!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)laserhaas
(7,805 posts)The Almighty $$$..thingy
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Go bern..
SIERRA BLANCA is Fine, but Frack is bad,
I see a conflict of interest here.
Response to misterhighwasted (Reply #40)
Post removed
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)She has pushed fracking on many countries, and believes that it should be up to local governments whether to have it or not. Regardless of the impact of it. She said so in a debate.
So throw that one under the bus.
I wonder how many other imperative environmental issues will be thrown under the bus?
Remember that money is all that matters, and corporations are people.
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)When will he stump for THIS BAN also?
He & Jane had no problem dumping toxic waste in SIERRA BLANCA.
He voted against the most Progressive fighter, Sen Paul Wellstone.
Toxic waste dumping on the poorest of Latino Communities, via Jane, VT, GW Bush & his corporate millionaire cronies was a dirty backhanded slap.
So now Bernie is demanding FOR, what he fought against in the push for Sierra Blanca..
Why would Sanders give a darn about toxic pollutants dumped by shoulder rubbing, corporate multi-millionaires now?
I'd like to hear an explaination from the mouth of bernie sanders, as to why one is fine & not the other.
He fought pretty hard against Progressive Dem hero, Senator Wellstone back then.
Just saying, bern
TheCowsCameHome
(40,163 posts)PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)to quiet down people who say she's pro Fracking. That would be one major change though. One can only hope..
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)yeah, that'll happen
AzDar
(14,023 posts)phazed0
(745 posts)This party is lost IMO. How to regain credibility now?
GReedDiamond
(5,299 posts)...by Benedict Arnold & The Traitors, "Ode to Mother Nature/Trash the Environment."
The original title was "Fuck the Environment," but was changed so as not to offend some people.
Which is maybe kinda strange for a band that tried to offend people.
PoliticalMalcontent
(449 posts)All of Sanders' revolution talk, to me, was about waking people up to ideas outside of the mainstream and hopefully keeping people engaged in politics. The fact that he was so successful in waking the liberal wing of the party and independents shouldn't be lost on politicians, though I'm sure it will.
I think the important thing is that we should stay engaged. Let's vote for the most liberal electable democrats we can find on the local and national levels, ESPECIALLY in primaries, provided they can win. If there's one thing that that I believe this primary proved it is that liberal ideas don't scare people as long as they are coming from people that voters trust.
There's clearly a trust-deficit in the government right now and people who vote blindly aren't helping matters.
kpola12
(78 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)"The Democratic Party Platform Committee should echo the voices of grassroots activists and the public at large and state unequivocally that fracking has no place in our clean-energy future."
I agree, but it's a pipe dream to think that there will be any interest in a ban from the Democratic establishment.
midnight
(26,624 posts)tiredtoo
(2,949 posts)Saw her in a debate she said if the states and communities allow it and if it meets environmental guidelines and if and if and if and so on.
Bernie said "NO"
Alex4Martinez
(2,180 posts)And it would be a long shot under Sanders, but at least he would try.
Hydraulic Fracturing is far too common a practice for the typical congress person to support an outright ban.
More reasonable would be limits on the practice on public lands and rules requiring disclosure of ingredients and more oversight on waste and water impacts.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Purveyor
(29,876 posts)PoliticalMalcontent
(449 posts)It doesn't take a genius to see that fracking causes harm. If someone deemed 'of importance' isn't directly impacted, why should politicians give a shit? It's so much easier for politicians to turn a blind eye to tragedy when money is involved (*cough* unending war *cough*).
Agony
(2,605 posts)she needs to presumptively get with the fracking program!
humbled_opinion
(4,423 posts)and start rebuilding America. Now if we can only convince our right leaning nominee to approve this message, but I doubt it, heck she might even start building pipelines to nowhere....
Lunabell
(5,920 posts)Bernie may not be our nominee...YET! But he sure has changed the conversation and is helping to return the party to its root!!!!
I think Bernie's candidacy has changed this party forever. Bernie or Busters, a revolution doesn't have to be violent and bloody. This is an ongoing process to change the party from within. I hope those of you who were Democrats before Bernie's run and support him will stay in the party and continue to fight for it!
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)so why should I listen to tens of thousands of little people? Besides, I'm the nominee and I set the agenda. And I love Fracking.
Also, if you don't like it, there is nothing you can do. What are you going to do, vote for the other guy?"
Sincerely. . .
nikto
(3,284 posts)If The Dems, led by Hillary, can't do this, then they are dead.
But I'm not worried.
It'll happen.
misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Frack is bad but bern sure fought hard to dump VT Toxic Waste on the poorest of communities.
Hope he keeps making himself a hero for anti fracking, because Sierra Blanca needs to be tied around his & jane's necks. FINALLY. Open that door bernie. Open it!
Frack is bad but dumping radioactive haz waste is ok with bern & jane.
Bern fought very hard against a REAL Progressive, Sen Paul Wellstone in the Sierra Blanca toxic dump case.
Bring it on bern.
snort
(2,334 posts)Not: No mention of a nuclear waste site. Looks like elsewhere in Texas they have low level disposal sites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Blanca,_Texas
http://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/SierraBlancaTexas/SierraBlancaTx.htm#history
Or this:
http://www.c-span.org/congress/bills/billAction/?print/1410681
SNIP
3:21 PM EDT
Bernie Sanders, I-VT 1st
Mr. SANDERS. "Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 629. Mr. Chairman, the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act and its 1985 amendments make commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal a State and not a Federal responsibility.
As we have heard, all that Texas and Maine and Vermont are asking for today is to be treated as 9 other compacts were treated affecting 41 States. This is not new business. We have done it 9 times, 41 States, and Texas, Maine, and Vermont ask us to do it today.
Mr. Chairman, let me touch for a moment upon the environmental aspects of this issue. Let me address it from the perspective of someone who is an opponent of nuclear power, who opposes the construction of power plants and, if he had his way, would shut down the existing nuclear power plants as quickly and as safely as we could.
One of the reasons that many of us oppose nuclear power plants is that when this technology was developed, there was not a lot of thought given as to how we dispose of the nuclear waste. Neither the industry nor the Government, in my view, did the right thing by allowing the construction of the plants and not figuring out how we get rid of the waste.
But the issue we are debating here today is not that issue. The reality, as others have already pointed out, is that the waste is here. We cannot wish it away. It exists in power plants in Maine and Vermont, it exists in hospitals, it is here.
The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Reyes] a few moments ago said, `Who wants radioactive waste in their district?' I guess he is right. But do Members know what, by going forward with the nuclear power industry, that is what we have. So the real environmental issue here is not to wish it away, but to make the judgment, the important environmental judgment, as to what is the safest way of disposing of the nuclear waste that has been created. That is the environmental challenge that we face.
The strong environmental position should not be and cannot be to do nothing, and to put our heads in the sand and pretend that the problem does not exist. It would be nice if Texas had no low-level radioactive waste, or Vermont or Maine or any other State. That would be great. That is not the reality. The environmental challenge now is, given the reality that low-level radioactive waste exists, what is the safest way of disposing of that waste.
Leaving the radioactive waste at the site where it was produced, despite the fact that that site may be extremely unsafe in terms of long-term isolation of the waste and was never intended to be a long-term depository of low-level waste, is horrendous environmental policy. What sense is it to say that you have to keep the waste where it is now, even though that might be very environmentally damaging? That does not make any sense at all.
No reputable scientist or environmentalist believes that the geology of Vermont or Maine would be a good place for this waste. In the humid climate of Vermont and Maine, it is more likely that groundwater will come in contact with that waste and carry off radioactive elements to the accessible environment.
There is widespread scientific evidence to suggest, on the other hand, that locations in Texas, some of which receive less than 12 inches of rainfall a year, a region where the groundwater table is more than 700 feet below the surface, is a far better location for this waste.
This is not a political assertion, it is a geological and environmental reality. Furthermore, even if this compact is not approved, it is likely that Texas, which has a great deal of low-level radioactive waste, and we should make the point that 80 percent of the waste is coming from Texas, 10 percent from Vermont, 10 percent from Maine, the reality is that Texas will go forward with or without this compact in building a facility to dispose of their low-level radioactive waste.
If they do not have the compact, which gives them the legal right to deny low-level radioactive waste from coming from anyplace else in the country, it seems to me they will be in worse environmental shape than they are right now. Right now, with the compact, they can deal with the constitutional issue of limiting the kinds of waste they get.
From an environmental point of view, I urge strong support for this legislation." SNIP
What a monster.
INdemo
(6,994 posts)and with the Wall St. Corporate mafia,Goldman Sachs,and other Big Banks so heavily invested, the Democratic Platform will look like a Republican platform of the Reagan Era.
So don't count on any progressive issues to find their way into the Democratic into the Convention.
This was our last chance to take our Party back to the control of the people but instead gave the Corporate Mafia a much stronger hold.
We shall see how Po-Union Hillary is with Corporate Mafia now controlling the Party.
Ive always feared a National Right to Work law if the Republicans won the White House back but with Hillary,who along with Bill who gave us the Union Busting,Job export NAFTA legislation I seriously doubt that Hillary will fight that hard for organized Labor and we might see a National Right to Work Law under her "Democratic" Leadership anyway.
Javaman
(62,442 posts)yardwork
(61,418 posts)Not Sure
(735 posts)Followed by a FOIA request that reveals an email saying the opposite.
You just summed up our lovely future....
Joy....
raindaddy
(1,370 posts)The Obama administration just gave the OK to frack off the CA coast, fault lines and the earthquake potential doesn't seem to enter the picture...
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)when they made 'Frack!' into a cuss word.
womanofthehills
(8,584 posts)SE New Mexico along with SW Texas are big fracking areas but I never thought living in the middle of NM, that Kinder Morgan would want to put a CO2 pipeline in my neighborhood. They were planning on pumping up CO2 from under the ground in Eastern Arizona and taking it across NM to the Permian Basin for fracking. My whole town became mega activists and formed a group -"Resistiendo -
http://www.resistiendo.org/ . With the drop in oil prices, KM put the Lobos Pipeline (cute- named after the UNM basketball team)
"in the deep freeze."
Half of U.S. Fracking Industry Could Go Bankrupt as Oil Prices Continue to Fall
Having limped along last year hoping for a rebound in prices this year, the industry is heading for deep trouble.
http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/18/fracking-industry-bankrupt/
NickB79
(19,114 posts)In fact, there's a lot of activity around the Permian basin you mentioned: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/permian-springs-life-50-oil-211200031.html
Operators in the Permian added five rigs to their active count during the week, in the latest demonstration that the basin is perhaps the most viable across the shale patch, with its low production costs and abundant reserves.
The Permian is enjoying a lot of attention from the energy industry and from private equity alike. Those with a presence in the basin are upbeat about the future, and those without are trying to step into it in order to share in the riches.
Herman4747
(1,825 posts)Hillary's fondness to export fracking to other countries.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)But a late petition will be very 'newsie'-divisive for the D party.
Eric J in MN
(35,619 posts)NT