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How rooftop solar and home batteries became “kryptonite” to big coal and the fossil fuel industry
Smart Energy Council chief uses one of his last speeches in the role to celebrate Australia's bottom-up energy revolution, in which home solar and batteries have "changed the dial in a very significant way."
The post How rooftop solar and home batteries became “kryptonite” to big coal and the fossil fuel industry appeared first on Renew Economy.
Meet the NIMBY’s Toxic Cousin: the NOMS (Not On My Street)
A new study argues that the notorious anti-development figure known as the NIMBY, for Not In My Backyard, has an equally toxic cousin in the transportation realm: the NOMS, or Not On My Street. And the researcher who coined the new term warns that U.S. communities will struggle to achieve lasting change until they reckon with the outsized influence of NOMS and their disturbing car-first ideology.
In a recent analysis of hundreds of public comments given at community meetings in Washington, D.C. across four years, researcher Ashton Rohmer found several troubling trends in the rhetoric of residents who resisted new livable streets infrastructure and policies, and what she calls the “car supremacist” attitudes that seem to underlie them.
For instance, many testimonies incorrectly characterized street space as a scarce, non-renewable resource with little room to spare for things like curb extensions — a phenomenon she calls “static scarcity,” which ignores the ancient history of streets evolving along with society. Other testifiers, meanwhile, participated in “blame inversion,” or raging against non-drivers for problems that are objectively caused by motorists, like traffic jams backed up alongside new bike lanes.
Research shows that congestion typically shrinks or remains flat when governments add cycling infrastructure to their roads — even if that infrastructure subtracts a little bit of lane space from drivers, many of whom hop on their bikes when they have a safe network to ride on. But that doesn’t stop the NOMS — whose ranks include USDOT Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy — from claiming the exact opposite, without any evidence beyond their personal bias.
Recommended USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About Bike Lanes Kea Wilson April 25, 2025Even more alarmingly, Rohmer says those sorts of arguments seem to flow from unexamined beliefs that the harms perpetrated by drivers don’t really count — and conversely, that the people who endure them don’t really deserve justice or proactive measures to prevent other people from getting hurt.
And some testifiers heavily implied that non-drivers don’t deserve a say in how streets are built, whether because they “don’t pay for the roads” (when they absolutely do), or because “no one uses the bike lanes we already have” (when they absolutely do that, too). Some neighbors even alleged that cyclists are illegitimately “corrupting” city agencies to get their way. If that were actually true, drivers would probably not be killing so many people.
More than a century after the dawn of the automobile, Rohmer says these kinds of “car supremacist” ideas have become so deeply rooted that merely building new bus rapid transit lines will not be enough to heal the lasting damage to our broken culture.
“The issues posed by our mobility status quo are not engineering problems to be modeled or long range plans to be strategized, but constitute a moral project to be scrutinized, a social construct to be challenged and a system of power to be dismantled,” she wrote.
Recommended Friday Video: How ‘Car Brain’ Warps the Way We See the World Streetsblog January 16, 2026Of course, Rohmer isn’t the first scholar to argue that concepts like “motonormativity,” “windshield bias,” and “car-brain” have pervaded American life — and she isn’t the first to point out how powerful interests in the oil, road, and auto industries have systematically ingrained that perspective into our everyday lives.
Still, she argues that until we closely examine how everyday Americans perpetuate autocentrism from the bottom up — and how policymakers allow them to do so — we will never fully shift our transportation status quo, even if we do confront car culture’s top-down causes.
“I haven’t seen much theoretical work to explain the process by which a grumpy neighbor can complain about a speed bump, and then two days later, it gets removed,” she added. “There isn’t just a global political economy at work in that situation. It’s powered by individuals at the hyper-local level, within a bureaucratic process that enables that power to continue.”
Recommended Where Does ‘Motonormativity’ Come From — And Which Country Has It Worst? Streetsblog May 6, 2025Rohmer says community meetings, where motorists often disparage and intimidate their non-driving neighbors, provide a startling illustration of car culture’s corrosive impact.
In the D.C. testimonies she studied, many residents pointed to low bike ridership as evidence that cyclists constituted a “nefarious minority” hellbent on making life harder for their neighbors — rather than average people who just want to survive their ride home. Some even accused bikers, without evidence, of being paid actors or bribing politicians to enact their unwanted “agenda.”
“There’s no recognition that people who ride bikes or busses or [who use] sidewalks could possibly be members of the community,” Rohmer continued. “They’re always cast as outsiders … What these arguments are saying is that [non-drivers] shouldn’t have access to safe streets — like your life matters less.”
While her sample focused on D.C., Rohmer says car-supremacist arguments and attitudes turn up in conservative and liberal places alike because they’re fundamentally about power, not partisan politics. She recalls a recent conversation with a colleague about Copenhagen, where debate over a proposed bus lane in fell prey to similar dynamics.
“It’s not that Copenhagen suddenly hate buses,” she added. “It’s that a new bus lane announced that car driver’s privileged position was contestable, and that’s what activated the opposition.”
Recommended How Windshield Perspective Shapes the Way We See the World Angie Schmitt January 7, 2014While she stops short of offering a full-scale de-radicalization program for the NOMS, Rohmer says that decision-makers must recognize that car supremacy is a moral wrong just like any other dehumanizing ideology – and it’s past time for policymakers to check its influence on civic society.
That might look like disempowering tiny groups of unelected, unrepresentative community members who want to publicly debate whether things like bike and bus lanes should exist at all — while engaging the larger community even more deeply on the details of how those projects are rolled out, without compromising on the need for life-saving projects.
“If we use our community engagement practices to enable someone who thinks that it is okay not to make our streets safe for everyone who uses them, that is a failure of community engagement,” she said. “When we relegate decision-making to people who have these ideas about whose lives are worth valuing, I don’t think that that should count as ‘consulting the community.'”
It’s Time For Congress to Connect America’s Active Transportation Networks
Editor’s note: a version of this article originally appeared on the RailsToTrails.org and is republished with permission.
Within a few weeks, we may see the first public text and committee action for the next federal bill that governs the nation’s transportation policies — including the programs that provide the lion’s share of funding for active transportation and set the priorities for states and municipalities across the American landscape.
In the face of recent federal volatility toward trails, walking and biking, this will be a litmus test. While demand for this infrastructure is unprecedented — with hundreds of impressive projects underway that will deliver safe, convenient routes to travel by foot, bike or wheelchair in every single state — the question remains: Will federal legislators prioritize the transformative impacts of active transportation networks?
A leading indicator will be what happens with the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program (ATIIP).
Why is ATIIP So Critical? Photo: Allison AbruscatoAuthorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), ATIIP is the only federal program dedicated to making concentrated investments to establish safe, connected routes to walk and bike to the places people need to go—within their communities, to the next town, or even to the next state over. It solves a very specific problem that no other program is equipped to address, delivering the scale of investment needed to close gaps and complete active transportation networks.
With sky-high public demand for this essential community infrastructure equally evident in both Republican and Democratic strongholds, legislators should commit to grow and improve ATIIP in the federal transportation bill currently under development. A fortified ATIIP will improve the connectivity of trails, protected bike lanes and sidewalks into seamless transportation routes, meeting real needs for people walking and biking and increasing use by as much as 80%, according to a study Rails to Trails Conservancy led in partnership with Strava.
In part, that’s because the majority of trips taken in the United States are within a short walk or bike ride; it’s practical to move around our communities without a car. Considering that nearly 1 in 3 Americans lacks access to a motor vehicle — and many more are facing tough choices as gas prices continue to break records — finding accessible, affordable ways to get around is a real need many families face.
The stakes are staggering. When people walk or bike today in America, they’re taking their lives in their hands. As many as 20 people die while walking in the United States every single day.
Powerful Benefits for Communities Photo: City of MissoulaWhile preventing injury and death should be enough of a motivating factor to accelerate the pace of developing active transportation networks, the return on investment for traffic safety, economic development, health and the environment is also powerful. Research outlined in RTC’s 2019 “Active Transportation Transforms America” study puts the annual benefit of investing in walking and biking infrastructure at $34 billion; that can be quadrupled by building networks of trails and other safe infrastructure.
In many American communities across rural, suburban and urban geographies, residents and leaders alike recognize the urgency and potential to build these networks. But the opportunity to take this progress to scale, and make seamless walking and biking routes a norm, requires leadership and partnership at the federal level — signified by a consistent, dependable source of sizable federal grants that can be used to leverage local and state investments.
As we consider strategies to strengthen America’s transportation options, we must consider the discrepancy in how infrastructure has been built. Roads and rails are built as connected networks as a matter of course. Historically, trails and other walking and biking infrastructure have been built incrementally, relying on opportunism and thinly spread-out resources. But that incremental approach has established the foundation to build the country’s active transportation networks at a discount.
Longstanding foundational federal programs like Transportation Alternatives and the Recreational Trails Program, alongside state and local programs, have contributed to more than 42,500 miles of multiuse trails crisscrossing the American landscape.
ATIIP will leverage these impactful projects to achieve connectivity through gap filling and deliver resources on a scale sufficient to enable functional systems in a reasonable time period. It is the only federal program designed to fill multiple gaps in a network or to address critical but expensive connections, such as bridges.
This approach has already been proven to work.
Proven Impact of Connected Infrastructure Photo: John Faulk, Frontera MediaIn 2005, Congress funded the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, designed to test whether increasing the connectivity of walking and biking infrastructure would result in increased use. The program was implemented with great success across four disparate communities in Missouri, Minnesota, California and Wisconsin.
A later study of pre- and post-conditions issued by the Federal Highway Administration found that the connectivity investments made through the program increased walking by 22.8 percent and bicycling by 48.3 percent, with safety improvements across urban, suburban, rural and college town contexts.
Another example can be seen in Texas, which created a wildly successful large-grant category within its Transportation Alternatives program focusing on connectivity investments. Most of the money requested and provided flowed to these highly strategic and impactful projects. By shifting their programmatic approach, the Texas Department of Transportation elevated the striking demand for investment in connectivity and functional networks — illuminating the opportunity the federal government has to multiply its impact.
A Critical Opportunity Is Upon Us Photo: Derry Rail Trail AllianceIIJA created and authorized ATIIP for $200 million per year over five years, but it was subject to annual appropriations. That approach proved ineffective. Appropriators only delivered one $45 million infusion to the program—severely insufficient to meet the demand. In the first round of grant funding, the program was oversubscribed with a whopping $40 in applications for every dollar made available.
This next surface transportation bill is the opportunity to unlock ATIIP’s full potential. But it will require the predictability and consistency that comes from contract authority under the Highway Trust Fund.
The House bill passed for the last transportation reauthorization would have provided ATIIP with $250 million per year in contract authority if it were enacted. Matching that is the baseline that Congress should meet to begin to address the immense unmet demand and need for such resources going forward.
ATIIP has bicameral and bipartisan support. Rep. Chris Pappas (D) of New Hampshire just introduced a House bill to make these critical improvements to the program. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) of Alaska continues to champion ATIIP in the Senate. Both are joined by others of their party and respective legislative bodies.
This breadth of support reflects the reality that this infrastructure delivers for Republicans and Democrats and is valued by voters across the spectrum. We’re counting on bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress to deliver ATIIP — and safe walking and biking routes—to America.
Wednesday’s Headlines Yearn to Breathe Free
- A new American Lung Association report found than almost half of Americans live in a place with an unhealthy amount of air pollution. The report found that smog, caused in large part by car exhaust, is making a comeback after years of decline. Los Angeles has the worst smog problem in the country, as it has for 26 of the past 27 years. Bangor is the only city with low levels of both smog and particle pollution, also caused by cars.
- The cost of gas is one of many reasons to ditch your car, or at least get a smaller one. Filling up the 36-gallon tank of a Ford F-150, the most popular vehicle in the U.S., costs $46 more now than it did a year ago. (The Independent)
- Bloomberg Philanthropies committed to invest $350 million in bike infrastructure in more than 30 cities worldwide. (Momentum)
- An obscure federal insurance requirement could have a big impact on passenger rail service — and possibly bring some lines to a stop altogether. (Streetsblog USA)
- California first responders say the problem of stuck Waymos blocking the street is getting worse. (Wired)
- San Francisco residents who rented apartments specifically to be near transit stations could be forced to move or start driving again if a fiscal crisis forces BART to close 15 stations. (Standard)
- Baltimore residents are happy a grocery store is coming to their neighborhood, but in a reversal of the usual NIMBY arguments, say the suburban design includes too much parking. (Brew)
- San Antonio is considering expanding its on-demand van service. (News Express via Yahoo)
- Milwaukee passed Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s goal of building 50 miles of protected bike lanes, and is still building more. (Journal Sentinel)
- The Connecticut legislature removed a section of a transportation bill that would have allowed the DOT to set up automated speed cameras on highways. (CT News Junkie)
- Spokane will ask voters to renew a 0.2 percent sales tax for transportation this August. (Range)
- The Kansas City streetcar opens in two weeks, and businesses are hoping for a boost. (KCTV)
- Smooth Corinthian leather? Amtrak’s new commercials use the language of luxury car TV ads to sell the public on train travel. (Jalopnik)
Neoen powers up one of Australia’s biggest solar farms, co-located big battery to come
One of Australia's biggest solar farms – and Neoen's second-biggest utility-scale PV asset, globally – is officially operational, ahead of the addition of a big battery.
The post Neoen powers up one of Australia’s biggest solar farms, co-located big battery to come appeared first on Renew Economy.
“Despots, oligarchs, fruitcakes and invaders:” Why Andrew Forrest wants to stop burning fossil fuels
Forrest slams Australia's fossil fuel dependence, diesel rebate and use of fake offsets, and says Fortescue will be a prototype for the country to reach real zero.
The post “Despots, oligarchs, fruitcakes and invaders:” Why Andrew Forrest wants to stop burning fossil fuels appeared first on Renew Economy.
Faster meat processing: A disaster for workers and the environment
The Driven Podcast: EV sales surge, FBT survives, and petrol starts to wobble
Sarah Aubrey joins for the first time as co-host of The Driven Podcast as we unpack a record month for EV sales, the ACT’s extraordinary 34 per cent EV share, and what the next phase of the federal EV tax break could mean for buyers, novated leases and car makers.
The post The Driven Podcast: EV sales surge, FBT survives, and petrol starts to wobble appeared first on Renew Economy.
Video: Andrew Forrest on diesel fuel rebate, real zero and the energy transition
At the Smart Energy Conference, Andrew Forrest has called for the removal of Australia’s $2.5 billion diesel fuel rebate for large corporations, describing it as “free money” that hinders innovation.
The post Video: Andrew Forrest on diesel fuel rebate, real zero and the energy transition appeared first on Renew Economy.
Big Oil spends record $10 million on lobbying to kill common sense climate and polluter accountability policy
Sacramento, Calif. — Oil and gas corporations spent $10.3 million on California state lobbying and influence in the first quarter of 2026, the biggest first-quarter total on record, according to figures reported to the Secretary of State. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), a powerful industry trade group, was the top spender, pouring over $4.3 million into lobbying efforts, with its key member, Chevron, following at its heels with $3.7 million spent.
Top 5 lobbying and influence spenders of Q1:
Company/Trade Association Amount Western States Petroleum Association $4.3 million Chevron $3.7 million Phillips 66 $544,000 Marathon Petroleum $254,000 California Resources Corporation $156,000BP America, California Resources Corporation, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, and WSPA all lobbied the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on the Cap-and-Invest program. This coincides with a misinformation campaign from Big Oil blaming climate policy for refinery closures and high gas prices, and pushing for a $2 billion bailout in Cap-and-Invest. Lawmakers and climate advocates are pushing back against these efforts.
WSPA, California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), California Resources Corporation (CRC), Chevron, and Valero all lobbied against SB 1259, a common-sense transparency law that would require refineries to disclose estimated costs and timelines for closure and remediation.
“While Big Oil reaps record windfall profits from the war on Iran, they’re spending lavishly on Sacramento lobbyists to try to kill even the most basic community protections and transparency measures,” said Faraz Rizvi with Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Action. “These lobbying numbers tell you everything you need to know — Big Oil isn’t struggling right now. They’re just determined to leave our communities holding the bag on their way out the door.”
WSPA, CIPA, CRC, and Chevron also all lobbied against AB 2461 (The Oil Well Cleanup Accountability Act), which clarifies existing law to require full bonding for cleanup costs of any transferred oil wells, and worked on AB 2716, which would create massive loopholes in existing bonding rules by allowing what advocates call “pinky-swear” financial assurances in the form of corporate guarantees for transferred oil wells.
“Big Oil’s eye-popping expenditures to fight legislation that keeps Californians safe shows how far the industry will go to evade common sense oversight,” said Hollin Kretzmann, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “The Oil Well Accountability Act, one of the industry’s targets, would help make sure oil companies actually pay to clean up their idle, polluting wells. It’s a basic protection for Californians, and lawmakers should pass it.”
As California’s transportation fuels transition and a tight state budget remain priority issues for lawmakers in Sacramento, advocates stress that without transparency and accountability for the costs of remediation, both idle oil wells and unplanned refinery closures threaten to saddle taxpayers and communities with pollution and cleanup costs. SB 1259, AB 2461, and AB 2716 are now before the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees.
Oil corporations successfully lobbied against SB 982, the Affordable Insurance and Reliability Act, which would have helped hold polluters accountable for insurance and rebuilding costs from fossil-fuel induced climate disasters, as well as AB 1536, which would have strengthened the state’s protections against President Trump’s offshore drilling push for California’s coast.
Three-quarters of the oil and gas entities spending went towards “other payments” to influence state policy—which include fees to consultants, trade association dues, and donations to industry front groups—rather than on direct lobbying itself: they spent $7.8 million on other payments and $2.6 million on in-house and external lobbyists.
Top industry front group Californians for Energy Independence scored nearly $1.8 million in itemized contributions in Q1, all of it from Chevron. The front group used most of that money to pay Winner and Mandabach Campaigns, a consulting firm that specializes in ballot measures. Winner and Mandabach Campaigns previously worked for Californians for Energy Independence during Big Oil’s failed attempt to overturn California’s health buffer zones between schools and oil wells.
Other top payees of the oil and gas entities were ML Media Group ($1.2 million from WSPA), The Axis Agency ($507,000 from WSPA), California Business Roundtable ($500,000 from Chevron), and Flexpoint Advocacy ($500,000 from WSPA). Also of note is Washington, D.C.-based PR firm DDC Public Affairs, which is notorious for its work with industry front groups that pushed deceptive messages. The firm got $137,000 from Chevron and has increased its haul from oil and gas firms in California since 2023.
The top five lobbying firms to service the oil and gas industry in Q1 were Buchalter ($371,000), Carpenter Garcia Sievers ($277,000), Axiom Advisors ($210,000), Kester/Pahos ($110,000), and Prime Strategies of California ($96,000; the firm also received $125,000 from Phillips 66, classified as “other payments”).
The record lobbying spending comes as oil companies announce their first-quarter profits, with Chevron making $2.2 billion and Valero making $1.3 billion. Average gasoline prices in California topped $6 per gallon on April 30.
Additional information on Q1 lobbying activity is available upon request.
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Methodology: This report analyzes raw data from the California Secretary of State’s Political Reform Division as of May 1, 2026. The analysis includes the lobbyist employers in the “oil and gas” category for the 2025-26 legislative session. The state’s definition of oil and gas lobbyist employers includes, in addition to traditional oil and gas firms, firms that advocate for biomass energy, compressed natural gas, and/or carbon removal. As of May 1, five filers had not submitted Q1 reports: Berry Corporation, E&B Natural Resources, Kinder Morgan, Synergy Oil & Gas, and Woodside Energy. Berry Corporation is now part of California Resources Corporation; E&B Natural Resources and Woodside Energy have terminated their registrations.
LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge that Sacramento is the traditional home of the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan people. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.
The post Big Oil spends record $10 million on lobbying to kill common sense climate and polluter accountability policy appeared first on Last Chance Alliance.
Key wind, solar and network projects to be fast-tracked in race to quit coal and power smelter
NSW to legislate new rules to allow key projects to be fast-tracked, and will seek to prevent long distance objectors from holding up the process.
The post Key wind, solar and network projects to be fast-tracked in race to quit coal and power smelter appeared first on Renew Economy.
What Is The Arctic Refuge Protection Act?
With Alaska once again in the administration’s crosshairs, we’ve heard a big question from supporters across the country: How are we fighting back?
The answer is: in every way we can. From the halls of Congress to communities across the country, we’re building a movement to defend the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This blog focuses on one of our most powerful tools to get there—the Arctic Refuge Protection Act—and why it matters right now.
A Once-in-a-Generation OpportunityThe Arctic Refuge Protection Act introduced by Senator Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Huffman (D-CA) and Fitzpatrick (R-PA), offers something we’ve never needed more: a lasting solution.
This bipartisan bill would repeal the destructive oil and gas leasing program mandated by the 2017 Tax Act and permanently protect the Refuge’s 1.5-million-acre coastal plain as Wilderness.
At a time when short-term political decisions threaten long-term ecological futures, this bill charts a path rooted in respect, responsibility, and permanence.
Why This Bill Matters on Capitol HillNot only does the Refuge Protection Act provide the best opportunity to create lasting change, but it is a crucial tool to build support and empower our champions on the Hill.
Every new co-sponsor is a public commitment to protecting one of the last truly wild places in America. It gives Members of Congress a clear way to stand with their constituents, with Indigenous communities, and with future generations.
And in a deeply divided political moment, this bill provides a powerful opportunity to demonstrate that protecting the Arctic Refuge is a shared value and not a partisan issue. Growing this bipartisan support sends a clear message across administrations and party lines that the Arctic Refuge is not a bargaining chip for industrial extraction. It is a shared heritage that is worth protecting.
People Power Makes This PossibleOur team is pushing our decision-makers on the Hill every single day, but we also know that the people fundamentally power this work. We’ve seen the impact when advocates step forward to share why the Arctic matters to them. Gwich’in leaders have traveled thousands of miles to speak about their deep, enduring connection to the land and the caribou. Their voices have opened hearts, shifted perspectives, and built lasting relationships with decision-makers
We’ve also partnered with organizations like Love Is King and Hip Hop Caucus to bring new voices into the conversation—veterans, young leaders, and community advocates who have experienced the Refuge firsthand and carry its story with them.
And just as importantly, we’ve seen how powerful it is when constituents—people like you—speak up. Whether you live in Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine (or anywhere in between), your voice reminds Congress that the Arctic Refuge belongs to all of us.
Vote Yes on Measure A to Renew Contra Costa’s Urban Limit Line
When Contra Costa voters approved the Urban Limit Line (ULL) in 1990, they made a decision about what kind of county this would be. They drew a boundary beyond which urban development couldn’t go – protecting the farms in the Tassajara Valley, the open hillsides above Walnut Creek, and the wetlands along the shoreline – and they asked future generations to keep it in place.
For 35 years, it has held. In that time, the line has been adjusted only six times, and voters renewed it in 2006 with 64% support. The landscapes that define Contra Costa exist in part because that commitment has been kept.
It expires December 31, 2026. Measure A on the June 2 ballot is how we renew it again.
The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors has referred the measure to voters, with updates to the boundary to better reflect current conditions on the ground. Greenbelt Alliance urges a YES vote in June.
Why the Urban Limit Line MattersThe ULL isn’t about stopping growth. It’s about making sure growth happens in the right places: in existing communities where infrastructure already exists, where people can get around without a car, where new housing and new neighbors strengthen what’s already there. By establishing a clear line beyond which no new urban land uses can be designated, the ULL has protected the county’s agricultural lands, open hillsides, and natural landscapes for more than three decades.
Protected open space and farmland are not optional extras — they are foundational to the health, climate resilience, and livability of Contra Costa communities. Clean water, cooler temperatures, local food, open land that absorbs carbon, and buffers communities from wildfire and flood. The ULL supports all of that by directing growth where it belongs and keeping natural lands open.
Why Greenbelt Alliance Supports Measure A
“Greenbelt Alliance has been following the Urban Limit Line since before it was even a measure, working with the county to ensure the lines being drawn are protecting open spaces and encouraging growth in the right places. We do both those things. We want to encourage infill housing and also make sure the open spaces we love are protected.”
Zoe Siegel, Senior Director of Climate Resilience at Greenbelt AllianceGreenbelt Alliance has worked to protect the Bay Area’s open spaces and farmland for more than 60 years, and the Contra Costa Urban Limit Line is central to that work. By keeping growth focused within existing communities and away from natural landscapes, the ULL directly supports our mission to protect the greenbelt and help Bay Area cities thrive.
Measure A is also a critical climate tool. Compact infill development reduces the vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis, while preserving open lands sequester carbon, filter water, and buffer communities against extreme heat, flooding, and wildfire. At a time when federal rollbacks are threatening environmental protections across the board, locally-driven policies like this one matter more than ever.
Voting yes on Measure A advances priorities that matter deeply to residents across the county, including:
- Protecting agricultural lands and open space from conversion to sprawl development
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and traffic by directing new housing and jobs to infill locations
- Maintaining the 65/35 Land Preservation Standard, which ensures that at least 65% of the county’s land remains non-urban
- Restricting new development in fire hazard severity zones and on steep slopes, reducing wildfire risk
- Supporting successful implementation of the county’s newly adopted 2045 General Plan
Opponents of urban growth boundaries sometimes argue that such limits constrain housing production. The Contra Costa ULL tells a different story. The county’s 2045 General Plan process confirmed that vacant and underutilized land inside the existing ULL can accommodate 23,200 new housing units, 1.2 million square feet of new commercial development, and 5 million square feet of new industrial space. There is no need to expand into open space and farmland to meet the county’s growth needs — and there never has been.
Measure A also includes targeted adjustments to the ULL map that would make it more accurate and functional: removing areas with major development constraints or protected status, aligning the county line with city boundaries where cities have adopted their own urban growth boundaries, and cleaning up inconsistencies like so-called ULL “islands.” These changes reflect reality on the ground without opening the door to sprawl.
A Long Track Record of StabilityThe ULL has proven to be a remarkably stable and durable policy. In its 35-year history, it has been adjusted only six times, and only once in response to a private development application. That’s a record that reflects both the policy’s durability and the strong public commitment to the values it protects.
Renewing the ULL through Measure A also has a practical financial benefit: the county is required to maintain it in order to receive approximately $2 million annually in local street maintenance funding from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. Letting the ULL expire would put those dollars at risk.
In the June 2026 election, vote YES on Measure A to renew the Contra Costa Urban Limit Line. Renewing the ULL is a tangible way for Contra Costa voters to say that the landscapes they love — the farms, the hills, the open shorelines — are worth protecting for the next generation.
The post Vote Yes on Measure A to Renew Contra Costa’s Urban Limit Line appeared first on Greenbelt Alliance.
State Takes Action to Speed up Cleanup at Los Alamos
Opportunity for Public Support Comments to clean up Los Alamos Labs, until June 8th
By email to: HWB-WIPP-Comment@env.nm.gov
By postal mail:
Megan McLean, WIPP Program Manager
Hazardous Waste Bureau – New Mexico Environment Department
2905 Rodeo Park Drive East, Building 1
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505-6303
On April 23, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued a Draft Permit proposing to require a minimum percentage of legacy shipments from Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, (WIPP).
NMED’s action would help stop LANL plans to leave 1 million cubic meters of radioactive and hazardous waste buried above our regional aquifer in a seismic zone between a rift and a dormant super volcano. The action would also limit waste from new pit production.
Here are some of the provisions of the Draft Permit that we must support in our comments –
* From January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2031, at least 55% of the total volume of all waste emplaced at WIPP from all generator/storage sites must be LANL legacy waste.
* Beginning January 1, 2032, and until all LANL legacy waste has been emplaced at WIPP, LANL legacy waste must be at least 75% of the total volume of waste emplaced from all generator/storage sites.
* Legacy waste currently stored above-ground at LANL Material Disposal Area-G shall be shipped and emplaced at WIPP by July 1, 2028.
* If at any point any of those conditions are not met, all generator/storage site shipments (with the exception of LANL) must cease until all deficiencies are cured.
Written public comments can be submitted until 5:00 p.m. MT, on June 8, 2026. The NMED Draft
Permit, Public Notice, and Fact Sheet are on the WIPP News https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/.
For more info: http://www.stopforeverwipp.org,
http://sric.org/ , http://nuclearactive.org/, http://www.nukewatch.org
The Global Sumud Flotilla is a mission of mercy, met with cruelty
This article The Global Sumud Flotilla is a mission of mercy, met with cruelty was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'26gxjtQ4Sx9ZCOm3IKUksw',sig:'O252H5Kc3kpsOOyKEiBiaV-Vawnrq4efv8L5djaUJDQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2270979603',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});After a symbolic launch in Barcelona on April 12, the Global Sumud Flotilla set out across the Mediterranean Sea to bring aid to Gaza in what proved to be the largest civilian maritime convoy of its kind: 58 vessels, more than a thousand participants from over a hundred countries. Amnesty called on governments to guarantee safe passage. Greenpeace sent the Arctic Sunrise. And in the early hours of April 30, off the coast of Greece, Israeli naval forces moved in.
There is something deeply affecting in the sight of everyday people rising to perform the simplest offices of mercy while states and institutions, created for hours of peril such as this, withdraw behind procedure and delay. Across the Mediterranean, men and women gathered what aid they could carry, along with the inward resolve such a voyage demands, and turned themselves toward Gaza. Great structures, swollen with authority and self-protection, were suddenly made to look small beside a few fragile boats moved by fellow feeling.
That, for me, is the true subject here. The values-led flotilla and the light of humiliation it casts upon the official power structures. When private citizens must hazard sea and reprisal in order to bring food and medicine to the trapped, the failure has entered the marrow of public life. Whole systems, immense in apparatus and loud in self regard, stand exposed by a handful of human beings willing to cross water for strangers. The Greeks gave us words for it: demos, the common people, and kratos, their strength. A flotilla is democracy at its source.
#newsletter-block_67f13e14b2716b55a97772652dd32920 { background: #ECECEC; color: #000000; } #newsletter-block_67f13e14b2716b55a97772652dd32920 #mc_embed_signup_front input#mce-EMAIL { border-color:#000000 !important; color: #000000 !important; } Sign Up for our NewsletterIn a relentless news cycle of death and destruction, there is something almost scriptural in the image of small craft setting out to relieve the besieged. A boat is a modest thing, rising and falling with the sea, vulnerable to delay, interception and fear. Perhaps that is why it can bear mercy so well. Mercy is among the most beloved names by which God is remembered in Islam, and these volunteers carried aid in their hold along with a quality of heart that official life has steadily thinned out.
The word sumud deepens the meaning further. For Palestinians, it has long meant steadfastness, a staying put in the face of erasure, a fidelity to land, memory and the human shape of one’s life. Here, steadfastness took to the sea. It left the olive grove and entered the waves. One remains steadfast by moving toward the wounded. One keeps faith by refusing distance.
By getting on those boats, the volunteers insisted that strangers are still our concern. A flotilla closes distance in the oldest human way, by drawing near, by consenting to inconvenience and risk because another people’s hunger has become unbearable to the soul.
To set out under such conditions is already a kind of testimony. One imagines the small practical gestures that attend such a voyage: the checking of ropes and provisions, subdued talk, private negotiations of fear, inward glances toward loved ones who would be left behind for a time. Heroism appears in a humble guise, the simple refusal to let danger relieve one of this duty. Those who boarded these vessels consented to exposure, and that consent lent the voyage its moral splendor.
There is something else that stirs the heart in such gatherings. The people who come together for a mission of mercy bring different languages, prayers and burdens of memory. Yet, for a brief and difficult passage they agreed to become answerable to one another and to those waiting beyond the horizon. This, too, is part of the beauty. A world daily instructed in difference and division still contains people capable of forming, under pressure, a fellowship. The boats carried supplies, certainly, though they also carried a living refutation of the lie that people are finally ruled by self-interest or tribe or fear.
Perhaps that is why maritime images can carry such spiritual force. The sea strips away illusion. No one sets out upon open water and remains wholly enclosed within self-regard. One enters a domain older than empires, where frailty and dependence are undeniable. To cross such waters in order to relieve the afflicted is to recover something ancient in the story, something older than diplomacy. It recalls the old belief that mercy is a labor asking something of the body. It must travel and bear fatigue and uncertainty. It must keep watch.
The greatness of the souls on this journey lies precisely in the fact that they remain recognizably human. They will be tired and perhaps seasick, maybe even afraid. They will carry their private griefs with them, along with the larger grief that summoned them to sea. Yet hope does not wait until the heart is free of trembling. It makes use of trembling and gathers what courage it can from love and shame, from prayer and the stubborn unwillingness to let the brutal terms of politics become the final measure of what is possible between us. Amid the daily grief, this is a welcome ray of light. Hope as an act of resistance, with wet sleeves and a steady hand on the rope. Hope that has looked at the world and, despite every inducement to resignation, continues to choose the human bond.
Those who sailed in April had already paid for this cause. In October 2025, Israeli forces arrested over 450 participants from the last flotilla attempt, among them the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela. Those survivors set out again, undeceived about what might await. Their willingness to return lent the voyage a grave authority. Events confirmed its cost.
The answer came in the early hours of April 30, in international waters west of Crete, 600 miles from Gaza. Israeli naval vessels surrounded the fleet, ordering activists to their knees at gunpoint. Twenty-two of the 58 boats were seized. One hundred and seventy-five people were held aboard an Israeli frigate for up to 40 hours, denied adequate food and water, the floor beneath them repeatedly and deliberately flooded. They were punched, kicked and dragged across the deck with hands bound. Shots were fired, live and rubber both. Thirty-four people were hospitalized in Crete with broken ribs, broken noses and serious neck injuries. Sixty went on hunger strike, before being released.
Two steering committee members were then taken separately to Israel: Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish-Swedish Palestinian who had been on an observer boat that never planned to sail to Gaza, and Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila. Abu Keshek was forced to lie face-down from the moment of his seizure, kept hand-tied and blindfolded, his face and hands bruised. Ávila was dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely he lost consciousness twice. The Brazilian embassy, visiting under glass, observed visible marks on Ávila’s face and noted his significant pain. Both are in Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and still on a hunger strike. A court has now extended their detention until May 10.
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DonateSpain called the detention illegal; Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly, saying his country would always protect its citizens and defend international law. Brazil stood with Spain. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry called the interceptions an act of piracy. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called them a brazen violation of international law. The Trump administration called the flotilla pro-Hamas and threatened consequences for any who had offered support.
Power has answered mercy with boots and bound hands. One wants to call this a surprise, but it is more precisely a revelation: something that was always there, now brought into the open. What the interception has laid bare, beyond the suffering of those detained, is the shape of the blockade itself. What kind of order must travel 600 miles from shore to intercept civilian vessels that are carrying bandages? What does a law protect when it meets unarmed people at sea with firearms and drags them face-down across wet decks?
Thirty-two boats remain anchored in Crete, where the organizers are regrouping and considering their next steps. The flotilla was seized in part. It was not silenced. And that refusal has done what no press release could: made the condition of Gaza impossible to look away from, at a cost borne by those who were willing to bear it.
The boats are small enough to be dismissed by cynics, and large enough to shame the world. They carry the old lesson that power does not hold a monopoly on reality. Power cannot produce the moral beauty that appears when human beings gather themselves for the sake of others. That beauty remains one of the last unpurchased things.
I think, in these dark years, about the difference between authority and worth. The first may be conferred by the world; the second is earned in the secret place where the heart decides whether it will remain human. Those who set out from Barcelona hold no office at all. Even so, they carry more of the world’s honor than many governments assembled beneath their flags. They carry it at sea, in the dark, with their hands bound, still keeping watch.
The lantern is still on the water. Mercy has been met with force, and answered the force with the deeper testimony of the body’s willingness to remain. Thirty-two boats sail on. The heart still knows the way.
This article The Global Sumud Flotilla is a mission of mercy, met with cruelty was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.
New ground added to West Newton fracking challenge
The campaigner challenging consent for lower-volume fracking in East Yorkshire has added a new ground to his case.
Photo: Used with the owner’s consentPeter Lomas, from Hornsea, is taking the first legal steps against the Environment Agency (EA), over its issue of a permit at the West Newton-A site in Holderness.
The site operator, Rathlin Energy, had said lower-volume fracking is required to allow commercial exploitation of a well at the site.
The new ground is based on the Finch Ruling, a successful case at the Supreme Court brought by Sarah Finch and the Weald Action Group on climate emissions from onshore oil and gas.
In a legal letter in early April, solicitors Leigh Day set out four grounds for Mr Lomas’s challenge:
- Risk of induced seismicity
- Risk to groundwater pollution
- Impact on the Lambwath Meadows site of special scientific interest
- Failure to consider international guidance on climate change
But a second letter has recently added that the EA failed, when making its decision on the permit, to consider and undertake a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA).
The planning permission for production at West Newton-A was passed without an EIA, in March 2022.
This was more than two years before the Finch Ruling, which stated that decisionmakers must consider the downstream carbon emissions from using oil or gas produced onshore.
The Finch ruling also emphasised the importance of public participation in the EIA process and public understanding of the environmental impact of developments.
Mr Lomas’s lawyers argued there had been no environmental information about the downstream emissions from oil or gas produced at West Newton-A.
They said the EA was obliged to assess the environmental impact of oil and gas production resulting from lower-volume fracking.
Information was needed, they said, on emissions from using hydrocarbons from the well to ensure the public could properly participate in the process.
The lawyers have also revised the fourth ground in the case. It now argues that the EA failed to consider the impact of lower-volume fracking on climate change, under its duties in the Environment Act 1995.
Leigh Day has asked for further information from the EA on the first three grounds.
FDA finds toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in baby formula but won’t set enforceable limits
WASHINGTON – The toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS were found in baby formula sold across the U.S., according to test data recently released by the Food and Drug Administration.
The findings underscore an urgent and long-overdue need for legal limits on PFAS in food. One year ago, the Environmental Working Group urged the FDA to develop action levels for PFAS in food.
Monitoring without action does not protect children. A PFAS action level would let the FDA take legal action to remove products from the market if they exceed that limit.
The FDA tested 312 infant formula samples from 16 brands for 30 PFAS compounds as part of its Operation Stork Speed initiative. Five PFAS compounds were detected.
PFOS was most commonly detected, found in half of all samples at concentrations ranging from 0.51 to 6.0 parts per trillion. PFOS is one of the most toxic and well-studied PFAS and the Environmental Protection Agency says it’s likely to be carcinogenic to humans.
The FDA characterizes these levels as low and concludes the infant formula supply is safe.
“No safe level of PFAS exposure has been established, and that is especially true for infants,” said David Andrews, Ph.D., EWG chief science officer.
“PFOS bioaccumulates in the body and it damages the immune system, including reducing the effectiveness of vaccines in babies and children. Detecting it in half of all formula samples and characterizing these findings as a proof of safety is not a conclusion the science supports,” said Andrews.
“Formula is the sole nutrition source for millions of American infants and toddlers. The FDA’s safety claim is not acceptable, given these detections of a known cancer-causing chemical. The agency must set enforceable PFAS action levels for food, as other nations already have done."
“Congress gave the FDA the authority to set limits on contaminants in infant formula. The agency has chosen not to use it,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at EWG.
“Every day the FDA delays setting enforceable PFAS limits is another day American infants are exposed to toxic PFAS with zero legal protection. That is a policy choice, and it is the wrong one,” he said.
Not just trace contaminationPFOS was phased out of U.S. manufacturing under pressure from the EPA after evidence emerged of significant health hazards. It was used in 3M’s Scotchgard and widely deployed in firefighting foam at military bases and airports, contaminating groundwater systems across the country.
EWG’s PFAS contamination map documents PFOS in the drinking water supply of nearly half the nation’s water systems.
The EPA regulates PFOS in drinking water at a maximum contaminant level of just 4 parts per trillion, set because of PFOS’s classification as a carcinogen.
The FDA has established no equivalent limit for infant formula, so infants and toddlers may continue to be exposed to PFOS in food, as well as in tap water.
“Most of the formula samples the FDA tested were powdered, and most parents mix powdered formula with tap water,” said Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., senior scientist at EWG. “Depending on where you live, your tap water may be contaminated with PFAS.
“That means babies could be getting a double dose – PFAS already present in the formula powder, and additional PFAS from the water used to prepare it. That compounding exposure is exactly why we need enforceable limits, not just monitoring,” she added.
The FDA findings closely mirror Consumer Reports’ 2025 investigation, which found PFAS in almost all of the 41 popular baby formula brands it tested, including Enfamil, Similac and Bobbie.
Consumer Reports also identified PFOS as the most concerning compound detected.
Two independent investigations, the same alarming result – and still no enforceable federal standard for PFAS in food.
Food may be the primary route of PFAS exposureFor millions of Americans, food – not drinking water – is the main route of PFAS exposure. These chemicals enter the food supply through multiple pathways federal regulators have failed to close.
“PFAS are clearly infiltrating our entire food system as a direct result of regulatory failure,” said Andrews.
“PFAS-containing pesticides are being applied to crops. Biosolids contaminated with PFAS are being spread on farm fields. Contaminated water is being sprayed on food crops. Every one of these pathways is preventable, and every one of them remains legal,” said Andrews.
“We need to ban all nonessential uses of PFAS, starting with these agricultural applications, before the contamination gets any worse,” he added.
Stakes are highest for the most vulnerablePFAS exposure, with its health stakes, begins before birth.
PFAS are toxic at extremely low levels. They are known as forever chemicals because once released into the environment, they do not break down and can build up in the body. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected PFAS in the blood of 99% of Americans, including newborn babies.
PFAS readily cross the placenta and have been detected in umbilical cord blood, confirming that the developing fetus faces direct prenatal exposure.
When PFAS are detected in the infant formula that millions of American babies depend on as their sole source of nutrition, the exposure does not begin at the first feeding. For many infants, it has already been accumulating for months.
A recent study also links prenatal PFAS exposure to premature birth, low birth weight and infant mortality. The full range of documented harms extends further still: thyroid disruption, harm to the male reproductive system, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, reduced fertility and shorter duration of breastfeeding.
Very low doses of PFAS have been linked to suppression of the immune system. Studies show exposure to PFAS can also increase the risk of cancer, harm fetal development and reduce vaccine effectiveness.
The impact on infants and toddlers is especially pronounced. “Babies are not small adults when it comes to chemical exposure – they are categorically more vulnerable,” said Stoiber.
“Babies’ bodies are smaller, their organs are still developing, and their immune systems are not yet fully formed. When PFAS accumulate in an infant’s body, the proportional impact is far greater than it would be in an adult exposed to the same amount.
“Parents are often limited in the type of formula that is available to them and the FDA’s testing did not disclose the brand names tested. The FDA must act to protect all children,” she added.
“The administration says it wants to make America healthy again,” said Faber. “Here is a straightforward way to start: Set enforceable limits on PFAS in baby formula today.
“The science is clear, the authority exists and the harm has been documented. American families cannot wait any longer for the federal government to do its job,” he added.
What parents can do right nowNo parent should have to navigate this alone. Until the FDA establishes enforceable PFAS standards in infant formula, here are practical steps to reduce your baby’s exposure:
- Use filtered water when preparing powdered formula. A reverse osmosis system provides the most effective PFAS filtration. Countertop pitcher filters have also shown meaningful effectiveness in EWG testing.
- Check EWG’s PFAS contamination map to see whether your local water supply has documented PFOS or other PFAS contamination.
- Make your voice heard. Contact the FDA and your elected representatives and demand enforceable PFAS limits in infant formula. The FDA’s Operation Stork Speed is an ongoing testing program. Sustained public pressure from parents is one of the most effective ways to accelerate the regulatory action.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
Areas of Focus Food & Water Food Children’s Health PFAS Chemicals Press Contact Monica Amarelo monica@ewg.org (202) 939-9140 May 5, 2026Event | How Climate Denialism Is Evolving With Trump in Office
Hosted by Covering Climate Now
Thursday, May 7 12:00 p.m. EDT
REGISTERIn April, a climate denial conference hosted in Washington, D.C., and boasting US Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin as a keynote speaker signaled a new era in US politics: from a slow but growing embrace of climate science in federal policy to outright rejection of the scientific consensus.
Join Covering Climate Now for a special webinar, with DeSmog reporter Rei Takver alongside Manon Jacob, Climate Digital Investigation Reporter for Agence France-Presse, and Maxine Joselow, Climate Policy Reporter for The New York Times, as they explore how the Trump administration’s overt embrace of climate denialism in Washington is creating a permission structure for more denial at the highest levels of government in the US and beyond.
Rei will discuss her story, co-published with The Guardian, “Climate Deniers Expected More Resistance to Trump’s Fossil Fuel Blitz,” which covers Donald Trump’s assaults on the legal foundation for U.S. regulations on global warming emissions, and how climate deniers have been celebrating what they claim is the “silent” acquiescence of billionaires, Democrats, climate activists and even reporters to the president’s aggressive pro-fossil fuel agenda.
“In my 26 years of being focused on climate, I’ve never seen anything like this. Trump is gutting everything they ever stood for,” Marc Morano, a long-time climate denier, said in January at the “World Prosperity Forum,” a five-day event in Zurich, Switzerland, Rei reports.
The World Prosperity Forum’s sponsor was The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that has been at the forefront of spreading climate disinformation for decades, and was also a contributor to Project 2025, the policy blueprint for President Trump’s second administration.
“Billionaires are silent. Democrats in Congress have been silent. Climate activists. There has been no push-back on this,” Morano said — and he may have a point, according to some experts who research the climate denial movement.
Join in on Thursday, May 7, at 12:00 p.m. EDT for this virtual conversation about the Trump administration’s embrace of climate denialism, what that could mean for the future of US climate policy, and how to cover it
You won’t want to miss it.
Register and submit your questions here.
The post Event | How Climate Denialism Is Evolving With Trump in Office appeared first on DeSmog.
My front row seat to the power of grassroots organizing
When I moved to Richmond 25 years ago, Chevron was so entrenched in Richmond’s politics that it was rumored that they had a desk in the city manager’s office.
For ordinary folks—especially immigrant and refugee families—who lived here, the message back then was clear: Richmond isn’t really yours.
But for the past three decades APEN members — driven by courage, creativity, and a fierce love for our city— have challenged Chevron’s power, proving that Richmond belongs to us.
I spent the last 30 years working with national organizations on issues of climate justice and corporate power. Across that time, much of my own political thinking was shaped by the organizing I saw APEN leading in Richmond.
I joined APEN as Co-Director because I know that the reality of a Just Transition is possible. What’s more – I’ve seen it happen, right in my backyard.
As a new Richmond resident, I knew I had to stand up to Chevron’s toxic policies.
I knew APEN as a neighbor first. I met APEN staff as our children ran around together while we packed the Richmond city council chambers during meetings.
One experience that sticks out is a meeting in 2020. The council was deciding on whether Richmond’s port would continue to store and handle coal and petroleum coke, a carbon-rich solid byproduct of oil refining.
The tension in the air was palpable as activists and residents packed the chambers.
When APEN members arrived in a sea of green shirts, I knew that our community had shown up: organized, informed, and ready.
But we weren’t the only ones turning people out – fossil fuel interests had brought speakers to give old and misleading arguments.
The lack of empathy was at a fever pitch; I even overheard someone scoffing and rolling their eyes at “yet another” resident testifying about suffering from asthma.
APEN members gave essential and powerful testimony to combat the misinformation parroted by fossil fuel representatives. The passion and dedication to Richmond was crystal clear.
Together, we moved the city council to vote to end storage of harmful substances in our city.
Over the past three decades, APEN members have inspired me with their tenacity and bold presence.
So much has changed in Richmond in the last 25 years.
In 2024, grassroots organizers won a $550 million settlement from Chevron—a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in a Just Transition for Richmond.
And, Chevron is on the defensive, going so far as to fund their own newspaper to parrot their talking points, because they know that ordinary, working-class people are transforming Richmond and taking back control.
This is the transformative power of grassroots organizing. The energy of Fire Horse year reminds us that bold, courageous action is needed to ignite lasting change.
APEN members are exactly that – passionate and fearless – as they continue to raise their voices in Richmond, Oakland, and Los Angeles’ South Harbor.
I’m excited to draw on my experience and build grassroots power alongside Co-Director Vivian Huang.
This month, we are raising $28,000 to fund the crucial work of our bold members.
In the coming weeks we’ll share victories from youth in Richmond and LA’s South Harbor, as well as milestones in Oakland’s Chinatown—all are a testament to the transformative power of APEN’s long-term grassroots organizing.
We have received a generous matching grant of up to $25,000! This means when you give today, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar; that’s double the impact!
I’m honored to join the team at APEN to support our members and build a Just Transition that makes sense for poor and working class communities of color in California.
In Solidarity,
Michelle Chan, Co-Director, APEN
The post My front row seat to the power of grassroots organizing appeared first on Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
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