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Happy Easter and Passover, and HERE'S THE LATEST: We are kicking it on Port Ambrose (huge thanks to all of you)! The hearing on Resolution 549 was gre
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Happy Easter and Passover, and HERE'S THE LATEST: We are kicking it on Port Ambrose (huge thanks to all of you)! The hearing on Resolution 549 was great . . . 4 new reps signed on last week, but we still need 12 more to guarantee it passes . . . this week we're calling on 4 members of the Waterfront Committee to sign on . . . on Monday we'll be writing postcards in the city while our friends upstate are rallying . . . on Wednesday we'll be doing a webinar demonstrating the YOU ARE HERE map . . . and there are LOTS more events mapped out all this month and next! Check it out: |
Read the full report back on key testimony here, including the 2 brave pro-Port Ambrose folks who showed up; and view the video of the Sane team testifying here. The clip includes a sweet tribute to the anti-fracking contingent from Councilman Corey Johnson, and the best punch line by Chair Donovan Richards (as they say, wait for it).
The hearing is one step in the process of bringing Resolution 549 to a floor vote with the entire City Council. The reso asks Governor Cuomo to veto Port Ambrose, and will be an important signal from his downstate colleagues and voters. We hope the reso will come to a full-council vote next month (we’ll alert you once the date is confirmed). |
To create a renewable future, with plentiful green jobs, offshore wind must happen on Long Island. To make sure that happens, we must prevent the construction of Port Ambrose. |
 A slide from the power point presented to City Council at last Wednesday's hearing. |
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We need 35 votes to pass City Council Resolution 549, requesting Governor Cuomo to veto Port Ambrose. We're now up to 23 co-signers! BIG THANKS to these members of the Progressive Caucus who signed on last week! (Let them know you appreciate it!):
Carlos Menchaca info38@council.nyc.gov
Jimmy Van Bramer jvanbramer@council.nyc.gov
Antonio Reynoso areynoso@council.nyc.gov
Ydanis Rodriguez rodriguez@council.nyc.gov
And our pals in the Bronx are kicking it too! BCJN (Bronx Climate Justice North) a group that formed around the People's Climate March, wrote an open letter to all Bronx electeds, calling on them to take a stand against Port Ambrose, which was published in The Riverdale Press. |
We're making great progress on Reso 549, but we still need 12 more signers!
The City Council hearing last week was held jointly by the Environmental Committee with the Waterfront Committee. Waterfronts Chair Deborah Rose and Councilmembers Garodnick and Johnson attended the hearing, but so far, only Councilmember Johnson has signed on. Let's make sure that the entire Waterfront committee supports this reso! That means this week's goal is to contact these 4 committee members (just email or call using the sample letter here. |
 Chair, Deborah Rose | |  Chaim Deutsch | |  Dan Garodnick | |  Paul Vallone |
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Deborah Rose DRose@Council.nyc.gov or 212-788-6972
Rep from Staten Island's North Shore, an environmental justice community long burdened with polluted flood waters, multiple industrial hazards and the Spectra pipeline.
Chair of the Committee on Waterfronts, Member of the Progressive Caucus
Chaim Deutsch cdeutsch@council.nyc.gov or 212-788-7360
Rep from Brooklyn coastal district (Brighton and Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Midwood)
Also a member of the Committees on Public Safety
Daniel Garodnick DGarodnick@council.nyc.gov or 212-788-7393
Rep from Manhattan's East Side
Also the Chair of the Committee on Economic Development (More jobs from wind than LNG!)
Paul Vallone district19@council.nyc.gov or 212-788-7250
Rep from Northern Queens flood-prone waterfront district (Whitestone to Flushing)
(Corey Johnson, the remaining member of the Waterfronts Committee, was one of the first cosigners on the reso. Please say thanks: District3@council.nyc.gov)
Here's a complete running count of who's signed and who hasn't. |
Say NO to New Pipelines: A coalition of environmental groups will hold press conference
and rally to stop the Northeast Energy Direct (NED/TGP) pipeline, outside the "open house" that Kinder-Morgan is hosting.
Speakers will include representatives of environmental and community groups, Mohawk leaders, civil rights activists and musicians Peter and Bethany Yarrow (<3), and residents and landowners along the proposed pipeline route.
The event is sponsored by: Center for Sustainable Rural Communities, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Stop the Pipeline, Otsego 2000, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline, Citizen Action of NY, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Sharon Springs Against Hydrofracking, Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Mohawk Valley Keeper and Sane EnergyProject
Monday, April 6 at 5:30 pm, Days Inn, 160 Park Pl, Schoharie, NY 12157 (Map) |
If you're looking for a place to jump in and are not sure where to start, this monthly meeting is a good way to get familiar with all the groups working in NYC right now. The Alliance is a collection of 30 groups focused on climate change. As usual, the meeting will include report backs from member groups about what they're working on. This month, our friends at ALL OUR ENERGY have contributed Port Ambrose postcards we can use!
5:30-7pm: Pre-meeting instruction on using Meetup.com and google listserv, plus writing postcards for Port Ambrose!
7-9pm: Main meeting, shaking things up.
New York Society for Ethical Culture,
2 West 64th Street at Central Park West. Downstairs meeting room. |
The Advocate's Toolkit. No better way to spend your lunch hour! Sane will be part of a fantastic three-part webinar, hosted by our friends at Halt the Harm, a new network for fractivists. Register for the webinar here. 1:30-2:30pm.
Clare Donohue will present a live, online demonstration of our YOU ARE HERE shale gas infrastructure map, that will show you how to use this invaluable tool to locate pipelines, compressor stations and other projects near you or a loved one.
Other supercool activist tools that will be demonstrated are the new mobile app by Fractracker (locate wells where you stand nationwide) and a violations reporting service called Fileroom, by Public Herald. |
Governor Cuomo is coming to town for the first time since we saw him outside his office on December 17th! Join us to say thanks for the ban and ask the governor to do the right thing one more time! Assemble in front of the Harvard Club, 27 west 44th street 11:15am-1pm: Take Our Message Straight To Cuomo: VETO PORT AMBROSE! RSVP here. |
Sunday, April 19th: Earth Week is always a busy time for us and this year will be no exception. Look for our red tent in Union Square, 11am-4pm (where there'll be all kinds of food, music and activism!) Can you spare an hour to volunteer? We'd love your company gathering petition signatures, helping people write postcards against Port Ambrose, and generally having a good time! |
 Rising Tide NYC is calling for three days of action against fossil fuels between April 20th-22nd that will focus on the BP Gulf anniversary; Port Ambrose, and the release of the new PlaNYC |
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April 20th marks the fifth year since the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 people and dumped more than one hundred million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf South Rising is calling for action, and Rising Tide is amplifying that call - join us for an 8:00 AM procession in Manhattan in solidarity with the people of the gulf whose communities and lives have been destroyed to make the wealthy even richer. BP lies and says this is over. It’s not over. We haven’t forgotten. |
April 21st Rising Tide is teaming with Sane Energy Project to call for creative direct action against the Port Ambrose, in solidarity with New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania communities who are fighting the Constitution Pipeline, the AIM Pipeline, oil trains, pipelines and barges along the Hudson River, and too many other destructive projects. Governor Cuomo has the power to stop Port Ambrose, and we call on you to gather at his office: 633 Third Avenue (at 41st street) at 5:00 PM – and demand that New York stops building new fossil fuel infrastructure. |
April 22nd marks the release of PlaNYC (New York's official climate action plan). Join us to demand a new way forward for our energy system and economy. We must change, and justice demands that workers, low income communities and communities of color, who have disproportionately suffered under the old system, be at the forefront of that change. |
Please attend the City Council hearing on the "Lights Out" bill (Int. 0578-2014) which will require businesses to turn off the lights after hours when they are not in use. If passed this bill will affect 40,000 buildings, reduce light pollution at night and save as much as 10% of the energy used in the City! This is the kind of no-brainer law we can all agree on--Paris has already done this. (If the City of Lights turns out its lights, so can we!) Obviously this initiative would reduce air pollution and move us quickly towards the goal of reducing greenhouse gases 80% by 2050. More importantly it would remind New Yorkers that conserving energy is the easiest way to reduce energy use. (The cheapest energy is the energy never used.) Not only that, our many avian-loving friends will applaud its effect on reducing bird kills. Historic buildings that are part of our iconic skyline would be exempted. 1pm on April 29th, in the Committee Room of City Hall. |
Want to make sure Sane Energy Project has the resources we need to keep at it? Please help our efforts to build an on-the-ground grassroots movement with our Long Island, NYC and Upstate allies, with your tax-deductible donation. Even a $15 donation is a big help, and larger donations make a huge difference in what we are able to accomplish. Thanks a ton!
-Kim, Patrick & Clare |
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