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Hopefully your Thanksgiving was not too terribly heavy on the food or the ennui. It's great to take a break and feel oneself in the warm embrace of pe
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 Phew. |
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Hopefully your Thanksgiving was not too terribly heavy on the food or the ennui. It's great to take a break and feel oneself in the warm embrace of people who really understand you. OR, if you spent the entire weekend insisting climate change is real, then it's even better to be back in the warm embrace of people who actually understand you: other activists!
If you were challenged this past weekend to explain why fracking is bad, or why global warming means winters are still cold, or why you are working so hard for free, then we want to thank you. Because you were doing difficult and very personal outreach, and we bet it made a difference. Based on just the sheer volume of everything that's been happening these last couple of months, it's clear that a dent is being made, that a shift is happening, and that tactics are intensifying. Ordinary people are stepping off the sidelines and deciding to jump in, in every way from making their first banner to risking arrest. We are very grateful to you and to everyone who is a part of this, and we're looking forward to what we do together next.
For anyone who would like to pitch in with Sane Energy Project, we will be hosting a volunteer soiree at 6:30 PM on December 3; email us to get more information about where to meet. Or come to tonight's NYC Grassroots Alliance meeting, 7-9pm at the NY Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street at Central Park West. |
TODAY, December 1st: Comment to EPA on their "Clean Power Plan," CLICK HERE.
Friday, December 5th: Comment to FERC on Dominion New Market Project, CLICK HERE.
Friday, December 12th: Comment to DEC on revised LNG rules, CLICK HERE. |
Check out everything we've packed into the last two months, and take a peak at the exciting work planned for December and the new year. In this newsletter:
• Port Ambrose LNG updates
• YOU ARE HERE infrastructure map rolls out
• Recently Published Items of Interest
• FERC Week of Action Reportback
• How you can help |
Anticipating the imminent release of a draft Environmental Impact Statement, the No LNG Coalition held a community meeting on October 30 in Bellmore, Long Island.
• Presentations by Clean Ocean Action, the Coalition of Nassau County Civic Associations, New Yorkers Against Fracking and Sane Energy Project explained what Port Ambrose is and why it's a terrible idea. The meeting was covered in the Long Island Herald and in Capital New York.
• The Bellmore meeting resulted in a statement of support from two attending Long Beach City Council members. Later, Sane Energy Project and Long Island advocates, All Our Energy, presented to the full Council. We may have related big news shortly.
We also held a family art build at Long Beach's wonderful Mermaid Art Studio on November 7th, where kids hand-painted lawn signs while their parents learned about the project. |
HOW CAN YOU HELP? If you live on Long Island, please volunteer with us! Reach out to your friends and family (particularly on the South Shore) and put them in touch with the newest addition to our Sane Energy team: Long Island Volunteer Coordinator, the energetic Mr. Kevin O'Keeffe. We continue to reach out to parents, businesses, and community members on Long Island. Email Kevin at: nolngcoalition.org@gmail.com. |
WHAT'S NEXT FOR PORT AMBROSE: The Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be released any second, so keep watching this space - when it drops, we need EVERYONE to write in and comment. If you are an individual, please sign the petition or, if you belong to a group, please consider signing our organizational letter to Cuomo. |
 On October 8th, Sane Energy presented at an event organized by All Our Energy. | |  We will have another event on December 8th at the Long Beach Library––details TBA shortly. |
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Here in New York State, the movement against fracking is getting stronger and smarter, because we know now it's about far more than a ban. We're hip to the infrastructure that's already fracking us, and fighting back in a big way. Most notably in the ongoing Seneca Lake actions, which we can support right now with contributions to the jail fund. The movement is also gathering strength in subtler but equally important ways––through the spreading of information and building connections between groups. We are happy to say that our online map of fracking infrastructure YOU ARE HERE is being increasingly used to educate people about the "big picture" of fracking infrastructure in New York. Email us to set up a presentation of the map in your town or for your community group. |
 Rally at the gates of Crestwood on Seneca Lake. | |  90-year-old arrested for blocking the gate. |
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 The map helped alert upstate residents to Dominion's New Market Project. | |  A quick-footed response from local activists resulted in packed public hearings and a big comment writing campaign. |
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On November 14th in New Paltz, the Coalition to Stop the Pilgrim Pipeline hosted more than 130 people to share stories, tactics and next steps for fighting the Pilgrim Pipeline, the toxic crude oil pipeline that has been proposed to run from Albany, right through the Hudson Valley and into New Jersey. Sane Energy Project's Kim Fraczek presented the map to a highly engaged audience. Local coverage of the conference can be found here. |
 Above, left: Sane Energy Project's Kim Fraczek participates in a panel discussion about the Pilgrim Pipeline in New Paltz. Above, right: Activist Doug Couchon tells Chemung County Legislators that their harmful actions accepting frack waste have put them "on the map." | | |
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 The map presentation in Westchester. |
On November 9th, Sane Energy presented the map at the Westchester Society for Ethical Culture, focusing on the Spectra AIM pipeline.
On November 19th, we presented the map in Soho for a panel sponsored by Green Home NYC, about the state of environmental policy in New York City that included a representative from the Mayor's Office of Sustainability. |
 If Rachel Carson were alive, we think she'd write about climate change too |
One of our friends recently asked us, "So, where will you be out on the street yelling THIS weekend?" But we're not always at a rally or in an art studio preparing for one. Sometimes (ok, too much of the time) we are quietly at our computers, writing and keeping our website as up to date as we can manage. Sane has also started publishing guest blogs. Click the red type below to read the full stories:
Keith Schue and Suzy Winkler provided reporting for a post about the raucous FERC hearing for the Dominion New Market Project: "In his book, David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell discusses several historical examples, from Northern Ireland to the American Civil Rights movement, when public resistance has been spurred (and subsequently succeeded) whenever the powers that be have gone overboard in their ruthlessness, oppressiveness, hubris, or simple ineptness. Such an example is before us at this very moment, playing out in a corner of New York State not previously known for widespread anti-fracking activity."
Paul Stark reported back on the Spectra AIM hearing in Westchester, reposted on Sane's website: "It was one of those meetings where the people in charge of the project wear suits and impassively explain how they know what they’re doing and there’s really no rational cause for concern and 'answer' questions by providing as little information as possible and making vague promises to get back with better answers at some later point in time."
Sane Outreach Coordinator, Kim Fraczek was asked to write a piece for the Indypendent on next steps we can take after the People's Climate March: "When we marched on September 21, we made it clear that it was time to put a stop to new fossil fuel projects and begin making a rapid transition to renewable energy sources. However, that was only one day. We have to continue organizing against these projects in a sustained way if we are going to change our energy system."
Writing for Naomi Klein's blog, Sane Communications Coordinator, Patrick Robbins, makes the personal political with a portrait of the idyllic library where his sister works, and contrasts it with the pipeline that currently threatens the library: "The choice between these projects is, in miniature, the choice that climate change is presenting to our civilization: it is a choice of value systems, between an ethic of extraction and one that values land and people." |
On November 15th in Ithaca, the Coalition to Protect Communities from Fracking's Collateral Damage held a conference on building resistance to fracking at every point––extraction, transportation and consumption. More than 200 people from across the state attended, and independent writer, member of the Coalition to Protect New York and You Are Here contributor, Maura Stephens, presented the map. (The slides from the presentations and more information about the conference can be found here.) |
 We created murals of two families whose land and livelihood are currently threatened by FERC-approved projects, forcing them to confront these families in order to get to work. Activists blockaded the entrance with the mural and with "Blockadia" (with a nod to Naomi Klein), a model town we created so that authorities would have to destroy in order for FERC to conduct its business, making visible the destruction of towns that FERC carries out on a daily basis. |
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Sane Energy Project was honored to be a part of the November 3rd week of action against FERC with Beyond Extreme Energy. As many of you know, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a sham regulatory agency that rubber stamps infrastructure projects like Cove Point, the Spectra Pipeline and the vast network of pipelines that is forming a poisonous net over our country. Sane Energy came together with members of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Beyond Extreme Energy, the Great Climate Marchers and many more to send a strong message that if FERC continues to consider the destruction of our planet just "business as usual," we will disrupt "business as usual" as much as possible. Over the course of the week, more than 100 people were arrested, in actions that concentrated in Washington DC but included solidarity actions as far as New York City and Cove Point, Maryland. Coverage included: A piece by CCAN's Ted Glick in Popular Resistance; The Latin Post; EcoWatch; Inhabitat; Common Dreams; Energy and Environment News; Earth First Journal and many more. Resistance to Cove Point and extreme energy is ongoing. Keep up with two Maryland-based groups: SEED and CCHC. |
 Smiling protestors locked down on Monday morning at FERC's southern entrance. | |  All three entrances to the building were effectively blocked on Friday, the final day of action. |
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 Activists from NYC came down to point the finger at FERC, showing them that we know what they're up to and that we know that all of our separate battles lead back to FERC. |
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The action wasn't only constrained to DC––on Wednesday of that week, we confronted FERC in New York City at a joint meeting with the Public Service Commission. We greeted attendees as they entered and left the meeting, and our very own Kim Fraczek was able to get inside the meeting, distribute information and confront FERC staff before leaving with security. The message is clear: FERC can't run and they can't hide, and wherever they go, we will follow! |
We'd like to keep up this pace and continue putting all kinds of good energy up against all kinds of bad energy (the fossil fuel variety). So right now, one of the most important ways you can help is by supporting the work we hope to do in 2015. Please DONATE HERE, and thank you so much! |
 Big thanks to Erik McGregor and the other photographers! |
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We at Sane Energy Project are thankful for lots of things––clean water, great friends, a likeminded community––and we are thankful for YOU, for being engaged, for being part of that community, and for your compassionate commitment to fighting for a world without fossil fuels. It's great to be back from the holiday break. We'll see you soon! |
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