As Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) recently said: "It shouldn’t take a massive railroad disaster for elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the people we serve — not corporations like Norfolk Southern.” Now, a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Brown has introduced legislation aimed at preventing rail disasters like the one that devastated East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said recently on the Senate floor that he would do "whatever I can" to pass the bill. If we're going to put an end to toxic train derailments, we need Speaker Kevin McCarthy to step up and ensure that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passes The Railway Safety Act of 2023.

It's going to destroy the article. It's going to destroy the world, our world. It's going to destroy future generations, It's going to destroy everything we need more people to sign it we are going to die we need to take action the isn't much time left please just listen to me, Listen to us all. Please I beg, Spread awareness, Do everything you can please I don't want to die I'm just a kid I don't want to lose everything my home, Please help.

In 2018, the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era rule, which had required rail companies to upgrade brake systems on trains carrying certain hazardous materials. Norfolk Southern was among a group of rail carriers who opposed this regulation and that contributed more than $6 million to Republican lawmakers in the 2016 election -- the most contributed by the rail industry to one party in over two decades. But that’s not all! Norfolk Southern has spent nearly $80 million on lobbying efforts over the last 25 years, including opposing two-person crew requirements on every train -- a safety measure that workers say is vital to limiting train derailments and that the Trump administration again rejected. In allowing the industry to regulate itself, the Trump administration said “that no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time” and said separately, “the expected costs of requiring ECP brakes would be significantly higher than the expected benefits of the requirement.” It’s up to us to hold greedy corporations accountable to workers and to communities across the country.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and President Biden are being petitioned by the public to stop the authorization of the bulk transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in rail cars on the nation’s railways. Based on public safety and health concerns, in 2021 DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed federal rulemaking (the “Suspension Rule” RIN 2137–AF55)[1] to suspend the Trump Administration’s 2020 federal rule that lifted the long-standing ban on LNG transport by rail. Public comments and technical submissions to PHMSA during the public comment period provide broad and compelling support for the Suspension Rule and explain why the Trump era LNG rule endangers millions of Americans. The petition calls on PHMSA to first, immediately adopt the Suspension Rule and second, that PHMSA reinstate the permanent ban through federal rulemaking. Lastly, the petition insists that Special Permits for LNG rail transport be denied, including Special Permit DOT-SP 20534 for the proposed Gibbstown/Wyalusing LNG Export Project.[2] Prior to the Trump Rule, a Special Permit (Special Permit DOT-SP 20534), was issued in December 2019 for transport of LNG by rail car from Wyalusing, PA to Gibbstown, NJ for a proposed LNG export terminal on the Delaware River. It expired but PHMSA is currently considering an application for its extension. This is the first and only use in the nation of DOT 113C120W tank cars to transport LNG, which were designed 50 years ago and never used for LNG and it is the only permit to allow daily “unit-train” volumes of LNG over enormous distances (approximately 200 miles). The trains cut through many communities of color and low-income populations already overburdened with environmental injustices, including Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Reading, Allentown, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and Camden and other southern municipalities in New Jersey. Transporting LNG in rail cars poses unique hazards. If there is a container breach, such as in a derailment, the super-cooled (-260 degrees F) liquid methane is released as a vapor cloud that is 600-620 times greater than the volume of the contained liquid, causing freeze burns and robbing oxygen from the air for those in proximity, which can be deadly[3]. The vapor cloud can travel miles very quickly. PHMSA’s Environmental Assessment[4] issued in 2019 describes the response to a broken cryogenic tank car as very difficult for first responders and fire companies and risks catastrophe due to the great potential for explosions and large fires. If the highly flammable gas is ignited, it burns so hot the fire cannot be extinguished and must be allowed to burn out, requiring emergency evacuations for up to two miles. A bomb-like explosion known as a BLEVE or Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion can occur with catastrophic impacts. These dangers are amplified in densely populated communities where high-speed and complete evacuation is practically impossible. These public safety hazards are the foundation for the longstanding ban on LNG transport by rail car. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board (“TRB”), the agency that is charged with conducting LNG by rail research, advises that “quantitative risk analyses” have not been done and need to be performed, and that, prior to any LNG by rail activities, a safety assurance initiative be put in place and further investigation be conducted of the safety performance of the railcars that are proposed to be used (DOT-113C120W9.16). Clearly, there is no assurance that adding LNG to our railways is, by any equitable measure, safe or warranted. The recent push to increase the export of LNG by rail due to the Ukraine crisis has heightened community concerns that the desires of the gas and oil industry will overwhelm government’s responsibility to protect the public and replace dirty fracked gas with truly clean, renewable energy. Public safety and environmental health must come first. LNG is liquefied methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in heating the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale and 104 times more powerful over a 10-year period, the periods of time when scientists say we must reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis. Methane leaks and/or is vented in all phases of the LNG production process, including processing, storage, transport, transloading and use. In light of the high global warming potential of methane, the Biden administration has pledged to slash methane emissions. Pushing LNG onto train tracks, enabling LNG production, and stepping up gas extraction and transportation will exacerbate climate change and undercut our collective climate goals to prevent the earth’s warming. LNG transport by railcar recklessly endangers the public and risks catastrophe such as the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February. The public health and environmental impacts from the resulting inextinguishable fires and release of vinyl chloride and other highly toxic chemicals to the air, water, and soil will not be fully calculated for some time. However, the resulting state of emergency requiring evacuation of the community, the raging fires and plumes of polluted smoke, the fish kills, and the exposure of people to hazardous pollutants is testimony that high hazard derailments do occur and the consequences can be tragic. We don’t need to add more flammable hazardous materials to the dangers our communities and environment already face from high-risk rail car transport.

Following Executive Order 14072, Strengthening the Nation's Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, we are calling on the Biden Administration to enact a strong, lasting rule across federal public lands that protects mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging, allowing the recovery of old-growth forests that have been lost. These forests are essential to removing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, safeguarding wildlife, and providing clean drinking water for our communities. We are working to build grassroots pressure across the United States to ensure strong, lasting protections for our climate forests — and we need your help! Moving forward, we need to convince the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to take the threat logging poses to climate change and wildlife loss seriously. We must ensure our climate solutions match the scale of the threats we face today, and conserving and recovering our mature and old-growth forests represents one of the simplest, most cost-effective actions we can take. Please join us in calling on the agencies to fulfill the promise of President Biden's Earth Day Executive Order on forests by beginning a rulemaking process immediately to ensure our climate forests remain standing for future generations.

Residents in Ohio and Pennsylvania have been repeatedly told that they are “safe” after a Norfolk Southern train derailment caused a huge release of hazardous chemicals into the air, land, and water. Meanwhile, residents are continuing to report that they are experiencing health issues - from rashes to difficulty breathing - and are expected to navigate the emergency response and healthcare systems on their own. This needs to change. “Safe” means people can vacuum their homes without worrying about kicking up toxic pollution. “Safe” means having independent test results that examine every necessary parameter and indicate there’s no harm. “Safe” means being able to be in your home without the risk that health problems will develop months or years from now. State officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania must take transparent, proactive steps to ensure that residents are able to access the information and support that they need. We, the undersigned, call on them to immediately do the following: Provide medical monitoring. The states must monitor and track health concerns from this incident, and they must provide mobile clinics so that residents and first responders – anyone in the area who was exposed to the pollution – can access critical information about their health. Support independent environmental testing. The state must provide funds for independent environmental testing. Residents are understandably skeptical that tests being paid for by Norfolk Southern are reliable and trustworthy. Access to independent water and soil testing should not be limited to people who can afford to cover the high costs. Meet with residents regularly, in-person, on an ongoing basis. Information about this incident is complex, and more information comes out - whether accurate or not - by the hour. Residents deserve a space to have conversations with officials, to raise concerns, and to ask questions, and be given answers. Governors from both states must work immediately with the environmental and health agencies to facilitate these actions in coordination with key stakeholders within impacted communities. [This petition was originated by our allies at the People Over Petro Coalition (POPCO) and its partner organizations on the ground in Eastern OH and Western PA.] Photo credit: Ted Auch, Fractracker Alliance

ExxonMobil just crushed the record for the most profitable year in the history of the ENTIRE western oil industry. They netted $56 billion in profit in 2022!1 The fact that this happened the same year gas prices went through the roof makes it very clear what exactly was going on. The White House has now twice called out the oil industry for price gouging consumers2,3 and it’s time for Congress to respond by passing the Windfall Tax. Sign the petition: We need a Windfall Profits Tax! In 2022, ExxonMobil set a new record for the most profitable year in the history of the western oil industry. ExxonMobil isn’t the only one exploiting consumers, fossil fuel companies across the industry saw historically massive profit margins. The combined industry profit this year is almost $200 billion!4 Instead of investing these massive profits into lowering prices, corporations have been sending it to their shareholders in the form of stock buybacks. This is all a result of disgusting greed and exploitation. The oil industry took advantage of the war in Ukraine and public anxiety around inflation to jack up gas prices. CEOs at ExxonMobil and Shell are drenched in obscene profits while regular working people have been crushed by soaring prices. Congress must pass the Windfall Profits Tax. Sign the petition: We need the Windfall Profits Tax! Big oil corporations have price gouged and profiteered off the War in Ukraine and inflation anxiety. Now they are swimming in record-breaking profits. Windfall Profits Tax, NOW! Sources: 1. Reuters, “Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022,” January 31, 2023. 2. The Guardian, “Biden accuses oil companies of ‘war profiteering’ and threatens windfall tax,” October 31, 2022. 3. Reuters, “White House blasts Exxon over historical $56 bln annual profit,” February 1, 2023. 4. Reuters, “Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022,” January 31, 2023.

After years of inaction, the passage of the federal Inflation Reduction Act means the US finally has a fighting chance at meeting our climate goals. But the IRA is just the start -- now we have to do the hard work of implementation, everywhere. Cities, including San Francisco, have a critical role to play to ensure we get to net-zero carbon emissions as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, San Francisco is already behind. While we have an ambitious Climate Action Plan (CAP), Mayor London Breed, who proudly introduced the CAP in 2021, has been surprisingly reluctant to actually commit funding to carry it out. In the last two budget cycles, she included $0 for implementing the CAP in her budget proposals, and it was only through heroic efforts by advocates to the Board of Supervisors that any money was restored. This year, the San Francisco Environment Department (SFE) is requesting $7 million for staffing and programs essential for achieving the CAP on schedule. This is a minuscule amount in the city's overall $14 BILLION budget, and yet we will need to fight tooth and nail for the funding. Mayor Breed has still not committed to SFE's request, and now is the time to let her know that another snub to climate funding is simply not an option compatible with maintaining a livable planet. The climate crisis impacts the city in countless ways. It is a public health crisis, and funding climate initiatives will improve residents’ and the planet’s health. Such initiatives are also critical to address environmental justice and equity issues in San Francisco and improve the lives of underserved, lower-income, and BIPOC communities. Climate initiatives will attract more businesses and tourists, create jobs, and elevate the status of San Francisco as a world-class city. President Biden and Democrats nationwide have campaigned on climate, and won, proving that it is a winning issue. Mayors around the world are leading on aggressive climate policies in their cities. It's time for Mayor Breed to show that she is a serious leader who recognizes that climate action is the path to a livable, equitable, and rejuvenated San Francisco, by committing to funding $7 million for SFE in her 2023-2024 budget.

+ The Back Bay Fens, Justine Mee Liff Park, and The Riverway are among the oldest portions of Frederick Law Olmsteds' Emerald Necklace, serving as an important resource for people and wildlife, and spanning key portions of the Muddy River watershed; and + These parks are visited by thousands of daily users including runners, bikers, walkers, and commuters, serving as sites for the BAA half marathon, art festivals, public art events and environmental classes and as public lands, are meant to serve as respite and resource to a dense and growing community; and + The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently completed a multi-decade flood management program of the Muddy River watershed; and These parklands provide key environmental benefits, increasingly important to Boston's climate resilience. + The proposed building heights in the project are up to 320 feet, and violate both building heights and shadow restrictions under the Longwood Medical Area Interim Guidelines, currently in effect; and + The proposed project will cast significant new shadows (Over 3 hours in some areas) onto the parks, exceeding limits set forth in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area's Interim Guidelines, permanently altering the park's ecosystem and the conditions of human access experience; and will also cast significant new shadows (Over 3 hours in these areas) onto Boston University Wheelock Family Theater, Boston University Fenway Student Center and Residence Halls; and + These impacts will permanently degrade the quality of life of residents, students, workers and park patrons and set dangerous precedent for monetary payments for irreparable loss to public parks;

We believe the requested Rezoning and Land Use Designation Change are not an improvement to the General Plan, nor is this development in scale or does it fit with the identity and character of the surrounding areas. We would hope the Peoria Planning Commission and members of the City Council of Peoria will honor the original intentions of the city of Peoria’s visionaries by rejecting Simpatico’s application.

The headline repeated by media outlets across the country at the end of last month was that Coterra (formerly Cabot) the driller responsible for contaminating the water supplies of people in and around Dimock, Pennsylvania, 14 years ago pleaded no contest to criminal charges and agreed to pay more than $16 million for a water line to provide water to affected residents and cover their water bills for 75 years. Justice for Dimock... FINALLY, we thought. Wrong. The Associated Press is now reporting that the Department of Environmental Protection "quietly lifted its long-term moratorium on gas production in Dimock" the very same day Coterra (Cabot) pleaded no contest. The AP reports, "At the news conference, Shapiro punted a reporter’s question about whether Coterra would be permitted to resume drilling in the moratorium area, pointing out the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf was still in charge." Not for long, Governor-Elect Shapiro. As Attorney General, Shapiro came to know how badly the people of Dimock have suffered. As Governor, he needs to make right what the state has gotten so wrong and permanently ban all drilling and fracking activities in Dimock. Read the AP's story here - https://apnews.com/article/business-pennsylvania-state-government-climate-and-environment-politics-778fffd63ac1db58ab7df86fe1958ffa Demand Justice for Dimock.

“Pennfield has obtained a Co-Product status instead of Waste with our brine. What this means is you don’t have to report spreading and it can be spread all year round. I know this is hard to believe because D.E.P. doesn’t make anything easy, but it’s true…,” the company told townships that were potential customers. Titusville Oil & Gas Associates’ president wrote, “I do not currently supply any oil and gas produced water to these entities or any other entities for the purpose of treating dirt and gravel roads in Forest County and have not done so since the Department of Environmental Protection - Bureau of Waste Management (BWM) issued letters to multiple operators in the business of spreading produced water on dirt roads that their co-product determinations were largely inadequate.” The company reported spreading 1004.01 barrels of produced water in Forest County in 2021. Tachoir Resources, a company that entered 278 records of road spreading a total of nearly 600 barrels of drilling waste in 2021 says it subcontracted the hauling to another company, Anderson Energy Services. Anderson also reported road spreading of waste, 240 barrels of it, for the first time since 2017, told regulators in August, “Per our conversation we have not been disposing brine for spreading for well over a year and are not in the future.” Additionally, that same company routinely lists the same amount of waste spread for each of its entries in a county. It might explain why their client did the same. How much of its own waste and its client’s it actually spread is unknown. These are among the discoveries the Better Path Coalition made in our latest review of records we obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Waste Management in response to a Right-to-Know request. The records round out our collection of documents pertaining to the use of a loophole conventional drillers found in BWM’s Coproduct Determination program to "legally" continue the practice of spreading toxic, radioactive waste on unpaved roads in Pennsylvania after the Office of Oil & Gas Management put a moratorium on the practice. Collectively, the documents reveal that not one conventional driller reporting road spreading of waste from 2018 to the present submitted a Coproduct Determination report that met the regulatory requirements of the program. Road spreading of unconventional drilling wastewater was banned in 2016. Since then, studies have confirmed that conventional drilling wastewater is harmful to human health and the environment and that it's no better than rainwater at suppressing dust. Meanwhile, conventional drillers have done everything they can to circumvent the 2018 moratorium. It's past time for an outright ban on road spreading of ALL drilling waste. Governor-Elect Shapiro must make it a priority to bring an end to this dangerous practice.