Earthjustice

Campaigns

• TAKE ACTION: Offshore Arctic Drilling Announced for 2014--Help Fight Back!

  Shell just announced a new plan to drill for oil in America’s Arctic waters in 2014. But it still hasn’t addressed embarrassing offshore drilling rig failures. We’ve already watched the company lose control of two different drill rigs in less than a year, with one of them catching fire and the other one running aground off the coast of Alaska. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is asking for comments as it considers another lease sale for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic. Tell them the risks of drilling in the Arctic Ocean are far too great and we cannot afford to open Chukchi Sea to more oil leasing. To add insult to injury, America’s Arctic is ground zero for climate change. It’s warming twice as fast as the rest of the world and if Shell and other Big Oil companies drill for oil in these remote waters, it would even further accelerate climate change. Offshore drilling in the Arctic leads to a cycle that reinforces climate disruption. Not only would burning oil produced from the region pump more carbon into the atmosphere, but the drilling operations themselves would emit black carbon or soot that would be deposited on the ice, where it does the most harm. Soot causes heat to be absorbed rather than reflected by the ice. Because the Arctic ice cap acts like a refrigerator for the planet, less Arctic sea ice means a warmer planet and a change in climate patterns. Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean is not consistent with a responsible course to combat climate change, something the president has committed to in his second term. Tell the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management not to hold any more lease sales in the Chukchi Sea and to reevaluate current plans to drill in these remote waters.

  521 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Kari Birdseye, Earthjustice
• Put Science First In Protecting Our Water (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2013-0582)

  For years, deniers of sound science have rejected everything from global warming to pollutants in our waterways. This approach has led to a significant rollback in key clean water protections: more than 59 percent of U.S. streams and 20 million acres of wetlands are vulnerable to toxic dumping and pollution. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to address this error by relying on sound science to help restore these key protections. The EPA needs to hear from you: speak out for sound science and clean water. The EPA’s preliminary scientific report confirms that streams, wetlands, and floodplains—regardless of their size or how frequently they flow—are connected to downstream waters. The EPA must finalize this report and follow the science by restoring protections to waters that supply drinking water to 117 million Americans. Simply put, we need stronger protections for these critical watersheds. Your ability to fish in, swim in, and drink clean water is at stake! The Clean Water Act is our nation’s best guard against dirty and contaminated waters. Earthjustice has been working to defend and enforce the Clean Water Act for decades. Please join us in urging the EPA to finalize its Science Report quickly; follow its conclusions regarding the importance of ALL streams, wetlands, and open waters to U.S. waterways; and apply sound science to restore protections to these critical and interconnected water bodies.

  86 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Chris Espinosa, with Earthjustice
• Governor O'Malley: Stop A Fracked Gas Export Terminal On The Chesapeake

  When Marylanders learned of the risks posed by fracking, they fought hard to protect the safety of their communities, earning a temporary moratorium on this controversial natural gas extraction technique. But this hard work could all be undone if Dominion Cove Point is allowed to build a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Chesapeake Bay to export fracked gas. Help stop this project by writing to Gov. Martin O’Malley! The Dominion Cove Point LNG export terminal would be the first of its kind on the East Coast and would open up the natural gas reserves in the Eastern part of the country to foreign markets. If this facility is approved, it would encourage the oil and gas industry to frack as much and as quickly as possible so that they can sell the gas overseas where the price is higher, while hiking up the price of natural gas here at home. In addition to the immediate environmental destruction of a renewed gas rush, the upward pressure on natural gas prices could threaten existing moratoriums in Maryland and other places where fracking has been put on hold. Maryland has a pivotal role to play in this historic fight. That’s why we need your help!

  96 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice
• Demand Toxic Pesticide Protections!

  Why don't The bugs bite your apples? It’s a funny question with a serious answer—Americans want inexpensive, perfect-looking fruit and vegetables, and pesticides do the trick. But those good looks come at the expense of farmworkers who wade through fields soaked with toxic pesticides to pick what we eat. Each year, 10,000 to 20,000 farmworkers and their families contract acute pesticide poisoning, according to the federal government. They suffer stinging eyes, rashes, blisters, nausea, headaches and even death. Long-term impacts include infertility, birth defects, endocrine disruption, neurological disorders and cancer. You can help end this travesty by joining with us in demanding stronger worker protections. Our target is the weak and outdated Worker Protection Standard, which is meant to safeguard farmworkers but hasn’t been revised for more than 20 years despite overwhelming evidence of its inadequacy. Act with us in calling on the EPA to strengthen the Worker Protection Standard by: -- Providing more frequent and more comprehensible pesticide safety training for farmworkers -- Ensuring that workers receive information about specific pesticides used in their work -- Requiring safety precautions and protective equipment limiting farmworkers’ contact with pesticides -- Requiring medical monitoring of workers who handle neurotoxic pesticides Workers in other sectors of industry are protected from hazardous chemicals, but not farmworkers. Let’s restore their right to a healthy environment!

  53 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Raviya Ismail, with Earthjustice
• Protect Arctic Marine Mammals From Oil Exploration

  Marine mammals—such as bearded and ringed seals, beluga whales, and the endangered bowhead whale—depend on sound to communicate, find food, and avoid prey. Oil exploration activities fill the ocean with loud noise that can interfere with these basic functions. Seismic surveying, for example, uses air-guns to detect oil beneath the sea-floor. The blasts—loud enough to cause deafness—occur day and night for months, and cover vast areas of the ocean. Unfortunately, the federal government is proposing moving forward with loud and risky oil exploration methods even though it has not completed an assessment of the cumulative impacts on Arctic marine mammals. Tell the National Marine Fisheries Service not to permit any Arctic Ocean oil exploration until it completes a full analysis of the effects and understands how to mitigate the damage to marine mammals. THIS COMMENT PERIOD DEADLINE TO PROTECT MARINE MAMMALS FROM OIL EXPLORATION IS JUNE 27. Please sign this petition today!

  142 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Erik Grafe, with Earthjustice
• Retire Old-Growth Logging In America's Rainforest

  The Tongass rainforest is the crown jewel of America's National Forest System. Three years ago, the government set a goal of moving away from destructive old-growth logging, yet now the Forest Service is considering weakening its conservation strategy, even planning large, new old-growth timber sales. The deadline for public comments is June 30, 2013. Now is our chance to shift to a sustainable future for this awe-inspiring coastal temperate rainforest. Do not waste this opportunity: tell the Forest Service to protect and sustain this national treasure for generations to come.

  646 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Tom Waldo, Earthjustice
• Help Bring Renewable Energy To Colorado

  Colorado has long been a national leader in the adoption of sustainable renewable energy. Our state has a bounty of solar and wind energy ready to be put to use. Senate Bill 252 would extend the standards applied to the major urban energy providers to all of Colorado. This important step will keep Colorado in the forefront of the new energy future. Let Governor Hickenlooper know you support him signing Senate Bill 252 into law.

  115 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Michael Freeman, Earthjustice
• American Petroleum Institute: Stop Bullying Communities That Don’t Want Fracking

  Not content with the power it holds over lawmakers in Washington, the American Petroleum Institute is now waging a battle against small towns. The powerful oil and gas lobbying group has weighed in on an important court case that will decide whether a town in rural, upstate New York has the right to ban oil and gas drilling activities – including the controversial fracking method – within its town borders. API, predictably, thinks that no town should have that right. Of the ten largest U.S. oil and gas companies, nine are API members. All nine of these companies have headquarters in Texas, Oklahoma, or California – states where courts or legislatures have determined that towns or cities have the right to ban oil or gas drilling within their borders. API members lost these battles on their home turf. Now they are trying to deny those rights in states where they want to open up large-scale oil and gas development. Towns that want to ban drilling and fracking shouldn’t have to worry about facing off in court against API, the most powerful lobbying group in the country. Will you tell the American Petroleum Institute to back off of communities that don’t want fracking and stop joining legal challenges against them? Sign the petition to support small towns standing up to the oil and gas industry.

  214 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice
• Close Unfair Loopholes For Fracking Pollution

  An unprecedented fracking boom is being sped along by industry deregulation. Loopholes secured by the oil and gas industry allow companies to sidestep our basic environmental laws and emit more than their fair share of air and water pollution. Two bills introduced in Congress would change this. The FRESHER Act would eliminate a Clean Water Act exemption that allows oil and gas to sidestep the same stormwater runoff permitting requirements that every other industry meets. The BREATHE Act would eliminate an unfair loophole in the Clean Air Act for oil and gas companies. Please ask your members of Congress to support the FRESHER and BREATHE Acts!

  222 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Jessica Ennis, Earthjustice
• Governor Cuomo: Keep Fracking Industry Infrastructure Out Of New York

  The oil and gas industry is trying to push through large-scale infrastructure projects that could speed the rate of fracking in nearby states and industrialize scenic rural communities. Right now, there are two projects being proposed for underground salt caverns on the shores of Seneca Lake, in western New York. The projects, both proposed by subsidiaries of Kansas City-based Inergy, would involve large-scale storage facilities with new capacity for 88 million gallons of liquid petroleum gas and additional capacity for natural gas, expanding storage to 2 billion cubic feet. Inergy has reported to shareholders that it plans to expand the proposed facility into a major petroleum storage hub. Inergy’s subsidiary wants to fast-track federal approval of its project and bypass a critical federal environmental review. Not only would this project threaten to trample out the region’s local, sustainable economy, it could hasten the pace of gas development in nearby states. Tell Governor Cuomo to publicly oppose these projects today.

  345 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice