February, 16 2016, 10:15am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Scott Parkin, 415-235-0596, sparki@risingtidenorthamerica.org; Laurel Sutherlin, 415-246-0161, laurel@kswild.org
As US Energy Secretary Arrives in So Cal, Bay Area Climate Activists Launch Daring Protest Occupation of the California Public Utilities Commission
Protestors say Aliso Canyon disaster is tip of the iceberg; call on the agency to shut down all California gas storage facilities
SAN FRANCISCO
As US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz arrives in Southern California to tour the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility where a months-long gas leak crisis has caused the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes in the community of Porter Ranch, two Bay Area residents have scaled the entrance to the headquarters of the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and are occupying a ledge to protest the PUC's failure to protect the Golden State from the climate and health impacts of methane from underground natural gas storage facilities.
The protesters have deployed a banner under the large Seal of California on the front of the building.
A well blew out at SoCalGas Aliso Canyon facility near Porter Ranch on October 23, 2015. Since then, 96,000 metric tons of methane has escaped into the atmosphere, the equivalent of an additional 505,000 cars on the road for a year. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 86 times more climate-intensive than carbon dioxide; While SoCalGas reported last week that the lead had been plugged, the Aliso Canyon leak has been responsible for 25% of the state's daily greenhouse gas emissions.
Aliso Canyon is one of 12 underground natural gas storage facilities in California, and one of 326 nationwide that use depleted oil and gas wells for storage for urban customers.
"While plugging the leak at Aliso Canyon has been a good step, today we are demanding that the PUC shut down all gas storage facilities; until they do, we are occupying the PUC," said Christy Tennery-Spalding from Diablo Rising Tide, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Rising Tide North America.
The PUC, is one of two agencies responsible for oversight of underground natural gas storage facilities. The leaking well had not been inspected since 1976. The CEO of SoCalGas reported to the LA Weekly that a safety valve on the well had been removed in 1979.
"It is unconscionable that these regulators are putting people at risk while giving companies a pass. The last time Aliso Canyon was inspected by the PUC was the last time Jerry Brown was governor," said Kelsey Baker, from Occupy San Francisco Environmental Justice, currently occupying the ledge over the PUC's headquarters entrance.
SoCalGas is a division of Sempra Energy and uses the Aliso Canyon facility to store natural gas for delivery to 12 natural gas power plants and 21 million consumers in Southern California. Since the blowout, ten thousand of Porter Ranch's thirty thousand residents have fled the community. Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, requiring the several state agencies to take urgent action.
Rising Tide is a grassroots network of groups and individuals who take direct action to confront the roots causes of climate change and promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis. Rising Tide was formed in the Netherlands in 2000 to bring a more radical voice to the COP6 (UN Conference of the Parties) climate talks that attempted (unsuccessfully, largely due to the efforts of the US delegation) to salvage what of substance was left of the Kyoto Protocol. Employing popular education and direct action to address the root causes of climate change with a focus on climate justice, Rising Tide now spans three continents.
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Infant Death Rate 3 Times Higher Near PFAS-Contaminated Sites in New Hampshire: Study
One scientist said the new research "provides rare causal evidence" and "not just a correlation" of the dangers posed by forever chemicals to infants.
Dec 09, 2025
Infants born to mothers who drank water from wells downstream of sites contaminated by so-called "forever chemicals" in New Hampshire suffered nearly three times the baseline death rate, more premature births, and lower birth weights, a study published Monday revealed.
Researchers at the University of Arizona tracked 11,539 births occurring within 3.1 miles of sites in the New England state known to be contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—commonly called forever chemicals because they do not biodegrade and accumulate in the human body. They found a 191% increase in first-year deaths among infants born to "mothers receiving water that had flowed beneath a PFAS-contaminated site, as opposed to comparable mothers receiving water that had flowed toward a PFAS-contaminated site."
Mothers in the study zone also experienced a 20% increase in preterm births and a 43% higher incidence of low birth weight. Out of every 100,000 births, this equates to 611 additional deaths by age 1, as well as 2,639 extra underweight births and 1,475 additional preterm births.
Extrapolating to the 48 contiguous US states and the District of Columbia, the study's authors also found that "PFAS contamination imposes annual social costs of approximately $8 billion."
"These health costs are substantially larger than current outside estimates of the cost of removing PFAS from the public water supply," the publication states.
As study authors Derek Lemoine, Ashley Langer, and Bo Guo noted:
PFAS from contaminated sites slowly migrate down through soil into groundwater, where they move downstream with the groundwater’s flow. This created a simple but powerful contrast: Pregnant women whose homes received water from wells that were downstream, in groundwater terms, from the PFAS source were likely to have been exposed to PFAS from the contaminated site, but those who received water from wells that were upstream of those sites should not have been exposed.
Previous research has shown the link between PFAS exposure and reduced birth weight, as well as changes in fetal and newborn metabolism.
Forever chemicals are used in a broad range of products, from nonstick cookware to waterproof clothing and firefighting foam. Bills to limit PFAS have died in Congress under intense lobbying from the chemical industry, which has long known—and tried to conceal—the health and environmental dangers of forever chemicals.
More than 95% of people in the United States have PFAS in their blood, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Around 172 million Americans are believed to consume PFAS in their drinking water.
Forever chemicals have been linked to cancers of the kidneys and testicles, low infant weight, suppressed immune function, and other adverse health effects.
Responding to the new research, Duke University associate research professor in environmental sciences Kate Hoffman told the Washington Post that the study "provides rare causal evidence" and "not just a correlation" of the dangers posed by forever chemicals to infants.
While experts say the study demonstrates the importance of more robust federal regulation of PFAS, the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to lift current limits that protect drinking water from four types of forever chemicals.
“This is a betrayal of public health at the highest level," Environmental Working Group president Ken Cook said earlier this year in response to the Trump administration's efforts to roll back PFAS protections. "The EPA is caving to chemical industry lobbyists and pressure by the water utilities, and in doing so, it’s sentencing millions of Americans to drink contaminated water for years to come.”
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Israel Named Leading Killer of Journalists in 2025 for Third Straight Year
Nearly half of the worldwide reporters who lost their lives on the job this year were killed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Dec 09, 2025
The report released Tuesday by the global press freedom group Reporters Without Borders provides an accounting of the killing of dozens of journalists across the globe in 2025, but nearly half of the people whose deaths are included were killed by the same group: the Israel Defense Forces.
For the third year running, as Israel's attacks on Gaza and the West Bank continue despite a ceasefire agreement reached in October in Gaza, the country was named as the top killer of journalists and media workers, having killed at least 29 Palestinian reporters this year.
Out of 67 reporters killed while doing their jobs in the past year, 43% were killed in Gaza by the IDF—called "the worst enemy of journalists" in 2025.
"Journalists do not just die—they are killed," said Reporters Without Borders, also known by its French name, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), as it released its 2025 Round-up. "The number of murdered journalists has risen again, due to the criminal practices of military groups—both regular and paramilitary—and organized crime."
In 2025, the number of journalists killed on the job rose by one compared to 2024.
#RSFRoundUp 2025: Journalists don't die, they are killed. In 2025, the number of journalists killed rose once more.Let's continue to count, name, denounce, investigate, and ensure that justice is done. Impunity must never prevail.Watch our #RSFRoundUp2025 ⬇️
[image or embed]
— RSF (@rsf.org) December 9, 2025 at 3:10 AM
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was named in RSF's report as one of the world's "Press Freedom Predators," along with Myanmar's State Security and Peace Commission—the country's de facto military government—and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Mexico, where at least three journalists were killed this year while they were covering drug trafficking in areas where the cartel is influential.
In the case of Netanyahu's government, reads the report "the Israeli army has carried out a massacre—unprecedented in recent
history—of the Palestinian press. To justify its crimes, the Israeli military has mounted a global propaganda campaign to spread baseless accusations that portray Palestinian journalists as terrorists."
The 29 reporters killed in Gaza this year are among more than 200 journalists killed by the IDF since it began its assault on the exclave in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack. According to RSF, 65 of those killed were "murdered due to their profession," and others were killed in military attacks.
The report notes the "particularly harrowing case" of two strikes that targeted a building in the al-Nasser medical complex which was "known to house a workspace for journalists" on August 25.
Reuters photographer Hossam al-Masri was killed in the first strike, and a second strike eight minutes later killed Mariam Abu Dagga of the Independent Arabia and the Associated Press, freelancer Moaz Abu Taha, and Al Jazeera photograher Mohamad Salama.
The journalists had been covering rescue operations and the impacts of other airstrikes. They were killed two weeks after an IDF strike killed five other Al Jazeera reporters and an independent journalist while they were in their tent outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Israel claimed one of the reporters, Anas al-Sharif, was "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell"—an allegation that was denied in independent assessments by United Nations experts, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and RSF.
The killing of the reporters and dozens of others around the world, said RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin on Tuesday, "is where the hatred of journalists leads!"
"They weren’t collateral victims," said Bruttin. "They were killed, targeted for their work. It is perfectly legitimate to criticize the media—criticism should serve as a catalyst for change that ensures the survival of the free press, a public good. But it must never descend into hatred of journalists, which is largely born out of—or deliberately stoked by—the tactics of armed forces and criminal organizations."
Palestine was named as by far the most dangerous place in the world for journalists this year, while Mexico was identified as the second-most dangerous, with nine reporters killed despite "commitments" President Claudia Sheinbaum made to RSF.
The journalists "covered local news, exposed organized crime and its links to politicians, and had received explicit death threats," reported RSF. "One of them, Calletano de Jesus Guerrero, was even under government protection when he was murdered."
Bruttin warned that "the failure of international organizations that are no longer able to ensure journalists’ right to protection in armed conflicts is the consequence of a global decline in the courage of governments, which should be implementing protective public policies."
Three journalists were killed in Ukraine in one month, targeted by Russian drone attacks even as they wore helmets and bulletproof vests that clearly identified them as members of the press. Two reporters were killed in Bangladesh in apparent retaliation for their reporting on crimes.
The report also notes that 503 journalists are detained around the world, with Israel the second-biggest jailer of foreign journalists after Russia. Twenty Palestinian reporters are currently detained by Israel, including 16 who were arrested over the past two years in the West Bank and Gaza. Just three—Alaa al-Sarraj, Emad Zakaria Badr al-Ifranji, and Shady Abu Sedo—where released as part of the ceasefire agreement in October after having been "unlawfully arrested by Israeli forces" in Gaza.
"It is our responsibility to stand alongside those who uphold our collective right to reliable information. We owe them that," wrote Bruttin. "As key witnesses to history, journalists have gradually become collateral victims, inconvenient observers, bargaining chips, pawns in diplomatic games, men and women to be eliminated. Let us be wary of false notions about reporters: No one gives their life for journalism—it is taken from them."
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The House Armed Services Committee said in September that the measure "combats antisemitism."
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A little-reported provision of the latest military spending bill would direct the US to create a plan to fill the "gaps" for Israel whenever other nations cut off arms shipments in response to its acts of genocide in Gaza.
As Prem Thakker reported Monday for Zeteo, the measure is "buried" more than 1,000 pages into the more than 3,000-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is considered by lawmakers to be “must-pass" legislation and contains a record $901 billion in total spending.
Republicans are shepherding the bill through the US House of Representatives, where—as is the case with most NDAAs—it is expected to pass on Wednesday with Democratic support, even as some conservative budget hardliners refuse to back it, primarily over its $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine.
Since the genocide began following Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023, the US has provided more than $21.7 billion to Israel, including hundreds of millions that have been supplied through NDAAs.
The new NDAA includes at least another $650 million to Israel, an increase of $45 million from the previous one, even though this is the first such bill to be introduced since the "ceasefire" that went into effect in October. This aid from the Pentagon comes on top of the $3.3 billion already provided through the State Department budget.
But this NDAA also contains an unprecedented measure. It calls for the “continual assessment of [the] impact of international state arms embargoes on Israel and actions to address defense capability gaps."
The NDAA directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to assess “the scope, nature, and impact on Israel’s defense capabilities of current and emerging arms embargoes, sanctions, restrictions, or limitations imposed by foreign countries or by international organizations,” and “the resulting gaps or vulnerabilities in Israel’s security posture.”
As Drop Site News explains, "this means the US would explicitly use federal law to step in and supply weapons to Israel whenever other countries cut off arms to halt Israel’s ongoing violations across the region."
"The point of this assistance, to be clear, is to make up for any identified insufficiencies Israel may have due to other countries' embargoing it as a result of its ongoing genocide in Palestine," Thakker wrote.
A similar provision appeared in a September version of the NDAA, which the House Armed Services Committee praised because it supposedly “combats antisemitism"—explicitly conflating a bias against Jewish people with weapons embargoes that countries have imposed to stop Israel from continuing its routine, documented human rights violations in Gaza.
Among the nations that have cut off weapons sales to Israel are Japan, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain. Meanwhile, other major backers, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, have imposed partial freezes on certain weaponry.
While official estimates from the Gaza Ministry of Health place the number of dead from Israel's military campaign at over 70,000, with more than 170,000 wounded, an independent assessment last month from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany and the Center for Demographic Studies in Spain found that the death toll “likely exceeds 100,000." This finding mirrored several other studies that have projected the true death toll to be much higher than what official estimates show.
Embargoes against Israel have been called for by a group of experts mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council, including Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, numerous human rights organizations, including the leading Israeli group B’Tselem, have said Israel’s campaign in Gaza has amounted to genocide.
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