March, 31 2016, 11:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
David Turnbull, david@priceofoil.org, 202-316-3499
John Sellers, john@other98.com, 510-390-6416
Rodrigo Estrada, rodrigo.estrada@greenpeace.org, 202-478-6632
100,000+ Urge President to End Fossil Fuel Leasing from Public Lands and Waters
Keep it in the Ground” petition meets goal, response from White House required
WASHINGTON
A petition calling for an end to fossil fuel leasing on public lands and waters has garnered more than 100,000 signatures on the White House's "We the People" online platform, surpassing the threshold necessary to trigger an official response from the White House.
The petition, supported by a number of progressive organizations, calls on the President to "secure [his] climate legacy by halting all new drilling, fracking, and mining on public lands and waters, including stopping all new offshore drilling in the Arctic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic."
Initiated by the Other98, Oil Change International and Greenpeace USA, the campaign to collect signatures and force an official White House response includes a broad range of additional progressive organizations, including: Courage Campaign, Daily Kos, Environmental Action, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch, The Nation, Stand (formerly ForestEthics), Rainforest Action Network, WildEarth Guardians, and WatchDog.
"In the last nine months, President Obama has rejected the Keystone pipeline, cancelled Arctic Ocean drilling leases, and halted new coal mining leases on public lands. But our children and grandchildren need him to be even more audacious in stabilizing the climate," said John Sellers, Executive Director of Other98. "When this President looks back in 25 years, will his legacy be as the President who finally broke with Big Oil, or the President who left our oceans and public lands on the table?"
"The movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground has been growing at an amazing clip all around the country. We're excited to hear from the White House in response to this petition, because we know that if they are serious about tackling climate change, they will heed this call," said David Turnbull, Campaigns Director at Oil Change International. "Allowing for continued extraction of fossil fuels on our public lands endangers communities and fails the climate test. We need to stop digging and drilling away our future, and our public lands are a great place to start moving in a new direction."
"Thousands from all across the country are united behind the call to keep all fossil fuels in the ground. This growing movement is providing support for President Obama to secure his climate legacy. We are united behind a clear demand: protect our communities, our environment and our climate from those who have placed profit over people. The President should listen and act," said Vicky Wyatt, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace USA.
The petition milestone comes amidst a series of escalating protests at federal fossil fuel lease sales in recent months, including a recent sale at the Superdome in New Orleans which saw hundreds of protesters disrupting the sale proceedings and expected activity at hearings across the country regarding the Obama administration's most recent draft offshore drilling plan.
The full petition can be found at https://ObamaClimateLegacy.us or on the White House's official "We the People" petition site at https://1.usa.gov/1RoeB3N.
"Extreme oil, coal and fracked gas are over," said Ross Hammond, US campaigns director, Stand. "We need to leave fossil fuels in the ground and anyone who is paying any attention to justice, safety, and the environment knows exactly why. President Obama understands the imperative and the urgency. The time to act is now."
"The current practice of selling off America's precious public lands and waters for pennies on the dollar to some of world's dirtiest and wealthiest corporations must stop now," said Ruth Breech, senior climate and energy campaigner with Rainforest Action Network. "This outdated corporate giveaway no longer serves our communities, our climate or our children's future and ending it is the single most important action on the climate Obama can take in his remaining months in office."
"Public lands belong to the American people," said Dr. Gabriela Lemus, President of Progressive Congress. "Current leasing practices damage the land while leaving Americans to suffer the consequences. As more oil companies go bankrupt, oil wells are abandoned and orphaned, requiring extensive clean-up and creating serious health hazards. President Obama has set climate objectives and pledged to reduce our nation's dependence on fossil fuels to hasten our departure from dirty energy. This is a great opportunity for him to live up to those promises: leave fossil fuels untouched underground and protect the land for future generations to enjoy."
"President Obama speaks eloquently about the threat of climate change, but while in office he has enabled a dramatic increase in domestic oil and gas production, especially on our treasured public lands," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. "We are quickly approaching climate crisis and must reject fossil fuels now. President Obama should use his remaining time in office to ban fracking, keep fossil fuels in the ground by halting leases on federal lands, and lead us on a path to a 100% renewable energy future."
"President Obama can use his executive authority to get us on the right track," said Mara Schechter, Campaign Director of Daily Kos. "He doesn't need to deal with an obstructionist Congress, or the oil and gas industry. He alone can put millions of tons of carbon off limits."
"For all the President's talk on climate change these last seven years, the harsh reality is it's business as usual when it comes to him selling more than 30 million acres of public lands and waters for fracking for oil and gas," said Tim Ream, WildEarth Guardians Climate and Energy Campaign Director. "Worse still, climate impacts from not one of these sales have ever even been studied. Our climate and our future demand nothing less than this President keep it in the ground."
"President Obama made a promise in Paris to cap global warming well below catastrophic levels of 2 degrees Celsius," said Drew Hudson, director of Environmental Action. "If he's serious about keeping that promise he's got to stop permitting new fossil fuel drilling and infrastructure. And that's the message he's been hearing all month from the New Orleans superdome to the pancakes not pipelines protest at FERC and in many other places. The call to keep it in the ground is only getting louder this spring and it's time for the president to listen up.
"The reign of Fossil Fuel Empires is coming to an end. The Keep It in the Ground movement gains strength and momentum every time the federal government mismanages our public lands and waters and tries to sell off publicly owned fossil fuels to the highest bidder. President Obama's climate legacy depends on keeping fossil fuels in the ground to protect communities and our planet and justly transition to a clean energy economy," said Marissa Knodel, Climate Campaigner, Friends of the Earth.
Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization focused on exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the ongoing transition to clean energy.
(202) 518-9029LATEST NEWS
'All Because Columbia Refuses to Divest': Police Storm Campus, Violently Arrest Dozens
"The U.S. government and institutions like Columbia are showing that they would rather brutalize students than divest from apartheid and genocide."
May 01, 2024
Hundreds of New York City police officers descended on Columbia University Tuesday night to arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters and dismantle a Gaza solidarity encampment that inspired campus protests across the United States, with demonstrators calling on their schools to divest from companies profiting off Israel's devastating war.
Police, some wearing riot gear, entered Columbia's campus at the request of the university's president, Minouche Shafik, who authorized the NYPD to "clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments."
Video footage shows officers entering a campus building that students occupied hours earlier, renaming it "Hind's Hall" after a 6-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this year. The Columbia Daily Spectator, the university's student newspaper, reported that "as they entered the building, officers threw down the metal and wooden tables barricading the doors and shattered the glass on the leftmost doors of Hamilton to enter with shields in hand."
"Several officers drew their guns, according to footage posted by NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry," the newspaper added. "At around 9:37 pm, officers led dozens of protesters out the entrance of Hamilton. The protesters' hands were zip-tied behind their backs. The arrested individuals chanted, 'Free, free Palestine' as they were led away from the building."
Footage of NYPD tactical teams raiding and clearing Columbia University. pic.twitter.com/roUe9Dp7Vb
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) May 1, 2024
Other footage shows NYPD officers forcing their way through students who locked arms in front of the occupied campus building. One cop is seen kneeing a student on the ground.
Students reported that police used tear gas, which is banned in war, on demonstrators.
"Tonight, my university called in a militarized police force—armed in riot gear, with guns drawn, deploying weapons banned under international law—to attack teenagers," Lea Salim, a student member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Columbia/Barnard, said in a statement. "All because Columbia refuses to divest from the Israeli military and its genocidal campaign on the people of Gaza."
NYPD just raided the Columbia campus and broken into the Hamilton building making dozens of violent arrests against students both outside and those occupying inside. pic.twitter.com/7wMp3EctZF
— Gerard (@GerardDalbon) May 1, 2024
As police set up barricades around the perimeter of the campus, onlookers gathered and chanted, "Let the students go!" in solidarity with the arrested demonstrators.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) said he was "outraged" by the police presence at both Columbia and the City College of New York, writing on social media that the "militarization of college campuses, extensive police presence, and arrest of hundreds of students are in direct opposition to the role of education as a cornerstone of our democracy."
"I call upon the Columbia administration to stop this dangerous escalation before it leads to further harm," Bowman added, "and allow the faculty back onto campus so that all parties can collectively come to a solution that centers humanity over hate."
“Let the students go.”
Crowds gather outside the police barricade surrounding Columbia University to demonstrate solidarity with student protesters.
Police have arrested multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrators after entering the campus. pic.twitter.com/0Ut6HHPWhB
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 1, 2024
In a letter to the New York City Police Department on Tuesday, Shafik—who is facing mounting calls to resign—requested that officers maintain a presence on Columbia's campus "through at least May 17, 2024 to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished."
The police crackdown on Columbia students is part of a broader wave of repression against campus protests that have emerged across the country in recent weeks as Israel's assault on and forced starvation of Gaza civilians continues with no end in sight.
Police actions, approved by the leaders of some universities and cheered on by right-wing government officials, have drawn international rebukes. In a statement Tuesday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said he is "concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their impacts."
"U.S. universities have a strong, historic tradition of student activism, strident debate and freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, "Türk said. "It must be clear that legitimate exercises of the freedom of expression cannot be conflated with incitement to violence and hatred."
Observers were quick to note the parallels between the police crackdown on civil rights and anti-war protests at Columbia in 1968 and Tuesday's raid.
The Columbia Spectator, New York, Tuesday, April 30, 1968: https://t.co/4sNEDQ38Ks pic.twitter.com/2GO9MwUdx7
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 1, 2024
Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said in response to the police invasion of Columbia Tuesday that "the U.S. has funded and supported the Israeli government's oppression of Palestinians for decades, with private institutions across the country profiting from the same."
Organizers have specifically demanded that Columbia divest its nearly $14 billion endowment from Caterpillar, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Elbit Systems, Mekorot, Hapoalim, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.
"These students are saying: enough," said Fox. "As Prime Minister Netanyahu prepares to launch a ground invasion on Rafah—now home to one million displaced Palestinians—the U.S. government and institutions like Columbia are showing that they would rather brutalize students than divest from apartheid and genocide."
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Sanders Praises FTC Challenge of 'Junk' Patents for Drugs Including Ozempic
"We can no longer tolerate Novo Nordisk charging the American people $969 for Ozempic when that same exact drug can be purchased for just $155 in Canada and $59 in Germany while it costs less than $5 to manufacture."
Apr 30, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday lauded the Biden administration for expanding its "campaign against pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper or inaccurate listing of patents" for a wide range of drugs including Novo Nordisk's Ozempic.
"Let me commend the Federal Trade Commission, under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, for taking bold action today against the bogus patents Novo Nordisk has filed to prevent Americans struggling with diabetes from receiving a generic version of Ozempic at a much lower price," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.
Sanders—who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee—stressed that "Novo Nordisk must not be allowed to make billions in profits by delaying generic competition for Ozempic by unlawfully filing junk patents that have nothing to do with the drug itself, but the injection pen."
"Last week, the HELP Committee, that I chair, launched an investigation into the outrageously high prices Novo Nordisk is charging for Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States," he noted. The former name is used when the patient is taking the medication for Type 2 diabetes and the latter is used when it is prescribed to treat obesity in adults with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
"In my view, we can no longer tolerate Novo Nordisk charging the American people $969 for Ozempic when that same exact drug can be purchased for just $155 in Canada and $59 in Germany while it costs less than $5 to manufacture," said the senator. "I look forward to working with the Biden administration to take on the greed of Novo Nordisk and substantially reduce the price of Ozempic and other prescription drugs."
After disputing more than 100 patents in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Orange Book in November, the FTC on Tuesday sent warning letters to 10 companies and notified the agency that it challenges the accuracy or relevance of over 300 listing across 20 different brand name products.
In addition to Denmark-based Novo Nordisk, the FTC sent letters to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Covis Pharma, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and some subsidiaries for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and weight loss drugs.
"By filing bogus patent listings, pharma companies block competition and inflate the cost of prescription drugs, forcing Americans to pay sky-high prices for medicines they rely on," said Khan. "By challenging junk patent filings, the FTC is fighting these illegal tactics and making sure that Americans can get timely access to innovative and affordable versions of the medicines they need."
Sanders was not alone in praising the commission and its leader—an appointee of President Joe Biden—for the ongoing efforts to battle Big Pharma's greed.
Public Citizen's Access to Medicines program advocate, Steve Knievel, said that "it's becoming harder for drug corporations to use patent shenanigans to thwart competition, thanks to the FTC and Chair Lina Khan."
"Improperly listing patents in the FDA Orange Book stymies generic competition, which is proven to dramatically lower prescription drug prices, saving patients and the public billions of dollars," he said, echoing Khan. "Today's letter is yet another demonstration from the Biden-Harris administration that Big Pharma business-as-usual monopoly abuses and price gouging will not be tolerated."
"The FDA should supplement FTC's action by clarifying guidelines for patents that can be listed in the Orange Book," he continued, noting that such action has been proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). "The government should also explore using licensing authorities to overcome pharmaceutical monopoly abuses, leaving no option off the table."
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As Biden Plans to Reschedule Marijuana, Advocates Say 'Fully Legalize' It
Sen. Cory Booker urged fellow lawmakers to "follow the lead of states around the country and legalize cannabis for adult use and create a comprehensive taxation and regulatory scheme."
Apr 30, 2024
U.S. marijuana legalization advocates greeted Tuesday's news that the Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing rescheduling cannabis to a less restrictive class by calling on President Joe Biden to fully deschedule the plant, which is approved for recreational or medicinal use in the vast majority of states.
The Associated Pressreported the DEA is proposing rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I—which includes heroin, MDMA, and LSD—to Schedule III, a far less restrictive class that includes ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone, and over-the-counter products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dose. According to the DEA, Schedule I drugs have "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
While it would not legalize cannabis for recreational use, the DEA proposal—which is subject to review by the White House Office of Management and Budget—would affirm medicinal marijuana and recognize that the plant has a lower potential for abuse than other widely used recreational drugs.
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)—which works to end the failed 53-year War on Drugs—warned that "under this proposed shift, marijuana criminalization would continue at the federal level and most penalties, including those for simple possession, would continue as long as marijuana remains anywhere on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)."
While running for president in 2020, Biden repeatedly vowed to decriminalize marijuana and expunge the criminal records of people convicted of cannabis possession. In 2022 the president issued a "full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents" convicted of simple federal marijuana possession—a move that affected thousands of people but excluded those who are in the United States without authorization.
The following year, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed that his department would recommend rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Tuesday urged Congress to "follow the lead of states around the country and legalize cannabis for adult use and create a comprehensive taxation and regulatory scheme."
"Thousands of people remain in prisons around the country for marijuana-related crimes. Thousands of people continue to bear the devastating collateral consequences that come with a criminal record," the senator continued. "Legal marijuana businesses, especially those in communities hardest hit by the War on Drugs, still have to navigate a convoluted patchwork of state laws and regulatory schemes."
"I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, especially those who represent constituents benefiting from medical or adult-use programs, join me to pass federal legislation to fix these problems," Booker added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that "it is great news that DEA is finally recognizing that restrictive and draconian cannabis laws need to change to catch up to what science and the majority of Americans have said loud and clear."
"While this rescheduling announcement is a historic step forward, I remain strongly committed to continuing to work on legislation like the SAFER Banking Act as well as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which federally deschedules cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act," he added.
Booker and Schumer were among the 21 senators who last week sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram noting that it's been 18 months since Biden ordered HHS October to review cannabis scheduling and eight months since the agency's rescheduling recommendation.
"While we understand that the DEA may be navigating internal disagreement on this matter, it is critical that the agency swiftly correct marijuana's misguided placement in Schedule I," the letter states.
Legalization advocates, meanwhile, pushed the Biden administration to go much further, as 24 states plus the District of Columbia have approved adult-use recreational marijuana and 38 states have legalized medicinal cannabis.
"Supporting federal marijuana decriminalization means supporting the removal of marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, not changing its scheduling," DPA director of drug markets and legal regulation Cat Packer said in a statement. "We all deserve a federal framework for marijuana that upholds the health, well-being, and safety of our communities—particularly Black communities who have borne the brunt of our country's racist enforcement of marijuana laws."
"Rescheduling marijuana is not a policy solution for federal marijuana criminalization or its harms, and it won't address the disproportionate impact that it has had on Black and Brown communities," Packer added.
Dasheeda Dawson, chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition and founder of Cannabis NYC, said: "The time for descheduling cannabis is not just a matter of policy; it's an imperative for justice and equity. Rescheduling would undermine the hard-fought progress made by cannabis equity and policy reform leaders like the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition, jeopardizing the livelihoods and futures of those entrepreneurs and communities disproportionately affected by past criminalization."
"We cannot afford to backtrack on our commitment to repair the harm inflicted by outdated policies," Dawson added. "Descheduling is not just about legality; it's about rectifying historic injustices and ensuring a fair and inclusive future for all."
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