July, 29 2016, 11:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians, jnichols@wildearthguardians.org
Michael Saul, Center for Biological Diversity, msaul@biologicaldiversity.orgÂ
Denni Cawley, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, dcawleyuphe@gmail.comÂ
Mariel Nanasi, New Energy Economy, mariel@seedsbeneaththesnow.comÂ
Kyle Tisdel, Western Environmental Law Center, tisdel@westernlaw.orgÂ
Kaitlin Butler, Science and Environmental Health Network, kaitlin@sehn.org
To Protect Climate, Public Health, Americans Call for End to Federal Coal Program
Ending Public Coal Leasing, Mining Would Keep 212 Million Tons of Carbon in Ground, Save $7 Trillion
WASHINGTON
A coalition of groups today called on President Obama to permanently end the federal coal program, highlighting the fact that ending leasing and mining of public coal in the United States would keep up to 212 billion metric tons of carbon pollution in the ground -- the equivalent of taking nearly 50 billion cars off the road and saving society more than $7 trillion in avoided climate damages.
"If we have any chance of avoiding the worst consequences of global warming, we have to move away from fossil fuels," said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians' climate and energy program director. "This shift starts with reining in the mining of our publicly owned coal and helping coal-dependent communities transition to more prosperous and sustainable economies."
The new figures were part of detailed comments submitted today at the close of the public scoping period for the comprehensive review and potential reform of the federal coal-leasing program. In response to mounting controversy, including the climate impacts from burning coal, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell kicked off the reform process in January, announcing a temporary moratorium on new leasing and the initiation of a full environmental review of the federal coal program. While the review is underway, Jewell has ordered a pause in significant new coal-leasing decisions on public lands.
Halting federal coal leasing and mining will have significant benefits to the climate as well as people and the environment. Among the more than $7 trillion in savings from stopping public coal leasing in the United States are savings in terms of human health costs and infrastructure damage caused by climate-driven events.
The groups today, representing local, regional and national environmental and health organizations, also sent a letter to President Obama summarizing the specific requests for reforms in how publicly owned coal is managed, including an end to the federal coal program altogether, which would keep up to 212 billion metric tons of carbon in the ground, according to a recent report by EcoShift, prepared for the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth.
Based on conservative carbon-cost estimates that place the value of a metric ton of carbon dioxide at $37, future coal leasing and mining threaten to saddle society with more than $7 trillion in damages and health-related costs.
"The science is clear that there's no reasonable path to avoiding the worst effects of climate change without the phaseout of coal mining and combustion," said Michael Saul, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "We can't do that while simultaneously committing to massive new coal mining into the 2040s and beyond. It's time for the Department of the Interior to start being honest with itself and American communities and shift policies now for a clean and sustainable future."
Currently more than 40 percent of all coal produced in the United States comes from publicly owned reserves that have been leased and are managed by the Department of the Interior. The vast majority of this coal is in the American West. When mined and burned, this coal is responsible for more than 10 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The groups' letter comes as global warming is taking a tremendous toll on society, fueling rising temperatures, worsening droughts in the American West, threatening public health and risking billions in damages to U.S. national parks and other public lands. It also comes amid growing public support for keeping fossil fuels in the ground as a means to combat climate change.
"The climate crisis is now widely regarding by medical organizations throughout the world as the greatest public health threat of the 21st century," said Brian Moench, president of the board of directors for Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. "We are already seeing the consequences of hotter temperatures, worsening air pollution, more insect-borne diseases, food insecurity and water contamination and scarcity. Those trends will become much worse if we fail to act."
Last year scientists reported that to rein in global temperature increases, more than 90 percent of all coal reserves in the United States would have to remain untouched. Further reports have found more than 100 million metric tons of carbon pollution stands to be prevented annuallyby keeping publicly owned fossil fuels in the ground.
Another recent study found that making permanent the moratorium on new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana-- the largest coal-producing region in the nation -- could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while still meeting foreseeable power demands. The fact is that current federal coal leases will last through 2040 and issuing any new leases is incompatible with meeting the U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement to limit global warming.
The groups joining the letter to President Obama include WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity, Rainforest Action Network, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, New Energy Economy, Montana Environmental Information Center, Western Environmental Law Center, Grand Canyon Trust, Science and Environmental Health Network and Great Old Broads for Wilderness.
While the coalition today is calling for reforms to lead to the end of the federal coal program, the groups' letter also joined thousands of Americans in calling on the Obama administration to ensure a "just transition" away from coal, to provide assistance to communities for economic planning and development and to prioritize transition as a reform goal.
The Interior Department expects to release an interim report by the end of 2016 with conclusions from its public process.
Additional Group Statements
"If science, not politics, is the guide for the decision on public lands management then the issue is absolutely clear: the federal coal-leasing program must be terminated," said Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the New Mexico-based New Energy Economy. "It's time for the administration to put science and our future ahead of politics and protect our climate."
"There is a fundamental disconnect between President Obama's recognition that we need to take immediate action on climate change and how our public lands are managed for energy production, particularly coal," said Kyle Tisdel, attorney and climate and energy program director with the Western Environmental Law Center. "If we are to stem the most catastrophic impacts from a warming planet, as well as dramatic impacts to our communities and public health, the transformation must start by reforming the federal coal program."
"In coal country, like Utah where I'm from, the legacy spans more than a century. Local coal jobs mean income to support family, benefits and getting to work close to home. The hard facts are that only a handful of people benefit while the majority of the costs -- health, environmental, economic -- are borne by frontline workers and communities, and will be felt by generations to come," said Kaitlin Butler, program director, Extreme Energy program of the Science and Environmental Health Network. "Ending coal in coal country is hard, complicated. Climate change is straightforward; we have a big-time problem that calls for urgent action, status-quo is catastrophic. A Just Transition is a way to confront the roots of the climate crisis, which are the roots of an extractive economy; it's about the future of the planet and a new economy. President Obama and Secretary Jewell, you have the opportunity to be proactive and visionary and begin to shift this legacy of debts in a real way. It's hard and important. And it's the only way forward."
Detailed comments submitted today by the Center for Biological Diversity can be downloaded here.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
'Unlawful and Catastrophic': IDF Begins Forced Evacuation of Rafah
The head of one humanitarian group called the Israeli military's directives "a serious violation of international law."
May 06, 2024
Israel's army on Monday ordered roughly 100,000 people living in eastern Rafah to evacuate ahead of an imminent military assault on the area, terrifying families who have been forcibly displaced to the southern Gaza city in recent months and intensifying warnings of a bloodbath.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets over Rafah ordering some of its 1.4 million residents to move to a strip along Gaza's coast, a signal that a long-feared ground assault on the overcrowded city is set to begin in the face of vocal opposition from the international community and humanitarian organizations.
The U.S., Israel's top arms supplier, has said it would oppose a Rafah assault without a credible plan to evacuate civilians from the city. Humanitarian groups and analysts have said such a plan is impossible because there is no genuinely safe place for Gazans to go. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked so-called "safe zones" and designated routes Palestinians have used to flee in compliance with past IDF orders.
"Israel's military offensive in Rafah could lead to the deadliest phase of this conflict, inflicting horrific suffering on approximately 1.4 million displaced civilians in the area," said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "The relocation orders issued by Israel today to thousands of Gazans, directing them to move to Al-Mawasi, are beyond alarming. The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services. It lacks the capacity to house the number of people currently seeking refuge in Rafah, with no assurances of safety, proper accommodation, or return once hostilities end for those forced to relocate."
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"If large-scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened."
Israel
reportedly notified the U.S. of the evacuation orders overnight, and CIA Director William Burns is set to arrive in Israel on Monday to discuss the operation in Rafah, a city along Gaza's border with Egypt that has become a critical point of entry for humanitarian aid. The new evacuation orders, expected to be just the first round of directives, include Rafah's largest medical facility.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main relief agency in Gaza, said in response to the IDF's orders that it would not leave Rafah.
"An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people," the organization wrote in a social media post. "UNRWA is not evacuating: The agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people."
BREAKING: #Israel drops leaflets over #Rafah southern #Gaza, ordering inhabitants of eastern Rafah to immediately move to Al Mawasi (a desolate strip along the Gaza coast), cautioning them from moving to north Gaza or towards its southern and eastern perimeter fence. pic.twitter.com/tBum9ULewF
— Itay Epshtain (@EpshtainItay) May 6, 2024
The far-right Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been threatening a ground invasion of Rafah for months, characterizing the city as Hamas' last major stronghold. Avichay Adraee, an IDF lieutenant colonel, said Monday that the Israeli military would use "extreme force" in the evacuation areas and warned that "anyone who is close to terrorist organizations puts his life and the life of his family at risk."
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), around 600,000 children are currently sheltering in the city, including many who have been displaced multiple times since Israel's assault began in October following a Hamas-led attack.
"More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children," Catherine Russell, UNICEF's executive director, said Monday. "Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large-scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened.”
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, called the IDF's evacuation push in Rafah "unlawful and catastrophic."
"There's nowhere safe to go in Gaza," Shakir added. "The international community should act to prevent further atrocities."
The IDF began issuing its evacuation orders in Rafah a day after the Netanyahu government voted to shut downAl Jazeera's operations in the country, a brazen attack on press freedom.
"The fact that Israel banned
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The climate action group Extinction Rebellion Belgium on Saturday decried what it called "disproportionate police violence" against nonviolent demonstrators who were arrested during a protest in Brussels demanding an end to fossil fuel subsidies.
Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion-led climate defenders blocked Rue Belliard in the European Quarter, the de facto European Union capital, during EU Open Day, when agencies of the 27-nation bloc open their doors to the public. In what Extinction Rebellion called an "unprecedented police response," officers allegedly struck protesters with batons and used chemical agents against demonstrators.
Brussels police said 132 activists—some of whom glued themselves to the ground—were arrested.
"This police behavior toward nonviolent protesters exercising their freedom of assembly is illegal and authoritarian," Extinction Rebellion Belgium said in a statement Saturday.
"We call on the police to exercise restraint and respect the right to demonstrate peacefully and without violence," the group added.
The activists are calling on European governments to stop subsidizing fossil fuels amid a worsening planetary crisis. They're also demanding the declaration of a climate emergency.
"National and European governments are spending at least €405 billion each year subsidizing major fossil fuel corporations," protest spokesperson Bertina Maes toldThe Brussels Times. "That's ten times more than what's spent on climate policy."
Maes said the Belgian government alone spent as much as €20 billion ($21.5 billion) on fossil fuel subsidies in 2020, more than 2% of the country's gross domestic product.
"The fact that national governments are subsidizing fossil fuels is akin to a crime against humanity," she asserted.
This weekend's demonstration and arrests come a month before E.U. parliamentary elections. According to an April Eurobarometer survey conducted by the European Parliament, climate action is the fifth-most important issue to voters, after poverty and social exclusion, health, jobs, and defense and security.
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Israel Bans Al Jazeera in 'Assault on Freedom of the Press'
"Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, the Israeli government should stop committing them," said one observer.
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The Jerusalem offices of Al Jazeera were raided Sunday after Israel's far-right Cabinet banned the Qatar-based satellite news network—the sole international media outlet providing 24/7 live coverage from Gaza—from operating in the country.
"If you're watching this… then Al Jazeera has been banned in Israel," correspondent Imran Khan said in a pre-recorded report from occupied East Jerusalem preempting the Israeli Cabinet's unanimous vote to shutter the network.
The order—which does not affect Al Jazeera's ability to operate in Gaza or the illegally occupied Palestinian territories—is believed to be the first of its kind targeting a foreign media outlet operating in Israel. It comes after the Knesset, Israel's parliament, recently voted 71-10 in favor of a law empowering the Israeli communications minister to ban foreign news organizations from working in Israel and to confiscate their equipment.
"The time has come to eject Hamas' mouthpiece from our country," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.
Ofir Gendelman, Netanyahu's Arab media spokesperson, said Sunday that the closure would be "implemented immediately."
Gendelman said that the network's "broadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel's correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera's websites will be blocked on the internet."
In a statement, Al Jazeera vowed to "pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public's right to information."
"Israel's ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law," the network added. "Israel's direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation, and threats will not deter Al Jazeera."
The New York-based Foreign Press Association issued a statement slamming the move and saying it "should be a cause for concern for all supporters of a free press."
"With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station," the group said. "This is a dark day for the media. This is a dark day for democracy."
Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir called the order "an assault on freedom of the press."
"Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, the Israeli government should stop committing them," he added.
Al Jazeera is the only international news network providing nonstop on-the-ground coverage of Israel's war on Gaza, often being the first to report Israeli atrocities in what many experts worldwide say is a genocidal campaign in the besieged, starving strip.
Its correspondents and other media professionals work under constant risk to life and limb. More than 100 journalists, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7 in what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and others say are often intentional targetings of not only media workers but also their families.
In December, Israeli forces killedAl Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa as he reported on the war in southern Gaza, an attack that also wounded Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh—whose wife, son, daughter, and grandson were killed in a separate Israeli strike.
Previous probes—like the investigation into Israeli troops' 2022 killing of renowned Palestinian American Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh—have confirmed that Israel has deliberately targeted journalists.
Last May, CPJ published Deadly Pattern, a report that found Israeli troops had killed at least 20 journalists over the past 22 years with utter impunity. While some of the slain journalists have been foreigners—including Italian Associated Press reporter Simone Camilli and British cameraman and filmmaker James Miller—the vast majority of victims have been Palestinian.
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