September, 21 2017, 12:15pm EDT

Groups Launch Map Showing Groundswell of Resistance to New Fossil Fuel Projects
The Fossil Fuel Resistance Mapping Project geographically displays the movement that will stop new fossil fuel projects.
WASHINGTON
Today, a network of communities and groups working to stop new fossil fuel projects launched an interactive online mapping project highlighting these efforts in the U.S. The Fossil Fuel Resistance Mapping Project displays the scale of locally-led efforts against proposed pipelines, fracking wells, and other projects being proposed and constructed by the fossil fuel industry. The project is launching at the end of a summer filled with disastrous weather events made worse by climate change, and as the climate-denying Trump Administration continues putting the interests of fossil fuel billionaires ahead of action to address this global crisis and protect our communities.
From the Gulf Coast where people are recovering from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, to the Pacific Northwest where wildfires are raging, many communities are leading fights against fossil fuel projects amidst life-altering climate impacts. These fights are not isolated events, but rather a groundswell of steadfast and widespread local resistance to fossil fuel projects across the continent in the absence of federal climate action. Grassroots leaders in these efforts are pushing back on the fossil fuel industry's injustices, from environmental racism to violating Indigenous sovereignty. Well known projects, like the Keystone XL pipeline, are facing resistance from communities across state and international lines.
The Fossil Fuel Resistance Mapping Project, which was created with the support of 350.org and the Power Shift Network, serves as a resource for people to find, start, or join a campaign in their community to resist fossil fuel projects, and for those involved in existing fights to connect with each other. The map can be viewed at www.fossilfuelresistance.org.
Quote Sheet:
Cherri Foytlin, Bold Louisiana Executive Director:
"The extractive industry is like a cancer, and our efforts to stop this industry's expansion are holistically connected on many fronts -- this map makes that clear. In Louisiana, the Bayou Bridge pipeline is the tail end of Dakota Access, and just like in North Dakota, people are rising up to protect clean air and water for Indigenous communities and beyond. We are the cure that can stop our fevered Mother from further decline. Our resistance is her medicine. With the climate-denying Trump administration putting the the health of Big Oil billionaires' bottom lines before anyone else, the time to join your local fight to protect our air, water, and planet is right now. We may be in the belly of the beast here in the Gulf, but even as we face the disastrous impacts from climate change and from the fossil fuel industry directly, we are rising up."
Hannah Adams, Bold Alliance Deputy Director:
"The strongest resistance to fossil fuel projects has always come from folks on the ground, in communities directly impacted by these dangerous and dirty fuels -- and Bold Alliance is proud to include on this map the work we're doing in Nebraska to stop Keystone XL; in Louisiana to stop Bayou Bridge; in Wisconsin to stop Enbridge pipeline expansion; and in the Appalachia region to stop fracked gas pipelines. We're excited to see the creation of this necessary tool lifting up the work already underway by grassroots and frontline groups, which will make it much easier for allies and supporters on the ground to find information on local groups and join these fights."
May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director:
"This mapping project shows the growing grassroots resistance to fossil fuels from people on the frontlines of climate impacts and the fencelines of new pipelines and drilling sites. Any public official who says they're working to protect our communities and our climate needs to look at this map. As climate rollbacks continue under the Trump administration, communities nationwide are leading efforts to stop new fossil fuel projects at the local level. Curbing the climate crisis and the disastrous impacts we're seeing right now, from wildfires to super storms, means keeping fossil fuels in the ground."
Lydia Avila, Power Shift Network Executive Director:
"The fossil fuel industry is poisoning our planet and eroding younger generations' chances of growing up with a safe, healthy climate. That's why a people-powered movement is fighting oil, gas, and coal projects across the continent. The Fossil Fuel Resistance map is a powerful tool to support collaboration and solidarity across that movement, and it's proof that the only network more powerful than the pipelines cutting across our country is the network of people fighting to build a just, clean energy-powered future where all of us can thrive."
Kelly Martin, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Director:
"From the serene Puget Sound, to the plains of North Dakota, to the tranquil eastern shores, to the rivers and waters of the Gulf, our country is filled with stunning locations that have been riddled with dirty and dangerous fossil fuel projects. No one wants a pipeline cutting through their drinking water, a refinery next to their shores, or a gas plant alongside their children's schools. This map highlights what too many Americans are forced to grapple with everyday: a life, community, and clean water and air threatened by fossil fuel infrastructure. That's why we've seen the movement to oppose these projects grow rapidly in recent years. People demand a safe and clean environment, and they will not rest until that is guaranteed for every community across the country."
Melissa, a Pennsylvania mother with Berks Gas Truth:
"I, as a mother, have always had the right to decide what risks I want my children faced with. Sunoco's Mariner East Project has taken that right from me. I want it back."
Susan Meacham, fighting the PennEast Pipeline in Holland Township, NJ:
"Who in their right mind would site a 36" pipeline running 1,480 psi of natural gas in close proximity to an active quarry that conducts daily blasting, or along one of the oldest rock formations on this Earth with a fault line beside that would require weeks of blasting to bury it 8 feet down? That's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - the agency that apparently values corporate profit over our environment and our communities."
Cliff Martin, Young People's Action Coalition Co-Founder:
"Comrades Rose Whipple, Nolan Berglund, Nina Berglund, Cherokee Sensavai and Colin Robinson went on a 250 mile canoe journey on the sacred Mississippi this summer to fight the black snake. As youth, as residents of Minnesota, and as water protectors, Young People's Action Coalition will unequivocally fight all black snakes, from Line 3 to DAPL to any pipeline threatening our communities and violating the treaties and rights of Indigenous comrades and members. Mni wiconi! O wai ke ola!"
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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Asked about which specific reports he was referring to, the mayor just said that the deployment could occur as soon as Friday, so he had to take "immediate, drastic action to protect our people from federal overreach."
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In addition to targeting California's largest city, Trump has recently federalized Washington, DC's police force and deployed the National Guard there—and he has threatened to similarly target other Democrat-led cities, despite their falling crime rates.
As the Sun-Times reported Saturday:
White House officials have distinctly said the operation in Chicago would mirror Los Angeles more than DC, which saw thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of active-duty Marines—some of whom are stationed there through November—activated to quell protests against immigration raids.
"If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the president, their communities would be much safer," wrote White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. "[Democrats] should listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently celebrated the Trump administration's success in driving down violent crime in Washington, DC."
Johnson's order against Trump's "tyranny" states that the mayor demands the president "and any agents acting under his authority stand down from any attempts to deploy the US armed forces—including the National Guard—in Chicago."
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As The Associated Press reported Saturday:
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Although the full list of Houthi officials killed in the strike has not been released, Reuters reported that unnamed sources confirmed that "the energy, foreign, and information ministers were among those killed."
The news agency also noted that while Al-Rahawi became prime minister around a year ago, "the de facto leader of the government was his deputy, Mohamed Moftah, who was assigned on Saturday to carry out the prime minister's duties."
In a Saturday statement, the Houthi government affirmed that it would continue to "fulfill its role" and "institutions will continue to provide their services to the steadfast, patient, struggling Yemeni people. It will not be affected, no matter the extent of the calamity... and the blood of the great martyrs will be fuel and motivation to continue on the same path."
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The Thursday strike came nearly a week after the Israel Defense Forces said that it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis, and at least one contained cluster munitions. Citing the IDF and Hebrew media, The Times of Israel reported Saturday that a missile fired by the Houthis overnight "fell short" of Israel, instead falling in Saudi Arabia.
The newspaper also shared Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's response to the Houthis confirming Al-Rahawi's assassination. He said that "two days ago, we dealt an unprecedented crushing blow to the senior officials in the military-political leadership of the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, in a bold and brilliant action by the IDF."
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"Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is endangering the health of the American people now and into the future. He must resign."
That's how US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) began a New York Times op-ed on Saturday, amid mounting calls for Kennedy to leave the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), by choice or force, following the ouster of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez.
As Sanders detailed in the Times—and a Thursday letter to Senate HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) demanding a congressional probe—Monarez was fired after reportedly refusing to "act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies." Her exit led to resignations and a staff walkout at the CDC, which is now being led by Jim O'Neill, a Kennedy aide and biotech investor.
Sanders and other lawmakers—including former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor and the only Republican to vote against Kennedy's confirmation in February—have long warned about the consequences of letting RFK Jr. hold a key health policy position in President Donald Trump's second administration.
"Mr. Kennedy and the rest of the Trump administration tell us, over and over, that they want to Make America Healthy Again," Sanders noted Saturday. "That's a great slogan. I agree with it. The problem is that since coming into office President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have done exactly the opposite."
"Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his long-standing crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts," the senator wrote. "It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective. That, of course, is not just my view. Far more important, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities."
Sanders pointed to guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and World Health Organization, and called out Kennedy's comments on autism, Covid-19 and polio vaccines, and immunizations in general.
"The reality is that Secretary Kennedy has profited from and built a career on sowing mistrust in vaccines. Now, as head of HHS, he is using his authority to launch a full-blown war on science, on public health, and on truth itself," he wrote, warning that in the "short term, it will be harder for Americans to get lifesaving vaccines," including for Covid.
However, "Covid is just the beginning. Mr. Kennedy's next target may be the childhood immunization schedule, the list of recommended vaccines that children receive to protect them from diseases like measles, chickenpox. and polio," the senator continued. He also sounded the alarm over the secretary "defunding the research that could help us prepare for the next pandemic."
Sanders, a leading advocate of Medicare for All, also took aim at the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed last month.
"America's healthcare system is already dysfunctional and wildly expensive, and yet the Trump administration will be throwing an estimated 15 million people off their health insurance through a cut of over $1 trillion to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act," he noted. "This cut is also expected to result in the closing of or the decline in services at hundreds of nursing homes, hospitals, and community health centers. As a result of cuts to the Affordable Care Act, health insurance costs will soar for millions of Americans. That is not Making America Healthy Again."
"Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans' lives in danger, and he must resign," Sanders concluded. "In his place, President Trump must listen to doctors and scientists and nominate a health secretary and a CDC director who will protect the health and well-being of the American people, not carry out dangerous policies based on conspiracy theories."
Bernie Sanders is right—RFK Jr. must resign. His leadership is an assault on science, public health, and truth. We’re not just talking politics; we’re talking lives. #ResignKennedy #ScienceFirst”www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/o...
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— Elizabeth (@elizathewell.bsky.social) August 30, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Doctors, journalists, and others praised the senator's op-ed, with Trauma surgeon Mark Hoofnagle saying that "Bernie nails it."
Pennsylvania State University professor and A Desire Called America author Christian Haines wrote on the social media platform Bluesky that the piece was "clear and incisive, though I wish it didn't need to be said."
Also sharing the post on Bluesky, former Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse said: "It's delusional for anyone to think that RFK Jr. and Donald Trump are making America healthy again. With Kennedy's war against science, truth, and vaccines and Trump's war against Medicaid, their movement should be called MAKING AMERICA UNHEALTHY AGAIN."
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