April, 24 2019, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Julie Macuga, 350VT Extreme Energy Organizer: resist@350vt.org
Maeve McBride, Director 350VT:Â Maeve@350vt.org
Kanika Gandhi, VPIRG Clean Energy Advocate:Â kgandhi@vpirg.org
Mari Cordes, State Representative (introduced H.175): mcordes@leg.state.vt.us
Mary Sullivan, State Representative (introduced H.51): msullivan@leg.state.vt.us
Vermont Climate Movement Testifies for Ban on New Pipelines at Public Hearing
Advocates reject new fossil fuel infrastructure and the use of eminent domain
MONTPELIER, Vt.
Over 130 people flooded the State House Tuesday night for a public hearing on bills regarding fossil fuel infrastructure. The largest hearing room quickly filled, and an overflow room with live-streaming was set up for others. Sixty people testified in support of bills that would limit any new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure, far outnumbering just four people against the bills. 350Vermont, Sunrise Middlebury, Vermont Interfaith Power & Light and other groups had requested a public hearing with the Vermont House Energy and Technology Committee. This came just two weeks after 350Vermont's Next Steps Climate Walk brought 300 to the State House to push for the hearing and demand action on climate change.
"There are many reasons to pass these bills," said Julie Macuga, Extreme Energy Organizer for 350Vermont. "Even if we could ignore the cataclysmic effects of climate change, our newest pipeline, which carries fracked gas from Canada, is still under investigation for safety issues. The industry tries to paint a picture of sustainability, but we're not buying it."
The bills include H.51, introduced by Mary Sullivan, which would ban new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure in the state, and H.175, introduced by Mari Cordes, which would ban the use of eminent domain to take land for the construction of fossil fuel projects.
Said Cordes, "Especially with the omnipresent force of moneyed power, we must join in collective action to avert more of the havoc already caused by the climate crisis. We legislators must listen to our communities and join in calling everyone in to change direction, including fossil fuel companies."
Rep. Sullivan said of the legislation, "If fossil fuel pipelines are still allowed to be built we will be strapping ratepayers for years to come with the cost of this infrastructure. We desperately need to be moving to renewable energy - both for our economy and our planet. Let's not leave Vermont behind."
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) have also been working to advance the bills.
Kanika Gandhi, Clean Energy and Environmental Advocate VPIRG, said, "No matter how you spin it, fracked gas is not clean energy. Vermonters know that our future depends on conservation and renewable energy. That's where we should be investing our resources."
There was a strong intergenerational presence at the hearing, including many students from Middlebury and Burlington Sunrise Movement, a group that has been advocating for the Green New Deal nationally.
Clarissa Sprague, UVM student Sunrise member said, "We are politically spinning our wheels, overlooking and delaying discussion on many transformative climate bills this session. In my home state, Portland Oregon has already successfully, passed a city ordinance banning new fossil fuel infrastructure. This has and can be done." Olivia Sommers, of Middlebury, said, "This bill is about more than banning fossil fuel infrastructure. This bill is about whether this state legislature cares about my future and my family's future. Banning fossil fuel infrastructure is the least we can do."
At the conclusion of the hearing, the audience erupted in song, as the legislators made their way out of the hearing room. The people sang, "There are more waters rising" in a somber tone, echoing some of the heart-wrenching testimonies about species decline, personal stories of losses from forest fires, and families torn from their homes. Those in attendance indicated that they will continue to escalate their actions and raise the alarm on the climate crisis until legislators act with the urgency demanded in this moment.
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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Texas State Troopers in Riot Gear Crack Down on UT Students' Gaza Protest
"Why do we even have these institutions of higher learning if we won't let students speak their conscience and protest?" said one University of Texas professor.
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Civil rights advocates on Wednesday expressed alarm at a rapid escalation by Texas state troopers who descended on a student-led protest at University of Texas at Austin, which was organized in solidarity with Gaza and other U.S. college students taking part in a growing anti-war movement.
UT students gathered on campus at midday and were promptly given two minutes to disperse by state troopers, who had already been called to the scene.
The troopers were equipped with riot gear, with some carrying assault rifles and several stationed on horses.
Erick Lara, a 20-year-old sophomore, told The Dallas Morning News that the nonviolent protest transformed "within minutes" after the police began arresting demonstrators.
"I didn't think it would escalate this far," he told the outlet. "And I didn't think there would be this much police intervention from what's supposed to be a peaceful protest. Not very peaceful when there's a bunch of aggressors around, especially on horses."
The organizers called the gathering "The Popular University" and said it was aimed at pressuring UT to "divest from death."
The protesters walked out of their classes to demand UT divest from weapons manufacturers in order to end its complicity in Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
Student-run newspaper The Daily Texanreported roughly 50 state troopers were deployed to stop the initial protest of about 150-200 people.
Ryan Chandler, a reporter for NBC affiliate KXAN-TV and UT alum, reported that there were at least 10 students detained.
"Went here for four years, never saw anything like this," said Chandler, posting a video of a group of police pushing one student to the ground and arresting them.
Joseph Pierce, a Stony Brook University professor who attended graduate school at UT, also said the escalation was an unusually "drastic response to students advocating for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people."
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The students faced the state troopers in a standoff on the university's main street.
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The university had informed organizers with the on-campus Palestine Solidarity Committee on Tuesday that exercising their First Amendment rights in support of Palestinians in Gaza would "violate our policies and rules."
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Building trades unions and their rank-and-file members are generally seen as more conservative and pro-Trump than other elements of the U.S. labor movement. In 2017, McGarvey celebrated Trump's effort to advance construction work on the Keystone XL pipeline, a massive fossil fuel project that Biden effectively killed in 2021 after years of organizing by environmentalists and Indigenous tribes.
But NABTU's leadership endorsed Clinton over Trump in the 2016 presidential election and Biden over Trump in 2020.
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NABTU called for Trump's resignation after the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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Wow. You may have seen a short version of the North America Building Trade Union ( @NABTU) video endorsement of Biden. The full video is incredible and absolutely devastating for Trump. They did not hold back. A must watch till the end. pic.twitter.com/stL7b7JazP
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 24, 2024
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Jones applauded Tennessee residents for speaking out against H.B. 1202 in the House chamber.
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The GOP ended the debate over the legislation after one teacher, Lauren Shipman-Dorrance, cried out from the viewing section. Shipman-Dorrance was removed by state troopers on orders from House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25).
After the bill passed overwhelmingly—despite four Republicans who joined the Democrats and three who abstained—the remaining protesters chanted, "Blood on your hands!" before the GOP ordered state troopers to remove them.
Sarah Shoop Neumann, whose children attend Covenant Day School, delivered a letter with more than 5,300 signatures to the House on Monday demanding that lawmakers defeat the bill and warning that the legislation "ignores research that shows the presence of a gun increases the risks posed to children."
Shoop Neumann toldThe Tennessean that the bill's passage was "disgraceful."
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