July, 20 2022, 04:30pm EDT
Biden Stops Short of Declaring National Climate Emergency
Takes Limited Executive Actions As 100 Million Americans Under Extreme Heat Alert
WASHINGTON
President Biden announced a series of executive actions targeting the climate crisis today, and while he described the crisis as "an emergency," he stopped short of the national climate emergency declaration called for by the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 1,200 other groups.
Visiting a shuttered coal plant that's now part of an offshore wind project in Somerset, Massachusetts, Biden announced he would increase Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for community climate resilience. He said his administration will announce additional actions in the coming days.
"The world's burning up from California to Croatia, and right now Biden's fighting fire with the trickle from a garden hose," said Jean Su, Energy Justice program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Saying we're in a climate emergency and declaring one under the law are totally different things. Declaring a climate emergency will unleash the full force of Biden's executive powers to combat climate chaos and signal the climate leadership we so desperately need."
Biden's newly announced actions track with part of the Center's executive action plan, which urges FEMA to direct funding toward renewable-energy systems in environmental justice communities. But today's announcement contains none of the urgently needed actions to limit oil, gas and coal production, responsible for 85% of planet-heating pollution.
"With congressional action closed off, bold action from Biden is the only hope for truly lifesaving action to curb the deadly fossil fuels scorching the planet," said Su. "Limited action on renewables without curbing fossil fuels is like tuning up the engine while the car barrels off a cliff."
While the Biden administration can accomplish most necessary actions using ordinary powers under existing laws, emergency authorities unlock Biden's ability to end crude oil exports and halt billions of dollars in U.S. investment in fossil fuel projects abroad.
By acknowledging climate change as a national security threat, Biden can expand use of the Defense Production Act for electric transportation development, including public e-buses, high-speed rail and passenger vehicles. He used the DPA earlier this year for solar manufacturing, insulation and heat pumps, another action that tracked the Center's plan.
Biden and his federal agencies also have extensive ordinary executive powers to limit oil, gas and coal, long the essential missing piece of climate policy.
Biden can direct the Department of the Interior to end all new oil and gas leasing and phase out the production of oil and gas on public lands and waters. He can instruct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to comply with existing law by ending the use of nationwide permits for fossil fuel project approvals and deny permits for such projects due to their environmental and public harms.
Biden can also direct the Environmental Protection Agency to establish national limits for greenhouse gases at 350 ppm of carbon dioxide under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards program of the Clean Air Act.
The Center for Biological Diversity and more than 1,200 groups in the People vs Fossil Fuels coalition have called on Biden to declare a national climate emergency and take these other actions. In a survey from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication this year, 58% of Americans polled said they support a U.S. president declaring global warming a national emergency if Congress does not act.
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.
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Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh Unfit for 9/11 Trial, Says Military Judge
"This decision by the military judge today does mark the first time that the United States has formally acknowledged the CIA torture program produced profound and prolonged psychological harm," said al-Shibh's lawyer.
Sep 22, 2023
A U.S. military judge on Thursday found Guantánamo Bay prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh—who stands accused of being a key 9/11 organizer—unfit to stand trial because he suffers from mental illness his attorney says was caused by CIA torture years ago.
Air Force Col. Matthew McCall severed al-Shibh, a 51-year-old Yemeni, from the conspiracy case involving four other defendants who allegedly organized the cell of militants in Hamburg, Germany who hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Al-Shibh had been charged as an accomplice in the case.
"This decision by the military judge today does mark the first time that the United States has formally acknowledged that the CIA torture program produced profound and prolonged psychological harm," David Bruck, al-Shibh's lead defense attorney, told reporters at Guantánamo Bay on Thursday evening. "This is exactly what the CIA promised would not happen."
McCall's ruling—which does not directly attribute torture as the cause of al-Shibh's afflictions—came after a three-member military "sanity board" diagnosed the defendant with post-traumatic stress disorder with secondary psychotic features and persecutory delusional disorder. This, the board said, renders him "unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently in his defense."
According toLawdragon editor-in-chief John Ryan:
Al-Shibh has long claimed that the detention facility guard force has subjected him to noises and vibrations, continuing his torture from CIA black sites... In recent years, his lawyers have also claimed that al-Shibh feels stabbing and other painful sensations that he experiences as directed invisibly at parts of his body. The government has denied the allegations.
"The totality of the facts demonstrates an accused who is wholly focused on his delusions," McCall wrote in his ruling, according to The New York Times. "Again and again, he focuses his counsel's work on stopping his delusional harassment, (which) demonstrates the impairment of his ability to assist in his defense."
Military prosecutor Clayton Trivett Jr. acknowledged that al-Shibh is delusional but insisted "he has the capacity to participate" in his defense, and that his refusal to do so is "really just a choice."
Citing al-Shibh's cooperation with his defense team, Trivett added that "this does not look like someone who is incompetent."
While McCall ordered pretrial proceedings to continue Friday for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—the alleged mastermind of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11—as well as three co-defendants, what comes next for al-Shibh is unknown.
All five of the 9/11 defendants—Mohammed, his nephew Ammar al-Baluchi, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and al-Shibh—were captured in Pakistan in late 2002 and early 2003 before being turned over to the United States. Hassan bin Attash, who was captured with bin al-Shibh in Karachi, has testified that they were both sent via extraordinary rendition to the notorius "Salt Pit" outside Kabul, Afghanistan, where suspected militant Gul Rahman was tortured to death in November 2002.
Like Rahman, al-Shibh says he was shackled naked to a ceiling in a painful "stress position" for days on end. He was then reportedly sent to Jordan, where one witness told Human Rights Watch he was subjected to "electric shocks, long periods of sleep deprivation, forced nakedness, and being made to sit on sticks and bottles."
Al-Shibh told the International Committee of the Red Cross that he was kept naked and shackled to the ceiling for a week at a black site in Poland, where he was also deprived of solid food for three to four weeks.
According to the CIA's own documents:
The interrogation plan proposed that... al-Shibh would be subjected to "sensory dislocation." The proposed sensory dislocation included shaving al-Shibh's head and face, exposing him to loud noise in a white room with white lights, keeping him "unclothed and subjected to uncomfortably cool temperatures," and shackling him "hand and foot with arms outstretched over his head (with his feet firmly on the floor and not allowed to support his weight with his arms)".
The CIA torture plan also included near-constant interrogations, slamming into walls, hard slaps to the face and abdomen, stress positions, sleep deprivation beyond 72 hours, and the interrupted drowning torture known as waterboarding.
Al-Shibh was also held at a black site in Morocco for three-and-a-half months, where Moroccan agents allegedly tortured him under CIA supervision. Moroccan interrogators videotaped some of the interrogations and handed the footage over to the CIA.
This isn't the first time that torture played a role in derailing the prosecution of an alleged 9/11 plotter. In 2009, Susan J. Crawford, the top George W. Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantánamo prisoners to trial, declared that the U.S. "tortured" Mohammed al-Qahtani, the alleged would-be 20th 9/11 hijacker, and declined to green light his prosecution.
Col. Stuart Crouch, a Guantánamo prosecutor whose Marine Corps buddy was a pilot on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11, refused to prosecute Mohamedou Ould Slahi—who allegedly helped organize the plane's hijacking—because he was tortured.
Additionally, numerous Guantánamo officials have resigned over what they claim is a corrupt military commission system. Former lead prosecutor Col. Morris Davis—who called trials there "rigged from the start"—stepped down in 2007, claiming he was told by top Bush lawyer Jim Haynes that acquittals were unacceptable.
"I now understand that the commissions were doomed from the start. We used new rules of evidence and allowed evidence regardless of how it was obtained."
At least four other military prosecutors—Maj. Robert Preston, Capt. John Carr, Capt. Carrie Wolf and Darrel J. Vandeval—requested to be removed from the military commissions because they also felt that the proceedings were unfair.
In 2021, seven out of eight members of the military jury convened to hear the case against Guantánamo detainee and alleged terrorist plotter Majid Khan recommended total clemency after the defendant testified how he endured torture including rape, being hung from a ceiling beam, and being waterboarded while he was held at a CIA black site in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, Ted Olson—the former Bush administration solicitor-general who then argued against basic legal rights for Guantánamo Bay prisoners and defended their indefinite detention and torture—made a stunning admission, saying the military commissions don't work and should be shut down, and the government should strike plea deals with 9/11 defendants held at the prison.
"In retrospect, we made two mistakes in dealing with the detained individuals at Guantánamo," Olson wrote. "First, we created a new legal system out of whole cloth. I now understand that the commissions were doomed from the start. We used new rules of evidence and allowed evidence regardless of how it was obtained."
Defense and prosecution attorneys had been negotiating a possible plea deal that would have spared the defendants the prospect of execution. However, earlier this month the White House said that President Joe Biden would not approve or deny such a request because he "was unsettled about accepting terms for the plea from those responsible for the deadliest assault on the United States since Pearl Harbor," according to The Associated Press.
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Menendez Faces Calls to Step Down Following Bribery Charges
Just Foreign Policy's AÃda Chávez said the charges against him "are very serious and call into question Sen. Menendez's character and ability to perform his role as chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
Sep 22, 2023
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on Friday faced calls to step down from his powerful chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee, or resign altogether, following another damning federal indictment for alleged bribery.
The New Jersey Democrat and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are accused of engaging in "a corrupt relationship" with the businessmen—Wael "Will" Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes—and accepting bribes in the form of "cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value."
Nadine Menendez and the businessmen are also facing charges. The indictment says that the senator "provided sensitive U.S. government information and took other steps that secretly aided the government of Egypt," as well as "improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana."
The senator also used his role to "disrupt a criminal investigation and prosecution undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office" related to Uribe, the indictment adds. Menendez further recommended that President Joe Biden nominate Philip R. Sellinger as U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, because he believed the lawyer could be influenced regarding a federal criminal prosecution of Daibes.
"It's time for Sen. Menendez to resign. The stain of corruption continuously taints Menendez."
In June 2022 searches of the couple's New Jersey home and a safety deposit box, federal agents found "cash, gold, the luxury vehicle, and home furnishings," the document details. "Over $480,000 in cash—much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe—was discovered in the home, along with over $ 70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe deposit box."
The 69-year-old senator, who is up for reelection next year, was previously indicted on federal bribery charges in 2015. He temporarily stepped down as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Due to a hung jury, the case ended as a mistrial in 2017. The following year, prosecutors decided not to seek a new trial and Menendez was reelected for his current term.
In a statement Friday, the senator said in part that "I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize I was innocent."
Nadine Menendez's lawyer, David Schertler, toldThe New York Times that she "denies any criminal conduct and will vigorously contest these charges in court."
The newspaper reported that while representatives for two of the businessmen could not immediately be reached for comment, a spokesperson for Hana said that "we are still reviewing the charges but based upon our initial review, they have absolutely no merit."
A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York, Nicholas Biase, told the
Times that all five defendants are set to appear in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday.
Stressing that the charges against him "are very serious and call into question Sen. Menendez's character and ability to perform his role as chair of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee," Just Foreign Policy communications director AÃda Chávez on Friday urged the senator "to do the right thing and to step down for the duration of these legal proceedings, as he did in 2015."
Given that Menendez is accused of using his post to enrich himself while guiding U.S. foreign policy in a "harmful direction," Chávez argued, Senate leadership should consider a new chair who "is in line with the overwhelming majority of the American people—as well as presidents such as [Barack] Obama and Biden—who want a foreign policy focused on diplomatic solutions."
"Sen. Menendez is notorious for placing roadblocks in the path of efforts by diplomats to reduce tensions and avert war," she explained. "He is also among the senators most responsible for supporting [former President Donald] Trump's cruel efforts to tighten indiscriminate sanctions against innocent populations in places like Cuba and Venezuela, which is a major cause of the surge in migrants at the border and in U.S. cities."
While the senator has not publicly confirmed his plans, NBC Newsreported that "a source close to Menendez says he will step down as chair," in line with Senate Democratic Conference rules regarding felony charges against members of leadership.
Some critics are calling on him to resign as a senator. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) president Noah Bookbinder, a former federal corruption prosecutor, said in a statement that "with these latest revelations, it's time for Sen. Menendez to resign. The stain of corruption continuously taints Menendez."
"CREW has for years raised concerns about Menendez potentially selling his position, and the Senate Ethics Committee previously found serious misconduct by him. The conduct outlined in today's indictment and the evidence presented are even more damning," he added. "The people of New Jersey should not have to be constantly questioning whether one of their senators is taking action for them or to line his pockets. Menendez deserves a fair trial and a presumption of innocence on these latest charges, but it is not appropriate for him to remain in office. Out of respect for the institution of the Senate, he must step down."
The charges against Menendez come amid discussions of corruption on Capitol Hill due to recent revelations about multiple members of the U.S. Supreme Court—including reporting on Friday that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas secretly attended at least two donor events for the Koch network, yet another example of his ties to right-wing billionaires with business before the court.
The Debt Collective wrote on social media Friday, "Who does Bob Menendez think he is, a Supreme Court justice?"
This post has been updated with comment from CREW.
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Al Gore to Fossil Fuel Industry: 'Get Out of the Way'
At an event coinciding with the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Gore said he used to believe the sector sincerely wanted to be part of the solution to the climate crisis, but now he thinks it's clear they are not.
Sep 22, 2023
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, a long-time climate activist, had harsh words for the fossil fuel industry on Thursday.
"Many of the largest companies have engaged in massive fraud," he said at The New York Times' Climate Forward event, as the Independent reported. "For some decades now, they've followed the playbook of the tobacco industry, using these very sophisticated, lavishly financed strategies for deceiving people."
Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, criticized the industry for using their influence to lobby against effective climate action.
"The climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis."
"The fossil fuel companies, given their record today, are far more effective at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions," he said.
Now, he warned, the sector had set its sights on the United Nations COP28 climate change conference in the United Arab Emirates with the appointment of the UAE's state oil company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber to lead the talks.
"That's just, like, taking the disguise off," Gore said, as The New York Times reported. "They've been trying to capture this process for a long time."
Gore's remarks reflect a recent shift in the tone of his climate advocacy. In a TED Talk filmed in July and released in August, Gore made many of the same arguments about fossil fuel lobbying and Al Jaber's appointment.
"The climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis," he said. "The solutions are going to come from a discussion and collaboration about phasing out fossil fuels."
After listening to the talk, journalist Emily Atkin wrote in her newsletter Heated:
With this new talk, it's become clear that the man who made An Inconvenient Truth famous is no longer primarily focused on convincing people that the climate crisis is real or dangerous. He's turned a corner, and is now focused on convincing people that if they truly care about solving the climate crisis, they must turn their ire toward the fossil fuel industry—and boot them from the negotiating table before it's too late.
Gore acknowledged the shift in his thinking himself on Thursday.
"I was one of many who felt for a long time that the fossil fuel companies, or at least many of them, were sincere in saying that they wanted to be a meaningful part of bringing solutions to this crisis," Gore said, as The Independent reported. "But I think that it's now clear they are not. Fossil fuel industry speaks with forked tongue."
While he acknowledged that it was not fair to expect the industry to solve a crisis its business model encouraged it to perpetuate, "it's more than fair to ask them to get out of the way, and stop blocking the efforts of everybody else to solve this crisis," he said. "I think it's time to call them out."
Gore's remarks came as world leaders and climate activists and experts gathered in New York for the U.N. General Assembly and Secretary-General António Guterres' Climate Ambition Summit, held the day before.
He is also not the only prominent mainstream climate voice to have turned on the fossil fuel sector.
Former Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres, who helped negotiate the Paris agreement, said that she did not think the industry should be invited to COP28.
"If they are going to be there only to be obstructors, and only to put spanners into the system, they should not be there," she said at a conference Thursday organized by Covering Climate Now, as The Guardian reported.
Her remarks echoed an opinion piece she wrote for Al Jazeera in July, in which she said she was wrong to believe that the sector could be part of the solution.
"My patience ran out, and I say this with sadness," she said Thursday.
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