|
|
Hi John |
|
350 Eastside Community Meeting February 16th, 7 pm. We will be screening Ramps to Nowhere Guest: Producer Mindy Martin Ramps to Nowhere, a film about the successful fight against highway expansion that would have torn apart neighborhoods throughout Seattle, especially the Central District and Montlake. Afterward, join a discussion with the producer, Minda Martin, who was a part of that struggle, and those who continue this vital work today. In 2021, frontline communities are fighting against the business-as-usual expansion of highways and organizing to build a more equitable transportation system in Washington. This story isn’t new. In the 1950s, transportation planners in Seattle were intent on building the densest network of freeways in the world. The plan would have displaced thousands, especially people of color and low-income people. Over the next two decades, a broad-based coalition of communities, that came to be known as the Seattle freeway revolt, created a movement that managed to halt construction of two major highways, downsize another, and saved homes, shorelines, businesses, and parks. We honor and continue their struggle today. Link to join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 816 3718 5494
350 WA Network – Transportation update Read our press release for highway pollution data Share Press Release: https://bit.ly/WAhighwaypollution
ACT NOW for a Just Transition in Transportation:
Eastside For All job opportunity Eastside For All is hiring a full-time Housing Justice Organizer to support Black, Brown, and Indigenous community leadership in East King County for policy change initiatives. Advocacy priorities include affordable housing, tenant protections, and more resources to support our neighbors without homes. This position will engage community members who are farthest from justice, foster leadership within communities, and mobilize supporters to redress our region’s inequitable and racist housing legacy. Apply here Housing Justice Organizer Legislative Watchlist for Housing Justice – join us in supporting important legislation aimed at decreasing racial disparities and making housing more secure for low-income communities and renters. Please take action by clicking here: 2022 Legislative Watchlist for renter protections t Thank you! Debbie Lacy
Snoqualmie Air Craft Monitoring request Below is the NPR story from the Snoqualmie Tribe, as well as the letter we wrote to the FAA. Please sign the petition and write a letter if you feel encouraged to do so. Any letter is fine, it does not need to be as detailed as the one we wrote. Feel free to share. Thank you and be well. Paula
Listen to the NPR story here https://www.npr.org/.../the-snoqualmie-tribe-wants...
Yes to EKC PUD Some exciting developments in the campaign: Now is the time to sign the petition with an online signature option - you can now sign the petition digitally on any touchscreen device! Or, print, sign, and send your petition in. Check out the Yes to EKC PUD website for all options. Please ask everyone you know in the proposed PUD service area to sign. Thank you.
We need canvassers, are there people in your networks who may be interested? If you want to help the campaign reach voters from the comfort of your dining room table, you can sign up to send postcards or donate so that we can send postcards. Like, follow, retweet, and share all the social media things - Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition to digital ads, we will be sending out thousands of postcards that provide information to residents of the proposed EKC PUD service area and ask them to sign the petition. If you are able to facilitate postcarding events for your base, please reach out to me and we will get you everything you need to be successful! Help us build "buzz" by asking your base to follow our social media feeds (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). The more friends/followers we have, the bigger our platform and the more likely we are to show up on other people's feeds. Once your members have liked and followed us, please ask them to invite their friends to do the same! We continue to meet with and receive endorsements from city council members from the cities within the boundaries of the proposed PUD (see our endorsement page). Do you know of an organization that would like to support the Yes to EKC PUD campaign, please let us know and we will follow up? :>)
Is your organization interested in a study that will outline an aggressive decarbonization plan for this region, and beyond? If so, you should know that 350 Eastside has retained the engineering firm (EES Consulting) to investigate what accelerated decarbonization opportunities could be pursued in the proposed service area, including pathways for decarbonizing all direct uses of fossil fuels by substituting renewably generated electricity (likely wind and solar) by 2040. This information is intended to advance a positive narrative consistent with the magnitude of the climate crisis, and challenge the status quo. While hyper-local in method, it is intended to become a model for wider impact. Phase I of the engineering studies has begun, which will provide information about how much power the Bonneville Power Administration can supply to the new PUD without any deleterious effects on current customers. 350 Eastside is raising money for Phase II and Phase III, including writing grant applications. We are looking for organizations who may wish to explicitly endorse grant applications for this project and make use of the information. Is that YOU? If so, please let us know by responding to this email. Ask your members for a donation through the 350 Eastside website to support the engineering study. Please ask donors to make a note indicating that the donations are for "PUD education."
Campaign fact: We're not the only ones dissatisfied with our investor-owned utility Listen for more - Building Local Power podcast - The Movement to Take Back Control From Monopoly Electric Utilities Upcoming Events: · February 13th, 10 am - Signature-gathering at Red Town trailhead. Sign up here. · February 16th, 7 pm - Presentation to 41st LD Democrats · February 20th, 10 am - Signature-gathering at High Point trailhead. Sign up here. · February 26th, 10 am - Signature-gathering at Coal Creek Natural Area. Sign up here. · February 27th, noon - PUD webinar/info session. Open to the public. Register here.
Washington Clean Energy Coalition’s Recommendations for Changes in PSE’s Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP) Washington State’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) sets clear and ambitious targets to permanently reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from the state’s electricity sector. The Washington Clean Energy Coalition believes there are two significant opportunities for Washington’s largest electric utility, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), to improve its Plan to reduce emissions, improve reliability, and reduce costs. 1) PSE should move more rapidly to reduce demand and convert to clean energy. During the 2022 to 2025 CEIP period, PSE should reduce the use of fossil fuel gas in electricity generation by: a) Reducing demand for electricity with more aggressive programs such as Demand Response and Time-Varying Rates; b) Increasing acquisition of wind, solar, storage, and distributed energy resources.
More aggressive demand reduction would avoid the need to build additional capacity to cover peak loads (such as a new gas-powered peaker plant). PSE should cover much of its base-load with renewable resources, and then use existing gas plants to serve occasional peak needs. Faster acquisition of renewable resources will help protect against potential price increases. Gas prices are volatile, have been rising recently, and are likely to remain high. Renewables are cheaper and less vulnerable to price swings than gas, which is affected by supply limitations and political instability. 2) The CEIP should include climate change in its projections. a) The forecasting models that PSE used to develop the CEIP do not account for climate change. b) PSE’s models rely on temperature data going back 90 years. Recent decades have been significantly warmer. Consequently, PSE’s CEIP would invest in energy resources designed to serve cooler winter and summer conditions than we will actually experience. c) While peak demand for electricity is likely to continue its decline during warmer winters, summer peak demand is likely to rise. PSE should accelerate the acquisition of local solar generation and battery capacity, which could reduce stress on distribution lines during a heat dome event and thereby strengthen the resilience of the electric grid. Actions on PSE’s CEIP to recommend to the Utilities and Transportation Commission 1) To reduce peak demand, require PSE to expedite and expand their Demand Response and Time-Varying Rates programs. 2) To reduce price volatility and GHG emissions, require PSE to accelerate the acquisition of new renewable clean energy resources. 3) To increase the resiliency of the electric system, require PSE to increase programs that encourage local solar and battery installations. 4) To reflect future capacity needs more accurately, require PSE to revise temperature modeling to reflect the changing climate and then resubmit their CEIP. Please submit written comments to WA-UTC on PSE’s CEIP by 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Submit in pdf format at http://www.utc.wa.gov/e-filing. If unable to submit via the portal, you may submit your comment by email to [email protected]. Written comments (both electronic and hard copies) should be addressed to Amanda Maxwell Executive Director and Secretary Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission P.O. Box 47250 Olympia, WA 98504-7250 Comment submissions should include: • the docket number (Docket UE-210795) • the commenter’s name • The title and date of the comments
WA Can’t Wait Legislative Update SB5042, our bill to close the GMA’s ‘sprawl loophole’ has been scheduled for its first hearing in the House Environment and Energy Committee on Thursday, February 17th at 1:30 PM. We would love your help to drum up support for this bill leading up to the hearing to make it clear to the committee that we expect them to move this bill through. Below are some actions that you can take as an organization to help keep SB5042 moving: Sign in PRO as an organization. Must be done before 12:30 PM on Thursday, February 17th. Express support on behalf of your organization to the committee. Here is a template email and contact info for the committee Share calls to action with your members/supporters Two calls to action: Signing in PRO and emailing the committee Here is the link to our action alert for constituents to email the committee, which you are welcome to share if you don’t want to create your own. In this document you will find: Template email to share calls to action: sign in PRO and email the committee Template social posts to share calls to action: sign in PRO and email the committee Copy for the committee email action alert, if you prefer to make your own action alert. Re-share our posts on social media! Facebook Instagram Twitter Thanks in advance to folks who can sneak these calls to action into their communications over the next week. As always, let me know if you have questions or need additional resources. Jamie Ptacek
LAST CHANCE TO REDUCE STATE EMISSIONS FROM CARS? Lawmakers have honed the transportation budget we fought last spring, and this week are expected to drop a 15-year, $15 billion transportation package. While there are rumors of historic and welcome investments in transit and Complete Streets, 350 WA volunteers researched the 14 biggest highway expansion projects also likely to be in the package and discovered they amount to 1 billion additional vehicle miles traveled per year. That means 10 million metric tons of CO2 by 2050. How is that consistent with Washington’s statutory commitment to reducing greenhouse gases?? And air pollution from these megaprojects will disproportionately impact BIPOC and low-income folks. Given the health and climate costs, we must demand lawmakers halt highway expansion. A good first step in this package would be to eliminate expansion for single-occupancy vehicle lanes. If we need to address idling trucks heading to and from the Port of Tacoma on Highway 167, then the added lanes should be freight-only. If commuters are stuck in traffic, then let’s build them exclusive Bus Rapid Transit lanes, as lawmakers have requested for the I-405. But if we just add more unrestricted lanes to address these problems, the history of induced demand tells us they will just fill up with cars, leaving trucks and commuters stuck in traffic all over again. We will have wasted billions, not solved our congestion problems, and simply paid a lot to create more air pollution and climate change. Here are three ways to act now for a Just Transition in Transportation: · Endorse the campaign, either as an individual or on behalf of an organization. · Sign up for 350 WA Civic Action Team alerts–and look for a transportation advocacy action this Wednesday! · Watch for the U-Turn on Emissions graphic on 350 Seattle and 350 WA social media channels this week, repost and tag your lawmakers and #WAleg. Help us amplify our message about the air pollution and climate impacts of proposed highway expansion projects. Want to get more involved in the campaign? We also need volunteers to post on social media, engage in policy research, research political donors, and write an app! More info here. Banking on Our Future Pledge We know that big banks are playing a key role in propping up the oil and gas industry that pours carbon pollution into the atmosphere. I, for one, don’t want the money I’ve saved to be used to bankroll climate destruction. If we stop the banks from lending to fossil fuel companies, the industry will be forced to shut down. That’s why I signed this Banking on our Future Pledge organized by Third Act. Please join me! The more people sign, the greater our collective impact will be on persuading these banks to stop financing the climate crisis. Here’s the gist of the pledges: if by year’s end, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo are still funding fossil fuel projects, I pledge to close my account and cut up my credit card. If I don’t bank at these institutions now, I pledge I won’t do so in the future. Please pass this action on and help get more signatures! Share via email, on Facebook, or on Twitter. Sign the Banking on our Future Pledge today! Thank you for making a difference! Thank you for all your good work, we are so grateful, Emily, Marilyn, Lin, Lynn, Phil, Sarah
|
