Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/15 🌎
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
This opening is a bit longer than usual, but I want to address some pushback I’ve gotten on my opposition to the Willow Project. I should add the caveat: the great majority of you felt as I did, but there were a few readers who wrote to say they disagreed with my scripts and wouldn’t use them (always fine, by the way, but more on that below).
These readers’ reasons for disagreeing fell into a couple of categories:
There were those who said I was being too hard on President Biden—that he had no choice but to approve this project, whether for legal or pragmatic, we-can’t-get-off-of-fossil-fuels-fast-enough reasons.
One reader had a different concern—she wrote that the Indigenous people living in the area surrounding the oil fields supported the project; she asked, very reasonably, whether we shouldn’t follow their lead and do the same.
I want to respond to these critiques in both a specific and a more general way, but first let me contextualize this all slightly for you:
I am, first and foremost, a climate activist. That was my first area of political engagement; I think I’ve told you before that my uncle Wallace Broecker coined the phrase “global warming” when I was quite young, so I’ve been aware of—and terrified by—climate change for longer than most. This makes me something of a “climate hawk,” to coin RL Miller’s term, and I’m unapologetic about it. To me it’s incomprehensible that anyone should be anything else. So yes, many of my actions are focused on, and outspoken about, the climate emergency. Because it’s an emergency. It’s existential. Its consequences will be catastrophic for humanity without radical action.
Having said all of that, I was curious about the Indigenous support angle, so I emailed my friend RL Miller—she’s the founder of Climate Hawks Vote, a DNC delegate, and the former chair of the CADEM Environmental Caucus—to ask her about it. She responded, in part:
Yes, some of the tribes support the project. They, like everyone else in Alaska, get a piece of the revenue, the Permanent Dividend Fund. The amount fluctuates but has been as low as $800 when there was relatively little drilling in Alaska; for 2022 it was $3200, [a] lump sum paid on Oct 1, to every Alaskan. In addition, tribes are promised jobs. The jobs don't materialize -- the Interior Dept's formal Record of Decision notes that most construction jobs would be filled by non-locals. More broadly, Willow means up to $10B for the state, and IDK if tribes get a specific piece of it or if it is revenue into the general fund and thus an indirect benefit of lower taxes for all.
Not all tribes support the project, however. We've been taking our lead from SILA, Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic. So [the] statement re tribes supporting the project needs some context.
But stop and take a look at the bigger picture. This project makes it impossible for the US to meet its Paris goals (and undermines US credibility at the next COP). It undoes the benefits of the IRA. It's a massive new fossil fuel project when the IPCC tells us no new fossil fuel projects. Yes, some migratory corridors will be respected, some tribes will see some benefits, some shareholders will be enriched...but the world is burning and Willow adds a lot more fuel to the fire.
With these few paragraphs, I think, Miller provides a fitting and accurate response to all of the arguments in favor of (or at least neutral on) Willow. Her last paragraph, in particular, summarizes why all the lawsuits and practical concerns in the world won’t sway my opinion. The Willow Project is a catastrophe for climate. Period. And while I understand political exigencies, and absolutely still support President Biden with all my heart, I will always call him out when he makes a mistake. To me, this was a disastrous one. And not just for environmentalists!!
OK, last thing before we get to our actions: Y’all, this newsletter has a very big readership. There is no way we’ll all agree on every issue. It is totally fine to skip a call or a letter, or to edit my verbiage to make it fit your opinion! My scripts are always just suggestions, and are only there to provide help in “finding your voice.” While I try my best to stick to issues there’s a broad consensus on, I will, inevitably from time to time, include something that doesn’t ring true to you. I’m merely one mortal writing a six-day-a-week newsletter! So if you don’t dig it, skip it! (I just made that up! Hope you like it!) Remember, agreeing to disagree is healthy!
Of course I do hope that you will dig most of it, because the more of us that take the actions, the more effective they are!
You remain my absolute and total inspirations—every one of you. Thank you to every one of you who wrote—I can’t learn if I’m not challenged, so never hesitate to do just that!
OK, let’s get to work!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
The big banks have shown us — again — that they can’t be trusted to regulate themselves or to operate responsibly without oversight. Congress needs to pass legislation without delay to restore the commonsense and obviously needed provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that were rolled back in 2018. Will the Senator commit to doing so? [H/T]
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
The big banks have shown us — again — that they can’t be trusted to regulate themselves or to operate responsibly without oversight. Congress needs to pass legislation without delay to restore the commonsense and obviously needed provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that were rolled back in 2018. Will the Congressmember commit to doing so? [H/T]
On a related note, I strongly oppose Rep. Andy Barr’s bill, the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act, also known as the TABS Act. America needs a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fulfilling its mission to protect consumers from harm. This bill would do the opposite and starve it out of existence. Thanks. [H/T]
Extra Credit ✅
For those of you who couldn’t get through to the White House switchboard yesterday—I did, but it took three tries—I took that same phone script and turned it into a Resistbot letter. If you oppose the Willow Project (I recognize that some of you do not) please consider sending this letter either as is (by texting SIGN PNNYOV to 50409) or copied, pasted, and edited to express your own additional thoughts (this is ideal) through the White House contact form.
The text of the letter, either for preview or to copy, paste, and edit, is here.
Get Smart! 📚
If climate is an issue you feel passionately about, I highly recommend reading and subscribing to the wonderful Heated Substack. Their piece today about why Willow isn’t just a disaster for environmentalists is something everyone should read. And if you have room for one more paid subscription they really deserve our support.
Spread the Word! 📣
Millions of Seniors Across the Country Are Saving on Health Care Costs Because of President Biden and Democrats’ Prescription Drug Law:
Today, as President Biden is in Nevada for an event touting lower prescription drug costs, the Biden-Harris administration released new data showing that President Biden and congressional Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act is giving millions of seniors more breathing room on their health care costs. While President Biden wants to take these cost-lowering measures even further and extend them to more Americans, House Republicans have introduced legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which could put money back in the pockets of Big Pharma and raise costs for seniors and working families. Read the White House fact sheet here.
Give 💰!
I know I keep giving you great places to donate, but in case any of you still have some spare cash, this is another GREAT place to give to help both Janet Protasiewicz AND a Democratic State Senate candidate hoping to flip a red seat blue in WI!
From the Fight For Democracy Giving Circle:
We are raising money to support Jodi Habush Sinykin, a small business owner who has worked across the aisle to protect clean water in the Badger State. She is running for an open right-leaning State Senate seat which States Project thinks is potentially flippable especially with the expected high turnout from the Supreme Court race.
The stakes couldn't be higher. A Republican win in this special election gives the right wing a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate (and they are two seats away from a supermajority in the House). It also means that they would actually have the power to impeach and remove a member of the State Supreme Court who ruled against their agenda. 😱Please help them make their 20K goal by giving any amount here!
Win Races! 🗳
I’m running my Wisconsin phonebank today (in conjunction with the Grassroots Dems HQ and WisDems) and would love to see you there.
Remember, in 2019 we had a WI Supreme Court election in which we were ahead during the primaries. Then GOP dark money PACs came in and spent millions and we lost the election by 5,000 votes. This averages out to ONE VOTE PER PRECINCT! We can’t let this happen again!
Please come. It’s from 3:30-5:30 PM PT / 6:30-8:30 PM ET today.
If you can’t make my phonebank today WisDems has lots of other weekly phonebanks; find them all here.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to President Biden] [Excerpted from this NGO letter] [Quick send: text SIGN PWSKZX to 50409]
At the beginning of your administration, you pledged to end family detention and to pursue just, compassionate, and humane immigration policies. I am deeply troubled that you are now considering restarting policies that have proven to be cruel, inhumane, and racially discriminatory. Pursuing this path will exact terrible and lasting trauma on children and families that will become the legacy of your administration. I urge you not to return to this practice and to take steps to end the use of immigration detention altogether.
I am also very concerned that DHS will attempt to push families through the new expedited removal process laid out in the recently proposed asylum ban rule during their 20 days in family detention. I urge you to reverse course on the proposed asylum ban rule, and I’m horrified that the punitive policy could be coupled with family detention. This will essentially mean that these facilities will become deportation factories as families scramble to defend their asylum eligibility while trying to protect their children from the agony of detention.
There are alternative solutions for managing migration at the border that do not require detaining families and removing them so quickly as to undermine their meaningful opportunity to seek asylum or other legal relief. Please use them. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Beautiful job on today's post. From a climate activist since the 70s.
I fully appreciate and agree with your ideology. First and foremost, I am a pragmatist. If Joe Biden and Mary Peralta lose their positions, the North Slope, the State of Alaska, the United States of America and the Planet Earth will be worse off. A whole lot worse off.
Right now we have our hands full here in Wisconsin. The State Supreme Court election is critical. We need all the help we can get. I spent the morning making yard signs. Chop wood, carry water and win this race.