Coalition Gathers to Call for Clean Energy, No Oil

Clean Energy Works and a coalition of environmental and veterans groups (including the Sierra Club) gathered on Capitol Hill today for a press conference calling for some major action on ending the BP oil disaster and passing comprehensive clean energy legislation. The coalition's top five priorities are:

1. Stop the gusher
2. Now is not the time for new drilling
3. Make the Gulf communities and environment whole
4. Demand more accountability and transparency from government and industry
5. End dependence on oil and move to a new clean energy economy

It was an impressive list of speakers:

• Margie Alt, Executive Director, Environment America
• Lt. General John Castellaw, US Marine Corps
• Gene Karpinski, President, League of Conservation Voters
• Mindy Lubber, President, Ceres
• Kevin Knoblach, President, Union of Concerned Scientists

The speakers all echoed this sentiment: We can do better than oil - there's no need for our country to be so addicted to it. The words were dramatic when combined with the feed of the BP oil pipe gushing playing on a TV behind them - you can see that behind LCV head Gene Karpinski in this photo.


I also particularly enjoyed hearing from Lt. General John Castellaw (retired, and shown at the podium in the photo at the top of this post) of the Marine Corps, who spoke about the threat of our oil addiction to our national security.

Today's press conference also highlighted a letter to President Obama that 26 groups signed onto calling for those five points listed above to be met.  Click here to read the letter.

Comments

[Shelley]

Although my work is with a different disaster, I think one of the main imperatives of the BP horror is to seize this moment to constrict the Citizens United ruling. Otherwise BP can elect anyone it likes.