A note: While the world is (rightly) focused on slowing the spread of coronavirus, some corporations will use this moment to try to drag their feet on climate action. We can’t let them. Over the coming weeks and months, Stand.earth will continue to push for climate action and climate justice, because the climate crisis can’t wait. We’ll also be supporting efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus while advocating for measures that keep people around the world healthy and safe during these unprecedented times. You can read our full statement on COVID-19 here.

Jeanne,

With much of the country shut down to help slow the spread of COVID-19, it would be reasonable to assume that the Trump administration’s attacks on our environment and frontline communities would halt as well. But as we’ve learned over the past few years, the word “reasonable” is not in Trump’s vocabulary.

In addition to holding massive (think 78 million acres) offshore oil and gas lease sales and finalizing plans that make it harder to use science in designing regulations, last month the Trump administration moved ahead with their plans to dredge San Francisco Bay on behalf of Big Oil.

The public has until April 6th to submit comments in opposition to dredging in SF Bay. Will you add your voice to the thousands of others demanding this project be shut down?

STOP TRUMP AND BIG OIL

It’s hard to overstate just how harmful this dredging project (which is essentially a $57 million gift to Big Oil so they can bring more and heavier oil into the Bay) would be to local communities, upstream Indigenous land and water protectors, and the climate.

First off, there are serious concerns with the dredging process itself. Tearing up the bottom of the Bay with destructive dredging equipment won’t just damage its fragile ecosystem. It will also bring toxics embedded on the Bay floor – such as arsenic and mercury – back to the surface where they can poison the animals and people who live in and around the Bay.

Then there’s the risk of tar sands oil spills. Any kind of oil spill is a disaster, but tar sands is especially dangerous because it doesn’t float. During a tar sands spill, much of the oil sinks, making it almost impossible to clean up. A tar sands spill in the Bay would remain for decades and likely cost billions to even attempt to clean up.

And all of those concerns don’t even touch on the increased air pollution that would result from tar sands refining. Communities near the five Bay Area refineries already suffer from increased risk of respiratory illnesses, birth defects, brain damage, and cancer thanks to the refinery smokestacks spewing heavy pollution on a daily basis. Tar sands refining will only exacerbate this problem further, and the decision to do this shouldn’t be made by federal agencies far removed from the affected communities.

And those are just the local impacts.

Use our simple tool to submit a comment in opposition to this dangerous project being pushed by Big Oil and its allies.

There is also a massive risk to Indigenous communities along the route tar sands would be shipped. In Canada, downstream of where tar sands are mined, the Secwepemc, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations, the Coldwater Indian Band, and others have been fighting for years to keep the extraction and transportation of tar sands oil out of their territories. Allowing SF Bay to become a tar sands refining hub will increase the financial incentive to expand tar sands extraction and put these communities at increased risk.

And then there’s the climate impact. Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest crude oils on the planet. One study projected the Bay Area’s dredging project would allow for an additional 7.2 million tons of CO2 to be released into the atmosphere due to the increased burning of tar sands in other places. That’s the equivalent of 1.4 million additional cars on the road for one year. We are in a climate crisis, and need to be winding down our fossil fuel use, not giving oil companies tens of millions of dollars to get access to dirtier and more toxic crude.

There are only four days left to submit your comment, will you raise your voice and speak out against this project?

The Trump administration and his Big Oil allies thought they could sneak their disastrous dredging project under the radar – but they didn’t count on local resistance or the Stand.earth community. For years now, we’ve stood with California communities and blocked one tar sands proposal after another and we’re not backing down now.

We’re so glad you’re part of this campaign and part of the Stand online community. Our team is fewer than 50 people, but this community is more than 275,000 people strong and growing – and together, we’re using our collective power to fight climate change, protect wild spaces, stand with impacted communities, and say no to new fossil fuels.

I can’t thank you enough for standing with us.

In Solidarity,

Zeiser
Climate Campaigner
Stand.earth

P.S. Want to help even more? Give a gift to our campaign that is pulling out all the stops to shine a spotlight on what Trump and his oil executive cronies are trying to do in the Bay.


Stand.earth challenges corporations, industries, and governments to prioritize the well-being of people, our environment, and our climate by creating long-term, effective solutions. None of this work is possible without your support.
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