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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Rolling Action Calling for Boycott
of BP aka ARCO (ARCO is the
local subsidiary of BP) & Congressional
passage of a Carbon Tax
& Refund:
FRIDAY, MAY 14 -
8:30am-1pm
8:30am Yesler/I-5 Overpass, Seattle
10:30 am ARCO station at 2200 4th
Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134
12:30 pm US Federal Building,
2nd & Marian in Seattle
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CONTACT:
Backbone
Campaign, Bill Moyer, Executive
Director
206-356-9980 bill@backbonecampaign.org
For information on Carbon Tax - James
Handley, 202-546-5692
Carbon Tax
Center -
Washington, DC
For analysis on BP & Oil
Industry culpability -
Antonia Juhasz, 415-575-5545, Director The Chevron
Program at Global
Exchange
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Due
to the recent
Ecotrocities in the Gulf
of Mexico, the
Backbone
Campaign is
instigating a rolling creative action in
Seattle tomorrow - Friday, May
14, from 8:30am-1pm. The events are part of
a national mobilization
called by
Rising
Tide.
As the country recoils in horror at the
news that not 1,000 - not
5,000 - but perhaps 25,000 barrels of oil per
day are gushing into
ocean waters poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, it
is imperative that
citizens of the US and the planet take
immediate action. We stand in
shock, appalled at the unfolding,
unprecedented, and
totally avoidable defilement of the Gulf of
Mexico and connected
ecosystems.
It is unforgivable
that our environment has been put in such
jeopardy by our elected
officials, agencies, and the extractive
corporations who place power
and profit before all else. It is time to
shift the national dialogue
away from Wall Street dependent solutions,
self-regulation and time to
call for true governmental and corporate
accountability as well as
assess fossil fuels for their true cost.
We accept our shared responsibility as
consumers and citizens within
this society. But our choices have been
impaired by regressive public
policy. Only
bold action that invests
in our society's
rapid
transition away from the current folly of a
fossil fuel based economy
is required and overdue.
On Friday we will lead by example and call on
our elected
representatives to exercise their full power
and capacity to:
- Guarantee that BP America Inc. and its
collaborating companies
Halliburton, and Transocean be held to full
account for the ecological
atrocities they have committed; that their
corporate charters be
revoked; and their assets be dedicated to
healing the damage they
have caused and the transition to a fossil
fuel free future.
- That offshore drilling be banned and
the other ecologically
dangerous exploration and extractive
activities be reassessed with a
more realistic assessment of their potential
to do harm.
- Introduce a CARBON TAX and REFUND bill
into the current US
Congress and tirelessly support such
legislation to ensure that fossil
fuels be assessed at their true cost. (Model
legislation can be found
at www.CARBONTAX.ORG
and more explanation below.)
- That local officials and WA State
legislators stop allowing
banks, utilities, and power companies to
dictate and stonewall
aggressive transition to clean renewable
energy development.
We invite you to witness our visually rich
presentations tomorrow
throughout the city of Seattle. Photos of a
recent Boulder, CO action
using Backbone Campaign skills and imagery
can be seen
HERE.
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The Backbone Campaign's
mission is to provide
strategic creative tools and training to the
growing progressive
movement. Though based in Puget Sound, they
are nationally known for
the use of spectacle, humor, and creativity
to help normal people make
their voices heard. Their Procession for the
Future Recently completed
an 11,000 mile national campus tour, and
their work with their home
community of Vashon-Maury Island helped
defeat efforts by Glacier
Northwest to build a giant industrial gravel
mine. Backbone Campaign continues to train
and produce
What's a
Carbon Tax? Here's a great
explanation by James Handley of the DC Carbon
Tax Center.
The idea is that everyone gets the
same "dividend" or payroll
tax
exemption. But the fuel hogs pay more
carbon tax -- indirectly as
it's passed downstream in electricity,
gasoline, heating fuel and other
prices. Those using more than average would
pay a net amount to those
who use less.
Here's an example:
1) Mr Fuelish. Uses 80 units of carbon
fuel. Pays $8 in carbon tax.
2) Ms. Average. Uses 50 units of carbon
fuel. Pays $5 in carbon tax.
3) Ms. Conserver. (or Mr. Low Income). Uses
20 units of carbon
fuel. Pays $2 in carbon tax.
All three get a "dividend" of $5. In
effect, Fuelish pays a $3
net penalty. Average breaks even, and
Conserver makes $3 from
Fuelish. Government gets nothing.
As the C tax rises, coal
generated-electricity which started at say 8
cents/kw-hr rises to 11
because of the 3 cent C tax. That makes
wind-generated power, which
is say 10 cents per kw-hr cheaper than coal.
So capital investment
flows to wind and out of coal.
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6
Progressive Climate
Principles:
- Protect EPA's authority to
regulate greenhouse gas
emissions under the Clean Air Act.
- Direct carbon pricing (an
upstream carbon fee or tax
on oil, coal, and natural gas) with revenue
recycling to consumers.
- Emissions
reduction targets that will reduce CO2 levels
to the 350 ppm current
scientific evidence says is necessary to
avoid a climate crisis.
- Eliminating or
significantly reducing offsets, with
a strengthening of offset quality.
- Eliminating
subsidies for dirty/dangerous energy sources
such as nuclear power,
expanded domestic oil drilling, "clean coal,"
and carbon capture and
sequestration technology (CCS).
- Protecting low and
middle-income families by eliminating free
allowances for industry and
by recycling revenue from carbon fees
directly to households.
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