Maybe they think this makes sense:
Energy Nominee Ernest Moniz Criticized for Backing Fracking & Nuclear Power; Ties to BP, GE, Saudis
President Obama’s pick to become the nation’s next secretary of energy is drawing criticism for his deep ties to the fossil fuel, fracking and nuclear industries. MIT nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz has served on advisory boards for oil giant BP and General Electric, and was a trustee of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, a Saudi Aramco-backed nonprofit organization. In 2011, Moniz was the chief author of an influential study for MIT on the future of natural gas. According to a new report by the Public Accountability Initiative, Moniz failed to disclose that he had taken a lucrative position at a pro-drilling firm called ICF International just days before a key natural gas "fracking" study was released. Reaction to his nomination has split the environmental community. Advocacy groups such as Public Citizen and Food & Water Watch are campaigning against Moniz’s nomination, but the Natural Resources Defense Council has praised his work on advancing clean energy based on efficiency and renewable power. We speak to Kevin Connor of the Public Accountability Initiative and ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott, who have both authored investigations into Moniz’s ties to industry. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/3/26/energy_nominee_ernest_moniz_criticized_for
Guests
Justin Elliott, a reporter at ProPublica. He recently wrote an article called "Drilling Deeper: The Wealth of Business Connections for Obama’s Energy Pick."
Kevin Connor, director of the Public Accountability Initiative, a nonprofit research organization focused on corporate and government accountability. The group recently published a report called "Industry Partner or Industry Puppet? How MIT’s Influential Study of Fracking Was Authored, Funded, and Released by Oil and Gas Industry Insiders." Connor is also the co-founder of LittleSis.org, which compiles data on over 40,000 people and organizations with special influence over the political process, including politicians, corporate executives and lobbyists.
Links
Bill's Response to the Senate Vote Today
Friends,
After a very chaotic week on Capitol Hill, I wanted to write you with an update on what just happened in the Senate today.
First and foremost: the oil industry's Senators did not manage to pass legislation that would force President Obama to build Keystone XL.
Because you -- and people like you, all across the country -- jumped into action this week, they backtracked and instead held a vote on a nonbinding resolution that says it would be nice to build the pipeline, but doesn't actually do much about it. For that vote, they got the stomach-churning number of 62 Senators to vote with them. As usual, the ones who had taken the most money from the fossil fuel industry lined up to cast their votes—the cosponsors of the bill, on average, had taken $807,000 in dirty energy money.
Now, this amounts to symbolic chest thumping by the oil industry: showing just how many Senators they can get to jump when told to. It's not the worst thing that could have happened, but it reminds everyone why, in one recent poll, congress had approval ratings lower than head lice and colonoscopies -- even on the symbolic stuff, they can't get it together to stand up to the oil industry guys cutting them checks.
In a certain way though, this vote couldn't come at a better time. Congress is going on break, and for the next two weeks, these 62 Senators will be back in their home states, doing things like meeting with constituents -- people like you.
Home states are where some of the most heroic work took place the last week -- in Minneapolis, say, where 150 350MN.org activists showed up on very short notice at Sen. Klobuchar's office in a snowstorm to tell her to vote no on Keystone (and she did, it should be added).
If you're interested in following in the fine example of those leaders who held actions at their senators offices, you have a chance in the next two weeks.
We're looking for people who can step up to lead, and then we'll put the 350 network into action to get people to join you. If you want to lead an action, just click here to tell us when you'd like to do so: act.350.org/survey/kxl-senate-accountability-2013/
Look, there are two ways to react to a democracy for sale. One is to walk away in disgust, which is what the Koch Brothers count on. The other is to stand up and say: no more. If you visit your Senator, take some pictures or some video so we can share them around. It’s time to build this broader fossil fuel resistance.
And remember, Capitol Hill is not the center of the world. Around the country this week our friends at Tar Sands Blockade have been actively targeting Keystone investors; faith groups have been hauled off to jail in front of the White House to protest the pipeline; and the divestment campaign has expanded off college campuses and into municipal and state governments.
The movement is doing amazing stuff -- we just need more of it. We can’t outspend the oil industry, but we can out-organize them. In fact, we have to.
Forward,
Bill McKibben
http://350.org/en/about/blogs/bills-response-senate-vote-today
THE SENATE VOTES:
Published on Friday, March 22, 2013 by Common Dreams
'Senate’s Big Oil Benefactors' Slammed for Keystone XL Vote
10 KXL amendment co-sponsors took $8 million from fossil fuel industry
Here's the roll call from the vote (Alphabetical by Senator Name):
| Alexander (R-TN), Yea Ayotte (R-NH), Yea Baldwin (D-WI), Nay Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Baucus (D-MT), Yea Begich (D-AK), Yea Bennet (D-CO), Yea Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay Blunt (R-MO), Yea Boozman (R-AR), Yea Boxer (D-CA), Nay Brown (D-OH), Nay Burr (R-NC), Yea Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Cardin (D-MD), Nay Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Coats (R-IN), Yea Coburn (R-OK), Yea Cochran (R-MS), Yea Collins (R-ME), Yea Coons (D-DE), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Cowan (D-MA), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Yea Cruz (R-TX), Yea Donnelly (D-IN), Yea Durbin (D-IL), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Nay Fischer (R-NE), Yea Flake (R-AZ), Yea | Franken (D-MN), Nay Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay Graham (R-SC), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea Hagan (D-NC), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Yea Heinrich (D-NM), Nay Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea Heller (R-NV), Yea Hirono (D-HI), Nay Hoeven (R-ND), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea Johanns (R-NE), Yea Johnson (D-SD), Yea Johnson (R-WI), Yea Kaine (D-VA), Nay King (I-ME), Nay Kirk (R-IL), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Not Voting Leahy (D-VT), Nay Lee (R-UT), Yea Levin (D-MI), Nay Manchin (D-WV), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Nay Merkley (D-OR), Nay Mikulski (D-MD), Nay Moran (R-KS), Yea |
Murphy (D-CT), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Paul (R-KY), Yea
Portman (R-OH), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Rubio (R-FL), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schatz (D-HI), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Scott (R-SC), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Udall (D-CO), Nay
Udall (D-NM), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Warren (D-MA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/22-7
Another perspective:
Congressional Bills Seek to Cut Public Scrutiny and Participation Out of Keystone XL Decision
The Keystone XL pipeline is a controversial project that would transport tar sands oil (which is more corrosive than crude oil) from Canada through America's heartland to Texas, creating air, water, and public health risks in its wake. In the past two weeks, lawmakers have introduced bills in both the House and Senate to strip the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline away from the Obama administration. The bills, if passed, would short-circuit the regulatory permitting process and prevent the public from voicing their concerns about the public health and environmental risks of the pipeline.
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