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Tag: HB 150

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This op-ed appeared in the April 27 edition of the Savannah Morning News.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

The April 18 edition of the Savannah Morning News featured an Earth Day article in which eight semi-celebrities responded to a USA Today question: "What is the most pressing environmental threat?"

After patiently reading through each of their responses I groaned from real, deep, heartfelt pain. Not one of the celebs opined the right answer - at least not the right answer for anyone who is fully aware of the gravity of the climate crisis.

Vote.

Voting for candidates who pledge to address climate change is the most impactful action a lone individual can do to significantly affect the dismal climate trajectory we now face. Vote only and exclusively for people who are committed, clearly and unswervingly, to achieving the global goals set forth in the Paris Accords on Climate Change, which the United States is now once again a full member and participant.

It is the consensus of virtually every climate scientist - and many scientists of other stripes - that if humanity doesn't sharply curtail its spewing of global warming greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere in this decade we will face catastrophic global consequences. Cutting them by at least one-half should be the goal.

...continue reading "What is the Most Pressing Environmental Threat?"

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On Monday afternoon, the Georgia Senate passed HB 150 – a bill prompted by the natural gas industry, alarmed by a Berkeley, California ordinance banning natural gas hookups in new construction.

Confronted with cities in Georgia and across the nation that have established policies to transition to 100% clean energy, the industry has responded defensively by lobbying to hamper such initiatives in over a dozen states. Georgia will be the fifth state to pass an industry-sponsored law prohibiting local governments and state agencies from following Berkeley’s example. 

Laws like this, known as preemption laws, are not new. The tobacco industry has been using this tactic to slow down public health measures that impinge on tobacco sales since the 1980s. In Georgia, the plastics and packaging industries tried and failed to preempt local plastic bag bans when the City of Tybee Island and Athens-Clarke County were considering bans back in 2015. Particularly egregious is the law passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 2013 that prevents local governments from having a policy affecting wages paid by private businesses. This was prompted by the City of Atlanta passing a living wage ordinance for all contractors who use city resources or property.

The use of this tactic has grown over the past decade, as conservative state governments try to reign-in progressive local governments on a wide range of issues, such as fracking, plastic bags, rent control, minimum wage, municipal broadband, and more. Popular progressive policies fighting poverty, protecting public health and safety, and sustaining the environment are perceived as threats to profits and fought with prejudicial fervor by powerful members of the private sector.

...continue reading "The Fossil Fuel Industry Has Captured the Georgia Legislature"

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(Background: Center Co-Director Karen Grainey gave the following two-minute speech at a digital rally organized by Savannah Alderman Nick Palumbo in opposition to HB 150. This bill aims to prevent "governmental entities from adopting any policy that prohibits the connection or reconnection of any utility service based upon the type or source of energy or fuel." The House passed the bill, and it will soon go to the Senate floor for a vote. The term "governmental entities" includes the growing number of cities that have set clean energy targets and all state agencies. Decatur recently joined Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Clarkston, and Savannah in passing a resolution to transition to 100% clean energy.)

There are many good reasons to support clean energy policies, but one reason stands out above the rest- the overheating of the Earth's climate. Nothing else will matter if the nations of the world fail to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  All our aspirations for a more just, equitable, and prosperous society will be crushed under the weight of an impending environmental collapse that will bring hunger, political division, and a societal breakdown of apocalyptic proportions.

...continue reading "HB 150 Sabotages Clean Energy Transition"