Stop coal thru the Columbia Gorge!


Sierra Club - Explore, enjoy and protect the planet
 

Tell Governor Kitzhaber and the DEQ to stop coal through the Columbia Gorge!
Columbia River Gorge Columbia River Gorge Photo Courtesy of Brian Pasko
Send Your Letter

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a draft permit for Ambre Energy‘s Morrow Pacific project, which would send 8 million metric tons of coal from Montana through eastern Washington and down the Columbia River every year.

If this final permit gets approved, Governor Kitzhaber and the DEQ will have allowed the first coal export project in the Northwest to begin construction. And Ambre Energy could start building within months of getting this permit approved.

Millions of tons of coal floating down the Columbia and shipped through our towns and cities via rail, for export to Asia will threaten our health, safety and environment. We have to stop it!

Tell Governor Kitzhaber and DEQ Director Dick Pedersen that we are counting on them to do the right thing and stop this coal export proposal from moving forward.

The cumulative impacts and the risks from mine to power plant must be considered in this project. The Morrow Pacific coal project would result in coal dust and diesel emissions that that will violate Oregon’s air quality standards — and contribute dangerous carbon pollution to our atmosphere.

The increase in barge traffic on the Columbia River would harm salmon, river recreation, and navigation. DEQ should wait for a full analysis of the impacts before considering any permits. It is a waste of taxpayer money to move forward without all the facts laid on the table.

We need Governor Kitzhaber and DEQ Director Dick Pedersen to stand up and protect Oregon families. Send them a message now!

Oregon’s last and only coal plant burns 3 million tons of coal each year — and by 2020 it will be off of coal. Allowing Ambre’s Morrow Pacific project to move forward would be like taking three steps backward for that one step forward.

This is a bad deal regardless of what state you live in. If approved our Northwest way of life will be in jeopardy.

Tell the Governor and DEQ: Stop the Morrow Pacific coal project now!

Thanks for all you do to protect the environment,

Laura Stevens Beyond Coal Campaign
Sierra Club
P.S. After you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues!

The Case For Action


The White House, Washington
DAILY SNAPSHOT Friday, June 28, 2013

The Case For Action

This week, the President gave a major speech on climate change policy, hosted a roundtable discussion with business leaders, named a new director of the FBI, and welcomed the next class of Presidential Innovation Fellows.

Click here to watch the latest installment of “West Wing Week.”

Senate Votes to Reform Our Nation’s Immigration System

Yesterday, 68 members of the U.S. Senate, Republicans and Democrats, came together and voted to reform our nation’s immigration system.

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FLOTUS Travel Journal: Visiting Goree Island

After our visit to the Martin Luther King School, we boarded a ferry to Goree Island, a small island off Senegal’s coast. For roughly three hundred years until the mid-1840s, countless men, women and children from Africa were kidnapped from their homes and communities and brought to this island to be sold as slaves.

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Landmark Treaty For The Visually Impaired

Today we mark another important achievement for equal rights, this time for over a million Americans — and over 340 million people worldwide — who are blind, visually impaired, or with other print disabilities.

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Lara S. Kaufmann, National Women’s Law Center


National Women's Law Center
We just had a major victory — and we hope you’ll help us celebrate!
As you know, pregnant and parenting students face a lot of challenges in school. Educational barriers and discrimination often make it hard for teen moms to succeed in school.
But this week, things are looking up.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights just released guidance for schools on Title IX and pregnant and parenting students, for the first time in 22 years. To get the word out, the Department is sending pamphlets explaining the guidance to thousands of school districts as well as colleges and universities across the country. The pamphlets help clarify what the law says when it comes to pregnant and parenting students — and that’s great news for teen girls.
But to be effective, the guidance has to be enforced. Please thank Secretary Duncan and remind him of the next important step for pregnant and parenting students — enforcement.
This Title IX guidance was sorely needed, and NWLC fought hard for it. We’ve been getting calls for years from young women who are being pushed out of school in violation of the law.
For example, some high school students in Georgia were told that they had to come back to school within a week of giving birth, or they’d be marked unexcused for any absences and wouldn’t be allowed to make up the work they’d missed. At the same school, pregnant and parenting students were prohibited from running for homecoming court and from being included in senior superlatives.
Sounds crazy, right? It’s 2013. Forty-one years after Title IX was passed, this shouldn’t be happening anymore. Not only should schools not be discriminating, but also there is a lot schools can and should do to support the success of pregnant and parenting students.
That’s another reason the guidance released this week is so important. It not only explains what schools have to do to follow the law — it suggests school strategies and program ideas to make a difference in the lives of young parents and their children.
Please join us in thanking Secretary Duncan for issuing this guidance and reminding him of the need for enforcement.
Thanks again for all of your hard work.
Sincerely,
Lara S. Kaufmann Lara S. Kaufmann Senior Counsel & Director of Education Policy for At-Risk Students  National Women’s Law Center

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