Lucas,
Thank you for stepping up your advocacy in 2011!
It has been an interesting year for energy and climate work.
In many ways, 2011 has been a challenging year for clean energy and climate justice activists:
- We've seen the rise of extreme fuels -- extraction of fuels through energy intensive or hazardous methods in areas that have previously been considered too risky or expensive to pursue.
- We've seen the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
- We're watching a gaggle of GOP presidential hopefuls who, despite overwhelming scientific consensus, refute climate change.
- And we've witnessed the relentlessness of the most anti-environmental U.S. House of Representatives in history -- to date, the House majority has brought 191 votes to the floor aimed at weakening safeguards that protect the environment and public health.
However, these tough challenges did not deter us. In fact, they only strengthened our resolve to work harder to push back against the business-as-usual agenda and move forward efforts to protect the environment and its inhabitants from dirty and dangerous energy.
And we couldn't have done it without you!
Over the course of the year, Public Citizen's energy and climate activists have taken multiple actions to push Congress and the administration to implement an adequate response to the BP oil spill crisis .
At every legislative opportunity, our activists have helped us signal to Congress that massive subsidies to the oil industry must go . And at the agency level, activists have urged transparency and accountability in energy trading markets to curb market manipulation and no-holds-barred speculation.
Public Citizen activists have weighed in on the need for safety reforms for our aging fleet of nuclear reactors in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis.
At the national level, activists have expressed the need to close loopholes that exempt fracking from federal regulation . And at the local level, activists have fought attempts to sacrifice the health of local water resources and our activists have joined with a national coalition to stop the Keystone XL pipeline .
In addition to these challenges, we have made some significant gains against corporate polluters that we will continue to build on. The backlash against fracking moved the Delaware River Basin Commission to cease plans to open up the basin area to fracking. And a national outcry against tar sands has pressured the Obama administration to delay the once-done deal on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Perhaps most significantly, 2011 has been the year of the activist. Global to local, public citizens everywhere are taking their activism to new levels to challenge a system that puts corporate profits before people and the planet.
We look forward to working with you in the coming year!
Happy holidays to you and your family,
Tyson & Allison
Public Citizen's Climate and Energy Program