May 19th, 2014
Dear
Fellow Sierran
Here's what's in this week's edition of CoolCATs Weekly:
1) Senate Climate Bill Hearing
2) Contact Your Legislator, Early and Often
3) Municipal Resolutions Gathering Steam
4) Grim News from Antarctica
5) Deepwater Wind Clears CRMC Hurdle
1) Senate Climate Bill Hearing
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The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee held its first hearing of the Senate Climate Bill (S2952) on Wednesday last week. The room was overflowing with people waiting to testify in support of statewide climate action. I presented testimony detailing the widespread support for resilience legislation, citing petition signers, business sign-ons, faith group support, and municipal resolutions. I also offered some ideas on how the bill might be improved, as did other speakers. The next step will be to see which of these proposed improvements get worked into the bill before it gets passed onto the Senate floor. Keep your fingers crossed!
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2) Contact Your Legislator, Early and Often
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After the Senate hearing, the time is perfect for you to reach out to both your Senator and Representative to urge them to support Senate Bill 2952 and House Bill 7904 respectively. The best way to get through is with a phone call. If you don't know who your legislator is, find out here. Then you can find your Senator's phone # here, and your Rep's phone # here.
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3) Municipal Resolutions Gathering Steam
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In the last CoolCATs Newsletter I reported how North Kingstown had become the first town to pass a resolution in support of resilience legislation. That was just the start. Last week, Warwick, Bristol, and Providence all passed resolutions, too. Meanwhile South Kingstown sent a support letter to its General Assembly delegation while it sent the resolution for further vetting to its Conservation Committee. This week I'll be organizing with three other communities to see what more progress can be made. Who will be next?! If you want your city or town to join this growing movement, reply to this email and let me know.
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4) Grim News from Antarctica
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A reminder of why we need to take immediate action to address climate change has been the recent news out of Antarctica where three recent studies have shown that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is rapidly melting and destabalizing. The melt and break up of this amount of ice has drastic implications for sea level rise. The BBC has done a good job of documenting these grim reports. Find the stories HERE and HERE.
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5) Deepwater Wind Clears CRMC Hurdle
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Back to the good news: Deepwater Wind's Block Island Wind Farm project received final approval from the Coastal Resources Management Council last Tuesday, and only two more federal permits are required before the wind farm can be constructed. Those approvals are expected in the next couple of months, which means Rhode Island is still on course to be the first State in the country with an offshore wind farm. This is great news for the future of Rhode Island's economy and for the planet as a whole.
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Thank you for signing up for Cool CATs Weekly. You can make your community "Cool" by advocating for renewable power, green buildings and transportation choices. Visit the Cool Cities website for resources and toolkits.
Sincerely,
Abel Collins
The Sierra Club Rhode Island Chapter
42 Rice St.
Providence, RI 02907
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Sign the Corporations Aren't People Petition
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Tell Lawmakers to Restore the Renewable Energy Tax Credit
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