Tell your Representatives: Hold Public Hearings on the Climate Crisis Now!
Note: only one of the following two Congresswomen represents you. To find out which one, click here.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
SF Office: (415) 556-4862
DC Office: (202) 225-4965
Email Contact: https://pelosi.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
Call the SF office first, but try the DC office if you can’t get through. If you get voicemail, hang up and try a few more times to talk to a real person. Don’t give up! Short direct messages are most effective. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Rep. Jackie Speier
San Mateo Office: (650) 342-0300
DC Office: (202) 225-3531
Email Contact: https://speier.house.gov/email-jackie
Keep calling if you don’t get through. Voicemails are logged daily into a central report across offices. Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend.
Note: Due to shelter-in-place orders during the Covid-19 emergency, it may be more effective to use email or Resistbot to contact the MoC’s office. It is important to use your own words in emails to elected officials, but feel free to use our sample script below as a guide.
Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
The super-storms battering the South and the fires raging throughout the West with smoke choking our cities are directly caused by global warming.
I ask [Speaker Pelosi /Rep. Speier] to immediately call for public hearings to examine the links between these disastrous effects of climate change and Trump regime actions that increase environmental damage - such as sabotage of the Paris Climate Agreement, eliminating or weakening every major policy designed to combat dangerous emissions, and federal encouragement and expansion of fossil fuel extraction and fracking.
The hearings must be live-streamed and constituents encouraged to watch them. Both experts and administration officials should be called to testify. If officials refuse to honor subpoenas, expose them with an empty chair and nameplate, and prosecute them for contempt of congress. Instead of dividing time among committee members, assign professional staff to question the witnesses for better testimony instead of grandstanding.
Background
Super-storms are battering the South while fires are raging throughout the West with smoke choking our cities. These natural disasters are the inevitable and long-predicted result of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels. Fires, floods, and storms will grow steadily worse until we reverse course and adopt policies to reduce rather than increase global warming.
But the Trump regime, its Republican Party enablers, and the Republican-majority on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are all hell-bent on boosting the fortunes of their coal, oil, and gas industry donors by repealing or gutting every policy designed to combat dangerous emissions while encouraging and expanding fossil fuel consumption and fracking. We the People have got to take action to save the environment and the future of our children.
We must demand that our Members of Congress hold hearings on the Trump regime’s actions that damage the environment and put people’s lives in danger.
Here are just a few examples of the Trump Administration’s environmental deregulation that will accelerate the climate crisis.
Lowering Vehicle Efficiency Standards
Transportation accounts for the largest chunk (29%) of American greenhouse gas emissions, and the U.S. has among the weakest vehicle fuel efficiency standards in the world. U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards were first implemented in 1975 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo to reduce American reliance on foreign oil.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires the Department of Transportation (DoT) to set CAFE standards at a "maximum feasible level" for new cars and trucks. Finalized in October 2012, the new CAFE standards steadily increased the average fuel efficiency requirements for new passenger vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. On 4/13/2018, the EPA withdrew the Obama administration's final determination and issued a notice to resume the midterm evaluation. (On 5/1/2018, a coalition of 18 state attorneys general led by California sued the EPA, claiming the proposal was a violation of the Clean Air Act.)
On 8/28/18, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), for a new Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, rolling back fuel efficiency standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The rule, finalized 3/30/20, increases the stringency of corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) and CO2 emissions standards by 1.5% per year over model years (MY) 2021-2026, which is better than their initial proposal to freeze the increase of CAFE standards. But Obama-era standards would’ve increased the stringency of the efficiency standards by 5% per year, which would’ve allowed vehicle manufacturers to average 54 miles per gallon by 2026, the new SAFE standards allow an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2026.
Repealing the Clean Power Plan
The goal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), finalized under the Obama administration in 10/23/2015, was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector, which is responsible for approximately 30% of America's overall greenhouse gas emissions.
On 7/8/2019, EPA finalized three separate and distinct rulemakings, including the repeal of the CPP.
Replacement of CPP with ACE (Affordable Clean Energy) Rule: The EPA's Regulatory Impact Analysis predicts that ACE would increase carbon dioxide emissions by over 60 million short tons by 2030 in the minimum case scenario, relative to CPP predictions. The final rules were expected to go into effect on September 6, 2019. (On August 13, 2019, the state of New York, along with 21 other states and seven cities, filed a lawsuit seeking a review of this action. The states claimed that ACE does not meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and therefore violates the EPA’s duties under the Clean Air Act to address carbon pollution from power plants.)
Rolling back Methane Emissions Standards
Weakening regulations on emissions from new oil & gas wells
Weakening requirements for testing and repairing oil and gas leaks in drilling operations
Weakening aspects of New Source Performance Standards (NSPS)
EPA’s Deceptive “Transparency Rule”
The proposed rule would only allow the EPA to consider studies where the underlying data is made available publicly. Such restrictions could affect how the agency protects Americans from toxic chemicals, air pollution and other health risks. Scientists and public health groups warn that the rule would effectively block the EPA from relying on long-standing, landmark studies on the harmful effects of air pollution and pesticide exposure because such research often involves confidential personal or medical histories or proprietary information.
Sources:
What is the Trump administration’s track record on the environment? Brookings overview.
Six Things You Should Know About The EPA’s New Science Restriction Draft Policy. Union of Concerned Scientists
Database of Trump Era Deregulation. Brookings