Environment

Representative John Shimkus Warns You to Back Big Coal or Die

On February 13, 2010, in Christianity, Coal Industry, Environment, Global Warming, John Shimkus, Peter Roskam, Religious Freedom, Utilities Industry, by RSR
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Another chipper Twitter message from Illinois’ 19th Distric Representative  John Shimkus, Big Coal’s guy in Washington, to his constituents: “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We continue to be bothered by Shimkus’ biblical tweeting, not because he is not within his rights to do so or because we don’t like Christians, but because we think it demonstrates profound insensitivity toward his constituents who are not followers of Christ. Shimkus was elected to represent all residents of his district, not just the Christians. His choice of passages continue to reflect, however, an attitude that his spiritual path is the only path with any legitimacy. Perhaps Shimkus could mix it up a bit. (Our Congressman, Shimkus’ buddy Peter Roskam, could sure use to hear some biblical wisdom on the practice of usury or on welcoming the stranger.)

Perhaps as troubling to us is that Shimkus is using his Christian religion to absolve himself from acknowleding the sound science that tells us that our continued dependence on fossil fuels is poisoning our environment threatening the possibility of leaving global ecological catastrophe as our legacy to our children and grandchildren. Shimkus’ warped theology gives him an out to keep on accepting big contributions from the electric utilities, oil and gas companies, and coal companies while using his vote in Congress to advance their interests rather than those of his constituents.

Don’t believe me? Have a peek at these videos U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearings in March, 2009 (preserved thanks to the outstanding progressive news site, Progress Illinois)

From the March 25, 2009 hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Shimkus’ openening remarks using Genesis 8 and Matthew 24 to reassure us that we don’t need to worry about climate change because the “infallible word of God” tells us that only God will end the world:

Shimkus’ later with Christopher Monckton endorsing Monckton’s ridiculous conclusion that we are a “carbon-starved” planet and that cap & trade will starve plants of their food. Bear in mind as you listen to this drivel  that, in the Cambrian era, during which Monckton asserts our present “carbon shortage” did not exist, the world was a much warmer place and complex life was not found on land.  Shimkus concludes by again stating his biblically-justified belief that the “earth will not be destroyed by a flood”:

And, to wrap it up, because we couldn’t resist, here are the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s Clean Coal Carolers doing “Frosty the Coal Man”. ACCCE is a coal and utility industry astroturf group that thought this might be a good idea:

By the way, we understand Shimkus has a Democratic opponent, Tim Bagwell. We don’t know too much about him but 19th District voters might want to check him out.

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Shameless Illinois Rep Seeks Well-Endowed Industry Lobbyists Willing to Talk Dirty Coal

On February 10, 2010, in Congressional Elections, Environment, Lobbyists, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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Wow. This is so perfect for Peter Roskam. He’ll be able to meet  new coal and utility lobbyists who share his passion for unregulated contaminated coal waste to entertain him in Washington while filling his already brimming campaign coffers with more PAC money. Good luck, Peter!

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Peter Roskam Attempting to Prevent Regulation of Dangerous Coal Waste

On February 8, 2010, in Coal Industry, Energy, Environment, Peter Roskam, Utilities Industry, by RSR
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According to the Chicago Tribune, Republican Congressman Peter Roskam is working to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from adopting regulations concerning the handling of contaminated coal waste. Roskam, along with several other members of the Illinois Congressional delegation, told the Office of Management and Budget in a letter that “regulating coal ash as hazardous material would impost “steep costs” on Illinois energy consumers, who draw much of their power from coal”.

But Roskam, who draws significant campaign contributions from the electric utilities standing to benefit if regulations are blocked, is disregarding the public health risks associated with contaminated coal waste, which, according to a McClatchy report, is presently subjected to less regulation than ordinary household trash. Coal-fired power plants each year generate millions of tons of ash contaminated with heavy metals and store it in liquid form in storage ponds or in landfills. When impounded in liquid form, there is a risk of catastrophic spills, like the one that occurred in the TVA plant at Harriman, TN in 2008. In either case, the waste poses a threat to the safety of drinking water. In 2007, an EPA report identified 24 sites in 13 states where there has already been surface and/or ground water contamination. 26 sites have been identified nationwide by the EPA as having a high hazard rating. Two of those sites are in Illinois: the facilities operated by Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc at Alton and Havana.

Further compounding the risk are the 70 new conventional coal-fired plants that are currently proposed. 3 of those are in Illinois and they are expected to produce and addition 632,521 tons of waste containing 8 tons of toxic metals annually.

Peter Roskam complains about the additional costs of energy production that may come with EPA regulation of coal waste, but those cost will come whether we regulate or not. If we don’t protect groundwater from contamination we will face cleanup costs and unnecessary healthcare costs later. The costs associated with preventing pollution should be paid by the energy companies now rather than the taxpayers later. Linking those costs to the production of electricity from coal will provide incentive for development of new, clean energy technologies and new green jobs.

Please contact Peter Roskam to urge him to stop interfering with EPA efforts to protect our drinking water. You can reach him at (630) 893-9670 in Bloomingdale or at (202) 225-4561 in Washington.

It will also be helpful if you send your comments to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson at jackson.lisap@epa.gov .

Please consider getting to know Peter Roskam’s 2010 opponent, Ben Lowe. Ben is an environmentalist who will work to protect our natural resources rather than to protect the big energy companies.

Here are some videos that give some more background on the Harriman, TN spill and the dangers of coal waste:

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Peter Roskam’s Challenger Ben Lowe an Environmentalist

On November 4, 2009, in Barack Obama, Congressional Elections, Environment, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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After some more poking around, it looks to us as though Peter Roskam’s 2010 opponent, Ben Lowe, comes from the evangelical Christian environmental movement and  has worked with an organization called Renewal. Here’s his author bio from IVP which published his book, “Green Revolution:Coming Together to Care for Creation“:

Ben Lowe’s views on creation care were shaped early in his life. Growing up as a missionary kid in Singapore/Malaysia, he often dealt with water shortages and bad air quality due to mismanagement and abuse of natural resources. Carrying these experiences with him, he eventually found his way to Wheaton College where he majored in environmental studies and helped organize Wheaton’s first national Climate Change Summit. His summers were filled working as an environmental educator with the Massachusetts Audubon Society and as a student researcher for fisheries projects in Corpus Christi, TX and on Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania.

Lowe currently calls Chicago home and works as the cocoordinator of Renewal, a grassroots network committed to equipping this student generation in the compassionate stewardship of all of God’s creation. Previously he served as outreach director for A Rocha USA, an international Christian conservation organization, where he helped to mobilize churches and campuses around creation care issues.

Renewal’s web site describes the organization this way:

Renewal is a Christ-centered creation care network that focuses on living in right relationship with God. As followers of Christ, we seek to follow His example of love, stewardship, and reconciliation. For us, this means taking care of everything that God so lovingly created- the earth and each other. With a heart for the poor and a commitment to following Jesus’ call to ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’ the students of Renewal seek to care for the earth so that all of God’s people and creatures, as well as future generations, can have a healthy environment in which to live.

“Heart for the poor” and “care for the earth” are music to my ears after two terms of Roskam’s screw the poor and exploit the earth mentality. I look forward to hearing more from young Ben about his aims as a candidate.

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Peter Roskam Sides with Polluters Over Planet – On the Wrong Side of History

On June 30, 2009, in Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Peter Roskam, Peter Roskam's Corporate Agenda, by RSR
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On Friday, June 26, the House of Representatives passed the historic Waxman-Markley comprehensive energy bill by a vote of 219 to 212. H.R. 2454, formally titled the American Clean energy and Security Act of 2009 includes a market-based cap & trade global warming reduction plan designed to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 17% by the year 2020. This is not where we need to be. It is thought that we will have to reduce emissions 80% by 2050 in order to stabilize the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at a level that prevent the worst consequences of global warming. Still the bill is a start and it has won praise from environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“The House of Representatives has made a dramatic breakthrough for America’s future by choosing to create jobs, move to clean energy, and reduce global warming pollution. The passage of this legislation, which was almost unimaginable six months ago, will help set our country in a new direction by shifting to a clean energy economy and reducing the carbon pollution that causes global warming.

“While passing the bill through the House took hard work and compromises on many sides, this is strong and vital legislation that Congress needs to deliver to the President’s desk this year. This bill will help create new jobs in manufacturing and clean technology. It will increase energy efficiency, help consumers save on energy bills, and protect lower-income families. And it will finally put our country on a course to limit the carbon pollution that causes global warming.

Sadly our own Congressman, Republican Peter Roskam, was not a party to that “hard work and compromise”. Roskam voted against the bill, choosing to support the narrow interests of his big campaign donors from the energy sector, who opposed the bill, rather than act to save the planet from an impending catastrophe that threatens the  welfare of our children and of generations to come.

OpenSecrets.org, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics, today released data demonstrating how the industries that have worked to oppose climate change legislation gave, on average, twice the amount of campaign contributions to legislators, Democrat and Republican alike, who, like Roskam, opposed the legislation, as they did to those voting in favor. The table below compares contributions received by industry for the average “yes” voter on H.R. 2454, the average, “no” voter, and for Peter Roskam. Bear in mind that while contributions are totaled back to 1989, Roskam has only been running since 2006.

Industry Yes Voters Avg No Voters Avg Roskam
Energy Sector $124,181 $274,021 $240,765
Oil & Gas $31,663 $120,566 $138,815
Electric utilities $67,013 $102,370 $73,800
Coal Mining $2,279 $12,004 $1,000
Construction $138,569 $241,079 $297,517
Automakers $10,603 $11,982 $0
Business PACs $1,380,210 $1,901,371 $,1529,147
Environmentalists $21,198 $3,088 $0
Alternative Energy $1,250 $869 $0

You can draw your own conclusions but in my estimation this speaks volumes about why Roskam votes as he does.

The climate bill will now have to be taken up by the Senate where the fight is likely to be even tougher than it was in the House. I predict that 6th District residents will be hearing a lot more lobbying against the bill by our Congressman.

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Peter Roskam’s 8 Part Plan to Halt Global Climate Change

On May 21, 2009, in Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Peter Roskam, by RSR
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roskam_plan

Peter Roskam has been conducting more of those taxpayer-funded dinnertime robo-calls, this time to roll out his new plan to address the threat of catastrophic global climate change.  You can expect to see a lot of Roskam around the district during the labor day recess, talking up his plan. RSR has a sneak preview for you.  The 8 part Roskam plan is staggeringly simple:

  1. Ignore it. Pretend global climate change does not present any threat.
  2. Burn more fossil fuels faster. Try not to be outpaced by China and India.
  3. Cut taxes on big business.
  4. Say no to anything President Obama or any Democrat in Congress proposes.
  5. Get reelected.
  6. Continue blind obedience to masters at U.S. Chamber and National Association of Manufacturers.
  7. Cut taxes on big business.
  8. Call Nancy Pelosi a threat to national security.

Jumping creepers, Peter, why didn’t we think of this.

Seriously Peter, saying no to anything anybody propses to address the problem of global climate change is not a plan.  If we listen to you, we’re all screwed.  You who would put the narrow  interests  of your corporate campaign contributors ahead of saving the planet – for your children.

Cap & trade may not be perfect and it isn’t going to solve all of our problems, but it is a start, a step in the right direction.  It may very well be expensive for us all. But nobody said saving the planet was going to be cheap. Its just something we have to do.

If you don’t want to do cap & trade, then you tell us how you’re going to save the planet, not just how you are going to save your donors on their taxes.  Put up or shut up.

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