sHellNo:  We Can Do Better than Drill the Arctic

Saturday, April 25, 10-2, Port Angeles Farmers Market, Front & Lincoln Streets

Members of Olympic Climate Action will be at the Port Angeles Farmers Market this Saturday to stand in opposition to the Shell oil drilling rig currently moored in Port Angeles Harbor.

Shell acknowledges that human-caused climate change is a problem and that government ought to set a limit on carbon emissions.  Yet they spent $55 million on lobbying in the past five years, generally to protect their interests in oil.  They know the world can’t afford the consequences of burning the oil that would come out of the Arctic, even if they could guarantee that they can safely extract it.  Their rush to drill the Arctic is a cynical bid to pump the last dollar out of the ground, consequences be damned.  And the tiny financial blip caused by their rig in our harbor pales by comparison with the benefits to our local economy of moving to clean energy, with an army of working people insulating buildings, selling efficient appliances, and installing heat pumps, solar panels, and electric-vehicle charging stations.

OCA will share information about:

•     The drilling history of Royal Dutch Shell
•     The dangers of drilling for oil in the Arctic
•     Federal drilling permits in the Arctic
•     Shell’s disastrous prior effort at drilling in the Arctic in 2012
•     Actions planned vs. Shell once the rig arrives in Seattle
•     The amount of oil that the world can safely burn without disastrous climate impacts
•     The need to quickly transition to a clean-energy economy
•     The technical ease with which we could make this transition
•     The economic benefits to working people of a clean-energy economy
•     The biggest stumbling block to making this transition:  the influence of money in politics

OCA members will gather signatures on two statewide initiative petitions:

• WAmend would get big money out of elections through a constitutional amendment
• CarbonWA would tax carbon pollution and reduce other taxes by an equivalent amount

 

OCA will also conduct a “nickname the rig” contest; the winner will receive a $10 voucher for the Port Angeles Farmers Market.