To: Governor Jay Inslee
Petition For Redress of Grievances Inflicted by Fossil Fuels
Urgent! Five brave souls have locked themselves down to train tracks at Everett Rail Yard in Everett Washington. Abigail Brockway, Elizabeth Spoerri, Patrick Mazza, Mike Lapointe, and Jackie Minchew are local teachers, small business owners, community members, neighbors, and mothers and fathers. They're putting their bodies on the line and risking arrest to take action over global warming and the fossil fuel industry. This action is happening RIGHT NOW to bring attention to the coal and oil train crisis in Washington State. This petition will be delivered to Governor Inslee demanding a moratorium on coal and oil trains. The people want to make Washington fossil fuel free and they need you to sign this petition. Read their statement below:
Why is this important?
This is the statement of Abigail, Elizabeth, Patrick, Mike, and Jackie:
We, the people of Washington state, are under serious threat from fossil fuels and coal and oil trains. Not only are our railway workers at risk from dangerous working conditions, long hours, and proposed, deadly single person crews – We are all at risk from oil train explosions, coal dust pollution, derailments, Puget Sound acidification, and the devastation of global warming.
These are not empty words. Puget Sound salmon are being caught with skin peeling off. The shellfish industry is being forced out. The Sound, a region with high fossil fuel pollution, has four of the state’s five highest cancer rate counties – Whatcom, Pierce, Snohomish and Skagit.
Climate disruption is coming home. This year our state has been hit with record fires driven by drought and deadly mudslides triggered by intense downpours. Our water security and jobs are at risk from loss of snowpack on which forests, farms and cities depend in warm months, and from fossil train spills.
To avert climate catastrophe most fossil fuels must remain in the ground. Instead, production and shipping of the dirtiest fuels such as coal and shale oil are growing. Moving rapidly to a fossil-fuel-free Washington is not a choice, it is a societal imperative. Therefore, we demand that Governor Inslee enact an immediate moratorium on all fossil fuel trains and deny permits for all coal and oil shipping facilities.
The time to act is now. Please sign our petition to show your support for these demands and for making Washington fossil-fuel free.
Fossil fuel impacts intensify:
• 2012 – Puget Sound acidification forces Taylor Shellfish to move hatchery facilities to Hawaii.
• March 22, 2014 – Intense downpours trigger Oso landslide killing 43 people.
• July 24, 2014 – Oil train with nearly 100 tanker cars derails under Magnolia Bridge in Interbay Seattle.
• July 2014 – Carlton fire burns 251,000 acres, the largest wildfire in Washington history. President Obama declares federal disaster.
• August 2014 – Downpour-caused mudslides, strike area scorched by fire, closed highways and stranded motorists.
• August 19, 2014 – Drought covers 40% of Washington state.