Recommended Actions for the Week of 20171009

Source: RC Member

Description: Provide testimony in support of housing infill at the Bellingham City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017 at 7:00p.m. The meeting will be held at City Hall, City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie St., Bellingham, WA 98225.

Consider also supporting passage of a source of income discrimination ordinance in Bellingham. Allowing this kind of discrimination to continue creates a second class of city residents that are disproportionately people of color, people who are disabled, and anyone living on a fixed income.

Additional Information: Learn more at CoB.org.

Source: Indivisible Bellingham and RC

Description: Canvass against the tax to build a new jail. Follow and share the No New Jail Tax Facebook page to keep up with the campaign against mass incarceration. Watch the video of a family just like yours.

Background: Canvassing trainings are most weekday afternoons, as well as every Saturday and Sunday! No experience necessary! Learn more about this campaign at Whatcom Democrats.

Additional Information: Letter from the RC board of directors regarding the city and county council votes which put the jail measure on the ballot.

Source: Riveters Collective

Description: Attend the AMA with Riveters Collective and the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017 at 7:00p.m.

Background: Last month, the Riveters Collective Board voted to join the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy. The Alliance is working towards a 2018 Washington State ballot initiative that will price pollution (via a carbon tax) to fund the solutions we need: investing in clean energy, healthy forests and water infrastructure. Please join us to learn more about the policy and how you can help!!! How does an “Ask Me Anything” work? Simply drop questions in the comments section on our Facebook group and then tune back in on Oct. 11th!

Source: Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy

Description: Come join 30+ local Whatcom & Skagit citizens who are committed to organizing for a just, equitable, and responsible carbon pricing policy in the 2018 election season! A training team from the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy will be leading a half-day training on Sunday, October 15 in Bellingham! Please RSVP

Background:

Source: Indivisible Bellingham and Riveters Collective

Description: Attend a Town Hall with Senator Doug Ericksen at the Viking Union Multipurpose Room on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 from 7:00-8:00p.m. The meeting is sponsored by Western Washington Students for Life and WWU Young Americans for Liberty and is open to the public without charge. Visit the RC calendar page or Facebook to learn more.

Source: RC Member

Description: The County Council is holding a public hearing on the extension of the moratorium on exempt wells. The meeting will be held at 311 Grand Ave. 1st Floor, Bellingham, WA 98225 on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 at 7:00p.m.

Source: Indivisible Bellingham and the RC

Description: Donate to Manka and/or

Attend a debate between Manka Dhingra and Jinyoung Englund at Microsoft in Redmond on Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

Background: Do you remember the #1 thing Senator Ranker said we could do to facilitate progressive change in Washington? Doorbell, phone call, donate, and volunteer for Manka Dhingra. It’s our best chance to flip the state senate and see real progress. AND TO DEMOTE DOUG ERICKSEN FROM HIS COMMITTEE CHAIR POSITION!

AMA with Manka

Hope and Action video (see 30:00 for talk about the bus to doorbell for Manka.

Also, support Manka Dhingra and flip the Washington State Senate from red to blue in the November 7th election. Click here to learn more.

Source: Indivisible Bellingham and the RC

Description: Work (doorbelling, other as needed) on three all-county races which are close and need your support. The opponents are Tea Party Republicans masquerading as non-partisan candidates.

Background: Below is information about the candidates to support.

Barry Buchanan for County Council At Large: Barry has spent years serving his community on Bellingham City Council, on County Council, in his church, as past Chair of the Whatcom Democrats, and as proud veteran of the U.S. Navy.  Notes from RC’s endorsement committee: “Years of solid experience with shared values to RC, supports alternatives to jail;  supports prevention of unrefined fossil fuel thru Cherry Point, understands/supports farm pollution identification & good science, want to speed up clean up of Lk. Whatcom, supports collaborative work with other jurisdictions, nonprofits, community members to solve problems”

Michael Shepard for Port Commission: Michael is a long-time resident of Whatcom County, a graduate of WWU, a PhD from University of British Columbia, and a teacher in post-secondary education. He has seen the lack of jobs and opportunities for young people in our community.

Notes from RC’s endorsement committee: “Michael has great energy and new progressive ideas for not just waterfront development but countywide economic development including rural stakeholders such as Kendall, Blaine. Sees the waterfront not just as an economic boon. “Environmental sustainability is economic development.”

We appreciated Michael’s desire to help people know what the port does and be relevant to their lives. He has excellent potential on citizen engagement and activism, especially in the process of redeveloping the waterfront. Ideas for building capacity of existing local industries but also attracting new to relocate here with business incubator capacity. HIs answer on sea level rise and the fate of Port owned lands was excellent. He brought up the need for port jobs to retain talented WWU grads to stay in Bellingham”.

Barry Wenger for Port Commission:  Notes from RC’s endorsement committee: “Barry has decades of experience with Dept of Ecology on waterfront and shoreline restoration and cleanup. He feels strongly enough about the issues that he came out of retirement to run. Against a big marina (“a parking lot for the rich”) – these people are not local and will not contribute to our community/economy in a meaningful way. But still had good ideas about how to accommodate some of those boats with dry stock storage. Good ideas on Port’s importance beyond the waterfront (airport, Blaine marina, Sumas). Communication and transparency is essential with all stakeholders regarding waterfront development. Barry supports clean energy, high-tech and growing these industries at the port for family wage jobs. He also brought up a desire to keep WWU grads here”.

Contact Information: Volunteers should contact coordinated campaign manager, Anna Berch-Norton, at (412) 527-6036 or send an email using the form on Whatcom Democrats. Also, you can also stop by the Coordinated Campaign office at 215 W. Holly St, suite B29, next door to the Whatcom County Democrats office.

Source: Indivisible Bellingham

Description: Sign and circulate a petition for I-940, requiring law enforcement to receive training in violence de-escalation, mental-health, and to provide first-aid. It clarifies standards for use of deadly force and provides for independent investigations.

Contact Information: De-Escalate Washington is gathering signatures.

Source: Indivisible Bellingham and the Washington Environmental Women’s Alliance

Description: Ask Governor Inslee to ban salmon farming in state waters.

Background: Immediately following one of the worst fish-farm escapes in WA history, the Department of Fish and Wildlife recently issued a decision to allow 1 million more Atlantic farmed salmon to be moved into existing net pens at Clam Bay on Bainbridge Island because they had no legal grounds to deny the request. However, as the recent salmon spill at Cypress Island demonstrated, these invasive species threaten the ecosystem of the whole Salish Sea/Puget Sound.

Further points to be aware of:

1- Cooke is using the same type of pens at Clam Bay (Bainbridge Island) as the ones that failed on Cypress Island in August;

2- Cooke has history of negligence and does not monitor their operations;

3- The Wild Fish Conservancy questions why it is legal to put the Atlantic Salmon in the pens with no legal means to get them out. Cooke uses an illegal device – a vacuum extractor – which was found to be devastating to native fish in B.C.

Talking Points:

1- Oppose the presence and proposed expansion of open net pen aquaculture in the waters of Washington State, and please support of closing existing open net pens.

2- Give restitution to the Tribes for costs associated with the release, including damage from contamination of wild stocks by viruses and parasites.

Contact Information: Multiple levels of actions:

EASY – Sign the Our Sound Our Salmon Petition

Contact any of these public officials:

WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Hilary Franz
Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands – cpl@dnr.wa.gov
360-902-1004,
Twitter – @waDNR

WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY
Director – Maia Bellon
maia.bellon@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-7001
Twitter – @maiabellon

WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
Jim Unsworth,Director
(360) 902-2200
(360) 902-2947
director@dfw.wa.gov

GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE
Call 360-902-4111

Additional Information: 

• Seattle Times Article: “State Approves $1 Million More Farmed Fish for Puget Sound, Despite Escape”
• Gov. Inslee and Commissioner Franz statements regarding Cooke Aquaculture plans to transfer additional Atlantic salmon smolts
• WDFW issues permit to Cooke Aquaculture to transport juvenile Atlantic salmon

Source: Credo Action

Description: 

Michael Dourson may be the most dangerous Trump administration nominee you’ve never heard of.

Picked to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) chemical safety division, Dourson is a long time chemical industry shill who has deep ties to Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and the Koch brothers.

He has long history of greenwashing the deadly effects of toxic chemicals to protect corporate profits and runs an industry-funded “science-for-hire” consulting firm charged with undercutting environmental regulations.¹

A man bought and paid for by the chemical industry who has put the health and safety of American families at serious risk should not be in charge of overseeing chemical safety and pollution.

As Ken Cook, the head of the Environmental Working Group, put it, “Handing the keys to EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention to Dourson, who has spent a career opposing both, makes about as much sense as letting the CEO of Philip Morris run the American Lung Association.”

Contact Information: Click here to sign Credo’s petition!

Source: Indivisible Guide

Description: Our Members of Congress have not yet sponsored the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017.

Background:

Contact Information:

Senator Patty Murray: WA (206) 553-5545, DC (202) 224-2621

Senator Maria Cantwell:  WA (206) 220-6400, DC (202) 224-3441

Congressman Rick Larsen:  WA 360-733-4500, DC (202) 225-2605

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene WA (360) 416-7879, DC (202) 225-6311

Suggested Script:  Hi! My name is [name] and I’m a constituent from [part of state]. I’m calling because I’m very concerned about the current situation with North Korea, I’d like [MoC] to co-sponsor the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017. This legislation would make explicit that Trump cannot launch a nuclear strike absent a declaration of war from Congress. That bill is [House: H.R. 669 or Senate:  S. 200]. Is [MoC] planning to sponsor?

Additional Information:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/669

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/200