Fwd: Capitol Spill: Stop Congress Leaking Favors to Big Oil

[Mark May]

I felt this worthy of your considerstion. Please let me know if you don't want me to keep sending you petitions like this.

Thanks

Mark

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International" <in...@priceofoil.org>

Date: May 23, 2012 11:51:05 AM CDT

To: uncl...@sbcglobal.net

Subject: Capitol Spill: Stop Congress Leaking Favors to Big Oil

Reply-To: in...@priceofoil.org

Dear friends: It’s spring in Washington. The birds are chirping. The sun is shining. And a thick black goo is oozing from the US Capitol building. Again. This Congress is on track to be the dirtiest ever. New data just released on Oil Change’s Dirty Energy Money website shows that our representatives in the 112th Congress have taken almost $16 million from the oil, gas and coal industries thus far. What does Big Oil, Coal and Gas get for these "contributions"? Subsidies, as well as votes to do things like weaken environmental regulations. Help us plug this leak of our tax dollars by calling for an end to all favors for the oil, gas and coal industries. Over 100,000 people have joined the call to end fossil fuel subsidies in the last week - please join us! Our decision makers should listen to the voices of their constituents, not the special interests that finance their campaigns. Too often (ok, most of the time) this is not the case. Oil Change has tracked 24 votes in this current Congress that affect dirty energy interests, and in each case representatives and senators voting with the interests of dirty energy companies took substantially more money from those companies than those who voted for the people.  But there’s hope. Last week Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) introduced the End Polluter Welfare Act. The legislation will cut $110 billion in subsidies to the oil, coal and natural gas industries over the next ten years. This is a great initiative, which offers real hope for reform. Help us ensure it gets the attention it deserves, by  telling decisionmakers to end all government handouts to the fossil fuel industry.  I want to be honest with you - the End Polluter Welfare Act doesn't stand a great chance of passing - at least not right now.  But the only way we're going to change that is to force our Representatives to take a stand on this critical issue.  If they're too afraid to bite the oily hand that feeds them, well then, let's make them admit that. Together we can demand a separation of oil and state.  In solidarity,  Steve, Karen and the rest of the Oil Change team P.S. Check out the story on subsidies in the picture below!  Learn more about fossil fuel subsidies by visiting our resource page at http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-subsidies/  and get involved in the active discussions on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/priceofoil
Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming barriers to that transition. We are a 501c3 organization and all donations are fully tax deductible. Check out our blog at PriceOfOil.org and find out how much oil and coal money your Representatives take at DirtyEnergyMoney.com. If you want to be removed from our list entirely, click here to unsubscribe.