It Means Something When We Win Together, And These 3 Fights Prove It
05.2.19
A precedent-setting move to protect water in Baltimore
Some cities compound the problems of high water rates by sending water bills to tax sale for collection — meaning that the government can take homes from residents unable to afford their water service. In Baltimore, that’s no longer the case thanks to precedent-setting work by a community coalition and Food & Water Watch, as well as champions like Mary Washington whom our sister organization Food & Water Action worked to elect. Countless families will keep their homes and places of worship thanks to the passage of the Water Taxpayer Protection Act, just signed into law by Governor Hogan in Maryland.
This win piggy-backs another recent win the community and Food & Water Watch worked hard for — blocking Baltimore’s municipal water from ever being privatized and jeopardized by greedy corporations!
Gas-fired power plants get squashed in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti responded to people-powered outcry against dirty energy by scrapping plans to update three gas-fired power plants on the coast. Instead, they’ll be replaced by renewable energy.
Our Los Angeles senior organizer Alexandra Nagy commended the decision.
“Mayor Garcetti is showing the rest of the country what a Green New Deal can mean for our communities. We are hopeful that this is a first step to swiftly transition L.A. off fossil fuels and move the city to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Mayor Garcetti has listened to us and decided that Los Angeles can do better. It’s time to clean up our air, prioritize healthy communities and green jobs, and usher in a clean energy revolution.”
A dangerous underwater pipeline is facing people-powered obstacles in Michigan.
At the end of March, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer halted work on a Line 5 replacement oil tunnel within hours of a ruling by the state attorney general that put the dangerous project in peril. The ruling nullified a law signed by former Governor Rick Snyder just days before leaving office, giving Canadian company Enbridge Energy the go-ahead to build a utility tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac to replace the Line 5 oil pipeline in the next decade.
Gov. Whitmer’s March 28th order stopped short of shutting down Line 5 completely, and the pipeline continues to transport millions of gallons of oil. A rupture in Line 5 would cause irreversible damage to the source of drinking water for 35 million people, and to the region’s environment and economy. One in five jobs in Michigan is linked to Great Lakes freshwater.
The Oil & Water Don’t Mix coalition, to which Food & Water Watch belongs, says it’s time to scrap Line 5 for good.
“The backroom deals creating Enbridge’s proposed oil tunnel couldn’t survive public scrutiny and now we know they can’t survive the rule of law,” said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of coalition partner For Love of Water (FLOW). “The path forward for Michigan is for Gov. Whitmer to immediately begin the process of decommissioning Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.”
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel recently said that she’s open to doing anything within her power to shut down Line 5 completely. You can believe that’s a statement we’ll be working day and night to make a reality.
Food & Water Watch and members like you work hard for wins like these
And those are just a few of our recent wins. Another is a moratorium on drilling on State Trust land near Chaco Canyon is a result of the enormous pushback from Indigenous leaders, as well as community coalitions including Food & Water Watch members. We've got battles like these going on all over the country.
These are examples of victories that we need to repeat in cities all over America. This is the work we do. We fight like we live here, because we do, and you fight alongside us.
The battle for our most precious resources is one we must win, because this planet is the only one we get. Chip in monthly to keep work like this going strong!
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