Environmental News: December 2018

Saturday, December 22, 2018

A Conversation with Forest Ecologist Marvin Roberson

Friday, December 21, 2018

Leading Citizens Groups To Gov. Snyder: Protect Public Health and Michigan Water by Vetoing Dangerous Legislation

Environmental, social justice organizations and civic groups today called on Governor Snyder to protect Michigan’s water and the health of millions of residents by vetoing destructive bills that don’t safeguard public health.

The citizens groups, which represent hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents, said the Governor should veto the following bills that weaken the state’s basic environmental and public health protections:

HB 4205: Blocking safeguards that are more protective than federal standards which would prevent the state from proactively setting PFAS drinking water and other important safeguards that protect the people of Michigan.
SB 1244: Weakening the state’s contaminated site cleanup criteria which will create roadblocks to protecting Michigan residents from PFAS and other contaminants. We support the more than 80 Michigan Department of Environmental Quality staff who called on Governor Snyder to veto this bill.
SB 1196: Increasing the amount of radioactive waste disposed of in Michigan.
SB 1211: Removing protections from more than 500,000 acres of wetlands that filter and store our water, reduce flooding and provide habitat for wildlife.

Organizations that have united in the call for Governor Snyder to veto from these lame duck bills include:

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Major Investors Pressure Exxon to Set CO2 Reduction Targets

The world's largest oil company is being pressured by major shareholders to take action on climate change.

Institutional investors with an estimated $1.9 trillion under management, led by the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) and the Church Commissioners of England (CCE), filed a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to set targets for lowering its greenhouse gas emissions, covering emissions from both its operations and the use of its products.

The NYSCRF is the third largest public pension fund in the U.S., with assets of $207.4 billion as of March 31, and the Church of England's investment fund manages investable assets of some £8.3 billion ($10.5 billion), according to the comptroller's office.

Their move—made a day after the critical COP24 climate summit in Poland wrapped up—is similar to the direct shareholder pressure applied to Royal Dutch Shell. After some hard resistance, Shell became the first energy giant earlier this month to set short-term greenhouse gas reduction targets, linking them to executive pay.