BREAKING: Greenpeace Climbers Block Houston Ship Channel, Halting Oil Industry Operations Ahead of Democratic Debate

Baytown, Texas, September 12, 2019 — Twenty-two Greenpeace USA climbers have formed a blockade from the Fred Hartman Bridge in Baytown, Texas, shutting down the largest fossil fuel thoroughfare in the United States ahead of the third Democratic primary debate in nearby Houston. The climbers intend to remain secured in place for 24 hours, preventing the transport of all oil and gas through the channel. Their action is a bold call to leaders to imagine a world beyond fossil fuels and embrace a just transition to renewable energy.
 
Live updates:
https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceusa
https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa
Photo and video (when available): https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJ886WM5
 
Greenpeace USA Activist Mike Herbert, one of the 22 climbers blocking the Houston Ship Channel, said:

“I grew up in the East Texas Oil Field, a place where the oil industry touches everything. I know how much power oil executives have over our democracy. That’s why I’m taking action to shut down the Houston Ship Channel, the largest fossil fuel thoroughfare in the country. The oil industry has spent millions of dollars to convince the American people — including the community I grew up in — that we can’t thrive without them. This just isn’t true. We are here because we believe a world beyond oil is possible, we just have to fight for it.

“To the presidential candidates gathered in Houston today, we need you to know there is no middle ground to stand on. Will you champion a Green New Deal and ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels? Or will you side with the corrupt billionaires trying to wreck the planet for their profit? Millions of Americans are waiting on your answer.”

The shores of the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel are home to the second-largest petrochemical complex in the world. On an average day, 700,000 barrels of oil pass through the location the climbers have blocked, more than any other export channel in the United States. Industry expansion plans could increase that amount to 2 million barrels in a matter of years [1].

Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said:

“We’re in a climate emergency created by fossil fuel CEOs and made worse by Trump. We can either take bold action to combat the climate crisis today or suffer the consequences — more floods, more mega-storms, and more fires — for years to come.

“Here’s what can happen when we finally choose renewable energy over fossil fuels: We can create millions of high-paying, union jobs. We can keep our air and water clean and safe. And we can safeguard our climate against catastrophe. We can’t afford to screw this up, and we won’t let oil executives do that for us.”

The action comes as presidential candidates gather in nearby Houston for the third Democratic primary debate. The climate crisis has emerged as a top issue in the 2020 election. A majority of registered voters now say climate change is an “emergency” and 67 percent believe that the United States under the Trump administration is not doing enough to address the problem [2]. In recent weeks, multiple Democratic candidates have released plans to phase out fossil fuels, hold industry executives accountable for their role in the climate crisis, and create jobs and opportunity in the renewable energy economy [3].

The action also sets the stage for next week’s youth climate strike. On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in New York City, millions of people across the US and the world will participate in youth-led strikes to demand transformative action to address the climate crisis. Youth leaders are calling on elected officials to say yes to a Green New Deal and no to fossil fuel expansion.

ENDS
Notes:
[1] https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Houston-leads-as-Texas-ships-out-80-of-nation-s-13696641.php
[2] https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3639
[3] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020/
 
Photo and video: https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJ886WM5

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Partnership for America’s Health Care Future
americashealthcarefuture.org
September 12, 2019

Partnership Launches National Television & Digital Ads: Part Of National Seven-Figure Campaign, Ads Will Run On ABC & Univision Debate Coverage

WASHINGTON – The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future today announced that it will launch new television and digital advertising around tonight’s Democratic presidential debate.  Part of a seven-figure national public education effort, the ads will run on ABC and Univision television stations during tonight’s debate coverage, as well as on both networks’ digital properties on desktop, mobile and Connected TV.  The Partnership will also run advertisements on Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, as well as a takeover of YouTube’s homepage following the debate.

• To view “Same Thing,” which will run on ABC television and digital platforms, CLICK HERE.
• To view “Amenaza,” a Spanish-language ad which will run on Univision and digital platforms, CLICK HERE.
• To view “Threat,” which will run on digital platforms, CLICK HERE.

“As health care continues to take center stage in the national debate, the Partnership is committed to ensuring Americans understand the facts about proposed new government health insurance systems, like Medicare for all, Medicare buy-in and the public option,” said Lauren Crawford Shaver, the Partnership’s executive director.  “With about 90 percent of Americans covered, our leaders need to focus on solutions that control costs and build and improve upon what’s working – not on one-size-fits-all government-controlled systems that would force Americans to pay more and wait longer for worse care.”

Voter Vitals – a new quarterly tracking poll conducted nationwide and in 2020 battleground states – finds that “[h]ealth care will be the defining issue of the 2020 presidential election.  However, a clear majority of voters nationwide are primed to reject new government-run systems that will cost voters more to expand coverage like Medicare for All, the public option, and Medicare buy-in.  Most voters want candidates to lower costs, build on what’s working and fix what’s broken – not start over.”  This tracks closely with recent national polling conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which finds that the majority of Americans, including Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, want our elected officials to build and improve upon on our current system.

Previous national polling from KFF reveals that “majorities of Americans are unaware of the kind of dramatic changes that [Medicare for all] would bring to the nation’s health care system,” while CNN reports that few Americans support Medicare for all once they better understand its consequences, and even most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would prefer our elected officials focus instead on improving and building upon what works in American health care.

Another national poll conducted earlier this year by the KFF revealed that support for Medicare for all “drops as low as -44 percentage points” when people find out it would “lead to delays in some people getting some medical tests and treatments,” and “is also negative if people hear it would threaten the current Medicare program (-28 percentage points), require most Americans to pay more in taxes (-23 percentage points), or eliminate private health insurance companies (-21 percentage points).”  The Washington Post confirms in a recent story headlined “Why 2020 Democrats are backing off Medicare-for-all, in four charts,” that “[p]olls show why they’re doing this.  On the surface, the idea sounds as if it would appeal to voters.”  But when voters are made aware of the many negative consequences of such a system, including the elimination of private insurance and need for higher taxes, support drops.

And while some candidates continue to push the public option as a more moderate alternative to Medicare for all, the harmful consequences of such a government-controlled health care system for patients are now becoming clearer.  A new study, conducted by Navigant, finds that the public option could put more than 1,000 rural U.S. hospitals in 46 states “at high risk of closure.”  These hospitals serve more than 60 million Americans, and as Kaiser Health News and NPR report, hospital closures can have “profound social, emotional and medical consequences.”

An earlier study by KNG Consulting found that “[f]or hospitals, the introduction of a public plan that reimburses providers using Medicare rates would compound financial stresses they are already facing, potentially impacting access to care and provider quality,” while another study by Navigant found that new government insurance systems such as “buy-in” or “public option” could force hospitals to limit the care they provide, produce significant “layoffs” and “potentially force the closure of essential hospitals.”  Meanwhile, in a story headlined “How a Medicare Buy-In or Public Option Could Threaten Obamacare,” The New York Times reports that the “public option may well threaten the A.C.A. in unexpected ways.”

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Tax March
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    
 Wednesday, September 11, 2019   

PRESS CONTACT: Valerie Jean-Charles 

Tax March Releases New ‘Tax the Rich’ Ads in Houston Before Democratic Presidential Debate

Washington, DC — Today, Tax March announced a five-figure ad campaign in Houston, Texas, highlighting the disastrous effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and demanding candidates debating at the third Democratic primary debate on September 12 present bold policies to tax the rich. 

The two-day campaign starts Wednesday with geo-targeted digital ads running on Facebook and Twitter and a mobile digital billboard circling downtown Houston calling on lawmakers to “rein in the rich.” 

On the day of the debate, Progress Texas, in partnership with Tax March, will run a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle calling attention to a tax loophole that wealthy developers are using to get tax cuts as they build luxury apartments, hotels, and housing for the rich in some of Houston’s poorest communities. 

Tax March’s Houston activities are the first in a six-figure initiative to build on the current public support for progressive taxation, following this summer’s momentum-building Tax the Rich national bus tour. This campaign aims to empower local activists and voters to hold lawmakers accountable for their TCJA votes and advocate for taxing the rich. 

“Not since the era before the Great Depression has the gap between the wealthy and working-class been so great as it is today, and Americans are fed up,” said Maura Quint, Executive Director of Tax March. “Over the summer, Tax March heard from hundreds of working people across 20 states about how the Trump tax didn’t help them. And this is why Tax March will be traveling to each debate stop to push debate moderators and presidential candidates to have meaningful and nuanced conversations regarding our tax code. With 75 percent of likely 2020 voters supporting taxing the rich, it is crucial that each presidential candidate articulate to the American people their plan to create a fairer tax system that benefits everyone, and not just a privileged few.” 

“While Texas is in the midst of an affordability crisis, the Trump tax plan is showing little impact for those who need it most,” Ed Espinoza, Executive Director of Progress Texas. “Our urgent need is for affordable and missing middle housing, and this particular building, The Preston,  fulfills neither of those goals. This luxury high rise development uses Trump tax cuts to widen the economic divide while many hard working Texans are seeking to bridge the divide—our government  can and should do better.” 

The five-figure ad campaign in Houston includes:

A full-page ad developed in partnership with Progress Texas in the Thursday edition of the Houston Chronicle;

One mobile billboard truck that will circulate downtown Houston, and can be spotted near Texas Southern University hours before the debate on Thursday; and

Tax the Rich ads viewable on Facebook and Twitter. 

To schedule an interview before or after the debates with Tax March spokespeople or board members, please email press@taxmarch.org.