VOTER GUIDE

Methane Comments: Arcelia Isais-Gastelum

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(The EPA is hosting three virtual public hearings on January 10-12. These hearings are an important opportunity for communities across the country to make their voices heard, and demand that EPA adopts strong, comprehensive methane safeguards to protect our health and our planet. We share ccomments from New Mexico and El Paso residents).

My name is Arcelia Isais-Gastelum. I am a resident of Albuquerque and a person of faith and conscious. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the federal methane rules.

Throughout my relatively short educational and professional career, I have dedicated my life toward moving us toward a sustainable future. In these ten years, I have operated under the faith and determination that as the technology gets better and the science becomes clearer, we would collectively move toward this path naturally. What instead I’ve seen over and over again is a resistance towards doing even the bare minimum.

Stopping pollution is a crucial first step we must take for protecting our communities. From a moral, physical, and spiritual standpoint, we can no longer afford to keep sacrificing the health of our people for short term economic gain.

New Mexico has some of the worst methane pollution in the country. In addition to causing a quarter of the global warming we are experiencing, methane operations also release compounds into our air that cause respiratory diseases and increase risks of cancer.

Stopping pollution is a crucial first step we must take for protecting our communities. From a moral, physical, and spiritual standpoint, we can no longer afford to keep sacrificing the health of our people for short term economic gain.

This country has repeatedly empowered industries who routinely put our children at risk. It’s become so normalized and expected, there’s now an entire generation of kids who, like me, are growing up and realizing they are beholden to a system that agreed to put their future at stake so previous generations could turn a profit.

It is for these reasons that I strongly support doing the bare minimum of strengthening our federal methane regulations. I say this is the bare minimum because we are not asking to shut down all operations nor to ban all toxic emissions, but simply to regularly inspect these operations and lower the emissions to safer levels.

Thank you again for your time.

Methane Comments: Marlene Perrotte

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(The EPA is hosting three virtual public hearings on January 10-12. These hearings are an important opportunity for communities across the country to make their voices heard, and demand that EPA adopts strong, comprehensive methane safeguards to protect our health and our planet. We share ccomments from New Mexico and El Paso residents).

I am Marlene Perrotte, a member of Sister of Mercy whose ethical commitment to Care for Our Common Home and protect the Commonwealth for the Common Good impels us to work more effectively toward the sustainability of life. I come before you because I care about the fate of our planet’s climate, our public health and the viability of the earth’s community. This work is not optional, it is integral to people of faith.

I would like to thank the EPA and each of you for your work on the methane supplemental rule proposal. Strong federal methane safeguards contribute to reducing climate and air pollution from the oil and gas industry, protect the health and wellbeing of communities across this country, and put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work building a more efficient and secure energy system.

Requiring companies to plug leaks and set reasonable limits on venting and flaring of natural gas is essential. EPA’s current proposal would allow smaller wells with leak-prone equipment to forgo regular monitoring, despite the fact that the science is clear about the outsized levels of pollution from these wells. This is a big problem since operators wouldn’t be required to factor in major pollution events called super-emitters or equipment failures

Strong federal methane safeguards contribute to reducing climate and air pollution from the oil and gas industry, protect the health and wellbeing of communities across this country, and put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work building a more efficient and secure energy system.

A study published in the Journal Nature Communications reveals that low-producing oil and gas wells are responsible for approximately half of the methane emitted from all well sites in the United ‘states while accounting for only 6 of the nation’s oil and gas production. Nearly 8 million people across the country live within half a mile of these sites. Taking action in addressing these emissions must be an essential part of a comprehensive effort to modernize U.S. Policy and more energy development in the 21st century.

Thank you for engaging in this ethical endeavor. Thank you for giving us hope as you carry out the EPA’s mission…public servants protecting the Common Wealth for the Common Good, Care of our ‘Common Home.

 

EPA’s Supplemental Methane Hearing starts Today

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Take Action, Cut Methane

In November, President Biden issued an updated draft rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations. The updated rule builds on the draft rule released by EPA in 2021, incorporates much of the feedback offered by communities in the past year, and is an important step towards addressing the climate crisis, safeguarding public health, and creating new jobs in the methane mitigation industry.

Still, there is more work to be done to ensure that the strongest possible methane safeguards are quickly finalized. EPA is hosting three virtual public hearings on January 10-12, 2023 from 10 AM–8 PM Eastern. These hearings are an important opportunity for communities across the country to make their voices heard, and demand that EPA adopts strong, comprehensive methane safeguards to protect our health and our planet.
Please use the guidance below to encourage folks to tune into the hearings this week, and highlight testimony offered by folks from across the country.

Pre-Hearing Guidance

Tomorrow: At virtual public hearings hosted by @EPA, people from across the country call for the strongest #CutMethane safeguards possible & hold polluters accountable! Our health, safety, & futures are on the line. Watch live at TIME/ZONE → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs9R9AAZkAo

Livestream Guidance

WATCH: At virtual public hearings hosted by @EPA [STATERS] are calling for the strongest safeguards possible to #CutMethane from the oil & gas industry. Tune in to learn more about how we can protect #PublicHealth & tackle the #ClimateCrisis → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs9R9AAZkAo
LIVE: Folks from across the country call on @EPA to finalize the strongest #CutMethane safeguards possible & hold polluters accountable! Our health, safety, & futures are on the line. Tune in here → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs9R9AAZkAo

Comment Period Pivot Guidance

Can’t join the virtual public hearings on @EPA’s new proposal to #CutMethane? Don’t worry – you can still make your voice heard by submitting a comment urging @EPA to finalize the strongest safeguards possible NOW! Deadline Feb 13: https://cutmethane.org/take-action/
Did you miss your opportunity to speak at @EPA’s virtual public hearings on the #CutMethane rulemaking? There is still time to make your voice heard by submitting a public comment calling for the strongest safeguards possible. Deadline Feb 13: https://cutmethane.org/take-action/

On Tuesday, June 30, Faith in Public Life and Interfaith Power & Light released a voter reflection guide endorsed by prominent national faith groups and religious leaders. The guide, Democracy, Values & the 2020 Election, addresses urgent issues in the election, including voting rights, climate change, systemic racism in the criminal justice system, healthcare and immigration. The guide, which will be distributed across the country for discussion in diverse faith communities, includes topics for reflection and sample questions to ask candidates  Download Full Guide Here

Download Spanish-language version of the guide, Democracia, Valores y las Elecciones de 2020

Issues and Questions

Democracy and Voting Rights (Page 1)

This election is more than a choice between parties and ideologies. An even more fundamental question is at stake: Can we preserve democracy in the face of serious threats to fair elections and fundamental rights?

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. How do you see democratic values at risk today?
  2. How do systemic barriers to voting undermine our most sacred democratic values?
  3. How can your faith community better advocate for stronger voter protections at the state and local level?
  4. As a candidate, what are your specific plans for protecting and strengthening voting rights?

Protecting God’s Creation Climate Justice for our Children and World (Page 2)

As people of faith, we believe that responding to the urgent threat of climate change is essential to caring for God’s creation and loving our neighbors. Human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels for energy, has thrown
nature out of balance, polluted the air, driven thousands of species of God’s creatures to extinction, intensified catastrophic events such as wildfires and hurricanes, and threatened the lives and livelihoods of our most vulnerable brothers, sisters and neighbors around the world. Scientists tell us we have less than a decade to avoid even more catastrophic consequences.

The United States has a unique responsibility to show moral and political leadership:

  • Transitioning our economy away from polluting fossil fuels toward 100% clean energy.
  • Honoring the emissions-reduction commitments our nation made at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris in 2015, and taking additional actions needed to avert catastrophic global warming.
  • Assisting developing nations— who are least responsible for climate change but most impacted by it — in coping with threats such as increased droughts, disease, and sea-level rise by sharing technology and financial support.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. What does your faith teach about our responsibilities for the Earth and to others? How are they interdependent?
  2. Has your faith community made an effort to cut emissions, save energy, or practice environmental stewardship?
  3. As a candidate, what specific policies do you support to protect God’s Creation and secure a safe climate for our children and future generations?

Loving Our Immigrant Neighbors (Page 4)

Scripture repeatedly makes clear that immigrants must be treated with dignity. Policies that rip children from their parents’ arms, lock people away in inhumane conditions, and ban desperate families from entering the country
should keep us awake at night. As people of faith, we believe that the way we treat our immigrant neighbors is a sign of how we treat God.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. How can we replace immoral immigration policies that tear families apart and cause trauma with an immigration system that values families and affirms the dignity of allv people?
  2. What can we do to heal the wounds inflicted on immigrant communities by political rhetoric that portrays them as a dangerous “other?”
  3. If there are immigrants in our community who are feeling isolated and under threat, how can we show support and build connections?
  4. As a candidate, what will you do to defend the dignity of all immigrants, and how will you further policies that keep families together?

The Last Shall Be First An Economy of Inclusion (Page 5)

Our economic systems should work for all Americans, not only the wealthiest few. This is a matter of justice and
human dignity. All religious traditions recognize that charity is essential to care for the most vulnerable, but helping our neighbors in poverty also compels us to address its root causes. “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld,” St. Augustine observed centuries ago.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. What can we do to ensure that all Americans are able to provide for their families and live with security and dignity?
  2. How do we create a just tax system that is fair to all Americans, including working families who are trapped in poverty?
  3. Why does the United States lag behind most developed countries when it comes to providing paid sick leave and paid family leave?
  4. As a candidate, what are your specific plans to ensure workers have living wages and economic security while the coronavirus pandemic continues, as well as for the long term?

More Health Policies in a Time of a Pandemic  (Page 7)

Despite our nation’s stated values of life and equality, the United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee its residents universal access to health care. This is a failure of political and moral imagination – especially in a time of pandemic.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. How can people of faith be most effective in using our stories, congregations and power to advocate for health care reform?
  2. What do you struggle with the most when it comes to our healthcare system?
  3. How has the COVID-19 crisis impacted your community? What policy solutions can keep us all safe and remedy racial and economic inequalities in your community?
  4. As a candidate, what are your specific plans for making sure that quality,
    affordable health care is available for all?

Restorative Racial Justice (Page 9)

Justice and redemption are at the very heart of faith. Restorative justice begins with listening to and empowering communities that have been exploited, excluded and denied equal representation and freedom. The evil ideology of
white supremacy shaped our nation from its founding and continues to impact policies and communities today, especially in the criminal justice system. The killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and so many other Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color, has provoked a growing, multi-racial moral movement for accountability and systemic reforms for racial justice.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. How can we dismantle the evil ideology of white supremacy in our culture and political systems?
  2. What can be done to end racial profiling and police violence against people of color?
  3. What steps can be taken to ensure formerly incarcerated people have voting rights and fair access to employment?
  4. As a candidate, what will you do to ensure racial justice is prioritized in the criminal justice system?
  5. How do we build safe communities for everyone, particularly people of color?

Made in the Image of God: Respecting the Dignity of LGBTQ People (Page 11)

All people have inherent dignity because everyone is created in the image of God. Our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender family members, neighbors and co-workers deserve equal rights, and to live without fear or discrimination.

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. How can your faith community more fully support the equal dignity of LGBTQ people in your state and local area?
  2. What are the greatest threats to LGBTQ people in your community and the nation?
  3. As a candidate, what are your specific plans to ensure that LGBTQ people have equal rights and are treated with dignity

The Global Common Good:  We’re All in This Together (Page 12)

What does it mean to love our neighbors as ourselves in a globalized world? The health and future of our country and
communities are interconnected to the health and security of other nations. Our  fates are bound up in what Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “an inescapable network of mutuality.”

Questions for Reflection and Candidates

  1. What policies do you think are most important for creating security for your family and community?
  2. What role should the United States play in the world to help build global peace and security?
  3. How can your faith community advocate for policies to create a more peaceful world?
  4. As a candidate, what programs and policies would you prioritize to help build secure communities and a peaceful world?