Ira Einhorn at the first Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970
Environmental Justice Walk Against Cancer and Pollution
Saturday, April 26, 2014 – 11 am
Martin Luther King Jr. Park
5700 block of 3rd Street at Carroll
Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco
415-447-3904
greenaction@greenaction.org
http://www.greenaction.org
Let’s march together in memory of our loved ones who have passed or are suffering from cancer, and dedicate ourselves to work for healthy communities and environmental and climate justice. Stop pollution of our communities! Toxic waste & neighborhoods don’t mix! Protect communities from climate change & rising sea levels that threaten to flood toxic sites near our homes!
WHAT ARE TAR SANDS? Because fossil fuels are a finite resource, petroleum companies are now resorting to more extreme forms of oil extraction, including tar sands, fracking, and Arctic exploration. The “tar sands” are deposits of heavy crude oil trapped in sand and clay that are extracted using enormous amounts of water, as well as open pit mining, heat and horizontal wells. The largest deposit of Canada’s tar sands is along the Athabasca River in Alberta (Source: http://albertacanada.com).
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF TAR SANDS? Tar sands oil extraction and production emit three times more carbon dioxide than the extraction and production of conventional oil. Tar sands extraction requires total destruction of pristine areas within the Canadian Boreal forest, one of the few large, intact ecosystems on Earth (Source: Friends of the Earth). In a 2012 editorial in the New York Times, Jim Hansen of NASA famously wrote that if the tar sands are fully excavated, it will be “game over for the climate,” because Canada’s tar sands contain twice as much carbon dioxide (CO2) as has been emitted over the entire span of human history (Source: NYT 5/9/12).
WHY SHOULD MARTINEZ RESIDENTS BE CONCERNED? Shell Refinery in Martinez is currently receiving and processing tar sands (Source: CC Times, 6/10/13). Tar sands refineries are known to produce more sulfur dioxide pollution than refineries using conventional crude. Even short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide can result in respiratory illness and cardiovascular issues, as well as aggravation of asthma already common in fenceline communities like Martinez (Source: Tar Sands Refineries: Communities At Risk, ForestEthics, September 2012). Shell also has a global role in profiting from the destruction of the climate – Royal Dutch Shell owns 60 percent of the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada (Source: http://www.shell.com).
Join the Martinez Environmental Group at our next community meeting
Date and topic to be announced soon!
Location:
First Congregational Church, Mayflower Room
1229 Court Street at Susana Street
Martinez, CA 94553
Why, that’s a Conoco-Phillips 27.3 MW generating power plant that runs on petroleum coke! So, those loose piles of black dust off to the side of Hwy 4 are piles of petroleum coke. Pet coke is a by-product of bitumen processing and contains multiple dangerous chemicals and heavy metals, including chromium, vanadium, sulfur, and selenium. Not to mention how it lodges itself in your lungs.
When burned, pet coke produces 5% to 10% more CO2 than coal!
Bright idea: tear this facility down, clean up the land, build a solar facility. It will create construction jobs, too!
Help protect our open space. The Martinez City Council has already approved 3 major high density projects in our city that are being built now. There is no need for this project, and it will make open space a target forever more. Please send something NOW to the City to get our concerns in the official record.
Please send a simple e-mail to
dinatasini@comcast.net
rschroder@cityofmartinez.org
to oppose this project. Unless an Evironmental Impact Report is done, 100 houses are proposed on this 26 acres of land that is now zoned “Open Space and Recreation, Permanent”.
Here are simple facts to state. Use any of these words you want or use your own:
—–
Re: Vine Hill Project—Pine Meadows
Re-zoning open space for housing development has a major affect on the environment, on greenhouse gases and climate change, on our property values and our quality of life. A full EIR is required.
Your report states this about the site: “mature woodland vegetation”; “nesting and foraging habitat for a variety of birds” including special-status birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; “habitat for… The California red-legged frog”—an endangered species; “presence of wetlands” near man-made pond. Forty-seven (47) old protected trees will be killed, including redwoods and many oaks.
Think of what this land could be. The EIR requires looking at alternative uses for this property. That is a major reason why an EIR must be done before you decide to rezone it. This property could be used to be a positive benefit to the community and help solve environmental and climate change issues we face. Housing development with do the opposite—“The project would eliminate foraging habitat …and…require removal of all trees.”
The current “Open Space and Recreation, Permanent” zoning for this property is one of the highest uses of property and the zoning should not be changed without a full EIR.
Additonally, the major General Plan change you propose will have a City-wide affect on open space, as it will allow you to easily convert more open space to housing. That alone requires and EIR due to the extent of the changes it would force on Martinez residents.
—–
Here is a link to all the reports on this project on the City website.
http://www.cityofmartinez.org/depts/planning/pine_meadows_subdivision_9358.asp
Notice of a Public Workshop, Waterfront Park Renovation, A Measure “H” Project
The Parks, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission (PRMCC) is hosting a
public workshop. The goal of the workshop is to help guide the planning and
design process for the improvement of Waterfront Park. Waterfront Park is the
largest community recreation park in the City of Martinez. It is the site of softball
tournaments, the Fourth of July celebration and a number of special events such as
the Beer Fest and King of the County Bar-B-Que. In addition it serves many
general recreation functions such as group picnic, family picnic, play areas, soccer
and skateboard park. Come to the workshop to tell us what to fix, what to keep,
what to change, what to treasure! What matters to you? We cannot renovate the
park without your help.
This meeting is the third of three opportunities for public input in an informal
workshop atmosphere. This meeting will be held to review the preferred
alternative that has been developed from input from the first two workshops and
the PRMCC Park Subcommittee. Noise and light impacts will be a main topic of
discussion. The full PRMCC will review the preferred alternative and develop a
recommendation for the City Council. The City Council will make a final decision
on the preferred alternative.
Waterfront Park Renovation Workshop
April 21, 2014
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
City Council Chambers
525 Henrietta St.
Martinez, CA 94553
BY RYAN KORONOWSKI APRIL 18, 2014
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/18/3428625/keystone-delay-midterms/
Martinez Environmental Group 