{"id":15197,"date":"2021-03-24T16:49:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T23:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/?p=15197"},"modified":"2021-07-21T15:39:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T22:39:30","slug":"tacoma-lng-appeal-hearings-beginning-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/tacoma-lng-appeal-hearings-beginning-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"PSE Found Guilty by the People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians and several environmental organizations have appealed Tacoma LNG’s clean air permit. The legal appeal hearings begin Monday, April 12 and, though there is not opportunity for public participation in these legal hearings, we have been building awareness of PSE’s dirty and dangerous fracked gas project in the “court of public opinion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earth Ministry\/WAIPL’s Program & Outreach Director Jessica Zimmerle spoke at a March 24 Zoom press conference hosted by the Power Past Fracked Gas Coalition and Earthjustice. This press conference took place after a mock trial of Puget Sound Energy (PSE) vs. the People where participants acting as jurors found PSE guilty of violating tribal treaty rights and perpetuating environmental racism with their Tacoma LNG project. Video recording will be shared once available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People of faith are looking to the WA Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) to listen to the Puyallup Tribe and require a new environmental impact statement (EIS) for the clean air permit. We also call upon the WA Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) to prevent Puget Sound Energy from beginning operations at the Tacoma LNG facility on May 1, before the PCHB’s decision on the air permit appeal is released in mid to late summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are Jessica’s words from the Press Conference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Good afternoon. My name is Jessica Zimmerle and I am the Program and Outreach Director at Earth Ministry and Washington Interfaith Power and Light, a statewide organization that engages people of faith in the movement for environmental justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We serve nearly 250 houses of worship and 5,000 individuals who live within the boundaries of PSE\u2019s service area. These are folks from a broad range of spiritual traditions who are putting their faith into action for the wellbeing of communities and the environment. I am here today representing faith leaders who are doing all that they can to green their congregational life and leave clean, healthy legacy for our youth and the generations yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though diverse in our beliefs, the faith community comes together around shared core values like upholding treaty promises, seeking justice for all, and being good stewards of our one and only planet. These values have led us to repeatedly call on PSE to halt their dirty and dangerous fracked gas facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You heard the charges leveled by the people against PSE today. First and foremost among the long list of wrongdoings is disregard of the Puyallup Tribe\u2019s treaty rights. The Tribal Council and Water Warriors have said no to this project time and time again. No should mean NO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only are we accountable to the supreme law of the land in our treaty obligations to the Puyallup, we also have a serious moral obligation to respect and follow the caretakers of this region since time immemorial. The possibility that this fracked gas facility could go online before the verdict of the Tribe\u2019s legal appeal is appalling. The people have found this blatant behavior by PSE to be deeply disrespectful, unethical, and violating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In preparing for today, I came across a page on PSE\u2019s website<\/a> that is dedicated to their ethics and goals. They state that their \u201cethics and compliance program covers a broad range of topics but can be summarized into one simple sentence: Do what is right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe this is a relatively new page, at least I don\u2019t recall it being there last time I combed through their website. They even now have an ethics line to call with feedback. This addition is likely because the public outcry against their climate wrecking ways has been loud and persistent over the last few years. PSE has been on trial in the court of public opinion for quite some time, and they have been found undeniably guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSE is trying to convince the public, and perhaps themselves, that they are doing \u201cwhat\u2019s right.\u201d In reality, their greenwashing and deception is beyond wrong. They tout ethics similar to our own like being a good neighbor, promoting environmental stewardship, and taking personal responsibility. Yet we have found their expression of these stated values to be lacking authenticity and accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final ethic that PSE lists on their website is that they will continue to learn and grow. That they will \u201cexamine past practices, challenge assumptions, and apply lessons learned to improve our efforts as we get better at what we do every day.\u201d We\u2019re looking at you PSE, challenging you to embody this stated commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We call on PSE to examine your past practices of disregard for the Puyallup Tribe, challenge your assumption that your customers want or need more fossil fuels, and apply lessons learned to improve your practices and actually <\/em>do what is right. At the very least, the ethical path forward is to hold off on bringing the facility online until after the legal appeal has concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends, this trial is not over today. PSE will continue to be judged in the court of public opinion, as well as in the court of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The faith community in Tacoma and beyond, alongside the entire Power Past Fracked Gas coalition, will keep speaking out against PSE\u2019s fracked gas facility. We pray that the UTC hears our cry that this dirty and dangerous project is not in the public interest. And we hold hope as we actively work for a future in which treaty promises are honored, public safety is prioritized over industry profits, and both our climate and communities thrive in good health. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earth Ministry\/WAIPL’s Program & Outreach Director Jessica Zimmerle spoke at a March 24 Zoom press conference hosted by the Power Past Fracked Gas Coalition and Earthjustice. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians and several environmental organizations have appealed Tacoma LNG’s clean air permit and appeal hearings begin Monday, April 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169,128,130,6,166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-voices-for-indigenous-solidarity","category-fossil-fuels-news","category-fracked-gas-news","category-news","category-tacoma-lng-news","comments-off"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/4-Totem-pole-LNG-by-Earth-Ministry-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15227,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15197\/revisions\/15227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthministry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}