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For Immediate Release
June, 06 2016, 10:45am EDT
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
CCAN Applauds D.C. for Divesting its $6.4 Billion Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels
Today, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen joined environmental and philanthropic leaders to announce that the District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB) has divested its $6.4 billion fund from all direct investments in 200 of the world's most polluting fossil fuel companies. On Tuesday, June 7th, the D.C. Council will vote on a ceremonial resolution honoring the DCRB's action.
WASHINGTON
Today, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen joined environmental and philanthropic leaders to announce that the District of Columbia Retirement Board (DCRB) has divested its $6.4 billion fund from all direct investments in 200 of the world's most polluting fossil fuel companies. On Tuesday, June 7th, the D.C. Council will vote on a ceremonial resolution honoring the DCRB's action.
This week's announcement follows a three-year campaign led by DC Divest, a citizens group dedicated to promoting divestment in the District of Columbia.
Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), issued the following statement in response:
"The District of Columbia Retirement Board deserves our applause for taking bold and decisive action to divest from fossil fuel companies. Global warming is already causing record flooding, heat and storms in D.C. and across our region, threatening our health, economy and future. We must take immediate action, and the District is taking a big step forward by cutting financial ties with oil, gas and coal companies that are responsible for creating this crisis and blocking our path to solutions.
"We cannot and must not back down when it comes to fighting for a cleaner, safer future. This win on divestment is one of many more to come in making the nation's capital a leader on climate action."
See the DC Divest press release at: https://dcdivest.org/2016/06/06/dc-divests-pension-fund-oil-gas-coal-companies/
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement in this unique region that surrounds our nation's capital to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability. - See more at: http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view;=itemlist&...
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Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, has lobbied for the same firm as Susie Wiles, Trump's chief of staff pick, according to Senate filings. Bondi also reportedly has ties to the lawyer who represented Trump confidant Elon Musk and Tesla in a federal securities fraud case.
Bondi, who helped represent Trump during his first impeachment trial and took part in the effort to reverse the results of the 2020 election, currently serves as chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a far-right think tank that's playing a central role in the presidential transition and in crafting Trump's agenda.
Trump's selection of Bondi to lead the Justice Department prompted renewed scrutiny of her record as Florida's top prosecutor, particularly her favorable treatment of big banks and other firms implicated in the foreclosure crisis.
The American Prospect's David Dayen, the author of an acclaimed book on Wall Street foreclosure fraud, noted Friday that Bondi's victory in Florida's 2010 attorney general election was aided in part by donations from Lender Processing Services and other firms that were facing investigations launched by the office of Bondi's predecessor.
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In a November 8 letter obtained by ProPublica, Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey wrote that an "investigation was unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information" despite state law and confidential agreements signed by panel members barring such disclosures.
Toomey explained that the committee was immediately "disbanded," a replacement panel will be formed through a new application process, and additional procedures are under consideration regarding confidentiality, oversight, and organizational structure.
ProPublica reported that the office of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp—who appointed Toomey—declined to comment and referred questions to the health department, whose spokesperson also declined to comment, saying that the letter, "speaks for itself."
As the outlet detailed:
Reproductive rights advocates say Georgia's decision to dismiss and restructure its committee also could have a chilling effect on the committee's work, potentially dissuading its members from delving as deeply as they have into the circumstances of pregnant women's deaths if it could be politically sensitive.
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"Women died because they received no life-saving care as they were having miscarriages in Georgia and the state responded by simply eradicating the committee that investigated deaths of pregnant women," declared writer and organizer Hannah Riley.
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New York magazine senior correspondent Irin Carmon, whose forthcoming book is about pregnancy in the United States, similarly said: "This is how they cover up what abortion bans do—fire anyone who helps tell the stories of harm. Everyone who is or can be pregnant will pay the price."
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