Mr. Fitzgerald —
I’m sorry that we missed you at your office on Monday. I’ve seen some of your responses in the media; I can’t imagine that you had had time to read the letter in detail by that time, let alone consider the 40+ references (linked in the online version of the letter and also printed on the last page following the signature list) — and especially considering what you said in your responses. I hope you do make the time, so as to be able to make better-informed decisions going forward in your work as County Executive (and any future positions in public policy). The assertions in the letter are not just my opinions; they are backed up with facts and science.
I wanted to follow up also because the hardcopy of the letter included a TinyURL web link that works in some browsers but not others (e.g., Safari can find “tinyurl/mlfitz2” but Chrome requires “tinyurl.com/mlfitz2”). So that you have it handy, the full link to the letter (with references, and a still-growing list of signatories) is:
https://marenslistresources.blogspot.com/2021/06/stand-with-science-calling-on-rich.html
I didn’t want anything to get in the way of your access to the information!
In your media interviews, you brought up some things that I didn’t mention in my letter. Home heating costs? Higher in Pennsylvania than elsewhere! Recent dip in local pollution? Worldwide, and tied to the pandemic. And even so, carbon dioxide is at an all-time high (since measurements began).
In the short time since I completed Monday's letter, there have been many new developments. New scientific studies released, new legal actions both here and abroad (e.g., a U.S. District Court upheld the ban on fracking in the Delaware watershed, and a Dutch court ordered Shell to greatly curtail their carbon emissions), new deadly gas incidents and other industrial disasters, new information about past incidents, new criminal investigations. Confirmation of the likely impact of escaped nurdles on our waterways and wildlife. Not to mention other energy news, like the the cancellation of the Keystone XL. It’s hard to keep up with this stuff!
Overall, there has been a tremendous amount of new science in recent years, in recent months, in recent weeks. That’s why I thought that my letter, gathering so much information into one handy summary, might help you understand why a change in direction is so important. The bottom line is that the health impacts are real and the economic benefits are illusory.
You once told me that Pittsburgh was only able to recover from the loss of most of the steel industry because of natural gas. How, then, does the word “gas” never appear in a World Economic Forum piece (based on their Competitiveness of Cities report) on how this region reinvented itself? The answer can be summed up in a common local phrase, “Eds and Meds”. By the same token, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have the technological and human capacity, the strength and ingenuity, to help lead the world toward the new (carbon-neutral) energy future. This is a huge opportunity! Humanity needs to transition away from fossil fuels rapidly — we must halt fossil fuel combustion within the next two or three decades, and that means no new fossil energy infrastructure. Our region can be a leader in this transition, and also stands to gain a great deal — our collective health — since most pollution is associated with fossil fuel combustion. And since low-income folks, especially people of color, have been forced to live near polluting facilities, that same progress would also reduce the inequities inherent in economic, racial, and environmental injustice.
Climate, pollution, health, and justice. The world is taking these issues seriously; your constituents need you to, as well.
I look forward to hearing from you by week’s end (as I noted to your staff during our visit).
Sincerely,
— Maren Cooke, PhD
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