Prisoners within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are working, unpaid, in the TCI chemical plant without being issued the proper air-ventilated safety masks. In an open letter, TDCJ inmate David Martinez described the entire work area at the Coffield Unit’s Metal Fabrication Plant as having a faulty ventilation system. "It is not fully operational and does not protect prison workers or TCI employees from hazardous and toxic fumes that are put into the atmosphere by numerous projects like welding and painting," writes Martinez. The Metal Fabrication Plant Manager and his staff have devised a “warning system” that TDCJ inmates are very familiar with, Martinez says — a warning system that gives the Metal Fabrication Plant Manager a “heads up” when any kind of inspector or auditor is at the front gate — allowing the prisoners and Texas Correctional Industry employees to shut down all activities deemed illegal and unsafe by the Fire Marshal or any other oversight Agency. The Metal Fabrication Plant is currently devising a plan for expansion, filling an order for 5,000 new storage lockers, Martinez adds, while there are no current plans to fix the plant’s ventilation system, nor to restock masks and safety equipment for the inmates who work there. Many of the chemicals and substances used in the Coffield Unit’s Metal Fabrication Plant, and in many other units and plants throughout Texas, have clear warning labels that they have the potential to cause cancer. Martinez explains that Texas prisoners are being forced to work in a very dangerous environment and to engage in hazardous and illegal practices with no regard for their health or safety. "Many prisoners are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation," Martinez reports. "Prisoners are threatened with disciplinary action if they [complain, refuse to work or] do not sign Material Safety Data Sheets (which give the 'appearance' that Texas prisoners are being given the proper training and safety equipment) in this very volatile and hazardous atmosphere." David Martinez and thousands of other Texas prisoners need your immediate help and support! Sign this petition to demand that Texas state officials provide immediate relief to the affected prisoners and to facilitate investigation by a body that's not part of the prison administration

Governor Cuomo of New York has declared a statewide ban on fracking. Local citizen-led initiatives have helped ban fracking in Mendocino and San Benito counties in California; Athens, Ohio; Mora, New Mexico; and Denton, Texas. Communities across the United States and world are saying NO to this environmentally disastrous method of extracting fossil fuels from the land. It is time for every politician throughout NY State and around the country to take action and ban fracking NOW!

Mark Schwarzer spent five years at Wallace Pack Unit, where he was exposed to high levels of arsenic discovered in the prison water supply. While serving time at Wallace Pack Unit, Mark was diagnosed with skin cancer. He attributes the cancer to his consumption of the arsenic-tainted water in the prison. Soon after, Mr. Schwarzer requested that his blood be tested for arsenic but University of Texas Medical Branch personnel vehemently refused. As a result of their refusal, Mark filed a Step I (I-127) grievance. In September 2015, not long after these events, Mark was involuntarily transferred from Wallace Park Unit, in Navasota, TX to Boyd Unit in Teague, TX. Mr. Schwarzer discovered that his Step I (I-127) grievance had been denied, and he filed a Step II (I-128) grievance at the Boyd Unit. The Unit Grievance Investigator at Boyd, Mr. Mark Fryhoff, has refused to produce a copy of Mr. Schwarzer's Step II grievance, claiming it has mysteriously disappeared. Without this document, these is no evidence at the Boyd Unit that Mark Schwarzer has filed a grievance or requested blood tests. Mark Schwarzer is suffering from arsenic-caused skin cancer, and because of Officer Fryhoff’s either intentional or irresponsible misplacement of the Step II (I-128) grievance, Mark is unlikely to receive the immediate testing and treatment that he is asking for. Losing grievances or failing to produce copies damages the integrity of the entire process. There are numerous incidents of TDCJ prison officials attempting to cover up contaminated water problems at its facilities. Texas prisons promote a pattern of conduct where TDCJ employees, including wardens, corrections officers and classification personnel, use their positions to retaliate against prisoners who file grievances or shed light on injustices and abuse. We must begin to hold these individuals accountable for their abuse of power! Please sign this petition, demanding that Senator Ellis and Senator Whitmire contact the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and mandate an inquiry and investigation into the unethical conduct of Boyd Unit Grievance Officer Mark Fryhoff.

Long Islanders and New Yorkers in general put up with the worst transportation in the United States, with the highest average commute. We are the ONLY city surrounded by water which does NOT have a government funded ferry system. This is important in many ways including, less commute time (by half), easier access to destinations, an alternative to the constant delay and shut down of LIRR and major roadways, less cost to the rider, less pollution, and restoration of our ports. Some of the other advantages are less tax due to direct revenue, more high paying jobs, and increased property value for those communities with a port.

The United States has hundreds of programs at universities, think tanks, and research institutes that claim to devote their attention to “security” and “defense” studies. Yet in almost all of these programs that receive many millions of dollars in Federal funding, the vast majority of research, advocacy and instruction have nothing to do with climate change, the most serious threat to security of our age. In an act of profound intellectual irresponsibility, so-called scholars of "security studies" spend their hours imagining fantastic military scenarios, rather than responding to incontrovertible threat of climate change which scientists have unanimously identified as a reality. We cannot waste any more of our tax dollars on security and defense studies that fail to address the primary threat to the well-being of the United States, and of the world. The time has come to put an end to this insanity. We demand that all programs of defense and security studies in the United States identify in their statement of purpose climate change as the primary security threat to the United States and that they dedicate at least 70% of their budgets to research, teaching and advocacy to the critical topics of mitigation of (primarily) and adaptation to (secondarily) climate change. Any program that fails to focus on climate change in this manner should lose its status for Federal funding. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change should be the primary concerns for all in security and defense field studies. Obviously other security issues deserve study, but granted the fact that the cost of climate change will run in the trillions of dollars over the next decade, and even more beyond then, we do not have the funds to support programs that are not dedicated to addressing this immediate threat. Signers include: Emanuel Yi Pastreich Director The Asia Institute David Swanson Director World Beyond War John Kiriakou Associate fellow Institute for Policy Studies John Feffer Director Foreign Policy in Focus Norman Solomon Cofounder RootsAction.org Coleen Rowley Retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis Division legal counsel

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 15,000 AUMs and exploratory sites are located throughout the United States, posing substantial public health and environmental hazards. No existing federal laws require clean up of these toxic abandoned sites. Most of these AUMs were established under the “General Mining Law of 1872,” that does not require reclamation or remediation. Mining companies walked away from their clean up responsibilities after decades of mining, leaving the public to bear their toxic legacy. With 75% of AUMs located on public or Tribal lands, Indigenous communities have long faced disproportionate impacts from this toxic legacy. According to EPA data, approximately 10 million people are estimated to live within 50 miles of a recorded AUM. Radioactive pollution from AUMs have been linked to cancer, genetic defects, and increases in mortality. There is no minimum threshold for radiation damage (no dose which is harmless), and radiation causes cancer and other organ damage, especially during fetal development and in young children. It’s time to clean up the mines!

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects through the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. Coal, oil and gas carried out of Northwest ports would carry as much carbon annually as five Keystone XL pipelines. Given the urgency of the threat posed to your city and to our global environment, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects through the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. Given that Hawaii has already committed to be 100% renewable by 2045, it makes no sense to build any new fossil fuel infrastructure in your city or state. Given the urgency of the threat posed to your city and to our global environment by fossil fuel dependency, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects through the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. Coal, oil and gas carried out of Northwest ports would carry as much carbon annually as five Keystone XL pipelines. Given the urgency of the threat posed to your city and to our global environment, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects up and down the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. One leak from a Northridge, CA methane storage field has released daily methane emissions equivalent to one-quarter of all of California's daily methane emissions, according to the California Air Resources Board, sickening nearby residents. Given the urgency of the threat posed to your city and to our global environment, and the frequency of accidents associated with fossil fuel infrastructure, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects through the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. Given the urgency of the threat posed to Richmond and to our global environment, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The rapid development of fossil fuel resources in the western U.S. and Canada has resulted in numerous proposed fossil fuel infrastructure projects through the West Coast. These fossil fuel infrastructure projects pose significant risks to the health and safety of people and their environment, and threaten the livability of their communities. Coal, oil and gas carried out of Northwest ports would carry as much carbon annually as five Keystone XL pipelines. Given the urgency of the threat posed to Tacoma and to our global environment, we urge you to act on this issue now by pledging to build no new fossil fuel infrastructure.