Tedglick.com
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One of Joe Biden’s very first appointments on January 21st, one of his least publicized but definitely one of his most important when it comes to the future of the earth’s ecosystems and human societies, was the appointment of Richard Glick to be chair of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Pse ishte kaq i rëndësishëm ai emërim?
It is essential that we as a species urgently transition away from polluting fossil fuels and nukes to clean, jobs-creating, renewable energy sources–wind, sun, tides and currents and the relative heat, in winter, and the relative coolness, in summer, of the earth. Those non-polluting energy sources can then not just generate electricity for the world’s homes and businesses but to power electric cars, trucks, buses, and electric heat pump powered heating and cooling systems.
Elektrifikimi i burimeve të energjisë, automjeteve të transportit dhe sistemeve të ngrohjes dhe ftohjes është absolutisht thelbësor për të bërë një revolucion të energjisë së pastër në kohë të mjaftueshme për të parandaluar përshkallëzimin dhe katastrofën masive klimatike në mbarë botën.
Richard Glick was nominated to be a FERC commissioner in 2017. Before his nomination he had a decades-long history of work in government and business in support of renewable energy. I learned this from him in person when we met about a week after I had been arrested during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on FERC in the summer of that year. Glick, who is no relation, was at that time the general counsel for the Democrats on that committee. He was in the room up at the front with all the Senators when I stood up as part of an organized nonviolent action and loudly said something like, “FERC is a rubber-stamp agency for the fossil fuel industry and a threat to the future of life on earth.” I was quickly removed by Capitol Police and ending up spending two days and one night in DC Central Cellblock before being released.
A couple of days later us two Glicks received an email from a staffer for one of the Democratic Senators on the Senate ENR committee. She suggested that the two of us might benefit from meeting and talking; I agreed to do so and a week later Rich and I met in the same room where I had been arrested.
By the end of 2017 he had been nominated and approved as a FERC commissioner, and since then I have watched with some amazement as Glick did something no other FERC commissioner has ever done: speak truth to power over and over again from within the corridors of power, particularly about the urgency of the climate crisis. The Republican majority over those years continued what had been happening under both Democrats and Republicans for at least 20 years, rubber-stamping every methane gas industry permit application to expand that industry. They were also making decisions to disadvantage renewables. In those 20 years, according to a House Committee on Oversight and Reform report last summer, of the 1,021 gas industry permit applications to FERC over that time only six had been rejected.
Glick kundërshtoi pothuajse të gjitha ato leje të disavantazhit të energjisë së rinovueshme dhe zgjerimit të industrisë së gazit kur dolën para komisionerëve për votim. Ai gjithmonë shkruante mospajtime të qarta dhe të arsyetuara mirë, kryesisht duke argumentuar se FERC nuk po bënte analiza serioze të ndikimeve klimatike të atyre tubacioneve të reja, stacioneve të kompresorëve dhe terminaleve të eksportit të gazit. Nuk ka dyshim se mospajtimet e tij ndihmuan në edukimin e njerëzve, përfshirë gjykatësit federalë, për realitetin e vulosjes së FERC-së. Deri në vjeshtën e vitit 2020 ai po thoshte publikisht se ishte e kuptueshme pse kaq shumë njerëz po e përshkruanin FERC-në si një agjenci vulosjeje gome.
Glick’s first commissioners meeting as chair was last week, on February 18th. Once again, he didn’t disappoint. In his opening presentation, he made clear that FERC must become an agency where renewable energy and battery storage would be given space to grow and expand; where FERC’s rubber-stamping ways would be a thing of the past; where environmental justice concerns would become, for the first time, FERC concerns; where, 43 years after being authorized by Congress, there would be a FERC Office of Public Participation; and where the rampant abuse of landowners and property owners via eminent domain for corporate gain would be reined in. And from statements made by the other four commissioners, it was clear that some of those positions were more than just his.
Që nga qershori i këtij viti, kur mandati i komisionerit republikan Neil Chatterjee përfundon, Biden do të jetë në gjendje të emërojë një demokrat të tretë në ekip me Glick dhe komisionerin Allison Clements, duke u dhënë atyre një shumicë për katër vitet e ardhshme për të transformuar FERC. Është me të vërtetë një botë krejt e re FERC.
Nuk ka dyshim se do të ketë të gjitha llojet e presioneve për të dobësuar atë që një shumicë e udhëhequr nga Glick do të përpiqet të bëjë, duke përfshirë paditë e ngritura nga kompanitë e karburanteve fosile dhe gazsjellësve në xhepa të thellë. Ekziston edhe kultura e brendshme e FERC, e korruptuar nga shumë vite partneritet me karburantet fosile. Dhe nëse, në vitin 2024, republikanët marrin përsipër Shtëpinë e Bardhë, çfarëdo pozitive që ka ndodhur deri atëherë do të kërcënohet.
That is why Beyond Extreme Energy and 240 other organizations, as well as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, among other elected officials, are supporting the idea of replacing FERC with FREC, a Federal Renewable Energy Commission. FREC would have a Congressional mandate to be all about helping to lead the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables. Leadership would be required to have a background of support for renewables. Environmental justice and community participation in decision-making would be guiding principles. Eminent domain abuse for corporate gain would come to an end.
BXE ka biseduar me zyrat e Dhomës dhe Senatit për këtë ide gjatë disa muajve të fundit dhe ne kemi qenë të kënaqur nga përgjigja. Ne parashikojmë që legjislacioni të futet, shpresojmë këtë pranverë, për FERC Into FREC.
In the meantime, we will continue to keep watch on FERC, expecting to like a lot of what we see and hear but prepared to take action as necessary to stand up for communities and the planet, as the movement against fracking and new fracking infrastructure has been doing over the last decade. It is good to know that this time, when we do so, we have reason to expect that our arguments will be taken seriously, finally.
Ted Glick has been a volunteer organizer with Beyond Extreme Energy since its founding in 2014. He is the author of Burglar for Peace: Lessons Learned in the Catholic Left’s Resistance to the War, botuar vitin e kaluar. Shkrimet e kaluara dhe informacione të tjera mund të gjenden në https://tedglick.com, dhe ai mund të ndiqet në Twitter në https://jtglick.com.
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