May 30 2014
Latino Communities Decry Fracking and Climate Change Concerns
The California State Senate this week failed to pass a bill calling for a moratorium on the controversial practice of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing. It was the second year in a row that a handful of Democrats joined Republicans to defeat a fracking moratorium. The bill, which failed by 3 votes, was introduced by Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles who said, “the safety of oil drilling is an environmental justice issue.”
Now, the Latino advocacy organization, famous for helping push Lou Dobbs off CNN over his anti-immigrant sentiments, is focusing on fracking as an environmental justice issue. In supporting the moratorium, the group made the following statement: “Fracking will disproportionately affect Latino communities by draining our water sources, poisoning our families, and fueling climate change.”
GUEST: Refugio Mata, Campaign Manager at Presente.org
2 Responses to “Latino Communities Decry Fracking and Climate Change Concerns”
I’d appreciate some follow-up on this, because five of the SAME Democrats also opposed the GMO labeling bill, again voting with a no-stray Republican bloc and providing just “enough” votes to sabotage the progressive cause.
Glenn Greenwald wrote years ago that Democratic deceit is intentional and orchestrated. http://www.salon.com/2010/02/23/democrats_34/
I wonder if it’s personal economics. Some Democratic senators told GMO labeling activists they opposed the labeling bill simply because food industry lobbyists visit them daily, sometimes 29 at a time.
Do these lobbyists promise donations or just promise to not recruit or fund primary opponents?
Hope to find out why so many Latino Democrats defected. ; (
Yes it’s unfortunate that this bill died and that some key Latinos legislator did not vote for the bill. But this bill would not have protected many Latino communities from the negative air and health impacts of exsisting oil extraction activities in Los Angeles