Senators Collins & Snowe get well-deserved "Oily Bird Awards"

By Jennifer Niese, a Climate Precinct Captain in Maine. -- Luis

Last Wednesday (June 16th), I joined up with a group of a dozen other Mainers in front of our U.S. Senators offices in Portland, Maine. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe were among 47 Senators to vote in favor of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution which would have gutted the EPA’s ability to regulate emissions from the fossil fuel industry. Fortunately, 53 Senators voted to defeat the proposal and the Clean Air Act remains intact.

How, we asked, could our senators vote this way at a time when the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is unfolding as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history?

To clearly connect the dots between the BP oil spill and the Murkowski amendment, 1Sky awarded Senators Snowe and Collins with the Oily Bird Award. 1Sky staffers covered two stuffed-animal flamingos in thick brown paint and sent them to my home in Maine by overnight mail.

We were met in the courtyard outside the office building by a reporter and cameraman from WGME 13, a local news channel. The reporter interviewed us and filmed us as we walked into the building and presented the oily flamingo to a surprised staffer in Senator Collins’ office. The spot aired on the evening news and again the next morning and at midday.

John, a grandfather and member of our group, asked if we could talk with a staff member at Senator Collins’ office, and Jennifer Duddy came out and listened attentively as we voiced our concerns. John expressed concern for the planet he is leaving for his grandchildren, and others talked about the need to speak on behalf of the non-human creatures impacted by the devastating oil spill. In addition to the heartbreaking photos of pelicans and other birds covered in oil, the New York Times reported on Thursday that a dead juvenile sperm whale has been found near the oil spill. Some members of our group expressed disappointment that the senators would vote for the Murkowski amendment.

Senators Snowe and Collins have historically had stronger environmental voting records, and both supported the federal stimulus bill which has provided funds for home energy efficiency, low income weatherization, and offshore wind power development in Maine. Senator Collins, along with Washington’s Senator Cantwell, has introduced the CLEAR Act, a proposed way to regulate fossil fuel emissions.

But this vote to diminish the Clean Air Act, when up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are spilling into our coastal waters, and at a time when the Senate has taken no other action to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, is very upsetting.

We told staff members in both offices that we would like to see the senators work with the Obama Administration and their colleagues in Congress to take strong and immediate action to get our country off fossil fuel and toward a clean energy economy.