Northern Colorado Alliance for a Livable Future

On June 13th, the Fort Collins City Council will discuss how to pay for a number of City initiatives, including our climate programs. One of the funding mechanisms under consideration is a “Large Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emitter Tax,” which would make Fort Collins’ largest polluters help pay for things like public transit, bike and pedestrian pathways, home energy efficiency and electrification, and EV charging stations.

Councilmembers need to hear from us before June 13th to encourage them to move the Large GHG Emitter Tax forward to the ballot this November. Please write to them at CityLeaders@fcgov.com and tell them that you want to have the opportunity to vote on this tax. A sample letter appears below. Additional information and “talking points” are available in this slide deck from the salon presentation given on this topic on May 12th. See in particular slides 12 – 15. Customize your letter if you have time, but if you don’t, just send the following:

To: CityLeaders@fcgov.com

Subject: Please let the voters decide on a Large GHG Emitter Tax

Dear Mayor Arndt and Councilmembers Gutowsky, Pignataro, Canonico, Peel, Ohlson, and Francis:

Please support moving the Large GHG Emitter Tax forward for voter consideration this November. It’s important that this tax be included as an option because:

• More funding is needed than can be raised by the regressive fees and taxes proposed by the City’s Finance Department to pay for climate programs.
• Regressive fees and taxes should not be the only way we fund our climate programs.
• As Arthur Pigou said years ago, negative externalities should be taxed to reduce undesirable outcomes.

Although Broadcom and Anheuser Busch – Fort Collins’ two largest corporate GHG emitters – have made promises to reduce their emissions substantially during this decade, a Large GHG Emitter Tax would be a good tool to help ensure they follow through.  This is especially important given the recent announcement that Apple recently entered into a multibillion deal with Broadcom to manufacture 5G radio frequency components, mostly at Broadcom’s Fort Collins facility.

Everyone has an interest in solving the climate crisis. Those most responsible for the crisis should be required to step up. Broadcom and Anheuser-Busch have the wherewithal to help fund our community’s efforts to address that crisis. Please let the voters decide in November!

Sincerely,

[Name and Council District*]

*To find your Council District, click here and enter your address.

Pentagon spending dwarfs every single other discretionary program in the federal budget by a long shot, with a proposed $886 BILLION budget for next year––a $28 billion increase over last year with little to no debate whatsoever. If Congress does as they have the previous couple of years, they’re likely to shovel on billions more. Much of this money goes into price-gouged, cost plus contracts.

This is a critical time for us to sound the alarm before spending is balanced on the backs of those most in need. Your voice is desperately needed now more than ever.

Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) recently introduced the People Over Pentagon Act, which would cut Pentagon spending by $100 billion. This crucial legislation provides a great start and proves that the resources tp reduce government spending are there, while helping Americans struggling with inflation, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, cutting child poverty, and fighting catastrophic climate change. Congress just needs to have the backbone to put these priorities over the greed of weapons manufacturers. Contact your representative today and urge them to finally stand up to weapon contractors, and put People over the Pentagon!

Note: this Action Alert was brought to us by Peace Action.

The City of Fort Collins is now gathering public input concerning its Land Use Code. Please visit this site and click on the “Share Your Feedback” button. You will only be able to provide feedback on one topic at a time, but you will be able to return to the form to provide feedback on as many other topics as you would like.

As a reminder, the City repealed its “Land Development Code” in January of this year due to public opposition to a number of its provisions. NCALF held a salon on this topic featuring Ross Cunniff of Preserve Fort Collins and Kelly Evans of FoCo Forward on February 10th. To view the recording of that salon, visit this page.

Colorado State University has more than $7 MILLION of its endowment invested in fossil fuels. We’d like to change that. Sign the petition calling for CSU to DIVEST NOW!

We challenge CSU to use its power as the socio-political, economic, and academic center of Fort Collins and the greater Northern Colorado area to move its money from the fossil fuel industry and advocate for a sustainable and just future.

For a university that places so much value on its STARS sustainability rating and paints itself as progressive and environmentally aware, they continue to fund the fossil fuel industry. It is undeniable that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels are causing the climate crisis, and by investing in such, CSU remains complicit in combating it. As a community, we can create a change. Join our movement today, sign the petition or email divestcsu@gmail.com to get involved. 

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, it is 100 seconds to midnight – the same as it was in 2020 and 2021, the closest it’s been since the “Doomsday Clock” project was initiated in 1947.  This is largely because the leaders of nuclear-armed states, including the United States and Russia, appear to be sleepwalking their way toward nuclear war.

Partners for Peace is calling for passage of House Resolution 1185, which – among other things – demands that President Biden  “embrace the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of the national security policy of the United States.”  Please send a short note to Representative Joe Neguse asking him to cosponsor this bill by clicking here.  You can compose your own message, or send the following one developed by Partners for Peace.  Personalizing your letter is always best.  Thanks!

Subject: Please cosponsor H.R. 1185

Dear Representative Neguse:

I ask you to cosponsor House Resolution 1185, “Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” which was introduced by Representative Jim McGovern on June 16^th of this year.

President Biden casually referred to the possibility of “Armageddon” being touched off as a result of the war in Ukraine.  The U.S. Government should be doing all it can to prevent this from happening.  Much more can be done than is currently being done.  Co-sponsoring and working for passage or H.R. 1185 would be good way for you to help avert nuclear disaster.

That resolution:

“(1) calls on the President to embrace the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of the national security policy of the United States; and

(2) calls on the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, all other Federal and congressional leaders of the United States and the American people to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by—

(A) renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;

(B) ending the President’s sole authority to launch a nuclear attack;

(C) taking the nuclear weapons of the United States off hair-trigger alert;

(D) canceling the plan to replace the nuclear arsenal of the United States with modernized, enhanced weapons; and

(E) actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to mutually eliminate their nuclear arsenals.”

Please sign on to cosponsor H.R. 1185.

Sincerely,

As part of the deal to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer are introducing a separate piece of legislation that would fast-track permit approvals for dangerous fossil fuel projects in September. We need to tell our Congressional delegation to oppose this act.

The bill finally “dropped” on September 21st. As was long anticipated it’s a disaster – it guts bedrock environmental protections, endangers public health, fast-tracks fossil fuels, and pushes approval for Manchin’s pet project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline. You can view the bill here.

This is a dirty deal written by and for the fossil fuel industry. Leader Schumer will attach this legislation to a must-pass government spending bill this September, so we must do everything we can to stop this legislation in its tracks.

Write to your Members of Congress to pledge right now to block any efforts to dish out new fossil fuel handouts by clicking here. The permitting reforms proposed solely benefit the fossil fuel industry. Protecting our communities and climate is more important than giving Senator Manchin another present to take back to his fossil fuel industry donors. Stop the dirty deal.

Have you given up trying to NOT buy your food wrapped in plastic?! FoCo Trash Mob was created out of that frustration, and presented at the Salon on June 24. They are now a Beyond Plastics Affiliate and are collaborating on a NATIONAL send-back as part of plastic-free July. Here’s how to participate LOCALLY in FoCo on July 23rd from 10:00 to 10:15 a.m.

Not in town that day? Just download, sign and mail THIS LETTER along with a piece of Trader Joe’s plastic. Don’t shop at Trader Joe’s? Then, help us with some social media! Contact focotrashmob@gmail.com for more info.

At the salon on Friday, May 13^th, Owen Perkins of CleanSlateNow Action (CSNA) presented on “How to End the Corrupting Influence of Big Money in Politics.”  CSNA is a Colorado-based advocacy organization that works to get big money out of politics locally, statewide, and at the national level.  It has spearheaded local campaign finance reform efforts in Denver, Lakewood, Aurora, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Thornton, finding success both through citizens’ ballot initiatives and through city council action.  To receive CSNA’s newsletter and get involved, please respond to their brief survey available here.