Can you sign on to the letter?/Can you help deliver it at 4:30 PM to the Towson office?

Rep. John Sarbanes
600 Baltimore Ave.
Suite 303
Towson, MD 21204

April 15, 2015

Dear Representative Sarbanes:

Members of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore are voters and supporters of Progressive Democrats of America. Some of us live in District 3.

Join with us celebrating Earth Day by cosponsoring the following legislation to protect the environment, if you haven’t already. Also, please vote against trade promotion authority (TPA) aka “fast track” or “smart track,” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—votes are expected at any time. We support fair trade, but these deals put special interests over the needs of U.S. citizens. The TPP has 29 chapters, but only 5 pertain to trade. Similar deals have cost us countless jobs, increased our trade deficit, and undermined protections for our environment and communities. These deals are bigger and worse. Good deals stand up to public scrutiny. Bad deals need secrecy and “fast track” / TPA to pass. Please do all you can to protect American families. Vote against TPA and these unfair “trade” deals.

Contact Rep. Jim McDermott at (202)-225-3106 to cosponsor H.R. 972: the Managed Carbon Price Act of 2015. Rep. McDermott said, “The evidence is crystal clear that climate change is real and already wreaking irreparable harm to our planet. With 2014 registering as the hottest year on record, it’s time that Congress gets serious about protecting our planet’s future by curbing carbon emissions that are polluting our air, warming our oceans, and creating destructive weather patterns across the globe. [This is] a commonsense proposal to responsibly reduce carbon emissions and incentivize American businesses to transition to a clean energy economy, while protecting American consumers and middle class families.”

Contact Rep. Mark Pocan at (202)-225-2906 to be an original cosponsor of The Protect our Public Lands Act, (bill number pending) re: hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Rep. Pocan said, “Federal lands should be preserved for the public good…. There are serious safety concerns around fracking, and it should not be allowed on our pristine public lands specifically set aside for conservation.”
Cosponsor the “Frack Pack” bills to protect our health, safety, and resources by closing loopholes in the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. These bills would hold oil and gas companies to the same standards as everyone else, and protect public lands and watersheds.

Contact Rep. Matt Cartwright at (202)-225-5546 to cosponsor H.R. 1460: the Focused Reduction of Effluence and Stormwater runoff through Hydrofracking Environmental Regulation (FRESHER) Act. This would close loopholes in the Clean Water Act, and study effects of fracking on public health and water.

Contact Rep. Diana DeGette at (202)-225-4431 to cosponsor H.R. 1482: the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, to close loopholes in the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Contact Rep. Jared Polis at (202)-225-2161 to cosponsor H.R. 1548: the Bringing Reductions to Energy’s Airborne Toxic Health Effects (BREATHE) Act, to close loopholes in the Clean Air Act.

Contact Rep. Jan Schakowsky at (202)-225-2111 to cosponsor H.R. 1515: the Safe Hydration is an American Right in Energy Development (SHARED) Act to require industry testing on the impacts of fracking on water sources near such operations, and the public disclosure of the test results.

Finally, we are seeking an end to the use of killer drone strikes, which we believe to be illegal and unconstitutional. We ask you to speak out against this assassination program, which ignores any veneer of due process. Consider as well a request for the full, unclassified release of information surrounding the administration’s drone policy.

We look forward to your response. And when you are ready, we would like to meet with you, preferably in Baltimore. But if necessary, we will travel to your D.C. office. We thank you for your consideration regarding these critically important issues, and look forward to ongoing discussion and engagement with you in the coming months.

Peace,

Max Obuszewski, on behalf of Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore/Fund Our Communities -- Apt. 206, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Baltimore 21212
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs