Supporting Candidates Who Favor Clean Energy
Photographer: Julia Schmalz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
I thought I’d reprint this email that I just got from legendary environmentalist Bill McKibben. In my opinion, no one on Earth communicates more clearly and compellingly on political/environmental issues than McKibben. Here he’s in his wheelhouse, calling for the support of a candidate for the U.S. Senate who has consistently stood up against Big Money for the cause of clean energy and environmental stewardship.
Craig —
The test for our leaders has to be: will they stand up for a working future, even if it means bucking the powerful and rich? Here’s a man who’s passed that test: Sellus Wilder.
As an activist, filmmaker, and local elected official he’s stood up for a clean energy future, leaving behind the dirty fossil fuels that dominated our past. He realizes better jobs and cleaner energy go hand in hand, and Kentuckians and all Americans will benefit from these opportunities. I am proud to support him for the Democratic nomination to be the next U.S. Senator from Kentucky.
A couple of years ago, Sellus got active in the fight to stop the Bluegrass Pipeline, a pipeline that would have carried natural gas liquids—a particularly nasty slurry byproduct of hydraulic fracturing—snaking through 200 miles and 13 counties in Kentucky. He took it upon himself to defend what he believed was at stake: land, liberty, and the right to a healthy life. Along the way, he assembled a diverse coalition of Kentuckians, ranging from Tea Partiers and constitutional conservatives to nuns, farmers, ranchers, and environmental groups. And it worked—the pipeline was cancelled.
So he made a film, The End of the Line, which won the Spirit of Activism Award at the 2016 Colorado Environmental Film Festival. And not too long ago, the New Ipswich Pipeline Resistance, fighting the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline in New England, contacted Sellus. He arranged for an advance showing of his film, which the New Ipswich folk used. And then, April 21—“Your film and their struggle proved to be a blueprint for our ultimate success as Kinder Morgan announced yesterday that they are suspending NED indefinitely.”
That’s how Sellus Wilder stands up – for the people of Kentucky and against the special interests cynically pushing a chimerical “war on coal.” The people of Kentucky are ready for a brighter future. And that’s why I endorse Sellus Wilder in the Democratic primary on May 17.
Join me with a contribution to help elect pipeline fighter Sellus Wilder:
