SEN. CAMPELL: IRA’S HISTORIC CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT WILL PAY OFF BIG FOR TN

Sen. Campbell: Inflation Reduction Act’s historic clean energy investment will pay off big for Tennessee

Legislation would lower costs, cut prescription drug prices and boost manufacturing jobs in Tennessee

NASHVILLE — Clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act will pay off big for Tennessee workers and the state economy, says state Sen. Heidi Campbell.

Campbell, a candidate for Congress in the state’s Fifth District, says the U.S. House should send the bill to the president’s desk.

“This is the boldest climate package in U.S. history and the clean energy incentives are a perfect match for the investments we’ve made in the electric vehicle industry,” Sen. Campbell said. “This legislation will lower costs for families, cut prescription drug prices and create thousands of good-paying jobs in Tennessee — all without raising taxes on working people.”

The Inflation Reduction Act passed the U.S. Senate 51–50 on Sunday with both Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Bill Hagerty voting against it. The measure heads to the U.S. House this week.

The bill allows roughly $374 billion in climate and energy spending, including an extension and improvement of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit. Under the act, the tax credit is renewed for a decade starting in 2023 and, for the first time, all EV manufacturers will have access to unlimited credits — but the vehicles have to be made in North America.

“No state economy is better positioned to benefit from the electric vehicle incentives than Tennessee,” Sen. Campbell said. “We’re going to build a stronger middle class with American manufacturing jobs and our working families are going to build the world’s clean energy future right here in the Volunteer State.”

Tennessee is already the top state in the Southeast for electric vehicle jobs and investment with General Motors, Nissan and Volkswagen all producing electric vehicles here, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Additionally, Ford Motor Company has begun work in West Tennessee on its $5.6 billion BlueOval City project, a partnership with SK Innovation that will produce the next generation of F-Series electric trucks and electric vehicle batteries.

Also, Tritium DCFC Limited, an international manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations, announced in February it will establish a U.S. manufacturing base in Lebanon, Tenn.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives for electric vehicles complement Tennessee’s plan to deploy electric vehicle infrastructure announced in February.

Inflation Reduction Act, Beyond EV

As important as the electric vehicle incentives are in Tennessee, the Inflation Reduction Act does a lot more for working families. This economic plan would lower costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, bring down health insurance premiums on HealthCare.gov, and make investments in clean energy, like wind and solar power.

The legislation, which will also reduce the federal deficit by $300 billion, is funded by creating a minimum 15 percent tax on the corporate profits of giant companies and by cracking down on tax cheats.

“Americans deserve solutions from Congress and the Inflation Reduction Act delivers by putting freedom for families first,” said Sen. Campbell.

Campbell, a results-driven mom, former mayor and Tennessee senator representing parts of Davidson County, faces Republican Andy Ogles in the General Election for Congressional District 5 on Nov. 8.

Tennessee’s 5th Congressional is now the most closely watched race in the state.

This is Sen. Campbell’s fifth race in a purple area of Tennessee. She’s undefeated and headed into the General Election in a position of strength having raised about $430,000.

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(THIS WAS A STATEMENT SENT OUT BY THE CAMPBELL CAMPAIGN)

TODAY’S HOLLER: LEE & THE TN GOP EMBRACE A GREEN NEW DEAL 🌍 RACISM IN NASHVILLE & KNOXVILLE 😡 & Much More

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THE GREEN NEW DEAL COMES TO TENNESSEE

At a SPECIAL SESSION TODAY “Tennessee lawmakers will gather for a special session focused on $900 MILLION in incentives for a FORD ELECTRIC CAR PLANT”—while they call Biden a “socialist” for investing in clean energy at the federal level? The hypocrisy is astounding welcome to the 21st century, Republicans! 🤔 #LeesGreenNewDeal

Investing in our future and creating jobs is exactly what Biden and the Dems are trying to do with the People’s budget, which Republicans are trying to paint as the end of the world while doing something similar here at home.

Keep in mind 🔥🌍 the IMF recently told us the “Fossil fuel industry gets subsidies of $11 MILLION PER MINUTE, Trillions ‘adding fuel to the fire’ of the climate crisis” We subsidize our own demise, propping up an industry that then pays our politicians to lie to us.

And as it turns out, MANCHIN IS HURTING HIS OWN PEOPLE THE MOST, as we now know 🌍 “WEST VIRGINIA IS MORE EXPOSED TO FLOODS THAN ANYWHERE IN 🇺🇸” as Senator Manchin thwarts Democrats’ push to reduce warming.

Also, TN’s disasters cost the most this year.

All this is why BERNIE Sanders dropped an OP-ED IN MANCHIN’S BACKYARD touting the overwhelming popularity of Biden’s budget… And naturally, Manchin was triggered by it.

Frankly, Biden should be doing this also

It’s time to pass this budget and show the American people it matters who governs. As Lee & The TN GOP are showing here at home, they don’t actually oppose doing these things when it helps them politically.

We’ll continue to highlight the hypocrisy. Thank you as always for subscribing to the holler. If you’re not yet, please consider chipping in – the monthly support truly keeps us going. No monthly amount is too small.

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TODAY’S HOLLER:
“MEDICAL NAZISM”?: As expected, Senator Frank Niceley & pro-COVID TN GOP legislators will try to pass a BIG GOVERNMENT law PROHIBITING PRIVATE employers from requiring vaccines (which Griffey calls “Nazism”, yet the state does it to kids in schools🤔)

VACCINE MANDATES WORKING: “Vaccine mandates stoked fears of labor shortages. But hospitals say they’re working.” 😷

How it started How it’s going – (Not actual Nashville resident) BEN SHAPIRO edition) 😷 🤔

NIGHTMARE — Ex-pastor raped a 14yo, impregnated her… won’t do jail time, she has to share custody. (Both in TN) – Her parents had pushed her to marry him (they divorced). They both live in Tennessee. Jason Greathouse. In HENDERSONVILLE. We’ll talk to her LIVE ON THE HOLLER tomorrow at noon.

UNDERFUNDED SCHOOLS: Kids are leaving public schools at a high rate. That’s a feature not a bug for Republicans. We have billions in surplus, yet we’re 46th in per pupil funding. Fully fund our schools, Governor Lee.

TN ED REPORT: The teacher shortage crisis is here… it is long past time to pay teachers significantly more. TN has a $2 billion surplus…” (PSA: For Lee & the TN GOP and their attack on public schools, the shortage is a feature not a bug.)

LEE’S COVERT NEW VOUCHER PUSH🔥Rep. Gloria Johnson on Lee’s (ALEC-led, low key voucher) approach to *revising* the BEP: “He wants to give the appearance he’s listening to everyone on this… Why do we need 18 committees to tell us we’re 45th in funding in 🇺🇸 for education?”🗣🎯

UPDATE: Rutherford County Judge Donna Davenport is no longer an adjunct professor at MTSU after the NATIONAL report that she oversaw illegal mass jailing of (mostly black) kids in Rutherford County. Good hollerin’, y’all.

COLIN POWELL DIES OF COVID: Ex-Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs Chairman COLIN POWELL has died from COVID complications at 84 😷

IMPORTANT As Republicans inevitably use Powell’s death to denigrate vaccines…

BUTTIGIEG SCHOOLS TUCKER: 🔥🗣🎯 “I won’t apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature infant twins… it’s important work we should all be able to do… we’re the only developed country that still doesn’t guarantee paid family leave…” 🇺🇸

AOC SCHOOLS BURCHETT: 🔥AOC dismantles Rep. Tim Burchett’s ignorant gaslighting talking points… ouch! 👇🏽 Republicans canceled extra unemployment early, it didn’t work, but they just continue to blame it for people not working anyway🤔

TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FACING DISBARMENT: “Former assistant attorney general and high-ranking Justice Dept official Jeffrey Clark is facing disbarment and criminal charges for assisting Trump in his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.”

GOP FUNDRAISING EMAIL: “YOU’RE A TRAITOR” – Actual pro-Trump NRCC message calls Republicans “traitors” & “deserters” to get them to donate.. the anti-democracy hostility at an 11. Extremely telling about where they’re at as a group right now.  😳

LITTLE OAKS RACISM: After backlash, LITTLE OAKS ACADEMY in Knoxville defends themselves/sort of apologizes after a black teacher was “racially harassed” by a trainee— then left “feeling worthless” after being told to go back to class. The comments are not having it.

NASHVILLE HAS RACISM TOO: NEWSWEEK picks up the story of JOSH BLACK being accused by a woman of breaking into her car in his own NASHVILLE building… she said he “fit the description” — a black dude in a pink anti-racism hoodie. The building said the actual guy was white. 🤨

GRAINGER COUNTY: “MAGA-loving religious sect that worships with AR-15s has purchased a 130-acre property in eastern Tennessee to serve as a “training center” and holy ground for its devoted, gun-toting followers…” 😵‍💫😳

ROME, GEORGIA: “Black students at COOSA HIGH SCHOOL were suspended for planning a protest after another group of students came to school waving a Confederate flag and were filmed hurling racial slurs.” 😳

TERRIFYING SITUATION IN HAITI: “As many as 17 Christian missionaries from the United States and their family members, including women and children, kidnapped in Haiti…”

🔥 FLORIDA MOM to angry parents of kids who break mask rules on purpose😷: “Where were you when we were sending black boys home for their *distracting* hairstyles? — You know what I never caught from a saggy pair of pants or an exposed shoulder? A FUCKING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE.”

SOCIALIZED RISK, PRIVATiZED GAINS: COVID drug developed with $35 MILLION in federal funds at Emory may be able to halve the risk of hospitalization & death… so naturally, MERCK wants to charge a 46x MARKUP… Socialized risk, privatized reward… aka CAPITALISM!

ICYMI — the embarrassing scene at the UT game Lane Kiffin hit with a golf ball and “brown liquid”, which according to him wasn’t moonshine because “they wouldn’t waste that on me…” – game delayed. Embarrassing for our state.

Ok who made this 😳😩🎯

GLEIB BUSTS CHARLIE KIRK ON ABORTION… Chef’s kiss💋 perfection… watch and share…

AND MARSHA GETS BUSTED TOO…

In Times Square… “paid for by Republicans for Voting Rights”

Today’s CARTOON OF THE DAY is an Evergreen classic… #PassThePeoplesBudget

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The Battle Against the Byhalia Pipeline

Hale and Cassie are joined by Justin Pearson, one of the co-founders of the grassroots movement Memphis Community Against The Pipeline (MCAP). They dig into the movement’s fight against the Byhalia Connection Pipeline and the ongoing environmental injustices happening right now in Memphis, Tennessee.

Check out Memphis Community Against the Pipeline

Sign the petition to tell city council members to vote to protect Memphis’ drinking water on Tuesday

Volunteer with MCAP

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FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

 

Regrounding Ourselves in the Movement

Hale, Isabella, Owen, and Cassie join forces for a regrounding episode where we talk about what we are doing as a Movement here in Tennessee and what the larger fight looks like within the context of the Biden Administration. We also preview our next episode which will be on the fight against the Byhalia Pipeline in Memphis. (+ some ridiculous outtakes on the big dumb boat and the Kentucky Creation Museum)

Check out Memphis Community Against the Pipeline to get a preview of what is going down before the next episode

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

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FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

Want Expertise? Come Holler At Us

“When you see us you shouldn’t just think of Black issues. If you want to think about climate issues, economic issues…come holler at us.”

Odessa Kelly, Executive Director of Stand Up Nashville, with Charlane and Tequila on #PorchPolitics talking about the broad expertise of the Black community.

Charlane and Tequila are Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of The Equity Alliance.

Porch Politics is recorded LIVE from our porch every other Thursday at 6 pm CT. You can stream it on The Tennessee Holler or wait for it to drop as a podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you like to listen.

Students at Vanderbilt University hold Protest to Divest from Fossil Fuels

By Connor Warmuth, DivestVU Executive | ([email protected])

“Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!”

Over thirty student protesters chanted these words as they marched from the campus Central Library to Kirkland Hall at Vanderbilt University. The protest was designed to get the administration to seriously consider divestment of the university’s endowment from fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are significant drivers of climate change. The release of carbon dioxide and methane from fossil fuel combustion, exacerbates the Greenhouse Effect, resulting in increased absorption of heat and higher average temperatures globally. Warmer temperatures will mean more extreme weather events, a climate refugee crisis, increased likelihood of famine, reduced water capacity, mass extinction of ecosystems, and exacerbated global inequities.

Furthermore, particulates and chemicals released at all stages of fossil fuel extraction and consumption pollute the Earth’s atmosphere, water, ecosystems. Pollution from fossil fuels directly results in a variety of serious health issues from asthma to cancer, particularly in minority communities. Pollution causes nearly 400,000 deaths per year.

So how much of the endowment is actually invested in fossil fuels? According to the 2020 Financial Report, four percent of Vanderbilt’s 6.9 billion dollar endowment is invested in “natural resources.” These investments are in “timber, oil and gas production, mining, energy, and related services businesses.” While the endowment supports a large portion of the students attending Vanderbilt, many question the idea of receiving financial aid from fossil fuel investments. As environmental justice advocate Luis Martínez puts it,

I feel morally opposed to having any monetary assistance I received for my education be sourced from fossil fuel investments, particularly in light of the education my own school gives me to clearly know the urgency of climate change in our lives. Our university education is a gift to effect change.”

The university has ignored support for divestment, despite the passage of resolutions favoring divestment in the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG), and the accumulation of 1100 student signatures in an online petition.  According to Emily Irigoyen, leader of DivestVU, a coalition of students advocating for divestment of the endowment of fossil fuels,

“The administration has not engaged with our divestment campaign and has ignored our attempts to reach out to high ranking officials in the endowment office.”

As a result, DivestVU, DoresDivest (a separate coalition of students advocating for divestment), and several other student-run university organizations agreed to host a protest.

“Unfortunately, climate change is too pressing of an issue to sit out on the sidelines–so we took action.” said Miguel Moravec of DoresDivest.

At the protest, students marched while holding up posters with messages reading “Divest Vandy Now,” “Anchor Down DivestVU,” and “You are on Native Land.” The protest even featured a giant fourteen-foot unicorn with the words “Divest Fossil Fuels” written on the side.

Finally, the protesters arrived at the steps of Kirkland Hall, the tall, brown building with a clock at the top, where many of the leaders in the Vanderbilt administration work. Each protester wore a mask and stood six feet apart to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Representatives from multiple campus organizations delivered speeches in favor of divestment. 

Speaker Luis Martínez urged the Vanderbilt community to join him in calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels. Born and raised in Miami, Florida by a Cuban father and a Venezuelan mother, he has witnessed firsthand the disproportionate effects of climate change from tropical cyclones, rising sea levels, and heatwaves on Black and brown communities.

“There is no place I love more in the world and I will do the best I can in this life to protect the communities it holds from the worst impacts of Anthropogenic climate change.”

Next, Emily Irigoyen acknowledged that Vanderbilt occupies the traditional lands of the Cherokee, Shawnee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek peoples.

“By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Vanderbilt University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and indigenous peoples.”

Ana Fonongava’inga and Gabby Guarna of Vanderbilt’s Indigenous Scholars Organization added that:

“By continuing to invest in fossil fuels, the university is complicit in the destruction of our ancestral lands in the South Pacific, the destruction of Native lands here on Turtle Island due to toxic pipelines, the perpetuation of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis, the displacement of our relatives, and the attack on Indigenous futures and wellbeing globally.”

Emma Tharpe, co-president of Hidden Dores, spoke out about white supremacy at Vanderbilt:

Despite the fact that climate change is already disproportionately impacting communities of color, the refusal [to divest] from institutions [like Vanderbilt] who claim to value their “minority” populations, and who have things like “perspectives” requirements to graduate, and more Instagram posts and pamphlet photos of Black and brown students than I could count is persistent. This is absolutely hypocritical.”

Finally, DoresDivest’s Ben Hayden and Miguel Moravec, DivestVU’s Hannah Bruns, and VSG’s Vice President Shun Ahmed shamed the Vanderbilt administration for their complete lack of morality:

“Investment decisions [made by Vanderbilt], like all other decisions, are moral decisions. And divorcing the two, and putting on blinders to all other effects of your decision making, is both a categorical mistake and a moral blunder,” Hayden said.

Bruns added,

“It’s embarrassing that we have to ask our own university to invest in our futures by divesting from fossil fuels.”

Ahmed said,

“Vanderbilt [needs] to realize that their students will not be quiet and sit in a meeting room and just watch these issues continue on.”

Looking to the future, Irigoyen hopes the university will be more engaged in the movement to divest from fossil fuels:

“The administration has to show a good faith effort in discussing fossil fuel divestment and the creation of an ethical divestment committee with student representatives. If they don’t we will be forced to escalate our disruptions until they listen to us. The University relies heavily on alumni donations and targeting alumni who care about climate change to withhold donations is a potential next step.”

 

 

The Intersectionality Between Climate and Reproductive Justice

Hosts Isabella and Hale speak with Osub Ahmed, a senior analyst at the Center for American Progress, on the intersection between the climate crisis and reproductive rights. This is often an overlooked subject both in media and day-to-day conversations. That’s why we decided to dig deep and dissect the important relationship between the two.

Read the Environmental Reproductive Justice research

Check out In Your Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda

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FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

Tennessean Insurrectionists and the Importance of Antifascism

Journalists Abby Lee Hood and Matt Bastin join to talk about Tennesseans’ involvement in the undemocratic coup attempt by MAGA insurrectionists that took place at our Capitol last week. We explore the moment we are in and where to go from here, including how it is more important now than ever to include antifascism into everything we do. Not only is supporting antifascism the right thing to do, but we will never pass a Green New Deal or any other progressive legislation if we don’t both practice antifascism and push for democratic reforms.

Read Matt and Abby Lee’s piece in Tennessee Lookout that inspired this episode

Support Abby Lee

Support Matt

Read Angela Davis’ Abolition Democracy Beyond Empire Prisons & Torture

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Join DSA

Volunteer for The Equity Alliance

Find out what Native Land you are living on

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FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

How the Left Can Change Tennessee

Matthew Park, Co-Executive Director of Change TN, joins Cassie and Owen to talk about how the Left should be engaging with the upcoming race for the Chair of the Democratic Party and all the local races across the state in 2021. As Matthew says, local municipalities are the true labs of democracy – that’s where we need to be building the bench so that we can truly change Tennessee for the better.

Get involved with Change TN

Follow Change TN on Twitter and Facebook

Find out what Native Land you are living on

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

Democrats Need to Deliver for Young People

“If the Democratic Party wants to win over the loyalty of young people it had better act right now and in a pretty big way.”- Jonathan Smucker drops fire talking about the Democratic Party’s future on The Intercept’s #Deconstructed podcast.

Full Podcast.