At the beginning of this month, I sent the following as an e-mail to my local MP regarding this important issue:
Dear Ms Greenwood,
My name is Peter Gray, a local environmental campaigner.
As I am sure you are aware, an amendment to the fuel quality directive was voted upon in Europe on 23rd February this year. Many thought that ministers would be unswayed by the intense environmental lobby in favour of this. It has, however, been successful in converting many 'No' votes into abstentions. This has been in spite of fierce campaigning from the oil industry to shoot down the amendment. Included amongst those abstaining was Norman Baker: the UK member of the fuel quality committee where the vote took place.
The result of this is that instead of the amendment being rejected, the decision has been postponed. The final decision will now be taken in or around June this year by Environment Ministers from the 27 EU states.
The reason this amendment is so important to me and to many other residents of Nottingham, the UK and Europe is because it will prevent oil from Tar Sands entering the EU. This is not based on protectionism, but on sound scientific data surrounding the amount of carbon emissions and environmental damage created in extracting this oil compared to conventional oil sources. The negative impacts of the extraction process include deforestation at a rate second only to the Amazon basin, and pollution of drinking water which appears to be causing cancers and birth defects. http://oilsandstruth.org/
I believe that Nottingham is a City of environmentally conscious people. I have seen this on the streets in Carlton, Beeston, Kimberley, and the City Centre in my campaigning activities.The environmental lobby has prevented many ministers from voting against the amendment this time. We need to keep up the pressure from our side in order to swing those abstentions all the way over to votes in favour.
I ask you to support this amendment by writing to Environment Minister Caroline Spelman. Please ask her on behalf of Nottingham South to vote in favour of this vital amendment in June. I appreciate that you must be extremely busy attending to the needs of local residents. I will be happy to draft a letter for you to approve and send to her with your support if that will allow you to agree to my request. I greatly look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Gray
I have since received a letter from her to say that she has written to the relevant MP on my behalf and that she will get back to me again as soon as she receives a response. If anybody feels inspired and would like to use this as a draft to write to their own MP, please do so!
Comments