Agenda Text
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Opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline, and restricting engagement with the financial institutions supporting the pipeline.
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Official Text
WHEREAS: In Resolution #197269, adopted June 26, 2014, the Board of Aldermen of the City of Somerville resolved that “the climate crisis is a serious threat to current and future generations here in Somerville and around the world” and thus urged “individuals, religious institutions, colleges and universities, and governments to divest their funds from publicly-traded fossil fuel companies”; and
WHEREAS: Prominent scientists and organizations warn that the Keystone XL pipeline will contribute to climate change, contaminate air and water, and create the conditions that lead to disastrous oil spills and explosions; and
WHEREAS: To minimize irreversible climate change, rapid phase-down of fossil fuel emissions must begin now, along with CO2 extraction via reforestation and improved soil fertility with increased carbon content, as described by climate scientist James Hansen in his 2016 paper, "Young People's Burden: Requirement of Negative CO2 Emissions;" and
WHEREAS: On March 24, 2017, President Donald Trump announced the State Department’s grant to TransCanada of the federal permit needed to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which could transport over 800,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS: Completion of the Keystone XL pipeline is dependent upon receiving credit from financial institutions; NOW THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED: That the Somerville Board of Aldermen does hereby take the following actions:
Section 1. The Somerville Board of Aldermen opposes the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and urges financial institutions to boycott providing financial services to TransCanada until it abandons attempts to complete the pipeline.
Section 2. The Somerville Board of Aldermen requests that the Finance Department and the City Solicitor’s Office determine how to establish contracting criteria that prioritize the city’s goals of avoiding contracting with financial institutions that provide financial services to TransCanada.
Section 3. The Somerville Board of Aldermen requests that the Finance Department and the City Solicitor’s Office identify meaningful ways to communicate the above-stated positions of this Board to prospective financial institutions, such as by incorporating appropriate language in Requests for Proposals for city contracts.
Section 4. The Somerville Board of Aldermen requests that the City Solicitor’s Office and the Finance Department identify all mechanisms through which the city may restrict financial institutions from participating in city borrowing based on objectionable business activities, such as the provision of financial services to TransCanada.
Section 5. The Somerville Board of Aldermen requests that the City Solicitor’s Office and the Finance Department identify the circumstances under which the city may engage in a negotiated underwriting process with a pre-selected lending institution.
Section 6. The Somerville Board of Aldermen requests that the City Solicitor’s Office and the Finance Department report back to this Board by July 10, 2017, on the requests stated in Sections 2 - 5 of this Resolution.