Attendance: Karen England, Margaret Wildermann, Dick Wildermann, Sue Woglom.
Karen presented her research on the Clean Water Rule. (Trump has issued and executive order directing the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to review and “rescind or revise” the rule.). After discussion by the committee it was decided that the best time for us to take action will most likely be during the period for public comment. Karen agreed to continue to follow this issue.
Dick has kept track of issues the Environment Committee has discussed or suggested action on. These are offshore drilling, executive action on national monuments and executive order on Clean Water rule. He will present these three at the SIAN meeting on May 9.
There was a wide-ranging discussion about how to help Committee members feel more comfortable about agreeing to “take on ” or follow specific issues and draft action proposals. One suggestion was to create an outline (is there a model in the Indivisible Guide?) setting out “how to” guidelines for doing research and creating and action suggestion. Dick volunteered to draft something for the members at the meeting to look at, and then send it our to the entire committee.
Another suggestion was for the members present to come up with a list of about 5 issues to focus on, and then ask committee members to choose one they are most interested in, to follow and propose action. Margaret suggested sending out a questionnaire to members instead of an open ended question. Sue and Dick agreed to start that process.
Other issues discussed included how to avoid getting overwhelmed, the importance of in person meetings for providing support and encouragement to Trump “resisters,” (any others?)
Sea Islands Action Network 