Connie Cho
@conniedotcho.bsky.social
690 followers 600 following 88 posts
Climate justice movement lawyer @apen4ej.bsky.social • rescue dog mama • Midwest expat in California • views/chaos my own 🌈
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conniedotcho.bsky.social
In the ten years after my dad passed away, I have never missed him more than I do now.

Grateful to @apen4ej.bsky.social for helping me alchemize my grief and sharing the lessons from my father in this fight to reclaim our democracy.

#nokings #fightfordemocracy #fightthecoup #removereversereclaim
apen4ej.bsky.social
1/ "I wish my father were still alive so that I could ask him, will this be how our democracy dies? Or will we be able to rebuild it anew?"

As billionaires attempt to dismantle our democracy, APEN's Connie Cho shares lessons from her father.

apen4ej.medium.com/reclaiming-d...
Reclaiming Democracy: Lessons from My Father
I wish my father were still alive so that I could ask him, will this be how our democracy dies? Or will we be able to rebuild it anew?
apen4ej.medium.com
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Woohoo! 🎉

The EPA grant to study the health impacts of refinery retirements and retrofits in partnership the incredible leading researchers at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and PSE Healthy Energy has been restored thanks to a class action lawsuit! @apen4ej.bsky.social
kinesinmotors.bsky.social
💥 🏛️ Federal Agencies Ordered to Restore Grants to University of California Scientists
🧪
First class action suit against grant terminations by the Administration

Agencies: Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities
kvasquez.bsky.social
You can read the judge's order here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/70459...

@science.org also put out a great summary of the case and what might happen next: www.science.org/content/arti...
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Yes, loved this episode w/ @gruberte.bsky.social! If you are confused about what is happening w/ oil refineries in CA right now, listen to this 30 min mini-podcast episode from ~2022~ ! bsky.app/profile/jeff...
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Going to print this on a t-shirt for the next EJ convening @kbvale.bsky.social
christosilvia.bsky.social
So this transition so far has been very mid
conniedotcho.bsky.social
What if we said one citation to rule them all instead of “policy framework”
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Connie Cho
dave.bzky.team
Astronaut meme for mid transition
dave.bzky.team
Hey @gruberte.bsky.social i am looking around and realizing that, as right as i have always thought you are about midtransition stuff, you are, like, way more right than that.
Reposted by Connie Cho
cristianfarias.com
The Supreme Court's disdain for Congress, the statutory design of agencies, and the public services they provide to millions truly astounds.

Destroying a 50-year-old Cabinet-level department may be the biggest violation of the Take Care Clause in U.S. history—and six justices simply ... don't care.
mjsdc.bsky.social
BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

From Sotomayor's dissent:
Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash
untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities
and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual
assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal
resources Congress intended. The majority apparently
deems it more important to free the Government from paying employees it had no right to fire than to avert these very
real harms while the litigation continues. Equity does not
support such an inequitable result.
* * *
The President must take care that the laws are faithfully
executed, not set out to dismantle them. That basic rule
undergirds our Constitution’s separation of powers. Yet today, the majority rewards clear defiance of that core principle with emergency relief. Because I cannot condone such
abuse of our equitable authority, I respectfully dissent.
conniedotcho.bsky.social
So, if folks want to chat for more than two minutes about it, off the record, I’m happy to! 😏
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Also, it’s not the CEC per se, it’s actually the Vice Chair’s office. From a purely technical perspective, they *threw down*.

www.politico.com/f/?id=000001...
www.politico.com
conniedotcho.bsky.social
I was quoted in an article and it was taken out of context. But I think the larger issue is that there’s a battle right now about the future of California climate, environmental, health/ safety protections — and the CEC dropped a super complicated, nuanced framework document…
conniedotcho.bsky.social
We’re all humans trying to do complicated things in complicated times. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Reposted by Connie Cho
apen4ej.bsky.social
The oil industry made this mess. Now, they want permission to continue fleecing California taxpayers and consumers – and, as a bonus, slash regulations, cut corners, and endanger Californians. We can’t let Big Oil shake down California on their way out.
conniedotcho.bsky.social
And stakeholder engagement is not a dusting of powdered sugar, sprinkles, or buttercream on top. =/= 🍩🧁
Reposted by Connie Cho
apen4ej.bsky.social
We must follow the leadership of EJ groups in the Valley directly impacted by dirty drilling, and the many groups that have spent over a decade facing down threats of unchecked drilling expansion – groups like CRPE, CCEJN and CVAQ.
conniedotcho.bsky.social
And for the record: after naming the clear negative health impacts of a Kern drilling-related proposal, I thought I was pretty firmly (but respectfully? I’m Midwestern?) affirmed the need for *more stakeholder engagement.*
conniedotcho.bsky.social
I said there’s no way to sugar coat it!
apen4ej.bsky.social
Let’s be clear: fast-tracking thousands of oil and gas wells with only a *single* environmental review further pollutes the air and water in some of California’s most overburdened communities *and* risks deepening our dependence on fossil fuels.
conniedotcho.bsky.social
So my lawyer brain wants to explode because I could spend like 20 posts explaining this with graphs and citations, but it is 6PM on a Friday and my partner gets home soon, so I give you these two screenshots of a summary of a summary of a summary:
Reposted by Connie Cho
apen4ej.bsky.social
What’s happening: In the last year, two refineries in CA have announced plans to close – and Big Oil is taking the opportunity to shakedown taxpayers and maximize profits on their way out, making Californians foot the bill for their pollution ❌❌ stoptheoilshakedown.org
conniedotcho.bsky.social
🧵🪡 A thread on my attempt to thread the needle at a @calenergy.bsky.social meeting in a two-minute high-level public comment and taken out of context on (to be fair) a complex subject. ⬇️
apen4ej.bsky.social
Yesterday, @politico.com ran an article about this week’s @calenergy.bsky.social meeting claiming that climate and environmental justice groups are lining up behind a plan that would “pump the brakes” on the transition away from fossil fuels. It’s time to set the story straight ⬇️⬇️
Reposted by Connie Cho
sifill.bsky.social
Who was MN Rep. Melissa Hortman in the MN Legislature? READ about her consequential leadership in this THREAD by @taniel.bsky.social.

Take the time.
taniel.bsky.social
Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government.

That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Dear lord, the full context of US Senator @padilla.senate.gov being forcibly removed, pinned down, and handcuffed? He tried to ask a question…when this regime rationalized the (unconstitutional) commandeering of National Guard troops as ~liberating~ people from their elected representatives.
sylviachi.bsky.social
It's mind-blowing how little attention this extraordinary statement has received. It's briefly mentioned in a couple news articles, but this MSNBC opinion piece is the only extended discussion of it I've seen: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Reposted by Connie Cho
lizthegrey.com
Matching up to 2,500 USD to Immigrant Defenders Law Center, for the first people to DM or reply with receipts. They're EIN 47-4473312 for quickly looking up if you have a DAF.
chadloder.bsky.social
🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨

Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs:

Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate

LA Jail Support / Bail Fund:
account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor...

Unión del Barrio:
uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...
conniedotcho.bsky.social
Good night. #NazReid #Timberwolves #wolvesback #wolvesinsix #dogsforwolves
Adorable small dog (golden with Dorito ears) sits on a Naz Reid towel with her elephant toy in front of a TV playing the NBA playoffs in which the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the LA Lakers. Naz Reid and Anthony Edwards on the screen.