Oakland City Council Unanimously Passes Kaplan’s Resolution Urging CalPERS to Divest From DAPL
Oakland City Council unanimously passed Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan’s Resolution urging the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Councilmembers McElhaney, Gallo, Guillen, and Kalb all joined Kaplan’s Resolution as co-sponsors.
Despite the threats the pipeline poses to public health, the water supply and sacred land, CalPERS owns about 1.1 million shares of Energy Transfer Partners, the company involved in the pipeline project. By passing Councilmember Kaplan’s Resolution, Oakland City Council made clear that as CalPERS members, they do not want their pension funds contributing to a project that tramples on the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Resolution garnered enthusiastic support from constituents and organizations such as the SEIU 1021 and the California Nurses Association. SEIU representative James Muller said: “I would ask, on behalf of the SEIU 1021 climate justice committee, which has endorsed the Resolution before you, to support Kaplan’s Resolution that calls on CalPERS to divest from Energy Transfer Partners. Our hard earned retirement contributions should not be spent making the rich richer while the Sioux Tribe is divested of its sovereign rights of territory.”
Kaplan said: “This pipeline which Obama sent for environmental review and which Trump nevertheless is pushing forward threatens the water, the land, and the tribal treaty rights of the indigenous people of that area. This is something that not only threatens our whole planet, but which also represents a level of environmental racism which we as Californians should not put our money toward. Tonight’s unanimous vote proves that with the current president, there is still plenty we can do to influence change, and one of those things is to not to allow our money to go into these projects that go against our values.”
Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide councilmember, she was re-elected in 2016. via IFTTT