Tag: fossil fuel supply

  • Response: Energy Dominance Is a Climate Catastrophe

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    February 5, 2019

    CONTACT:
    David Turnbull, david [at] priceofoil.org
    Collin Rees, collin [at] priceofoil.org

    Energy Dominance Is a Climate Catastrophe

    Oil Change USA response to State of the Union

    The transcript for Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tonight includes a section on “energy dominance,” in which he is expected to say:

    “We have unleashed a revolution in American Energy – the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.”

    In response, David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change USA, released the following statement:

    “Tonight’s State of the Union should be a wake-up call to all who care about our climate. As Donald Trump pushes ahead with his catastrophic energy dominance agenda, it is imperative that climate champions at all levels who are pushing forward Green New Deal efforts incorporate the critical need to pursue a just and managed decline of fossil fuel production.

    “Trump may tout the surge in oil and gas production in the United States because his oil and gas boosters tell him to, but the reality is that continued expansion of the industry will lead us off the cliff and unleash climate chaos. We need climate leaders to stand up to the energy dominance agenda, to say no to the fossil fuel industry, and to say yes to a swift and managed decline of fossil fuel production.”

    ###

    Notes to Editors:

  • Release: Groups Call on Lawmakers to Back Green New Deal through Week of Action

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    February 4, 2019

    CONTACT:
    David Turnbull, Oil Change USA, david [at] priceofoil.org
    Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth U.S., pdavis [at] foe.org
    Seth Gladstone, Food & Water Watch, sgladstone [at] fwwatch.org
    RL Miller, Climate Hawks Vote, rlm [at] climatehawksvote.com
    Bill Snape, Center for Biological Diversity, bsnape [at] biologicaldiversity.org

    Groups Call on Lawmakers to Back Green New Deal

    Week of Action set to push lawmakers to support a progressive, multi-pronged set of environmental and economic policies

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of progressive organizations this week will convene a week of action across the country which is set to include hundreds of events, tens of thousands of phone calls and the delivery of over 100,000 petitions urging members of Congress to transform our economy and energy systems through a Green New Deal.

    Thousands of activists from over 50 organizations, including 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Hawks Vote, Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth U.S., and Oil Change USA will call on lawmakers to support Green New Deal legislation that will:

    • Halt all new fossil fuel extraction, infrastructure, and subsidies, and transitions power generation to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035 or sooner;
    • Rapidly decarbonize the agriculture and transportation sectors, and expand access to public transportation;
    • Ensure a fair and just transition, led by impacted workers and communities, including low-income and communities of color, without relying on corporate schemes or market-based mechanisms;
    • Uphold indigenous rights; and
    • Pass a national jobs guarantee, creating good jobs with collective bargaining and family-sustaining wages.

    Hundreds of events are planned, but organizers are planning to particularly target the leadership of the new Democratic House majority. They will visit the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Energy and Commerce Committee leaders Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), among others.

    For a full list of events, click here.

    “To take action on climate change at the scale of the crisis, we need a Green New Deal,” said May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org. “Communities around the country are demanding innovative policies that put millions to work in the just transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy economy. It’s time for all progressive lawmakers to take real climate action and support a massive federal investment to bring health, safety, and justice to people and the planet.”

    “With an unhinged climate denier in the White House, it’s on Congress to chart a path away from climate suicide,” said Bill Snape, Senior Counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need a World War II-style mobilization to keep fossil fuels in the ground and transition to cleaner, saner energy. A Green New Deal would wean the country off dirty fuels and expand living-wage jobs at the same time.”

    “As Western wildfires rage and the Midwest freezes, Americans are thirsty for climate action. That’s why they elected so many climate hawks last November. It’s now time for the leaders to stand up for a Green New Deal. I’m helping to lead eight separate actions in Los Angeles-Ventura Counties alone,” said RL Miller, President of Climate Hawks Vote.

    “The growing national movement for a Green New Deal has arrived at a critical moment, as we have no time to lose in the fight to avoid irrevocable climate chaos,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “We need to ensure that the Green New Deal is sufficiently aggressive to meet the challenge. This means banning fracking and stopping all new fossil fuel development now, and rapidly transitioning to a truly clean, renewable energy economy.”

    “Under Donald Trump’s watch, carbon emissions have spiraled out of control, communities are suffering through devastating wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts, and Indigenous people are continuously denied their ancestral lands and rights,” said Liz Butler, Vice President of Organizing and Strategic Alliances at Friends of the Earth. “Americans need a just and powerful Green New Deal. A progressive Green New Deal must ensure a just transition to renewable energy that move our economy away from dirty fossil fuels and destructive agriculture practices.”

    “A Green New Deal must usher in a transformation that matches the pace and scale we need to avoid catastrophic climate change, and in a way that actually makes our country stronger,” said Janet Redman, Climate and Energy Director at Greenpeace USA. “Our legislators can cement a turning point for our nation by ensuring that policies addressing the climate crisis also advance racial, economic and gender equity while phasing out polluting fossil fuels starting with the communities already experiencing coal, oil, and gas pollution. We have to continue our radical encouragement of climate leaders in Congress to get us where we actually need to be if we’re serious about staving off the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”

    “Our country is on the cusp of one of the largest bursts in dangerous oil and gas drilling ever seen, at precisely the time that we need to be moving full steam ahead in the opposite direction,” said David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change International. “More than ever before, we need a courageous Green New Deal that prioritizes a managed decline of fossil fuel production and bold measures to support communities in moving swiftly to a cleaner, more just and equitable economy.”

    ###

  • Release: 626 Groups Urge Congress to Phase Out Fossil Fuels, Build Green Economy

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    January 10, 2019

    CONTACT:
    David Turnbull, Oil Change USA, david [at] priceofoil.org
    Olivia Burlingame, Climate Justice Alliance, olivia [at] climatejusticealliance.org
    Bill Snape, Center for Biological Diversity, bsnape [at] biologicaldiversity.org
    Tom BK Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, tomg [at] ienearth.org
    Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth, pdavis [at] foe.org
    Seth Gladstone, Food & Water Watch, sgladstone [at] fwwatch.org

    Visionary Legislation Needed to Address Grave Threat of Climate Change

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 600 environmental groups today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to pursue ambitious climate legislation that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.

    The groups’ letter calls for a thoughtful phaseout of fossil fuel production, a transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, complete decarbonization of the transportation system, use of the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, a just transition to a new green economy and the adherence to treaties upholding Indigenous rights when pursuing these actions.

    “To effectively tackle climate change, policymakers need to commit to transforming the global economy to serve the interests of people and planet, and not the profits of the one percent,” said Angela Adrar, Executive Director of Climate Justice Alliance. “Such a new, green economy needs to be guided by the leadership and knowledge of those most burdened by pollution, poverty and other forms of institutional violence waged by the corporations causing this global ecological crisis.”

    “As the world teeters on the brink of climate catastrophe, we’re calling on Congress to take large-scale action,” said Bill Snape, Senior Counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Americans want a livable future for their children, and that requires keeping fossil fuels in the ground while greening the economy on a wartime footing.” 

    “The disproportionate impacts of climate change and dirty energy development in the traditional territories and lands of American Indian and Alaska Natives must be taken into account to ensure the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples are fully recognized in the just transition to a new green economy,” said Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Indigenous and other frontline communities are ready to take the lead with real solutions to move away from a fossil fuel economy.”

    Months before the 116th Congress opened, a series of scientific reports warned of the dire consequences of inaction on climate change.

    In October the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that policymakers must take “unprecedented action” to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In November the Fourth National Climate Assessment reported that the health and economic costs of climate change are already being felt in the U.S., and that those harms will intensify without “immediate and substantial” cuts to greenhouse gas pollution.

    “At precisely the time that we need our energy policy to swiftly move us into a managed decline of fossil fuel production, the Trump administration is working with the fossil fuel industry to tear down policies and dangerously expand our fossil fuel extraction,” said David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change USA. “We need real climate leaders willing to stand up to this onslaught and work to phase out fossil fuel production, rather than digging the hole deeper.”

    “We cannot stop climate change and rising inequality with the half-solutions of the past,” said Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. “We need action on climate that ends our dependence on dirty energy, puts power in the hands of communities and provides good jobs. If candidates and elected officials say they are committed to climate solutions, this is the litmus test.”

    Today’s letter also notes that the groups will oppose legislation that rolls back existing climate policies, shields the fossil fuel industry from liability or promotes market-based approaches like pollution trading and offsets.

    “The excitement around the Green New Deal should energize Congress to take bold, transformative action on climate change,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “This means a halt to all new fossil fuel development now, and it means a rejection of dangerous false solutions like market-based emissions trading programs.”

    ###