Tag: natural gas

  • Oil Change U.S. and Partners Launch ‘Gas Is Not Clean’ Campaign

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    September 1, 2021

    Contact:
    Collin Rees, collin@priceofoil.org
    Ellen Sciales, press@sunrisemovement.org

    Oil Change U.S. and Partners Launch ‘Gas Is Not Clean’ Campaign

    WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Oil Change U.S., Sunrise Movement, Evergreen Action, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Working Families Party, Greenpeace USA, Indivisible, People’s Action, and other partners launched a joint Gas Is Not Clean campaign aimed at strengthening a potential Clean Energy Standard (CES) — also known as the Clean Energy Payment Program (CEPP) — by ensuring that gas is prohibited. The Gas Is Not Clean campaign will build pressure on politicians to commit to prioritizing truly clean, renewable energy and definitively excluding gas by making clear that gas is not clean, and that every stage of its production — from extraction to processing to transport to combustion — generates toxic air and water pollution.

    The groups and their allies on Capitol Hill are demanding members of Congress make it clear they will fight to keep gas out of a CEPP. The campaign website will track which members of Congress are supporting this priority, and will serve as a resource for House and Senate Leadership to see the broad support among their caucus for excluding gas from any definition of clean energy. The groups behind this campaign will be engaging members of Congress through digital amplification, email and social media campaigns, and local organizing efforts in-District. 

    This campaign comes ahead of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s anticipated September 13 mark-up session, in which the House committee will advance language for a new clean energy standard to constrain emissions. 

    “With climate disasters coming at us from every direction, the stakes of the reconciliation bill could not be higher. This is our moment to turbocharge the transition to a green, just economy, and the Clean Energy Standard can play a key role – but it needs to be as ambitious as possible on renewables, and it needs to exclude gas. This is not complicated, and we can’t allow the gas industry to confuse the issue. No fossil fuels, period.”
    — U.S.     Representative Jamaal Bowman, NY-16

    “The evidence is clear: Gas is a deadly fossil fuel that’s a disaster for the climate and communities. Any clean energy standard or payment program that allows gas would fly directly in the face of President Biden’s commitment to decarbonization. Clean energy means no gas and no other fossil fuels, period.”
    — Collin Rees, Campaign Manager, Oil Change U.S.

    “We’re making our politicians pick a side — are you with us or fossil fuel executives? The science is clear: there is nothing clean about gas. It’s a potent fossil fuel that pollutes the air we breathe, the water we drink, and is the reason Hurricane Ida intensified to the point of fatality and utter destruction. A CES that includes investments towards gas does not meet the scale of the climate crisis, and is a slap in the face to communities across the country who are facing climate disasters. We deserve a liveable future free of toxic pollution and catastrophic climate disasters. We will continue to pressure members of Congress until they exclude gas from the CES.”
    — Lauren Maunus, Advocacy Director, Sunrise Movement

    “Natural gas is a dirty fossil fuel. Just like oil, it pollutes the air and water wherever it is extracted, produced, and burned. The fossil fuel driven climate crisis is already bringing record heat waves, massive storms, and crippling droughts that are killing people and destroying communities across the country. Natural gas is nothing more than corporate PR and marketing teams trying to rebrand fossil fuels — if oil is Coke, natural gas is New Coke. We can’t afford a Clean Energy Payment Program that pays the fossil fuel industry to continue to destroy our planet and our communities.”
    — Ashley Thomson, Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace USA 

    “At a time when we have unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, and devastating extreme weather events caused by the climate crisis it is well past time to listen to the science — gas is not clean. Indivisible demands a Clean Electricity Payment Program explicitly excludes gas. Anything less than that sanctions the pollution of our air, water, and communities.”
    — Ann Clancy, Senior Climate Policy Manager, Indivisible

    “A Clean Electricity Payment Program has the potential to displace polluting fossil fuels, secure pollution reductions in overburdened communities, and achieve a 100% carbon pollution-free electricity grid by 2035. Yet we can only achieve these goals if a CEPP does not incentivize or credit gas power generation, which would eliminate any possibility of reaching our GHG reduction commitments and avoiding the worst effects of climate change. In addition to emissions at power plants, when methane leaks are accounted for across the gas production, transmission, and distribution systems, the total GHG impact of gas power is nearly doubled, and the toxic waste left behind from the fracking process continues to harm communities across the country. Continuing to rely on gas will only further the environmental injustices faced by communities of Black, Indigeneous, and other people of color who already disproportionately bear the effects of pollution and climate change.”
     — Kass Rohrbach, Acting Director – Ready for 100, Sierra Club

    “Trying to stop the climate crisis with gas is like trying to put out a fire with gas. It will only make the problem worse.”
    — Jamie DeMarco, Federal & Maryland Policy Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

    “We must ban all fossil fuels and greenhouse gas pollution immediately to mitigate the unfolding planetary disaster which Congress shamefully has failed to address.”
    — Todd Fernandez, Executive Director, Climate Crisis Policy

    The full list of groups joining the Gas is Not Clean campaign for today’s launch include:

    – Chesapeake Climate Action Network

    – Climate Crisis Policy

    – Earthjustice

    – Elders Climate Action

    – Evergreen Action

    – Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility

    – Greenpeace USA

    – Indivisible

    – Interfaith Power & Light

    – NDN Collective

    – Oil Change U.S.

    – People’s Action

    – Sierra Club

    – Sunrise Movement

    – Working Families Party

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  • Climate Activists React to Biden’s Moves to Ban Fossil Fuel Executives from Transition Team

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    October 1, 2020

    Contact:
    Collin Rees, collin [at] priceofoil.org
    Jamie Henn, jamie [at] fossilfree.media

    Climate Activists React to Biden’s Moves to Ban Fossil Fuel Executives from Transition Team 

    Washington, DC — After pressure from progressives and climate activists, Vice President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he is barring fossil fuel company leaders and executives from his presidential transition team. 

    This September, over 145 organizations sent Biden a letter requesting that he ban fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from his campaign and administration. 

    Today’s announcement from the transition team should block controversial figures like former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who served on the board of Southern Company and regularly advises fossil fuel companies, as well as former Obama Administration official Heather Zichal, who earned $1 million as an advisor and board member for Cheniere Energy, a natural gas company. 

    According to polling from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media, voters oppose fossil fuel industry lobbyists or representatives working in the executive branch by a 22-point margin. 61 percent of Democrats oppose fossil fuel industry representatives working in the administration, while only 22 percent are open to the idea. 

    Groups involved in the push to ban fossil fuel lobbyists issued the following responses: 

    “Committing to a fossil-free transition team is exactly what we need to see heading into a new administration. Keeping fossil fuel representatives out of the federal government is a position that’s extremely popular with the public, and builds on the key improvements Biden has made to his climate plan, said Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change U.S. “We look forward to this common-sense commitment being extended to cover an eventual Biden Cabinet and administration.” 

    “We’re heartened to see Joe Biden and Kamala Harris listen to grassroots climate hawks,” said RL Miller, political director of Climate Hawks Vote. “Fossil fuel advocates have no place on an administration dedicated to healing the harm Trump has caused and committed to 100 percent clean and renewable electricity by 2035.”

    “This language doesn’t just block people with fossil fuel connections from the transition team, it sets a clear precedent that they should have no place in a future Biden Administration. It’s a promising sign that Biden is preparing to take a more aggressive stance when it comes to the fossil fuel companies that are causing the climate crisis,” said Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media. 

    “A fossil-free transition team is a bare minimum for the distance a Biden administration must keep the cheerleaders of continued fossil fuel use,” said Mitch Jones, Policy Director at Food & Water Action. “The Biden campaign should commit now to excluding fossil fuel champions from any role in a Biden administration. We look forward to working with the Biden transition team and with a Biden administration to assure that they are staffed with climate champions committed to handing on a habitable planet to future generations.”

    “Rejecting fossil fuel influence is a smart move for the Biden-Harris campaign. Voters are hungry to elect a climate champion. Joe Biden is running on the most ambitious climate platform in history, but it won’t mean much if his transition team is stacked with oil and gas insiders. Biden would do well to distance himself from the failed approach of the Trump administration, which is teeming with corporate lobbyists and fossil fuel cronies. While aiming to reject fossil fuel influence from his transition team is a strong start, this is not the end of the road. We urge Biden to commit to banning all fossil fuel executives and lobbyists from his cabinet and administration. Personnel is policy, and we need experts in the White House who put climate and environmental justice ahead of corporate profits,” said Charlie Jiang, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace USA.

    “Sunrise Movement is pleased to see the Biden-Harris team recognize that there is no place on their transition team for people tied to fossil fuel executives and believe that they should extend this commitment to their cabinet and administration appointments,” said Lauren Maunus, Legislative Manager at Sunrise Movement. “Young people and people around the country are ready for a new chapter in this country in which we prioritize bold climate action that creates millions of good, union jobs and addresses the wounds of systemic racism and economic inequality. Excluding fossil fuel CEOs and their allies helps make this future possible.”

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  • Biden Urged by 145 Groups to Ban Fossil Fuel Representatives in Campaign & Administration

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    September 1, 2020

    Contact:
    Collin Rees, collin [at] priceofoil.org
    Ryan Schleeter, rschleet [at] greenpeace.org
    Jamie Henn, jamie [at] fossilfree.media

    Biden Urged by 145 Groups to Ban Fossil Fuel Representatives in Campaign & Administration

    Today, 145 groups sent a joint letter urging Joe Biden to ban all fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from any advisory or official position on his campaign, transition team, cabinet, and administration. The groups ranged from progressive to youth to faith to environmental justice to climate groups and beyond, and cited new polling from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media showing strong opposition to fossil fuel representatives serving in a Biden administration.

    Click here to read the joint letter from 145 groups to the Biden campaign.

    “My generation is on the line and Biden will lose significant support from young people, as well as everyone else concerned about climate change, were he to allow any fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, or other representatives onto his campaign or administration in any form. Joe Biden has made a commitment to an aggressive climate plan but no climate action commitment can stand in the face of fossil fuel influence. If Biden truly cares about young people like me, he will ban any fossil fuel representatives from taking part in his team,” said Lana Weidgenant, Deputy Director of Partnerships at Zero Hour.

    “Joe Biden can’t address the climate crisis while listening to people taking checks from the fossil fuel industry like Ernest Moniz, Jason Bordoff, Ken Salazar, and Heather Zichal. Biden must act boldly in collaboration with grassroots leaders fighting for environmental and climate justice — which means ruling out positions for dangerous ‘all-of-the-above’ boosters whose time has passed,” said Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change U.S. 

    “In a time of cascading crises that will require a just and thoughtful recovery, fossil fuel CEOs have shown they care only about their bottom line. Joe Biden put forward an ambitious plan to advance environmental justice, tackle the climate emergency, and build back better from the crises we face. But personnel is policy. Stacking the White House with fossil fuel industry executives and lobbyists is a Trump move, and Biden should know better. Our movements — and millions of voters — demand a president ready to look fossil fuel CEOs in the eye and tell them their reign is over,” said Charlie Jiang, climate campaigner with Greenpeace USA. 

    “Joe Biden is championing the most aggressive climate and environmental justice plan of any presidential candidate ever. But if he hires fossil fuel representatives, he’ll lose any credibility he has built among youth activists, frontline communities, and all of us impacted by the climate crisis. We are under no illusion that the same people who extracted massive wealth by creating this existential problem will have any real interest or ability to solve it,” said Kaniela Ing, Climate Justice Director with People’s Action.

    “A leader cannot stand for the people and not protect the people. This current administration has provided us with the results of said behavior and it has not gone well. The people deserve to be protected over profit. Joe Biden’s recent commitment to an aggressive climate plan that includes environmental justice protects the people. After making such a commitment it is expected that it would be fulfilled. The fossil fuel industry has not only done extreme damage to the environment it has also done extreme damage to black, brown, indigenous, and poor communities. We call on the Biden Administration and the DNC to partner with the desires of the suffering by saying no to having fossil fuel representatives in the Biden Administration,” said Rev. Michael Malcom of the People’s Justice Council.

    “Look no farther than Pennsylvania — its citizens who have suffered the health, safety, and economic harms inflicted by shale gas development and its forests and farmlands that have been irreversibly scarred as shale gas infrastructure has metastasized to every part of the state — to see what happens when government and industry become almost indistinguishable from one another. We know all too well that we will not be free of fossil fuels until our government is. Joe Biden can and must be the first fossil fuel-free president,” said Karen Feridun, co-founder of the Better Path Coalition in Pennsylvania.

    “Biden’s pledge to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies is sure to become an empty promise with fossil fuel emissaries whispering in his ear. We do not need a repeat of Obama’s all-of-the-above strategy which gave us the largest expansion of oil and gas production in U.S. history,” said Karen Grainey, co-director of Center for a Sustainable Coast.

    “For forty years the fossil fuel industry has deceived the American public about the consequences of our dependence on oil and gas. They’ve continued their rapacious march toward disaster while people watch their health and that of their land and water deteriorate. As the earth’s ecosystems begin to unravel due to carbon fueled climate change, this industry’s only concern is to drain the last drop of profit from a dying planet. Allowing fossil fuel representatives to have a seat at the energy policy table will destroy any credibility the Biden administration might claim on energy and environment leadership. We ask that you stand with integrity and embrace the energy of the future,” said Kevin Ionno, chair of the Climate Reality Project of Coastal Georgia.

    “As Elizabeth Warren says, personnel is policy. When Bush and Trump were in charge, putting Big Oil executives at the decision-making table was an active policy choice that cost us dearly. We are now out of time with the climate crisis and need people at the table who will support — not slow walk — Biden’s ambitious climate proposals in his Build Back Better plan,” said Caitlin Lang, spokesperson for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

    “We’ve all seen the disastrous policy produced by personnel in the Trump Administration. But it’s important for Joe Biden to remember that the same was true for him and President Obama: If you personnel in charge who have been paid millions by the fossil fuel, nuclear and other polluting industries, you will get bad policy too. Real change takes courage, it takes effort, and it takes a change in staffing — anything else is the definition of madness,” said Liz Butler, Vice President of Organizing and Strategic Alliances at Friends of the Earth Action.

    “We are in a climate emergency. Even as Covid-19 rages on, fossil fuel interests continue to prioritize profits over people, lobbying for financial secrecy, bailouts, and environmental rollbacks. For the sake of our children, and the future of this country and our world, the Biden Administration cannot risk depending on fossil fuel interests to guide decision-making on climate policy,” said Fatema Sumar, Vice President of Global Programs, Oxfam America. 

    “There is an inherent conflict between the interests of our people and the interests of corporate CEOs, and hiring fossil fuel executives to institute an environmental justice plan would be the equivalent of hiring a fox to run the hen house. Communities most hurt most by the climate injustice that fossil fuels have brought down on our world are those same marginalized people who are hurt most by every aspect of our current systems where corporate profits are prioritized over people,” said Mohammed Missouri, Executive Director of Jetpac.

    “This election is a matter of life or death for our generation, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can only win if young people show up to vote for them in historic numbers. It’s time for Biden to show young people he will fight for our generation by publicly committing to keep fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and consultants off his team. We cannot afford this polluting influence in a Biden campaign or administration,” said Lauren Maunus, Legislative Manager, Sunrise Movement. 

    “As fossil-fueled fires burn and super-storms rage, the stakes could not be higher for Vice President Biden to listen to the people — not a handful of fossil fuel executives and frack-happy allies like Ernest Moniz. There’s simply no way to fend off climate catastrophe and end environmental racism without tackling fossil fuels, and there’s no path to phase out fossil fuel extraction so long as Big Oil has the White House on speed dial,” said Brett Hartl, Chief Political Strategist at Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund.

    “Thanks to the environment and climate movement’s decades of tireless work to make decision-makers act boldly, the Biden-Harris campaign has adopted the strongest climate platform of any presidential ticket in history. However, real progress will be measured by relationship to communities most impacted and investments in the same. Fossil fuel representatives have no place at the table except to hand over their dirty profits to rebuild what they have broken. Any accomodation to fossil fuel executives will undermine the promise of our  shared work and throw away our chances of a livable future in the climate decade,” said Tamara Toles O’Laughlin of 350 Action.

    Click here to read the full letter.

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  • 200+ Groups Urge Senate to Oppose European Fossil Fuel Promotion Bill

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    May 9, 2019

    CONTACT:
    Collin Rees, collin [at] priceofoil.org
    Seth Gladstone, sgladstone [at] fwwatch.org
    Ryan Schleeter, rschleet [at] greenpeace.org

    200+ Groups Urge Senate to Oppose European Fossil Fuel Promotion Bill

    Washington, DC — More than 200 groups sent a letter to U.S. senators today, urging them to oppose the European Energy Security and Diversification Act of 2019 (S. 704), a bill that would provide billions of dollars of support for natural gas infrastructure projects in Europe, further incentivizing fracking and fossil fuel development in the United States. The bill, passed by the House in March, has drawn criticism for locking both the United States and Europe into decades of continued fossil fuel dependence under the guise of national security.

    The letter was organized by Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Hawks Vote, The Climate Mobilization, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth US, Greenpeace USA, Oil Change U.S., Progressive Democrats of America, Public Citizen, Rainforest Action Network, Sunrise Movement, and 350.org.

    The letter states, in part: “The only way to promote real energy security is to work together with Europe to rapidly end our shared reliance on fossil fuels. Our nation should be investing in renewable energy technology and energy efficiency, not setting aside tens of billions of dollars to support fracked-gas infrastructure projects that will keep Europe dependent on fossils.”

    “This bill would undermine its own stated cause. Using fossil fuels for energy diplomacy increases global tensions and decreases our national security by pouring fuel on the fire of the climate crisis. Research clearly shows that existing fossil fuel development – including gas development – contains more carbon than the world can afford to burn,” said Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change U.S. “Any action that seeks to build out new, additional fossil fuel infrastructure flies in the face of what’s needed for a just transition. We must invest in the clean energy of the future, not in dirty fuels like gas that will directly crowd out these renewable sources and lock us into climate disaster.”

    “At a moment when we should be leading the global mission to rapidly quit fossil fuels, the notion of seeking new and deeper fossil fuel codependence between America and Europe is patently absurd,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director at Food & Water Watch. “Climate science is clear: We must begin an aggressive global transition to clean, renewable energy now. For the Senate to promote the opposite would be a clear abdication of moral duty to current and future generations in this country and every country.”

    “The only way to promote real energy security is to work with Europe to rapidly end reliance on fossil fuels,” said Nicole Ghio, Senior Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. “As communities around the world deal with the effects of climate change, America should be investing in renewable energy, not dirty fossil fuels.”

    “Whatever the geopolitics, sending more deadly fossil fuels to Europe or any other part of the world is not the answer. Natural gas is fool’s gold and will inevitably lead to further destabilization of any region that relies upon it,” said Bill Snape, Senior Counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The future is with clean renewable energy and infrastructure. Any expenditure of taxpayer funds for fossil fuels is a colossal waste of money and a major lost opportunity.”

    “Civilization is already breaking down in the face of rising climate disasters,” said Ezra Silk, Director of Strategy & Policy at The Climate Mobilization. “At the very least, we must immediately halt all new climate-damaging investments, including the expansion of natural gas infrastructure. This bill would bring us yet another step closer to runaway global warming and the collapse of civilization.”

    “The time for climate make-believe is past,” said Russell Greene, Senior Strategic Adviser to the Progressive Democrats of America. “Let’s deal in truth. We are in a climate emergency and have no carbon budget left to burn.”

    “The clean energy revolution is inevitable – across the globe, people are already powering their communities with wind and solar,” said Janet Redman, Climate Campaign Director at Greenpeace USA. “Foolishly investing billions of dollars in the oil and gas industry like this will only make the United States and our European allies fall behind in the race towards a clean energy economy. Instead of putting the fossil fuel industry on life support, it’s time to clear the way towards a green and prosperous future for all.”

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