Tag: senate

  • 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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  • 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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  • Response: Manchin as Democratic Ranking Member on Senate Energy Committee

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    December 11, 2018

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

    Oil Change USA Response to Manchin as Dem. Ranking Member on Senate Energy Committee

    In response to the appointment of Senator Joe Manchin as Ranking Member for the Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director with Oil Change USA, released the following statement:

    “This is the wrong choice at the wrong time for the Democrats. Senator Schumer has failed in finding a Ranking Member for this committee that truly understands that the climate crisis requires us to take on the fossil fuel industry, not cater to its demands. While climate impacts are getting ever more intense, and the science shows we must keep fossil fuels in the ground, Senator Manchin has enjoyed nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from oil, gas and coal interests in his career.

    “If Senator Manchin wants to be taken seriously as someone serious about taking the critical step to move our economy off of fossil fuels, and not someone beholden to the fossil fuel industry, he should take the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, today. It only makes sense that he promise to reject money from the industry being regulated by the committee he’ll lead for the Democrats. Until he does, we’ll know who he truly answers to.”

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