People Vs Fossil Fuels

(Washington, D.C) – Today, the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition digitally delivered an online petition to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding that Attorney General Garland end the DOJ’s opposition to the children’s climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, proceeding to trial. John Beard, Founder and CEO of the Port Arthur Community Action Network and member of the People vs. Fossil Fuels Steering Committee, and youth leader Zanagee Artis, Founder and Executive Director of Zero Hour, co-delivered this petition on behalf of the coalition, more than 255 organizational sponsors, and more than 50,000 individuals across the United States and around the world who signed the petition. 

The petition was delivered shortly after Federal Judge Ann Aiken, of the U.S. District Court in Oregon, on June 1, 2023, granted the young plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint, putting their case back on track to trial. After eight years, evidence that indisputably proves the federal government’s knowing perpetuation of the climate crisis will come to light, in open court, and Judge Aiken will rule whether the U.S. energy system violates the youth’s constitutional rights.

People vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of over 1,200 climate justice, Indigenous, Black, Latino, social justice, economic justice, progressive, youth, faith, and other organizations, spearheaded this petition effort in support of the Juliana youth plaintiffs and their landmark constitutional climate case. This petition is led by climate, public health, children’s, legal, labor, minority, business, faith, human rights, and environmental justice organizations – including Amnesty International USA, Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, GreenFaith, Greenpeace USA, Hip Hop Caucus, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sunrise Movement, and 350.org. The petition was launched last June with over 160 tweets in just a few hours from individual supporters and key organizations, including the Indigenous Environmental Network and Center for International Environmental Law, that rallied via a tweetstorm standing in solidarity with the youth plaintiffs and urging individuals to sign the petition.

The petition notes that “For seven years, these 21 young people, from across the United States and including 11 Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth, have waited for their day in court, delayed again and again by tactics employed by the Department of Justice to impede or dismiss their case. And for almost seven years, young people like these 21 young Americans have suffered from increasingly severe climate harms.” 

“Judge Aiken’s ruling has affirmed what we’ve long known: that these children are bringing constitutional claims that deserve to be heard and the evidence of how their own government has knowingly caused and worsened the climate crisis, harming these young people and violating their rights, should be considered by a judge in open court,” stated Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust. “However, for several long years, these 21 youth plaintiffs have experienced delay tactics from the Department of Justice under three different presidential administrations. This is a moment for the DOJ under President Biden to change course and end its opposition to this case proceeding to trial. These children deserve their day in court.”

Olson concluded, “Today, we are grateful for the support of people around the world who have signed this petition to urge Attorney General Garland to end the DOJ’s opposition to this case proceeding to trial. As these thousands of people across the United States and around the globe have demanded, their voices loud and clear: Let the Youth Be Heard!”

“Today, I am proud to deliver a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice in support of the 21 young plaintiffs in Juliana v. U.S. On June 1st, Judge Aiken issued a long-awaited ruling that finally puts their case back on track to trial! Frontline Gulf Coastal communities of color in my own part of the country, and young people across the nation, especially youth living within environmental justice communities, continue to suffer the impacts from the climate crisis, including pollution, and social and environmental injustice. Today, we send a message to the Biden DOJ – These young Americans have the right to be heard by their nation’s courts. Justice deferred, regardless of age, is justice DENIED. End the DOJ’s campaign to deny these youth access to justice,” stated John Beard, Founder and CEO of Port Arthur Community Action Network, on behalf of the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition.

Here is a brief video statement from John: 

“While our government continues to take actions that worsen and accelerate climate change, the youngest generations of Americans continue to endure record-breaking climate disasters at an increasing rate. Young people fear when the next devastating flood, wildfire, drought, heatwave, or other climate disaster will be. It’s long past time for the Department of Justice to end its opposition to the Juliana plaintiffs and youth climate justice. Young Americans have the right to be heard by our nation’s courts, the branch of our government that has a duty to protect our constitutional right to a livable planet,” said Zanagee Artis, Founder and Executive Director of Zero Hour.   

And here is Zanagee sharing why he signed and co-delivered this petition to Attorney General Garland and DOJ: 

With the ruling released, the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, in coordination with Our Children’s Trust, has launched a new action urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ to not use an extreme legal tool – a petition for writ of mandamus – to try to further delay justice. The coalition and supporters from across the world continue to join the Juliana 21 in solidarity by also calling and tweeting the DOJ.

Represented by attorneys at the nonprofit public interest law firm, Our Children’s Trust, Juliana v. United States was originally filed in 2015. The Juliana plaintiffs argue in their complaint that their federal government has directly contributed to the climate crisis more than any other government on the planet — including creating a fossil fuel energy system that causes and worsens climate change — and thus is harming the youth plaintiffs, violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failing to protect essential public trust resources and the children’s rights of equal protection of the law. The youth plaintiffs are now between the ages of 15 and 26.

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Our Children’s Trust is the world’s only nonprofit public interest law firm that exclusively provides strategic, campaign based legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure their legal rights to a safe climate. We work to protect the Earth’s climate system for present and future generations by representing young people in global legal efforts to secure their binding and enforceable legal rights to a healthy atmosphere and safe climate, based on the best available science. Globally, we support youth-led climate cases in front of national courts, regional human rights courts, and UN bodies. www.ourchildrenstrust.org

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Week of action began on the White House steps amidst wildfire smoke

(Washington, D.C) – Over 2,000 climate activists, frontline leaders, and environmental justice organizations in over 65 locations in more than 25 US states joined together from June 8–11th for a national week of action to send a strong message to President Biden: no more fossil fuels. With the approval of Willow Project, fast-tracking of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and rollbacks for environmental protections, the US is doubling down on it’s role as the world’s top oil and gas producer at a time when scientists could not be clearer that stopping fossil fuels is the only way to avert global climate catastrophe.

The week kicked off with frontline activists from Appalachia donning masks so they could face the wildfire smoke blanketing the eastern US and bring their message right to Biden’s doorstep: stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline and stop fossil fuels from poisoning the air we breathe. They made national headlines, including in the Washington Post and The Guardian, and set the tone for dozens of actions across the US. 

“Our demand for a clean debt ceiling is not just about protecting our communities from the fatal threats of the Mountain Valley Pipeline,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, founder of 7 Directions of Service. “It’s about fighting for the democratic processes we’ve all been promised, and that we deserve.”

Across the country, communities highlighted how each and every new fossil fuel project exacerbates the climate emergency and sacrifices Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low income  white communities. In the Great Lake states, frontline activists led nine different actions to protest Line 5, Enbridge’s massive oil pipeline. Imminent oil pipeline ruptures at the Bad River in Wisconsin and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan threaten the Great Lakes – which hold one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater – essential fisheries, manoomin (wild rice), and cultural survival for Indigenous people.

“Line 5 crosses over tribal treaty territory and one of those ceded territories is my own

reservation of Bad River. So the age of the pipeline, the danger that it brings to the environment is our biggest concern here… As sacred water carriers we stand with the water, and urge the Biden Administration to take action and shut down Line 5 immediately.” – Rene Ann Goodrich, Bad River Tribal Elder, Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice MMIW Task Force Member. 

While most of the demonstrations took place between June 8-11, some organizers in areas affected by hazardous wildfire smoke chose to postpone to keep their communities safe. Brooklyn organizers’ decision to postpone their teach-in and rally led to a powerful Op Ed, titled “The Climate Crisis Canceled our Climate Rally.”. The event has been rescheduled for Wednesday, June 14th; press are invited to attend. 

Unifying all demonstrations was a national call for Biden to stop approving new fossil fuel projects, phase out oil and gas on federal lands and to declare a climate emergency. The climate emergency declaration in particular would allow Biden to unlock additional powers to limit fossil fuel exports, increase the availability of clean energy technologies, and ensure communities hit hardest by climate disasters receive the resources they need to rebuild. 

“We need to end the era of fossil fuels in order to have a livable future,” said Renata Pumarol of the Climate Organizing Hub, which was one of the lead sponsors for the actions to End the Era of Fossil Fuels. “Biden has an opportunity to use his executive power to end new fossil fuel projects and lead us into a clean and equitable energy system.”

This national week of action was just the beginning of months of coordinated action to hold Biden accountable to his climate promises leading up to the UN Climate Ambition Summit. On Thursday, June 15 Jane Fonda will join community leaders at a virtual kickoff to announce a major mobilization in NYC leading up to the summit. These demonstrations are endorsed by 70 Indigenous, climate, labor, and environmental justice organizations, including the Sunrise Movement, 350.org, and Indigenous Environmental Network. Lead sponsors include the Center for Popular Democracy, Zero Hour, the 350 Network Council, Fridays for Future, the Climate Organizing Hub, and the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, which includes over 1,200 organizations across the country. 

For further comment:

Multiple spokespeople from frontline and national groups are available for comment. Please reach out to Mel Smith (us-comms@350.org, (917) 408-3145) to be connected. 

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Activists from Appalachia and beyond protest Biden’s endorsement of MVP and demand he stop approving new fossil fuel projects

(Washington, D.C) – Hundreds of frontline and Appalachian climate activists and their allies are rallying outside of the White House on Thursday, June 8th, to protest President Biden’s endorsement of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and demand that Biden reject all new fossil fuel projects. Activists will be joined by Members of Congress, including Rep. Justin J. Pearson and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303 mile incomplete fracked gas pipeline project expanding from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, was included in the debt ceiling deal penned by Biden and Speaker McCarthy and signed into law by the President on Saturday.

President Biden promised to deliver on climate, but the Mountain Valley Pipeline project would create greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 19 million passenger vehicles, 23 coal plants, and account for at least 1% of all greenhouse gasses from the US energy sector. Groups are rallying in DC to point out the administration’s pattern of pro-fossil fuel decisions, including the Willow Project in the Arctic and lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, and demand he step up to fulfill his climate commitments. 

Alongside the rally will be a sit-in, where organizers are anticipating dozens of arrests. 

What: Frontline Appalachian, Indigenous and climate groups and their allies are rallying in D.C to protest President Biden’s recent approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the debt ceiling deal and demand that he reject all new fossil fuel projects moving forward. 

When: Thursday, June 8th, 2-4pm ET

Where: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500

Who: The People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition 

For more information contact cassidy@fossilfree.media.

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Week of action begins on the White House steps and calls for Biden to use executive powers

(Washington, D.C) – Climate activists, frontline leaders, and environmental justice organizations are joining together from June 8–11th for a national week of action to send a strong message to President Biden: no more fossil fuels. With the approval of Willow Project, fast-tracking of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and rollbacks for environmental protections, the US is doubling down on it’s role as the world’s top oil and gas producer at a time when scientists could not be clearer that stopping fossil fuels is the only way to avert global climate catastrophe.

The demonstrations will take place in 65 locations across the US from June 8–11th, and are endorsed by 64 Indigenous, climate, labor, and environmental justice organizations, including Sunrise, 350.org, and Indigenous Environmental Network. Lead sponsors include the Center for Popular Democracy, Zero Hour, the 350 Network Council, Fridays for Future, the Climate Organizing Hub, and the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, which includes over 1,200 organizations across the country.

The week of action begins on June 8th with a mass rally and sit-in on the doorstep of the White House to demand that Biden stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Other actions range from Paddle out Zenith,a land and water rally in Portland, Oregon, to a series of demonstrations across the Great Lake states to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline. Across the country, communities are lifting up how each and every new fossil fuel project exacerbates the climate emergency and sacrifices Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor white communities.

This national outcry signals the need for change in the Biden administration’s continued approval of new fossil fuel projects ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York this September. Since President Biden’s disastrous approval of the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and Willow oil project and his debt ceiling deal that fast-tracks the Mountain Valley Pipeline, millions of people across the country have taken action to oppose new fossil fuel projects and hold Biden accountable for the promises he made when these climate activists helped elect him. 

The national week of action to end the era of fossil fuels reignites that fight and kicks off months of coordinated action to hold Biden accountable to his climate promises leading up to the UN Climate Ambition Summit. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chided leaders like Biden at the White House climate summit, saying, “The science is clear: New fossil fuel projects are entirely incompatible” with the goals set in the 2015 Paris climate accord, “yet many countries are expanding capacity. I urge you to change course.”

Biden has the power right now, without Congress, to direct agencies to reject new fossil fuel projects and phase out federal fossil fuel production on public lands and waters. By declaring a national climate emergency, Biden could also unlock additional powers to limit fossil fuel exports, increase the availability of clean energy technologies, and ensure communities hit hardest by climate disasters receive the resources they need to rebuild. 

For further comment:

Multiple spokespeople from frontline and national groups are available for comment. Please reach out to Mel Smith (us-comms@350.org, (917) 408-3145) to be connected. 

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TikTokers generate 70k+ emails in 5 days urging Members to sign on to a letter lead by Champions Rep. Bowman, Ocasio-Cortez and Huffman

(Washington, D.C) – Today, Members of Congress sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland demanding that the permits for the controversial Willow Project be suspended. Led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the letter calls on Sec. Haaland and Interior to pause construction until litigation against the major oil and gas project is resolved and all stakeholders’ voices are properly considered.

The letter is signed by 33 Members of Congress, marking an increase in Congressional opposition to the project from when the first Willow letter was released.

ConocoPhillips has broken ground on the drilling project, with one of the first steps expected to involve blasting the Arctic tundra with explosives to mine gravel for drill pad foundations, likely causing irreparable damage while lawsuits are still pending. Worries about the ecological and societal impacts of the project mount, as details emerge about a gas leak at a ConocoPhillips oil field on the North Slope last year that resulted in an evacuation of over 300 employees, and locals becoming ill. On top of this, the document that approved the Willow Project acknowledges that its impacts include lowering the amount of subsistence resources locals depend on for food and increasing the suicide rate in the town of Nuiqsut. 

Calls to Members of Congress to sign on to the letter grew last week, as content creators including Gen-Z for Change Acting Director Elise Joshi (20) and professional creator Alex Haraus’ (25) videos gained traction across social media. People posting videos on social media encouraging others to contact their Congress members have generated more than 70,000 direct emails to Congressional offices asking them to sign on to the letter.

This is a continuation of the #StopWillow movement, which took social media and news outlets by storm, generating over 650M views across social media platforms and causing an uptick in action. From early February to mid March, over 1.1M people wrote to the White House, and more than 10M signatures have garnered on petitions calling for the project to be stopped.

“The general public agrees pollutive industry must be stopped, so it’s not surprising this movement has so much strength. Trends rise because they resonate, and sample sizes in the millions prove this resonates beyond party lines,” says Haraus. “More and more of us are independent nowadays, especially young voters. We are issue affiliated, not party affiliated, and want public and private decision makers to ensure a healthy future for us and our friends around the world. Those acting against the interests of their own children haven’t seemed to realize that we grew up and see them letting our house fill with gas. When we ask them to stop, they make eye contact with us and turn the stove up. Our economic potential, our health, every opportunity we could have is affected by whether our environment is clean and bountiful or polluted and dangerous. We can’t stand with anyone choosing to move toward the latter.”

The recent decision by the Biden Administration to approve the project has generated major backlash, especially among youth voters. A new national survey from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media found that after learning of the project in Alaska, Biden’s approval on climate falls by 33 points among Democrats and 12 points among Independents, with a 3-point drop among voters aged 18 to 29 since October.

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Biden Administration Approves Major Oil Drilling Operation on Alaska’s Northern Slope

People vs. Fossil Fuels, a national coalition of over 1,200 frontline, climate justice, and progressive organizations, strongly condemned the Biden administration for its decision to approve the Willow Oil Drilling Project – a major oil drilling operation to be constructed on Alaska’s North Slope that has been loudly opposed by the environmental and climate justice community, including Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and Alaska Wilderness League.

The decision ignores widespread opposition that grew rapidly since Feb. 1st, when the Biden administration signaled it would approve the project in the release of its final environmental impact statement. In the month following, over 2.3 million new comments were submitted to the White House urging President Biden to deny the project. A Change.org petition grew overnight, reaching over 3.2 million signatures, the largest environmental petition the site has seen in years. #StopWillow videos from a diverse array of young creators went viral online, with an estimated 200+ million views across social platforms. 

The Willow Oil Project locks us into decades of fossil fuel pollution at a time when we desperately need to stop all new fossil fuel projects and begin rapidly phasing out existing production. The approval is a denial of climate science, and directly contradicts the administration’s commitment to protect wilderness areas in Alaska from resource extraction and Biden’s own stated climate goals.

In response, People vs. Fossil Fuels released the following statement: 

“Global scientists have been absolutely clear: We must end fossil fuel expansion if we are going to avoid irreversible climate devastation and immediate harm to frontline communities. Approving a massive new oil drilling project that is estimated to release 280 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses when we are already in a climate emergency is signing away our future. 

“Biden’s presidential powers allow him to reject all new fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency that would ensure the survival of our communities and our planet. Instead, he is choosing to fatten the wallets of Oil CEOs by expanding fossil fuel infrastructure that will drive us further into climate chaos.

“The fight to #StopWillow and all new fossil fuel projects isn’t over. Our movement to fight fossils is continuing to grow – and we’ll continue to fight for a livable future in line with science and justice.” 

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Click here to read SILA’s full statement on the Willow project approval.

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