Jan Burger, PAPERHAND
#BuildBackFossilFree
People Vs. Fossil Fuels B&W
People vs. Fossil Fuels
Supreme Court Deals Blow to Climate Action; Limits EPA Authority Under Clean Air Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@fossilfree.media, 401-441-7196
Biden Climate Leadership Needed in Wake of Court Decision
(WASHINGTON) â Today, the U.S Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agencyâs ability to regulate power plant emissions under the Clean Air Act. The decision in West Virginia v. EPA undermines efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from coal and gas fired power plants using the Clean Air Act.Â
In response, the People vs Fossil Fuels coalition – made up of over a thousand groups nationwide – is calling on President Biden and Congress to take immediate action.Â
âAs we face another summer of drought, heat, storms and fires, our nationâs highest court is tearing down desperately needed climate protections for the profit of corporate polluters,â a statement from the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition read. âFortunately, the Supreme Courtâs fossil-fueled attack on the Clean Air Act does nothing to undermine President Bidenâs authority under other bedrock laws to follow through on his climate promises using executive action. Biden can declare a climate emergency and stop new fossil fuel leases, exports, pipelines and other infrastructure today.â
Biden has the legal authority to follow through on his promise to ban new federal fossil fuel leasing, halt permit approvals for new pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure, and hit the brakes on new gas exports. Using authorities under the National Emergencies Act and the Defense Production Act, the president could also halt crude oil exports, stop offshore oil and gas drilling, restrict international fossil fuel investment and rapidly manufacture and distribute clean and renewable energy systems.Â
Following last weekâs devastating reversal of Roe v. Wade, todayâs decision only emphasizes the urgent need for President Biden and Congress to take action to reform and expand the Supreme Court, including creating additional seats, setting term limits and implementing ethics rules. Without comprehensive reforms to the Supreme Court, a handful of bad actors will continue to pursue a corporate-driven agenda at the expense of the environment, public health, and personal freedoms. Â
Momentum is on the side of the climate movement and the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition. Two weeks ago, Biden followed through on the People vs Fossil Fuels movement’s demand to use the Defense Production Act to boost renewable energy manufacturing under the guidance of workers, environmental justice communities, and other impacted people.
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As South Asia Endures a Record-Breaking Heatwave, People vs. Fossil Fuels Stands in Solidarity with South Asian Peoples
The South Asian subcontinent, particularly India and Pakistan, is experiencing a severe heatwave, with temperatures rising to a record 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. These extreme temperatures have life-threatening health and safety impacts, with the most marginalized people, such as agricultural and construction workers and people without stable housing, being the worst affected.
As a coalition of communities on the frontlines of resistance to fossil fuels in the U.S., People vs. Fossil Fuels recognizes that the South Asian heatwave is not an accident of nature. It is a predictable consequence of the continued extraction and use of fossil fuels worldwide and will continue to become more common if we do not immediately phase out fossil fuels.
The U.S. government shoulders a large share of the blame for this catastrophic heatwave and should be held accountable. The U.S. is the worldâs largest oil and gas producer, and far from coming up with a plan to phase out oil and gas production with a just transition for workers and communities, the Biden administration is pushing for expansion of gas production and exports while paying lip service to the urgency of addressing the climate crisis. It is also leasing public lands for oil and gas drilling at a higher rate than the Trump administration, sacrificing Indigenous, Black, and low-wealth communities and breaking campaign promises.
Wealthy countries as a whole are to blame for the adverse impacts on people in India and Pakistan today. Their outsized cumulative and per capita greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the global climate crisis, but countries in the Global South face some of the worst consequences of climate chaos. This is a particularly poignant reality for South Asia. The plunder of the subcontinent by the British East India Company was a major source of the capital investment that fueled the Industrial Revolution, and consequently, the climate crisis.
At the same time, we also recognize the harmful role played by governments on the subcontinent.
India is the worldâs second largest coal producer, and even as poor and marginalized people in the country suffer from a horrific heatwave, the government of India is displacing Adivasi (Indigenous) peoples from their homelands to expand coal mining, to benefit politically connected corporations. The Modi government is also encouraging violence against Muslims and other minorities in India, instead of responding with urgency to the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis.
In Pakistan, there has been a recent loss of democratic space, with a popular elected government removed under questionable circumstances.
South Asia has a long tradition of vibrant, powerful social movements, as exemplified by the recent victory of the Indian farmersâ movement against unjust farm procurement laws. As a coalition of U.S. frontline communities and their supporters, we in the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition view these movements as our counterparts in South Asia. We stand in solidarity with them as they fight for justice against their own governments and against an international political and economic order that values the profits of the fossil fuel industry over their lives.
Our coalition will continue to push President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels, to free frontline communities in the U.S. and people in South Asia and elsewhere in the Global South from the serious threats that fossil fuels pose to our lives.