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We are a movement of people power fighting for our futures.

(Washington, D.C) Today, the Build Back Fossil Free coalition has announced that they are officially changing the coalition name to People Vs. Fossil Fuels. With the Biden Administration abandoning its “Build Back Better” slogan and much of the agenda that it stood for, it was time to center what really drives social change– people power!

A diverse coalition of over 1,200 has kept up pressure on the Biden Administration and supported our coalition members in their fights to stop major new fossil fuel projects, from the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia to LNG export facilities in the Gulf. Increasingly, this work has taken place under the banner of “People vs. Fossil Fuels,” a slogan that has been picked up from coast-to-coast and online, where it acts as the name of our coalition social media accounts.

Last October, Build Back Fossil Free organized a week of direct action at the White House in October 2021. Following Indigenous and frontline leadership, “People vs. Fossil Fuels” mobilization brought together fossil fuel fighters from across the country to sit-in at the White House and organize other acts of civil disobedience around the Capitol. Thousands of people took part in the mobilization and more than 650 were arrested. 

Since then, we’ve kept up pressure on the Biden Administration and supported our coalition members in their fights to stop major new fossil fuel projects, from the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia to LNG export facilities in the Gulf. Increasingly, this work has taken place under the banner of “People vs. Fossil Fuels,” a slogan that has been picked up from coast-to-coast and online, where it acts as the name of our coalition social media accounts.

Although our name has changed, our priorities remain the same: supporting frontline fights against the fossil fuel industry; building a multi-racial, multi-generational, cross-class movement to end the era of fossil fuels; and winning major victories from the Biden administration toward ending the era of fossil fuels through executive action. People vs. Fossil Fuels reflects a coalition of people across the country fighting to maintain a safe, vibrant, liveable planet for generations to come. 

The following is an official statement from the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition: 

“We believe that people power and direct action are key to mitigating climate change. And we know that by building strong coalitions centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, poor and communities of the global majority, we are stronger than the status quo which allows the fossil fuel industry to continue destroying our planet and future. We need Biden to act as Big Oil is making obscene profits during a time of global crisis while families are struggling to hold on. The power of the people will stop the fossil fuel industry and that is why we are changing our name to reflect that.”

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Biden Climate Leadership Needed in Wake of Court Decision

(WASHINGTON) — Today, the U.S Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s 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. 

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. 

“As we face another summer of drought, heat, storms and fires, our nation’s highest court is tearing down desperately needed climate protections for the profit of corporate polluters,” a statement from the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition read. “Fortunately, the Supreme Court’s fossil-fueled attack on the Clean Air Act does nothing to undermine President Biden’s 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.” 

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. 

Following last week’s devastating reversal of Roe v. Wade, today’s 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.  

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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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 world’s 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 world’s 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 farmers’ 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.

FAIRBANKS, AK ( MAY 12, 2022)- Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA) issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s announcement to not move forward with the Cook Inlet lease sale.

On the morning of May 11th, 2022, President Biden announced that he canceled oil and gas lease sales in Cook Inlet, Alaska. This is very welcomed news for environmental advocates like SILA. However, the reasoning behind this settlement is not. The Department of the Interior cited “lack of industry interest” as the reason behind this decision. Biden continuously promised to end the era of fossil fuels while on the campaign trail yet has continuously broken said promise and instead has catered to Big Oil. 

If the leasing in Cook Inlet would’ve been approved, 1 million acres of southern Alaska would’ve been open to development for 40 years. Projects approved would’ve involved hundreds of miles of pipeline, especially underwater, which would undoubtedly have had catastrophic effects on surrounding ecosystems. 

The Dena’ina, Alutiiq, and Yupik  people have resided on the lands in and surrounding Cook Inlet for millennia. Many community members still subsistence hunt animals that are susceptible to the direct effects of pollution due to extractive resources. Ensuring the health of the land and water is ensuring the health of Indigenous peoples. 

We are aware that gas prices are at an all time high and believe that working class Americans should not be the ones suffering the costs. However, American oil corporations are raking in record profits in the billions of dollars due to the war in Ukraine, most of it going directly to wealthy shareholders and oil executives. If the industry profit is going well and the jobs of the executives have not changed, why do citizens pay the price? 

Today, President Biden violated his promise to end drilling on public lands with yet another handout to the fossil fuel industry.

Washington D.C.-  Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of over 1,100 groups pressuring the Biden Administration to declare a climate emergency and end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, released the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s plans to release resume onshore oil and gas leasing: 

“Today, President Biden violated his promise to end drilling on public lands with yet another handout to the fossil fuel industry. Black, Indigenous, communities of the global majority and poor communities are being left devastated from climate chaos and we are tired of the excuses and inaction from this Administration. The reality is simple: they said they would act to curb the climate crisis, yet they fail to do so at every crucial opportunity that is presented to them. Scientists continue to ring the alarm, there is no time to waste. 

“Families are already paying the price of decades of fossil fuel dependence, creating record profits for oil and gas CEOs who exploit the current crisis. Minor changes will do little to break Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy and our communities. This decision sacrifices the health and future of Black and Indigenous people, and communities of the global majority – all while doing nothing to lower gas prices. Meanwhile, more drilling will poison frontline communities and deepen the climate crisis.  

“If Biden truly wants to help families and communities, he can use his executive authority to declare a climate emergency, end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, and deploy major investments in delivering 100% renewable energy for all. Until then, the proof is in his actions, not his words. And his actions are putting the fossil fuel industry’s profits before the health and safety of our families and communities over and over again.”

The oil and gas industry continues raking in record profits while communities pay the price. The watchdog organization Accountable.US reported in February that Shell, Chevron, BP and Exxon made more than $75.5 billion in profits in 2021, some of their highest profits in the past decade. 

The communities most at risk from new fossil fuel extraction are primarily Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples, people of the global majority and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel industry expansion. These are the same communities that turned out in record numbers to get Biden elected in 2020 and who have since been urging Biden to use his executive authority to fulfill his campaign promise and ban new federal fossil fuel projects. In March, these communities were joined by the Congressional Progressive Caucus in urging the President to ban new federal fossil fuel leases. 

Several analyses show that climate pollution from the world’s already-producing fossil fuel developments, if fully developed, would push warming past 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that avoiding such warming requires ending new investment in fossil fuel projects. Thousands of organizations and communities from across the U.S. have called on Biden to halt federal fossil fuel expansion and phase out production consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius.

Additional statements from climate, social justice and environmental organizations on moves by the Biden Administration and BLM to restart drilling: 

“As frontline community members in the Permian Basin that have been advocating for putting a stop to new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, Citizens Caring for the Future finds it extremely disheartening that BLM is going forward with these lease sales,” said Kayley Shoup of Citizens Caring for the Future. “Our day-to-day life and health is directly affected by these sales and the subsequent production that comes along with them. It would take a small army to truly enforce regulation here in the Permian, and we know that is the reality in oil and gas regions around the country. We live our lives surrounded by the industry and we understand that in order to take on climate change and make a meaningful dent in emissions the Biden administration must take action that puts a stop to new development.” 

“The West is drying up and going up in flames. Between extreme drought, the shrinking of the Colorado River, and now urban wildfires in the winter, how much more death, destruction and devastation do we have to see before this administration takes action?” said Natasha Léger, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Community. “It’s time for climate leadership and to stop leasing our public lands for oil and gas development. We need heroes to break through the political and economic inertia that has us on a collision course to inhabitability.”

“As the Interior Department announces that it plans on continuing oil and gas leasing on federal land, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic condemns any further extraction, especially within the Arctic,” said Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic. “Our lands are warming at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world, causing detrimental impact to the fragile ecosystems that call it home and directly impacting the rest of the world, as well. With conservative climate models predicting that we have less than 30 years to radically change our relationship with oil and gas, the future rests in the United States’ hands. We can no longer commodify our land and water, especially at the rate climate change is occurring. We are nature fighting back.”  

“It is unconscionable that the BLM will go forward with these oil and gas lease sales as we continue to see the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in the Southwestern United States,” said Deborah McNamara, campaigns director at 350 Colorado. “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s August 2021 assessment, there is ‘high confidence’ that human-influenced rising temperatures are a direct cause of the extension of the wildfire season, increased drought, and decreased precipitation in the southwest United States. In order to curb emissions and do what scientists are telling us we must do in order to avert the absolute worst climate impacts, we need a rapid phase out of fossil fuel production by 2030. Continuing business as usual at the BLM with ongoing oil and gas lease sales will not get us where we need to be in order to solve the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“How much more can Gulf Coast states endure? Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon to get lawyers all the time to fight these civil laws aka ‘environmental acts,’ or have the luxury of property rights because it was all taken from us so long ago,” said Love Sanchez of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend. “Now here we are, working class people, simple people, 95% of the time BIPOC people, that just want to protect our land and water. Then, I’m not surprised, we now have the Interior, who decides they want to continue their projects in the Gulf Coast. It’s a very disappointing thing to hear. Fortunately, we will continue to be persistent in protecting these waters.” 

“The Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership,” said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s as if they’re ignoring the horror of firestorms, floods and megadroughts, and accepting climate catastrophes as business as usual. These so-called reforms are 20 years too late and will only continue to fuel the climate emergency. These lease sales should be shelved and the climate-destroying federal fossil fuel programs brought to an end.”

“We have heard a lot of rhetoric from President Biden and his administration about the need to take action on climate,” said Kyle Tisdel, climate and energy program director with the Western Environmental Law Center. “But not only is the administration not doing everything it could — it is not really doing anything. Climate action was a pillar of President Biden’s campaign, and his promises on this existential issue were a major reason the public elected him. Achieving results on climate is not a matter of domestic politics. It’s life and death.”

“Candidate Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands, but President Biden is prioritizing oil executive profits over future generations,” said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth. “Biden’s Interior Department has even issued permits to drill at a rate faster than the Trump administration. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to hold its first public lands lease sale, despite having no legal obligation to do so. If Biden wants to be a climate leader, he must stop auctioning off our public lands to Big Oil.”

“This is pure climate denial,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians. “While the Biden administration talks a good talk on climate action, the reality is, they’re in bed with the oil and gas industry. Rest assured, with the climate crisis raging, we can and will fight back. We can’t afford not to.”

“The Biden administration fiddles while Rome burns,” said Shelley Silbert, executive director at Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “The most destructive fire in Colorado history consumed over a thousand homes last December. When your house is on fire, you act immediately. Climate disasters hit us harder each day and we’re out of time. The Biden administration must address the climate crisis now, and a vital step is stopping oil and gas leasing on public lands immediately. There is no other option.” 

“Right now, fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters make up a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions at a time scientists are saying we must move urgently to cut emissions by at least half. Not only does it devastate our planet, it’s a handout to Big Oil at the expense of average Americans, who will bear the brunt of its societal, health, and financial ramifications,” said Dan Ritzman, Lands Water Wildlife director at the Sierra Club. “We urge the Biden administration to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make good on campaign promises, fulfill a global commitment to acting on climate, and serve American communities by phasing out oil and gas production on public lands and oceans.” 

“Let’s set aside all the niceties and speak plainly on this: even people in positions of power and authority are fully aware that nothing goes unscathed in the aftermath of creating and maintaining  fossil fuel infrastructures,” said Sha Merirei Ongelungel, executive director of Pasifika Uprising. “So whether you’re trying to reopen the Palau National Marine Sanctuary for commercial fishing and potential exploratory drilling or in the United States pushing to resume oil and gas leasing on public lands, the only safe inference is that our leaders are dishonest and hungry for more money and more power. And that is wholly unconscionable. What’s legal isn’t always ethical and too many leaders, the world-over, are demonstrating this with their utter disregard for their communities and the climate. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for these so-called leaders. For all their power and authority, they will never have the true power and solidarity needed to lead us into a safer future like grassroots movements.”

“Ramping up exports of liquified natural gas to Europe in response to the invasion of Ukraine is a losing proposition that will take too long to implement to address current energy demands,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. “Instead of taking decades to build the necessary export terminals so we can keep burning fossil fuels and turning the Earth into a fiery hellscape, we should be investing in solar production in urban settings where the energy is being used, on rooftops and parking lot awnings, so Europe and the United States can both transition to clean power sources and get that production online a whole lot faster.”

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could not be more clear. It is time to rapidly transition off of fossil fuels. Increasing leasing for fossil fuels on public lands is grossly misaligned with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and ensuring that young people inherit a habitable planet,” said Zanagee Artis, executive director of Zero Hour

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