More than 600 environmental groups today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to pursue ambitious climate legislation that matches the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.
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.
As Democrats vie for leadership positions in the new Congress, 47 progressive groups released a letter today demanding that candidates for House leadership posts pledge to reject fossil fuel money. In order to effectively lead on a Green New Deal and make a just transition away from fossil fuels, the letter calls for prospective leaders of the new House to declare themselves fossil fuel money-free.
In a sign of things to come, nearly a third of the new Democratic freshman class has signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. Of the 37+ Democrats who flipped House seats from red to blue, 11 have signed the Pledge to reject all contributions from the oil, gas, and coal industries.
There’s no time to play nice with the fossil fuel industry, to give lip service to renewable energy without doing more. We need bold, visionary, brave climate leadership, and we need it now.
In mid-September, thousands converged for the Global Climate Action Summit hosted by Governor Jerry Brown, with conversations focused primarily on efforts to reduce emissions and lower the demand for fossil fuels. Outside the official summit proceedings, however, Oil Change International teamed up with numerous partners to mobilize pressure on Governor Brown and other political leaders to address a major gap in action: putting policies in place to wind down fossil fuel extraction.
