FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2019
CONTACT:
David Turnbull, david [at] priceofoil.org
Oil Change U.S. Response to Beto O’Rourke’s climate platform
This morning, presidential contender Beto O’Rourke released his plan to combat climate change, committing to ban new fossil fuel leases on public lands, end billions in fossil fuel subsidies, and account for the full climate and community costs in federal permitting decisions. In response, David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change U.S., issued the following statement:
“Given his voting record and continued resistance to signing the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, we were pleasantly surprised to see Beto’s plan released today. It seems to be moving in the right direction when it comes to actions on the scale necessary to tackle our climate crisis. But as ever the devil is in the details. We’re happy to see a commitment to end tens of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, stop leasing of fossil fuel development on federal lands, and accounting for the full climate and community costs in federal permitting decisions.
“But we need to hear more – we know that any new fossil fuel infrastructure will have an untenable impact on our efforts to address the climate crisis, so we expect the next President to be unwavering in saying no to new dirty pipelines, export terminals and other infrastructure our climate and communities can’t afford.
“Beto’s rhetoric in resisting the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge has suggested he’s still expecting the fossil fuel industry to have a seat at the table on climate policy decisions, but after decades of Big Oil blocking progress and continuing to push for continued dangerous extraction, we need leaders who are willing to stand up to the industry rather than cater to them. We hope this plan from Beto is an indication that he’s beginning to understand that, and that he will show that even further by signing the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge as well.”
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Notes to Editors:
– O’Rourke’s climate position can be found here: https://betoorourke.com/climate-change/
– Research by Oil Change International has found that without government action to limit fossil fuel production, including on public lands, the U.S. is poised for a massive expansion of drilling and carbon pollution: http://priceofoil.org/2019/01/16/report-drilling-towards-disaster/
PAID FOR BY OIL CHANGE U.S., WWW.OILCHANGEUS.ORG, NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE, CANDIDATE’S AUTHORIZED POLITICAL COMMITTEE, OR CANDIDATE’S AGENTS.