As we've told you, President Biden approved the Willow Arctic Oil project – a verified climate bomb that will blow all his promises, and to the Paris Climate Accord goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C, to smithereens. We also got word today that while quick legal action has helped delay the project, an initial motion to halt construction was denied today. Which means that we're not out of the woods yet, legally.

Mostly though, we need to be clear that Biden didn't approve willow because he thought it was the law. And he certainly didn't do it because he thought it would be good for the climate or the environment. Biden approved Willow because of politics. And while there is still time for President Biden to reverse the decision, we need to build a politically powerful reason for him to do so.

That's why we’re signing on with our friends Climate Hawks Vote – they're a climate-focussed super PAC, so they're all about politics – to encourage members of Congress to sign on to a letter with our friend and environmental justice champion Rep Raul Grijalva that asks Biden to undo his Willow decision.

Political power is a tricky concept and we've put up a longer post in the blog with some further discussion. Check it out if you have time or like that sort of thing.

But this is an email action alert, so I'll keep things short: Biden and the White House met multiple times with Alaska's Congressional delegation, which was universally in favor of Willow, and of fossil fuels in general. Since he approved Willow, Biden and the Department of Interior have trotted out a range of excuses that range from the comically absurd, to just plain chickenshit.

In the end, Biden's Willow decision showed, rather than telling, us that he thinks the fossil fuel industry, and their allies in the Alaska Congressional delegation, are simply too politically powerful.

And that's why we're supporting Rep Grijalva's letter. If the members of Congress from Alaska have enough political power to make Biden say yes, we need to build a bigger political power base on the other side, asking him to reverse the decision and say no to Willow.

So far we’ve got House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Democrat Grijalva, and Reps. Bowman, Khana and Ocasio-Cortez. But that's probably not enough. Help us build the political power we need by asking your member of Congress and both Senators to sign on too.

Thanks for taking action,

Drew and the 198 ways to save the arctic crew

PS - looking for more actions to take? Click here for the toolkit from our partners at People vs Fossil Fuels, it's full of tools you can use to raise awareness on social media, phone numbers of federal officials you can call, and more.

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It's not too late, if we have the political power John