Take action to make sure it helps workers and families, not Big Oil & Gas.
John,
Last week, Congress passed a massive coronavirus relief package. With your help, we kept it from including direct handouts of taxpayer money to fossil fuel corporations. But Big Oil & Gas could still get a giant payout if we don’t keep up the pressure.
Very soon, Congress will take up the next round of coronavirus relief measures, and we’re hearing that they will tackle infrastructure – including energy and water infrastructure.
The dirty energy industry hasn’t slowed its efforts to profit from the national coronavirus health crisis. While millions of Americans are sacrificing and the nation is focused on saving lives, Big Oil & Gas is hoping no one will notice if it sneaks through fast-tracked approvals for dirty energy projects or gets big payouts from taxpayers – even if that means siphoning taxpayer dollars away from relief for struggling families and healthcare workers.
You helped create a public outcry against bailing out the fossil fuel industry before, and as a result, plans to spend billions of dollars to buy unnecessary oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were stripped from the last bill that Congress passed. We proved that speaking out works – we just can’t let up yet.
Under Trump, we’ve seen budgets slashed for things like disease prevention, scientific research, health care, environmental enforcement and supplemental food assistance. Those things are a lot more important than propping up fossil fuel billionaires.
Every dollar we give away to bloated dirty energy companies is a dollar we’re taking away from doctors and nurses who need masks and ventilators, and from families struggling to pay for essentials like housing and food.
Bailing out dirty energy companies is unacceptable – and at a time like this, it should be unthinkable. Our first priorities should be supporting workers and their families, protecting first responders and buying emergency medical equipment.
Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch
Food & Water Action and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
