More than $1.9 billion in CARES Act tax benefits are being claimed by at least 37 Big Oil & Gas companies masquerading as “small businesses.”
The stimulus bill in March was supposed to help everyday people and small businesses, yet it looks like it will help some major oil and gas companies get billions of dollars from taxpayers.
This is a despicable move by the oil and gas industry and it’s taking place while millions of people are in real need during this unprecedented public health crisis. This cannot go on.
Trump and his administration created this loophole to allow fossil fuel CEOs to benefit from coronavirus relief funds. We must and we will stop them. Will you join our fight?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Food & Water Action has been working hard at keeping the oil and gas industry out of the emergency legislation passed by Congress. Currently we are:
Partnering with organizations across the country to mobilize hundreds of thousands of supporters to demand Congress not support a Big Oil bailout;
Pressuring Congress to support the ReWIND Act, a bill that would block fossil fuel attempts to exploit a public health crisis for private gain and ensure COVID recovery efforts go directly to people and essential workers, not polluters;
Working with Members of Congress to pressure the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to stop bending the rules of the CARES Act to support oil and gas executives.
Since the beginning of this global pandemic, the Trump administration has sought to provide more aid to the fossil fuel industry and its Wall Street funders than to people who need it the most. Trump and his administration have halted enforcement of environmental laws, waved royalty payments for public oil and gas leases, and sought to store private oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Is that how taxpayer money should be spent — helping to prop up the same companies responsible for the climate crisis instead of helping real people who are in critical need of financial relief?
Any actions that prop up fossil fuel CEOs and shareholders instead of supporting the American people must be stopped. Food & Water Action is fighting back. We are using all available tools, from legal to legislative to organizing, to stop Trump and his rich fossil fuel friends from diverting stimulus money that could help millions of Americans. But we need your help now.
When we stand together, we win important fights. Together we were able to mobilize tens of thousands of people against an outright oil & gas bailout. After years of organizing and tens of thousands of people speaking out against the project, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected the Williams pipeline. In central New Jersey local residents won a tremendous victory against a multi-billion-dollar fossil fuel company when the state rejected the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) pipeline and compressor station. We can accomplish amazing things but we are only able to achieve these amazing victories because of your steady support and generosity.
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.
