Dear John,
As we continue to see rising COVID-19 infections, attention should be devoted to frontline workers, education, hazard pay, and communities of color disproportionately affected by the virus. But while our country is in crisis, Trump is focusing on sparing Big Oil.
The dying fossil fuel industry, along with other corporate polluters, have been bailed out by Trump in the original CARES act. Trump has already provided fossil fuel companies with federal loans, waived royalty payments for public oil and gas leases, and halted enforcement of environmental laws -- driving us even closer to climate catastrophe.
Congress needs to take steps to stop the Trump Administration from continuing to hand over money to Big Oil.
Demand your Representative stop giving money to Big Oil. Keep our environment safe.
The ReWIND Act (Resources for Workforce Investments, Not Drilling) has been proposed to fight back against the Trump Administration and Big Polluter bailouts, but that’s just the first step. We need Congress to pass the legislation and prevent the oil and gas bailouts.
The legislation is targeted to prevent fossil fuel companies from receiving loans under previous coronavirus package and prevent the Trump Administration from providing backing in additional ways. Some of the most important provisions in the bill include:
- Stop bailouts by making oil, gas, and coal companies ineligible for funds
- Eliminate the eligibility of polluters applying for emergency lending for National Security Loans
- Put a stop to federal land lease sales until after the pandemic is over
- Ban the leasing of Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ensure storage capacity isn’t increased further
Oil and gas companies were struggling long before the pandemic -- Trump cannot use the crisis as an excuse to bail out these Big Polluters.
Over 40 members of Congress have cosponsored the ReWIND Act. John, this legislation needs more support to get it passed. Will you tell your Representative to support the ReWIND Act?
Tell Congress: Stop handing over money to polluters during the pandemic.
Without the ReWIND Act, large swaths of federal land will continue to be at risk. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has persisted with lease sales during the coronavirus pandemic. So far, hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land have been at risk in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.
If allowed to move forward, public land will soon be overrun with drill rigs, pipelines, and truck traffic. Iconic landscapes like Bears Ears, the Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Arches national parks -- among many others -- are at risk. Fossil fuel extraction will be as close as half a mile to the national park boundaries.
Not only does this reckless lease sale cause irreparable harm to the environment, the wildlife and local communities that depends on this land will suffer. The water extracted by fracking has the potential to be radioactive -- posing a threat to all local humans and animals.
Voices like yours, John, are needed to stop climate catastrophe.
Tell Congress to stop threatening the safety of our environment. Big Oil bailouts must be stopped.
Standing with you,
Lukas Ross,
Climate and energy program manager,
Friends of the Earth
