Friend,

Taking on corporate greed and addressing environmental racism is critical to the future of our planet and our communities.

We are operating on an urgent timeline. I represent the most polluted zip code in Michigan, where predominantly Black communities were already dealing with high rates of asthma and other respiratory conditions before the pandemic, due to a high concentration of corporations that have polluted our air and water for profit.

Residents of my district continue to be disproportionately impacted and don’t have any time to wait for meaningful action to address corporate pollution and the climate crisis―their lives depend on it.

That’s why we’ve created an environmental justice community working group to fight back against environmental abuses and hold corporate polluters accountable in Michigan and across the country.

This week, President Biden issued a number of important executive orders to put the United States back on the right track to tackle the climate crisis―including rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, placing a moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, revising Trump's fuel economy and emission standards and methane emission standards, and revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

These are important first steps. But much more needs to be done.

Join me in calling on President Joe Biden to treat climate change and environmental racism like the urgent crises they are. Sign the petition and tell the president to declare a climate emergency.

Here are areas our team has been working on and which demand immediate action in this new session of Congress:

• Last year we passed two amendments to increase renewable energy funding and to require the EPA to research the disparate health impacts of fossil fuel emissions. We must immediately renew those efforts.

• We’re fighting to ensure water as a human right: As a leader in the Environmental Subcommittee within the House Committee on Oversight & Reform, I’ve continued to push to prohibit water shutoffs during the pandemic. Last year, our subcommittee requested that the CDC issue a national moratorium on water shutoffs, and we’ve advocated for immediate restoration of service for homes that have already had their water shut off. We call on the Biden administration to act swiftly and declare water is a human right, not just during the pandemic but beyond.

• Pushing for more oversight of federally funded lead pollution: After an investigation found links between federally funded home demolitions and childhood lead poisoning in Detroit, I’m calling for change. No amount of lead is safe, and this affects not only my district but children across the country—particularly Black children, who are disproportionately exposed to lead.

• Divesting federal workers’ pensions from the fossil fuel industry: During the last session of Congress, I introduced two bills related to federal employees’ retirement accounts—the Retirement Investments for a Sustainable Economy (RISE) Act, which gives federal employees the ability to divest from the fossil fuel industry, and the Restructuring Environmentally Sound Pensions in Order to Negate Disaster (RESPOND) Act, which protects federal pensions from the economic impact of climate change. We will be re-introducing these bills under this new Congress and new administration.

• Shifting our economy and guaranteeing people jobs in sustainable sectors, as outlined in the Green New Deal and the new BREATHE Act from the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project.

We must act with the urgency the moment demands to create a just and green economy that puts people back to work while addressing the climate crisis, and tearing down an unjust status quo that has poisoned our communities and lined CEOs’ pockets off the backs of working families.

Sign the petition to President Biden to declare a climate emergency.

As I told President Biden when he visited Michigan, I would of course help him get elected (which we did!), but I may not be his favorite member of Congress because I’m operating on an urgent timeline.

Our planet and our communities cannot wait.

Thank you for taking action today to immediately address the climate crisis and environmental racism.

Always serving you,

Rashida