For the first time in years, we have a real chance to fight climate change at the federal level. We finally have the opportunity to set up strong protections for our communities and the planet.
But House Democrats are wasting this historic opportunity. They recently introduced the so-called CLEAN Future Act. While the name sounds promising, the bill fails to take the most fundamental step to fight climate change: halting the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
Climate change is a train barreling down the track, and we have to stop it. Yet the oil and gas industry that got us into this mess will do anything to maintain business as usual. The CLEAN Future Act gives it what it wants. It enables dirty energy by:
Pairing fracked gas with unproven, impractical “carbon capture technology” so it can be rebranded as “clean”
Pushing pay-to-pollute trading schemes like cap-and-trade
Promoting factory farm biogas as “clean” energy, which does nothing to reduce methane emissions and props up industrial agriculture
Big Oil & Gas are on the ropes and they know it. That’s why they're pushing so hard to distract us with greenwashing. We have to make sure our elected officials know that a bold climate plan must call for a ban on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure, as well as a swift and just transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy.
So-called “clean energy alternatives” in the CLEAN Future Act would allow the fossil fuel industry to keep drilling and polluting instead of curbing air and water pollution. We can't afford to waste time creating credit schemes and offsets markets, or propping up fossil fuels with carbon capture fantasies. We MUST stop extracting and burning fossil fuels if we are serious about tackling the climate crisis.
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.
