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| Dear Friend, |
| This month marked the end of the Biden administration’s first year. We’ve seen incredible progress so far — hard fought wins that materialized only because of the persistent activism of people like you. We’ve protected the Tongass National Forest, restored Bears Ears National Monument, banned chlorpyrifos, and so much more. We’ve had remarkable success in court, including a victory on Thursday that vacated the leases from the Biden administration’s unprecedented offshore drilling lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Despite this progress, we still have a long way to go in the fight against climate change. Global emissions jumped up last year after a pandemic-induced drop and extreme weather increasingly threatens every region in the country. We need action, now. |
| Our leaders are not meeting the moment — largely due to the fossil fuel industry’s delay tactics. President Biden has not yet made it clear that he understands we have a choice to make between the continued existence of the fossil fuel industry and a livable climate. While the Biden administration has acted on some important issues — like setting precedents for coal ash cleanup and supporting desperately needed investments in renewable energy — polluters are still largely getting what they want. |
| Here’s how the Biden administration has let the fossil fuel industry off the hook. It has: |
- Attempted the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in history, selling off the Gulf of Mexico to Big Oil. This would’ve locked us into decades of fossil fuel use if not for the successful Earthjustice lawsuit that vacated the leases.
- Allowed the Dakota Access Pipeline to operate without a permit — endangering the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and threatening their water.
- Allowed construction of the Line 3 Pipeline without adequate environmental review or consent of the Anishinaabe people of northern Minnesota.
- Refused to restore the Obama-era moratorium on new coal leases.
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| Undoing the toxic legacy of fossil fuels requires ambitious, large-scale efforts, and the administration’s encouragement of increased fossil fuel extraction is only creating more harm to undo. We must change course. |
| Although it’s possible he hasn’t fully come to terms with his place in history, President Biden must be the president who ends the fossil fuel era. From extraction to transport to combustion to disposal, fossil fuels poison our communities and our future, and it’s beyond time for them to go. President Biden has the means to get the job done, but we’ll have to use our collective power to compel him to do it. |
| Join us in calling on President Biden to act with the conviction that this crisis requires. Click here to fight fossil fuels by taking all the actions below on one page. |
