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For Immediate Release
May 24, 2022
Contact: [email protected], 301-613-4767

BIDEN’S $3.5 BILLION GAMBLE ON DIRECT AIR CAPTURE IS DANGEROUS TO
FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES - WE NEED REAL INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY-ACCOUNTABLE
RENEWABLES

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is an unproven technology that allows fossil fuel
extraction and use to continue, resulting in ongoing harm to frontline
communities. THURSDAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND
THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) TO INVEST $3.5 BILLION IN DAC HUBS IS A
DANGEROUS GAMBLE THAT PUTS FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES AT FURTHER RISK [3], when
climate chaos is deepening and we need to ensure the swift and just
transition to renewable and regenerative solutions.

As we have previously pointed out [4], “The current proposed technique
would use large fans to move air through a filter, where it passes through
a chemical adsorbent to produce a pure CO2 stream that could be stored. To
have any significant effect on global CO2 concentrations, DAC would have to
be rolled out on a vast scale, demanding very large amounts of water and
energy, and raising environmental justice concerns about the toxic impacts
of the chemical absorbents used in the process.”

_“It is undeniably true that the mere promise of DAC technologies acts as
cover for continuing fossil fuel extraction and use, resulting in continued
harm to frontline communities. It is also a dangerous gamble, since we are
already in the midst of a severe climate crisis, and the promise of DAC may
never materialize and only harm frontline communities in new, unacceptable
ways.”_ - BASAV SEN, INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES

More than 500 organizations [5], including Climate Justice Alliance, have
called for an end to carbon capture strategies [6] (CCS) like DAC. Yet
billions of taxpayer dollars are now being pledged to it and other carbon
capture techno-fixes, along with philanthropic dollars, that could instead
be used for real and proven renewable energies in frontline communities.
Frontline-led Just Transition projects such as the first local solar coop
[7] in New York, that benefits community members and small businesses, is
one such example that advances solutions needed to cool the planet and
ensure ongoing harm to frontline communities comes to an end.

_"As the Carbon Capture & Storage: A Clear and Present Danger [8] report,
plainly and emphatically demonstrates, CCS infrastructure is a clear and
present danger to the health and safety of our communities and environment,
that are already overburdened. Investing billions in DAC shows us that the
Biden administration is not committed to removing gas, oil, coal, and other
fossil fuel infrastructure, like the Chevron refinery here in Richmond, CA,
that has been killing us for decades. We need proven, clean renewable
energy solutions such as community controlled and led solar, wind and
others that are accountable to frontline communities - not band aids for
the worst polluters to continue business and usual.”_ - NAJARI SMITH,
RICH CITY RIDES

While the DOE press release says it will “emphasize environmental
justice, community engagement, consent-based siting, equity and workforce
development, and domestic supply chains and manufacturing,” as the entire
history of the fossil fuel industry has demonstrated, this is an
afterthought and a band-aid to a broken and dirty energy system that puts
profits rather than the well-being of people and planet at the center.

_“Carbon Capture is a greenwashed solution and it will have colossal
impacts on the same environmental justice communities that the Biden
administration claims it will help ‘improve’. New Mexico has been a
guinea pig for many of these false solution programs, but what we need are
publicly owned renewables such as wind and solar. New Mexico can no longer
sacrifice its sacred air, land, and water, especially in the midst of
severe aridification and climate catastrophe. Our state is currently facing
extreme wildfires, permanent drought effects, and other air quality issues
linked to the legacy of the fossil fuel industry, which threaten our
ecological health and cultural lifeways.”_ - ALEJANDRÍA LYONS, SOUTHWEST
ORGANIZING PROJECT

_“What about the other gasses and pollutants that will continue to harm
nearby communities if these industries continue to go unchecked? The
dangers to our communities are systematically overlooked, even as the Biden
administration promises to deliver investment benefits to environmental
justice communities through its Justice 40 Initiative. Transporting and
storing carbon dioxide (CO2) will involve massive networks of pipes and
underground storage, that dramatically increase the risk of seismic
activity as well as ruptures and leaks hazardous for humans, animals, and
drinking water. Many of our communities currently don’t have access to
clean drinking water - where is the investment to replace all the toxic
lead service lines around the nation? Government investments must be
accountable to our communities and support a transition away from fossil
fuels into renewables that will benefit us all.”_ - JUAN JHONG CHUNG,
MICHIGAN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COALITION

_“EMEAC builds and believes in grassroots, frontline community power. We
root ourselves in processes of building community power working in
solidarity with organizations and activists from all over the country
around the simple affirmation that only the communities who face climate
destruction and environmental justice can build a just future. We reject
false promises and the top down thinking that produces them; we call on the
Administration to invest in the transformative power of community solutions
for protecting our air, water, land, and our communities.”_ - PAUL
JACKSON, CO-DIRECTOR, EAST MICHIGAN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION COUNCIL (EMEAC)

The letter we sent along with 1,140 other organizations and as a part of
the formerly Build Back Fossil Free Campaign, now called the People vs
Fossil Fuels Coalition, in February still stands. We call on President
Biden to recall the DOE’s Notice of Intent (NOI) to fund DAC and move the
use his Executive powers to immediately 1) ban all new oil and gas
contracts on federal areas, 2) stop approving fossil fuel projects, and 3)
declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act that will
unlock special powers to fast track renewable projects that will benefit us
all.

###

_Climate Justice Alliance is a member-led organization of 84 urban and
rural frontline communities, organizations and support networks in the
climate justice movement. We work to build real solutions to the climate
crisis through building local, living, regenerative economies while pushing
back against false promises from corporate controlled interests._

Climate Justice Alliance

PO BOX 10202
Berkeley, CA 94709
United States


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