Climate and Environmental Justice Advocates deliver IRA birthday card to Biden
NEW YORK –– As President Biden celebrates the anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), organizers preparing the largest climate mobilization since the pandemic sent the White House a birthday card declaring the IRA is not enough and must be paired with presidential action to phase out fossil fuels and address environmental injustice. For a copy of the birthday card, please email press@endfossilfuels.us.
“While the IRA is just getting started, we’ll be in the streets demanding Biden put a stop to destructive fossil fuels,” said Vonne Martin, Deputy Chief of Campaigns, Center for Popular Democracy. “The IRA’s boost to clean energy and EVs is important, but it’s not enough without action to curb the oil and gas culprit of our climate emergency. It’s a somber celebration when Biden has backed project after project of the fossil fuels intensifying climate disasters from deadly heatwaves to the Maui fires. Our IRA birthday card calls on President Biden to grow into a real climate leader by declaring a climate emergency and using all his powers to speed the end of the fossil fuel era.”
"President Biden can’t use the IRA as cover to pump out more fossil fuels," said Roishetta Ozane, founder of the Vessel Project of Louisiana. "The IRA doesn't stop my community from being a sacrifice zone to more fossil fuel production and export. If Biden wants to be a climate leader, he needs to pick up his presidential pen to declare a climate emergency and phase out fossil fuels."
In the birthday card, the organizers included the demands of the upcoming March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on September 17. The card calls on President Biden to stop federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, phase out fossil fuel drilling on our public lands, declare a climate emergency, and provide a just transition to a renewable energy future.
“Our planet is burning, and President Biden is only adding fuel to the fire. History will remember how the president reacts to this climate emergency, and it will not look fondly on one that is approving even more fossil fuel projects than his Republican predecessor. Biden has a clear choice: Declare a climate emergency, phase out fossil fuels, and start to reclaim our planet—or, continue letting corporate interests govern our country, making the earth uninhabitable for his grandchildren and descendants to come,” said Olivia Leirer, Co-Executive Director at New York Communities for Change.
Primarily an incentives program, the IRA did not directly address stopping fossil fuels. In fact, the IRA actively expanded the fossil fuel supply, as it contained several fossil fuel giveaways, including provisions to expand federal fossil fuel leasing and financial incentives for unproven and dangerous technologies like carbon capture and storage.
Further, modelers have estimated that even if every renewable incentive in the IRA's $369 billion package works as planned, the law—in tandem with existing measures—will get at most 80 percent of the way to meeting President Biden's commitment to cut carbon pollution 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Directly stopping new fossil fuel development and phasing out existing production are key executive actions that President Biden can take to meet the remainder of his global commitments. Moreover, the IRA’s failure to address the United States’ increasing expansion of fossil fuel production and export exacerbates the pollution and environmental injustices that communities at the site of extraction and export experience.
ABOUT THE MARCH
The March to End Fossil Fuels will be held on September 17 in New York City.
The New York City march is part of a mass global escalation to end fossil fuels, with mobilizations occurring around the world.
The march will be held ahead of the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit in New York City, the first-ever climate summit where countries are expected to present fossil fuel phaseout plans and commit to no new fossil fuel production.
Over 370 organizations are joining to build the largest U.S. climate mobilization since the pandemic, demanding President Biden stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, phase out production of fossil fuels on federal public lands, declare a climate emergency, and build a new clean energy future.
More information at endfossilfuels.us