As Democrats hoping to sit at the helm of their party in the House in the next congressional term vie for support ahead of a January vote on the House floor, dozens of progressive groups released a letter Tuesday telling candidates that their leadership must include a firm stance against the fossil fuel industry, including a rejection of all donations from oil and gas companies.
Forty-seven national organizations including 350.org, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace USA wrote that with the scientific community making it abundantly clear that carbon emissions must be immediately curbed in order to keep the planet from warming more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Democrats must fully extricate themselves from fossil fuel interests.
Ensuring that the Democratic leadership is not in debt to corporate polluters, wrote the groups, will make bold legislative action to curb carbon emissions and invest in renewable energy far more likely in the coming term.
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“It will be impossible for Democratic leadership to champion this agenda while continuing to accept campaign contributions from the fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and PACs who continue to deceive the public about the impacts of climate change and who buy out politicians to ensure that climate action is stalled or blocked,” reads the letter.
Climate action groups have been joined by progressive newly-elected lawmakers like Reps.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in calling for a Green New Deal. The bold set of initiatives is modeled on the Depression-era New Deal and aimed at shifting the U.S. to a 100 percent renewable energy society by investing in green technology and infrastructure and ending subsidies for fossil fuel companies.
Democrats took a total of more than $4 million from the fossil fuel sector in 2018, but as May Boeve of 350.org has argued, hundreds of politicians across the country have proven that they don’t need oil and has money to get elected.
“With over 1,000 politicians rejecting fossil fuel money, real climate leadership definitively means no fossil fuel ties,” said Boeve in a statement. “For any shot at averting further climate catastrophe, all elected officials must say no to fossil fuels and fight for a Green New Deal that puts people and planet first. It’s not enough to acknowledge the reality of climate change—we need officials who walk the talk and support equitable solutions to this global crisis.”
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