Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: 

The Inflation Reduction Act represents the best Congress can do to address the climate crisis in this moment. It is my hope that in 2030 we look back and see this bill as a turning point for the United States.  

For this to happen we must right the wrongs the Inflation Reduction Act will inflict on communities in the Gulf of Mexico, Appalachia and Alaska and wherever new fossil fuel infrastructure will be built. Transitioning away from fossil fuels is the best hope for our planet, and President Biden and his Administration must use their full regulatory authority, including declaring a climate emergency, to accelerate it.   

We must also defeat Manchin’s side deal that will roll back the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act. These laws are the heart of community resistance to more fossil fuel development and are necessary tools for pursuing climate and environmental justice.   

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The call comes as the country struggles to make progress on climate action. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v EPA weakened the EPA’s ability to regulate power plants under the Clean Air Act. A slimmed down version of the Build Back Better Act, Biden’s landmark climate legislation, is stalled in Congress.

In June Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to manufacture solar panels, insulation and heat pumps. Biden’s plan encourages high labor standards tied to increased manufacturing. It also calls for boosting community-based clean energy and distributed generation.

A House Appropriations subcommittee recently appropriated $100 million toward Biden’s clean energy orders. While this is a positive first step, estimates show more than $100 billion is needed to meet the administration’s climate and clean electricity goals. That funding can catalyze the country’s manufacturing base and transform our energy system into one that is renewable and just.

More than 1,000 organizations support the DPA orders, including the People vs. Fossil Fuels Coalition. Earlier this year U.S. Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jason Crow (D.-Colo.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the Energy Security and Independence Act to direct $100 billion toward domestic renewable energy production, prioritizing investment in environmental justice and worker communities. The bill has more than 50 cosponsors and support from more than 80 organizations.

“We’re at a crisis point for our climate and our energy future, and we need action now,” said Gaby Sarri-Tobar, a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “Biden’s clean energy directives add urgency to the climate fight, but Congress must fully fund this to spur the just, renewable future we need. There’s no way to ramp up renewable energy production without the money to make it happen.”

“President Biden’s recent deployment of DPA to create secure, clean energy resources for all communities is sorely needed and we applaud him for these efforts,” said Art Terrazas, government affairs advocate for the League of Conservation Voters. “Now it is time for Congress to do its part to meet the moment on climate and provide the funding necessary for clean energy, justice, and jobs through a reconciliation package and strong FY23 appropriations so that we can grow the renewable energy manufacturing industry, deploy these needed resources across the country, and ensure that all communities benefit from lower energy costs today.”

“Working in solar in the St. Louis area, we’re seeing prices for panels go up every day or suppliers simply out of stock. We need help from Washington to move projects forward right away. There’s no time to waste. We need the funding to carry out President Biden’s Defense Production Act order to spur renewable energy production,” said Brian Tresenriter of SoulShyne Solar, who is a Green Workers Alliance member.

“We are in a climate emergency — an emergency we can only confront when our government steps up and launches a WWII scale mobilization to justly transition to renewable energy,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise Movement. “As climate disasters worsen, oil companies continue to price-gouge consumers, and real investments in renewable energy have stalled, Congress must urgently and robustly fund President Biden’s DPA executive order. In a moment when young people are questioning the legitimacy of our institutions, our politicians must act to save our generation and show us what our government can do for us.”

“Deploying the DPA is a crucial first step in protecting communities from corporate utilities who keep throwing lifelines to outdated, toxic, and expensive fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Tim Sahay, senior policy manager at Green New Deal Network. “To get the job done and support renewable energy projects and a just transition for workers and communities, we are calling on the Senate to fund the DPA.”

“Biden’s executive orders on climate can only be meaningful if Congress dedicates the funding to get the job done,” said Food & Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh. “Using the Defense Production Act to supercharge America’s clean energy production is a critical step towards treating the climate crisis like a true emergency.”

“Congress must appropriate funds that match the needs laid out in President Biden’s forward-looking executive order,” said Karen Orenstein, director of the climate and energy justice program at Friends of the Earth U.S. “The cost of inaction is far more expensive and will be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, in the U.S. and worldwide.”

“The dual crises of rising energy prices, along with a cascade of climate impacts, demand immediate action for the health and wellbeing of every American. EOPA is inspired by President Biden’s leadership in invoking the DPA, however more investment than $100 million is needed in order to set the United States on a path to a 50-52% reduction in carbon pollution by 2030 — the goal scientists say is necessary to prevent the worst impacts of climate change,” said Dominic Frongillo, executive director and cofounder of Elected Officials to Protect America. “President Biden can leverage DPA funds and the federal procurement budget of $650 billion per year to scale up clean energy technologies deployment. We are in a climate emergency, which is a national security risk. At least $100 billion should and could be allocated by the end of this fiscal year to help ensure the security of our nation and the world through building a clean energy economy.”

“The Biden administration rightly used the Defense Production Act to start unlocking our country’s renewable energy potential,” said Ashley Thomson, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA. “We need more of this kind of action from Washington to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis that is already causing death and destruction. This is too important for political games. Leaders like Rep. Cori Bush understand that lives are at stake. Congress needs to follow her lead and fund these orders so we can secure a livable future.”

“The DPA is meant for unusual, even extreme, circumstances like war, pandemics and national emergencies. We have never seen a greater threat to our country, indeed to the world, than the one posed by potentially catastrophic climate change,” said Todd Paglia, executive director of Stand.earth. “We need to invest as much as we can, as rapidly as we can, into renewable energy if we want to ensure the safety and security of our country and our planet.”

“Inflated energy prices coupled with an over-dependence on Russian fossil fuels threaten to derail global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. Nations around the globe need to implement bold solutions to accelerate the climate crisis for the security of the world and their own energy independence. We can show the way with a significant investment of at least $100 billion for the DPA,” said Alex Cornell du Houx, former Maine state representative, Marine combat veteran, president and cofounder of the Elected Officials to Protect America. “Ukraine underscores how dependency on fossil fuels fills the coffers of tyrants and dictators like Putin, and that a rapid transition to clean and renewable energy is not just necessary for our environment, but critical to our economic, national security and true energy independence.”

“Deploying DPA is a crucial tool in this crisis moment, as families struggle due to inflation and skyrocketing utility costs that have saddled them with debt. We urge Congress to fully fund DPA,” said Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, sustainable communities program director at GreenLatinos. “Latino/x households spend disproportionate amounts of their income on energy and are unrepresented in green jobs; along with other marginalized communities, we stand to benefit greatly from this investment in our shared energy future.”

“It’s great to see President Biden stepping up to the challenge of climate change by using his powers to advance renewable energy, create good jobs, and center environmental justice. However, the Defense Production Act is only effective if it is funded,” said Joe Uehlein, president of the Labor Network for Sustainability. “Congress must meet this moment and give these presidential orders the funding required to deploy this clean energy technology across the country.”

“By invoking the Defense Production Act to support domestic clean energy manufacturing, President Biden demonstrated that we must use every tool at our disposal to address the climate emergency and support job growth,” said Odette Mucha, federal liaison at Vote Solar. “Congress must now allocate the funding needed to bring clean energy manufacturing back to America.”

“Executive powers like the DPA can be incredibly useful, but only when supported with ample appropriations,” said Dorothy Slater, senior researcher with the Revolving Door Project. “We’re thankful to President Biden for unlocking this no-brainer tool and we urge Congress to provide the sufficient funding that is so desperately needed to speed the necessary transition to clean, renewable energy. We also emphasize the need for strong, long-term oversight of the use of these funds for environmentally just projects.”

“President Biden’s DPA clean energy orders have been a cause for celebration for our generation. We’re elated to see this administration take a critical step toward a more secure and sustainable future for young people. But now, we need Congress to do its part,” said Lisa Giordano, executive director of the Association of Young Americans. “Our elected officials must support this historic effort to actively combat the climate crisis by boldly investing in the DPA in the FY2023 appropriations package.”

“Clean energy is national security and I’m heartened to see President Biden use the Defense Production Act in this way to make America less dependent on petro-dictators,” said RL Miller, political director of Climate Hawks Vote.

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Hallie Templeton, Legal Director at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: 

We are devastated that the administration continues to capitulate to fossil fuel interests. President Biden’s empty climate promises expose him as yet another leader who cares more about polluters than about a livable future for people and the planet. We will continue fighting for the health and livelihoods of our neighbors in the Gulf South and Alaska who have unjustly suffered as a sacrificial zone to Big Oil for generations. 

According to the Biden administration’s artificially low social cost of carbon metric, new drilling could unleash at least $20.8 billion of environmental and public health damage annually, leaving society to foot the bill. In the Gulf of Mexico alone, the social cost of drilling could be at least $862.9 billion. These figures vastly outweigh proposed revenue for state and local governments and allow the oil and gas industry to profit in the billions.  

Earlier this year, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups successfully sued the Biden administration, vacating the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups argued that Interior failed to fully account for and analyze the global greenhouse gas emissions that would have resulted from the sale.  

These organizations are now preparing technical comments on the draft plan and will closely analyze the final product to ensure that all federal environmental laws are properly fulfilled. 

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The Bureau of Land Management currently has no legal obligation to hold these lease sales, and this action is in direct contradiction to Biden’s campaign promise to stop new oil and gas leasing on public lands.

Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:

President Biden’s massive public lands giveaway in the face of utter climate catastrophe is just the latest sign that his climate commitments are mere rhetoric.

Fossil fuel extraction on public lands causes nearly a quarter of U.S. climate pollution, and minor concessions like raising royalty rates fail to address emissions. The more public lands sacrificed to Big Oil, the more economic damage, death, and destruction are baked into our future.

To stave off the worst of climate change, Biden must keep his promise and end all new leasing on public lands and waters.

Communications contact: Kerry Skiff, kskiff@foe.org, 202-222-0723

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The organization filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on May 12 in an attempt to shine a light on potential bias that Amos Hochstein, a former LNG executive, might be bringing to his current role as Senior Advisor for Energy Security at the State Department. 

“This is not the climate leadership President Biden promised,” said Lukas Ross, Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. “A former LNG executive in charge of increasing LNG exports is like something out of the Trump administration. This is a blatant conflict of interest and it won’t stand.”

Hochstein officially rejoined the State Department in August 2021 after working as an executive at Tellurian, a LNG export developer. He has since become a leading voice in the Biden administration’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, overseeing the new EU-US Task Force on Energy Security, whose mandate includes increasing LNG exports to Europe.

“We are deeply disappointed that the State Department outright denied our urgent request,  unlawfully failing to acknowledge our evidence supporting expedited processing,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director at Friends of the Earth. “Clearly, the crisis in Ukraine is not at the top of their mind. Until the State Department decides to follow the law, we will keep taking them to court.”

Friends of the Earth is being represented by the public interest law firm Eubanks & Associates, PLLC.

Communications Contact: Brittany Miller, bmiller@foe.org, (202) 222-0746

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The analysis used both the Biden administration’s social cost of carbon of $51/metric ton and a conservative metric of $100/metric ton, although most estimates are much higher, to find:

• In 2021, public oil and gas development cost society between $23.4 billion and $46 billion, far outweighing the $9.6 billion in tax revenue.
• Current onshore and offshore public leases would cost society between $2.19 trillion and $4.3 trillion if developed.
• Potential federal oil and gas development would cost society between $22.95 trillion and $45 trillion if developed.

Although the American Petroleum Institute (API) and National Ocean Industry Association (NOIA) warned that any delay in the Biden administration’s new five-year offshore leasing plan would result in dire economic consequences, based on their own figures:

• A new five-year offshore leasing plan would cost society between $20.8 billion and $40.8 billion annually and result in 2.6 to 5 times more annual social costs than the projected revenue for state and local governments.

“Biden needs to remove his oil-tinted glasses and start treating oil and gas development with the extreme caution it deserves,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director at Friends of the Earth. “Our sheer survival shouldn’t come second to Big Oil’s profits. If the administration is serious about staving off the worst of the climate catastrophe, the only road forward is no new leases.”

The social cost of carbon is used to estimate the economic damages of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Fossil fuel development not only costs society trillions in the form of air and water pollution, climate change, and other environmental degradation, but is also associated with public health problems such as cancer, asthma, and temperature-related deaths.

Communications contact: Brittany Miller, (202) 222-0746, bmiller@foe.org

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Animal agriculture is responsible for 36% of all U.S. methane emissions, more than any other sector. Factory farms are also a major polluter of local communities, particularly communities of color. EPA’s Draft Strategic Plan, released in November 2021 for comment, contained almost no mention of animal agriculture. The final plan does slightly more to acknowledge agricultural impacts to the environment and the need to gather data around water quality and emissions data. However, the plan still does not include any regulatory or enforcement strategies to rein in Big Ag and protect the communities suffering from air pollution, water pollution, noxious smells, and adverse health conditions caused by concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs or factory farms.

Adriane Busby, Senior Food and Climate Policy Analyst at Friends of the Earth U.S. said:

For EPA to live up to its commitment to environmental justice, it must use its authority to protect the health and wellbeing of local communities by providing federal oversight of polluting factory farms. Acknowledging the harmful impact of industrial agricultural operations on public health and the importance of data collection is a crucial first step. But, EPA can no longer afford to ignore the massive public health and environmental harms that communities living near CAFOs face.  

EPA should take a science-driven approach that utilizes its authority to hold industrial agricultural operations accountable to the communities they are polluting.  We urge Administrator Regan to do better by communities that continue to suffer in the face of unregulated factory farm pollution.

Communications contact: Kerry Skiff, kskiff@foe.org, 202-222-0723

The post Friends of the Earth Statement on EPA’s Final Strategic Plan appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in a closed door meeting at the White House with other oil and gas barons, lobbied for expanded methane gas production, export capacity, and import capacity in Europe as part of a new fossil fuel ‘Marshall Plan.’ Under Dimon, the bank has been Russia’s number one fossil fuel financier, providing over $3.5 billion in loans and underwriting to the Russian fossil fuel sector.

Kate DeAngelis, international finance program manager at Friends of the Earth, said this:

President Biden is going to regret siding with Big Oil and Wall Street over communities and the climate. Betting on liquified methane gas is akin to driving on a bridge to nowhere. The window is rapidly closing to end our addiction to climate-changing fossil fuel resources, yet President Biden is propping up the industry that caused this mess. We need a Marshall Plan for renewable energy, not more of the same. 

LNG exports from the U.S. compete with domestic use of gas, significantly increasing prices paid for by businesses and families, of which the hardest hit are low income and BIPOC communities. Although the U.S. recently became the largest exporter of LNG, there are 16 more export terminals that have been approved but not yet constructed. President Biden’s announcement recklessly opens the door to finance these facilities potentially from public sources like the U.S. Export-Import Bank and other export credit agencies. 

Background:

• Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from LNG development, liquefaction, and export would make the proposal among the most carbon intensive development deals in the world in recent history. In addition to methane releases, massive energy is required to liquefy methane gas for export, rivaling only coal in its emissions intensity over its lifecycle.
• LNG export terminals typically take up to at least 3 to 4 years to complete and sometimes longer, meaning there would be no short term solution to the current shortages European consumers are facing. Additionally, European regasification import terminals are already near or at capacity. Renewable energy systems, particularly distributed ones, are far more dispatchable in the short run and new renewable energy sources are already reducing gas demand in Europe and, as a result, providing consumers greater price predictability.  In fact, a new study found that renewables can supplant the majority of Europe’s current Russian gas imports by 2025.
• Gas exports are a significant contributor to increased gas heating bills facing U.S. households, with bills forecasted to be 30% higher this winter (and 54% higher for households using propane and 43% more for heating oil).

Communications contact: Kerry Skiff, kskiff@foe.org, 202-222-0723

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Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response: 

The Build Back Better Act is both an historic achievement and nowhere near enough. The investments in renewable energy, education, the care economy, and other invaluable priorities are significant.  However, given the chronic underinvestment in caring for people and fighting climate change, the Build Back Better Act is still far from being transformational. 

It’s now up to the Senate to strengthen and immediately pass a Build Back Better Act that prioritizes people and the planet instead of corporate profits and dirty industries. Democrats were elected with a clear mandate and the only way they can fulfill the promises they made to the American people is to pass monumental legislation that improves their lives and our environment. 

Friends of the Earth worked with members of Congress for months to ensure that provisions on child nutrition, zero-emission ports, and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies were included in the House’s final package. 

The legislation currently includes language that would:

• Relieve historic debt for farmers.
• Expand access to free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision and Summer EBT nationwide for students who receive free or reduced-price school meals.
• Create a new $250 million Healthy Food Incentives demonstration program and $30 million for school kitchen equipment grants that will support schools in serving healthy, climate-friendly menus.
• Provide $3.5 billion for port electrification and the reduction of toxic diesel soot, smog-forming chemicals, and carbon dioxide from freight transport across the nation. 
• Ban new offshore drilling in Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
• End the oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and buy back existing leases.
• Remove giveaways to Big Oil in the federal leasing program, including raising royalties and ending noncompetitive leasing. 
• Eliminate the Foreign Oil and Gas Extraction Income (FOGEI) exemption from the Global Intangible Low-Tax Income (GILTI), a tax exemption included in the 2017 Trump–Republican tax package that carves out a major profit stream benefiting a mere handful of larger companies.
• Eliminate the risk of tax avoidance by oil, gas, and mining companies that misrepresent royalties and other payments to foreign governments as income taxes. This practice, now foiled through a “dual capacity taxpayers” provision, previously allowed fossil fuel and mining companies to “game” the foreign tax credit system. 

Despite the inclusion of important environmental provisions, Friends of the Earth remains concerned about the following: 

• The failure to repeal $35 billion in domestic fossil fuel subsidies. 
• The “super 45Q” credit to bailout the existing coal fleet. 
• The bailout of the existing nuclear fleet at the expense of renewable uptake and consumers. 
• The omission of the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean from the proposed offshore drilling ban. 
• The removal of hardrock mineral royalties and fees to raise revenue and clean up abandoned mining lands. 
• The omission of guardrails on conservation funding to ensure the money goes to family farmers building healthy soils instead of polluting CAFOs and other factory farms. 

Friends of the Earth will continue to urge Congress to address these issues before the Build Back Better Act is signed into law. 

Communications contact: Kerry Skiff, kskiff@foe.org, 202-772-0723 

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The groups say the $150 billion expected to be removed from Biden’s flagship Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) must be reallocated toward programs consistent with the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s recommendations. This includes increasing direct funding to community renewables and energy efficiency programs while precluding new funding for harmful and toxic technologies, such as nuclear power and fossil fuel-based infrastructure like carbon capture and storage (CCS). 

“Reconciliation is a momentous opportunity to tackle climate change and improve the lives of low income and communities of color,” said Anastasia Gordon, Energy and Transportation Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “In the urgency to finalize the Build Back Better Act, commitments to bold climate action and environmental justice cannot be compromised by directing investments into false energy solutions that will keep the nation dependent on fossil fuels and exacerbate the pollution and health risks frontline communities have faced for far too long.”

“The United States clearly does not understand the urgency of the climate crisis we are in,” said Tom B.K. Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Even with all the severe weather and other impacts, the politicians are still trying to keep Big Oil fat and happy at the expense of us all, especially Mother Earth, the natural world and rights of Indigenous Peoples. This needs to stop today, and we need to stop funding false solutions to the climate crisis. We need real solutions and real reductions.”

“The Biden administration cannot continue to claim they are addressing the climate crisis while also directly funding the dirty energies responsible for polluting vulnerable communities,” said Sarah Lutz, Climate Campaigner for Friends of the Earth. “Diverting crucial climate funding into toxic nuclear facilities and propping up the fossil industry through CCS and fossil-hydrogen programs will only move us further from a sustainable future.” 

“It is vital that Build Back Better truly does build back better. But that won’t happen without robust climate action,” said Mitch Jones, Policy Director at Food & Water Watch. “The $150 billion  targeted for clean energy should be used for community-owned wind and solar. And the bill must also directly confront the fossil fuel industry by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. Only that will ensure that it lives up to its name.”

“Tossing money at snake-oil remedies like carbon capture and storage also wastes precious time and throws vulnerable communities under the bus,” said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “If the Biden administration intends to walk its talk on energy justice, this money must go toward building out accessible, affordable renewable energy, with not a dime for the fossil-fuel industry. Anything less is unacceptable.”

Communications contacts: Anastasia Gordon, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, (646) 341-2588, anastasia@weact.org
Brittany Miller, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0746, bmiller@foe.org
Jean Su, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 770-3187, jsu@biologicaldiversity.org

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