Tell Congress: Stop putting Big Oil before people!

Tell Congress to get their priorities straight and stop putting Big Oil before people!

Oil executives are at it again -- demanding handouts that will let them profit from the pandemic. And unfortunately, Congress is listening. A bipartisan group just introduced a bill that would spend $3 billion on buying oil we don’t need for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Right now, communities are facing desperate shortages of protective gear, testing kits, ventilators, and more. Congress should be providing funds for those necessities, not stocking up on dirty fuels. By wasting money on stockpiling oil, they’ll be depriving communities of funds that could support long-term recovery.

Tell Congress to get their priorities straight and stop putting polluters before people by signing the following Sierra Club petition found on the link below. Consider leaving a  personal comment for more impact.

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0259567&id=7013q0000028b9UAAQ

The petition reads:

 As we all pull together to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable among us from the coronavirus pandemic, I am concerned about recent legislation proposed to bailout the oil industry. This legislation, introduced by Senator John Hoeven and Representatives Lizzie Fletcher and Michael Burgess, would appropriate $3 billion for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Whether in the form of low-interest loans, purchases into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, royalty relief, or new tax subsidies, I am opposed to any giveaways to corporate polluters. The fossil fuel industry is already heavily subsidized by the federal government. In 2017, researchers showed that about half of the profits enjoyed by the oil and gas industry were derived from tax and royalty subsidies. With over 16 million people out of work, now isn’t the time to be giving handouts to fossil fuel billionaires. Instead of propping up fossil fuel corporations, the economic stimulus package should focus on protections for frontline workers, communities, and the most vulnerable among us. I urge you to oppose this legislation and ensure that it is not included in any economic stimulus package. Together, we can ensure that we have a just and sustainable recovery to COVID-19 -- a recovery that helps strengthen our communities and protect our climate.

Tell media: Stop accepting fossil fuel advertisements

Petition to major media outlets: "Stop accepting advertisements in any form from fossil fuel companies and their allies." Add your name: Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC used to get almost 20% of its income from fossil fuel advertising. Then the newspaper chose to give it all up for the good of the planet.1 While Dagens ETC is choosing planet over profit, major American media outlets are making the opposite choice — far too many are sponsored by Big Oil and regularly run deceptive advertisements that appear to be news stories or independent op-eds. It's no surprise that these outlets rarely cover climate change news or actively promote dangerous climate deniers.2 When news programs fail to inform Americans about the existential threat of climate change, building the political will for bold action is nearly impossible. We need major media outlets to follow Dagens ETC's lead and reject fossil-fuel advertising, starting now. Tell major media outlets: Stop accepting fossil fuel advertisements. Click here to sign the petition. It's not just FOX News – almost every major media outlet helps Big Oil spread its propaganda. Chevron, BP and Koch Industries have sponsored POLITICO and Axios, two agenda-setting political outlets widely read on Capitol Hill. Many news companies, including POLITICO, The New York Times and The Washington Post, run "native ads" from fossil-fuel companies that look misleadingly similar to regular newspaper stories or editorial pieces. Viewers who tuned into the Democratic primary debates on cable and network TV saw countless fossil-fuel ads but rarely heard the candidates asked about climate change.3,4 Thanks to this terrible coverage, almost 90% of Americans don’t know that there is a scientific consensus on global warming.5 TV coverage of climate change plunged in 2018 from already-low levels in 2017, according to research by Media Matters. And a slight increase in coverage in 2019 is mostly because of rabid FOX News fear-mongering about the Green New Deal.6 Big Oil's public relations henchmen have bragged in the past about using paid advertising to influence coverage, and fossil-fuel companies' continued willingness to pour money into ads suggests it works.7 Young activists with the group Extinction Rebellion USA recently protested outside the New York Times and demanded that media companies stop accepting fossil-fuel advertising. As one of the strikers wrote, "We will never get the action we need to save our planet when most people still don’t know there is a crisis to begin with."8 It's long past time to ramp up the pressure on the media industry to stop putting fossil fuel profits ahead of the planet we all live on. Tell major media outlets: Stop accepting fossil fuel advertisements. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/media-fossil-fuel-advertising?t=9&akid=34592%2E3130208%2EfF52yd - Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sandra Laville, "Swedish newspaper stops taking adverts from fossil fuel firms," The Guardian, Sept. 26, 2019. Amy Westervelt, "Why Are ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’ Producing Ads for Big Oil?" The Nation, April 22, 2019. Ibid. Alexandria Villaseñor, "Why I’m Climate Striking Against Fox News on Friday," The Nation, June 26, 2019. Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna, "Almost 90% of Americans don’t know there’s scientific consensus on global warming," Vox, July 6, 2017. Lisa Hymas, "Climate silence was the big problem in 2018. In 2019, we've got new challenges." Media Matters, April 3, 2019. Westervelt, "Why Are ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’ Producing Ads for Big Oil?" Villaseñor, "Why I’m Climate Striking Against Fox News on Friday." More Information  Oil Companies Are Trying to Rebrand Themselves on Social Media - On Earth

Urge governments that own the EIB to stop funding fossil fuels

Oil Change International has been pushing the European Investment Bank (EIB) to end its fossil fuel finance for years. Now we’ve got big news! Thanks to activists' emails and actions, the EIB announced a draft policy last Friday that would phase out all fossil fuel finance by the end of 2020!

The draft policy states that the Bank will phase out support to energy projects reliant on fossil fuels, including production, infrastructure, and power generation or heat based on fossil fuels. Additionally, the policy will apply to both direct and indirect investments – a huge step in aligning its entire energy portfolio with the Paris Agreement, and a big step forward that builds on the momentum of the World Bank’s 2017 commitment to end direct financing for upstream oil and gas.

But the fight isn’t over: This ambitious policy still needs to be approved by the member state representatives who make up the EIB’s Board of Directors, and we can’t let them water it down. We’ve come this far and now we just need to take this ambitious policy across the finish line.

This draft policy represents a tremendous shift. Between 2013 and 2018, the EIB – the world’s largest multilateral lender – averaged almost €2.5 billion per year in finance for oil, gas, and coal. In response, supporters like you sent hundreds of thousands of messages to EIB Directors, Governors, and Management Committee members, urging the Bank to ensure that its new energy lending policy criteria exclude financing of fossil fuels. And it worked!

Now we need your help again to urge the governments behind the EIB to take up this proposal and end the Bank’s handouts to the fossil fuel industry. Tell the EIB Board of Directors to step up their climate ambition and pass this world-leading policy that would stop funding fossils.

We will not stop until our governments do all that is required to fight the climate crisis at the scale that it deserves – including ending all forms of government support for fossil fuels and implementing a just transition away from coal, oil, and gas.

- Alex Doukas, Stop Funding Fossils Lead Analyst Oil Change International

More Information:

European Investment Bank Will Stop Funding Fossil Fuel Projects by the End of 2020 - EcoWatch, Jul. 29, 2019 

European Investment Bank proposes end to fossil fuel lending - Reuters, JULY 26, 2019

Tell the DNC: Stop taking fossil fuel contributions (again)

The petition to the Democratic National Committee reads: "Reinstate the ban on accepting fossil fuel contributions." Add your name:

In June, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted unanimously to stop taking fossil fuel contributions. In a secretive move less than two months later, DNC Chairman Tom Perez led a successful resolution to start taking them again.1 Perez and the DNC are siding with the oil and coal companies driving us toward climate catastrophe. As wildfires rage and heat waves break records across the globe,2 Democrats can and must do better. Tell the DNC: Stop taking fossil fuel money. Click here to sign the petition. A DNC spokesperson claimed that the June fossil fuel money ban hurt rank-and-file workers in the fossil fuel industry. But fossil fuel workers and unions would have been free to donate to Democrats even under the original ban. The real problem is donations from corporate PACs – which are funded by company executives.3 Under the Perez resolution, the DNC can go back to taking these PAC donations. The idea that we must choose between workers and the environment is outdated, dangerous and simply incorrect. Instead of claiming to support fossil fuel workers by caving to corporate contributors, Democrats should be laying out a vision for a clean energy economy that retrains workers and creates good jobs that will outlast these polluting industries. Perez's resolution even refers to "America’s all-of-the-above energy economy."4 The DNC struck this language from its platform back in 2016 after progressive activists forced Democrats to recognize that fighting the climate crisis doesn't allow us to support an energy strategy that legitimizes the continued burning of fossil fuels.5 Bringing this idea back now is a dangerous backtrack on the progress we have made in the transition away from dirty energy. Perez and the Democratic Party leadership who voted for his proposal are out of step with their base and candidates across the country. Over 900 local, state and national candidates and office-holders have signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, a promise to not accept contributions of over $200 from fossil fuel interests. Signers include Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Barbara Lee and House of Representatives candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.6 The Democratic Party claims to have a commitment to fighting climate change. But until we get fossil fuel money out of politics, we won't get the climate solutions we need. Tom Perez and the rest of the DNC need to stop playing games with our future and start listening to those of us fighting to save it. Tell the DNC: Stop taking fossil fuel money. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/DNC-fossilfuels?t=7&akid=29734%2E3130208%2EEXx02b - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Lisa Hagen and Timothy Cama, "DNC reverses ban on fossil fuel donations," The Hill, Aug. 10, 2018. Eric Levenson and Brandon Miller, "2018 is on pace to be the 4th-hottest year on record," CNN, July 28, 2018. Kate Aronoff, "DNC pretends respect for workers requires it to take corporate money from Big Oil," The Intercept, Aug. 13, 2018. Ibid. Ibid. "Tell Our Leaders: Take the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge," accessed Aug. 20, 2018.