If you haven’t already signed on, please consider adding your organization to the following two letters, which we’ll be sending out early next week.
Thank you for your consideration,
Karen
-----MONIZ LETTER----
November xx, 2020
Dear President-elect Biden:
During the campaign, we applauded your commitment to restore trust in government and to address the climate emergency, environmental injustice, and the array of other crises that working families and communities
face today. We were deeply encouraged by the statement in the Biden-Harris Transition Team Ethics Plan that you aim “to ensure that those who serve are aligned with his values and policy priorities, and have not, for example, been leaders at fossil fuel or
private prison companies.”
Therefore, we are writing to urge you to commit to ensuring Ernest Moniz holds no public or private role, whether formal or informal, in your transition team, cabinet, or administration.
Mr. Moniz’s professional and financial ties fly in the face of
The Biden Plan to Guarantee Government Works for the People that would “reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics…restore ethics in government…[and] rein in executive
branch financial conflicts of interest.” Mr. Moniz’s employment and financial ties situate him firmly in the revolving door between government and fossil fuel corporations.
For example, a
profile in The New Republic details the close relationship between Mr. Moniz and the fossil gas and electric utility holding company Southern Company. Southern Company received “$407 million in financing from the
Department of Energy during Moniz’s tenure for a ‘clean coal’ plant that was never completed. After championing the doomed project and leaving office, Moniz joined the company’s board in March 2018. According to Southern’s proxy statements, he accepted a combined
$486,668 worth of fees and stock awards from Southern in 2018 and 2019.” Further, Mr. Moniz has been closely tied to fossil fuel behemoths like Exxon Mobil, Shell, Eni, and Saudi Aramco.
The
Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice rightly states, “climate change poses an existential threat – not just to our environment, but to our
health, our communities, our national security, and our economic well-being.” Mr. Moniz’s championing of an “all-of-the-above” energy policy goes against your commitments to tackle the climate emergency. He has been a cheerleader for “clean” coal, the export
of liquified natural gas, and the untenable expansion of fossil gas. Indeed, Mr. Moniz is an unrepentant founding father of the fracking industry. He
spearheaded an influential 2010 report that helped establish the dangerous myth that fossil gas is a “bridge fuel,” and he continues to promote expensive and unproven technologies that will extend our reliance on fossil fuels and the very companies with
which he is linked.
Mr. Moniz’s approach is incompatible with a stable climate. According to
The Production Gap Report (2019), countries are on track to produce 120% more fossil fuels
in 2030 than is consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Further, fracking is deeply harmful to the lives and livelihoods of nearby communities. It is also a super climate polluter; methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide during
its first 20 years in the atmosphere, and leaky oil and gas infrastructure is responsible for far more methane emissions than previously thought.
Sincerely,
****LETTER TO HOUSE DEMOCRATS CONCERNING LEADERSHIP*****
Dear Congressional Democrats:
We call on all members of the Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives to unambiguously commit to serving in the interest of the public, rather than corporations.
To clearly demonstrate this commitment, we demand that:
We must build on the principles outlined in the
No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, already signed by 54 members
of Congress, which requires elected officials “not to take contributions over $200 from oil, gas, and coal industry executives, lobbyists, and PACs and instead prioritize the health of our families, climate, and democracy over fossil fuel industry profits.”
Elected officials should similarly reject donations from food and agribusiness as well as and financial and insurance sector corporations.
Large food and agribusiness corporations, many of them virtual monopolies, have dominated food and agriculture policy to the detriment of family farmers, food chain workers,
public health, and the environment. And without billions of dollars in support from Wall Street banks and insurance companies, fossil fuel companies and large agribusinesses would be unable to continue or expand activities that worsen climate change, harm
communities, and result in human rights abuses.
The people of the United States are tired of their elected representatives sacrificing the health and well-being of people and the planet at the altar of corporate greed.
The 2020 Democratic Party Platform rightfully asserts, “We will hold polluters and corporate executives accountable for intentionally hiding or distorting material information and for affecting the health and safety of workers and communities.” The House Democratic
Caucus cannot credibly put these words into action if those in leadership and oversight positions take contributions from the polluters and profiteers they are supposed to hold to account.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,