Thousands take action to keep fossil fuels in the ground, demand Biden Build Back Fossil Free

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2021

Contact:
Collin Rees, collin@priceofoil.org
Denali Nalamalapu, denali.nalamalapu@350.org

Thousands take action to keep fossil fuels in the ground, demand Biden Build Back Fossil Free
WASHINGTON, DC — Last week, the #BuildBackFossilFree coalition held a week of action across the country escalating the demand for President Joe Biden to be a real Climate President and directly confront environmental racism and fossil fuel companies fueling the climate crisis. The actions come as Biden approaches his 100th day in office.

From Thursday, April 1, through Friday, April 9, 2021, the Build Back Fossil Free coalition hosted a week of action where thousands of people across the country took nonviolent direct, COVID-safe, and virtual actions to demand fossil fuels be kept in the ground. Several events spoke directly to the immediate need to stop the Line 3 and Dakota Access pipelines. Access photos from the events here.

On April 1, Indigenous youth runners traveled to Washington D.C. to call on Biden to stop the Dakota Access pipeline and Biden Build Back Fossil Free. Watch the video about their incredible action here.

On Day One, Biden kept his promise and rejected Keystone XL after a decade-long Indigenous-led fight. Now it’s time for him to use his executive powers to immediately stop the Line 3 and Dakota Access pipelines, stop all fossil fuel projects, and protect our communities.

As communities continue to rebuild and recover from the compound crises of COVID-19, racial and economic injustice, and devastating climate disasters, the week of action sends a clear signal to the Biden-Harris administration: it’s not enough to Build Back Better — we demand a Just Recovery to Build Back Fossil Free.

Ahead of the April 22 Global Climate Summit, Biden must confront environmental racism and fossil fuel companies fueling the climate crisis.

QUOTE SHEET:

Silas Neeland, Rice Lake Nation: “It’s time to end fossil fuel projects that continue to threaten our sacred areas. I want to be able to teach my children and my grandchildren how to harvest wild rice and our Anishinaabe traditions. Pipelines leak, and if this pipeline leaks it will destroy our way of life.”

Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change International: “President Biden’s early steps on climate will be nothing more than a drop in the bucket without swift action to halt oil and gas expansion and kickstart a just transition away from fossil fuel extraction. Stopping projects like the Line 3 and Dakota Access pipelines and ending flows of finance to fossil fuels are critical to ensure environmental justice and meet climate targets.”

Karen Bearden, Coordinator at 350 Triangle: “We are here together in solidarity with the Build Back Fossil Free actions taking place in D.C. and across the U.S., connecting it to our NC state-wide work. President Biden must stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline, DAPL, Line 3 and ALL fossil fuel projects and deforestation.”

Genna Mastellone, Organizer at MN350: “If Joe Biden can cancel Keystone XL, there is no reason for him to not cancel DAPL and Line 3 as well. As we continue to fight the construction of Line 3 here in Minnesota, it is on President Biden to stand up against all fossil fuel projects and put Indigenous rights, clean water, and our safety first.”

Brooke Harper, Campaign Strategist at 350.org: “With Biden’s 100 day mark fast approaching, we’re sending a clear signal: the Biden administration must move with boldness and urgency to transition off fossil fuels, protect our communities, and Build Back Fossil Free. This is essential to turn around the worst of the climate crisis and invest in the wellbeing of people over polluters.”

Thomas Meyer at Food & Water Watch: “President Biden has said that he’ll address pipelines on a case-by-case basis. But there’s no such thing as a safe fossil fuel project. We’re taking action this week to show the President that we expect him to stop fracking, pipelines, and other fossil fuel projects and invest in the communities that have borne the brunt of pollution and climate disasters.”

Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN): “To build back better, we must build back fossil free; and that starts by listening to Indigenous communities, respecting their rights, and shutting down fossil fuel pipelines. We are in a climate emergency — the climate-destroying fossil fuel era is over, and the time for a just transition to a regenerative, renewable energy is now.”

Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute: “Joe Biden should use all of his powers under the law to be the climate president and build back fossil free. That means immediately stopping the Line 3 and Dakota Access pipelines and all fossil fuel project approvals and declaring a climate emergency to spur a democratic clean-energy revolution.”

Moira Birss, Climate and Finance Director at Amazon Watch and steering committee members of the Stop The Money Pipeline coalition: “For far too long, this country has left climate policy up to the profit motives of fossil fuel executives and their Wall Street financiers. It’s long past time that the Biden Administration take the policymaking reins back from corporations so that we can assure the rapid, justice-centered decarbonization necessary for a livable planet.”

Erika Thi Patterson, Climate and Environmental Justice Director for the Action Center on Race and the Economy and steering committee member of the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition: “We can’t ‘Build Back Better’ without Building Back Fossil Free and making polluters and their Wall Street financiers pay for generations of treating Black, Brown and Indigenous communities as sacrifice zones. We’re taking action this week to call on President Biden to use his executive authority to immediately stop all fossil fuel pipeline projects and to put Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities on the frontlines at the center of addressing our climate crisis.”

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