For years we’ve spoken out against fossil fueled fascists, both here in the US and abroad. This week, President Biden took a big step towards fighting fossil fascism by banning all US imports of Russian fossil fuels.
We were one of more than 200 groups here in the US that called on Biden to take that step, and we thank him for his action to fight fossil fuels and Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. But there’s and even more potent weapon in our non-violent arsenal for freedom and climate:
To defeat Putin and other fossil fueled fascists at home and abroad, President Biden must use the Defense Production Act to radically expand production of clean energy and heating systems including solar, wind, and heat pumps.
Putin’s ability to wage war on Ukraine is paid for by global dependence on fossil fuels. Oil and gas constitute 40% of Russia’s national revenue, meaning Russian fossil fuels are literally funding this invasion.
But global sanctions on Russia’s economy area a crude instrument that hurts the Russian people more than dictators like Putin. And impacts are being felt not just in Europe —where electricity, heating, and food costs are soaring — but here in the U.S. as the price of oil and gas skyrockets. There’s already a shortage of food and medicine in some places. And as Biden himself noted, US imports of fossil fuels are much smaller than most of Europe.
Unless we aggressively reduce demand for not just Russian fossil fuels, but all dirty energy, the same fossil fuel profiteers will only be emboldened. There are already reports that US fossil fuel companies are gleefully reporting record profits as a result of the war in Ukraine, and giving out huge bonuses, dividends, and stock buy backs. Some CEOs were caught red handed making millions of dollars trading fossil fuel stocks on the day of the Russian invasion.
Biden can use the Defense production Act to weaken the geopolitical power of fossil fuels, address the climate emergency, and prevent further mass suffering.
That is why we are urging Biden to utilize the Defense Production Act to ramp up the deployment of renewable energy to transition the world off fossil fuels and generate millions of good quality, union jobs. The DPA was most recently used to ramp up production of masks, vaccines and medial equipment needed to fight the COVID pandemic. Now, the Defense Production Act can provide the historic opportunity to produce alternatives to fossil fuels, fight the climate emergency, combat the stranglehold that Putin and other dictators have on the world’s energy.
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