HONOLULU, HI- With sweltering heat scorching large swaths of the planet, global temperatures hit the highest levels in recorded history last Monday — breaking a record set only 24 hours earlier according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This is after 13 months in a row of record-breaking temperatures, and an annual global average temperature now at or above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the internationally accepted pre-industrial threshold for avoiding the worst effects of climate change.
It is particularly shameful and egregious that with this devastating news as a backdrop, Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso release the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, meanwhile boasting how it “secures future access to oil and gas resources on federal lands and waters.” The Energy Permitting Reform Act, or as some are calling it, “Dirty Deal 2.0,” not only aims to increase oil and gas extraction on public lands, it would undo the Biden administration’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pause, lock us into decades of fossil fuels use, while limiting the ability of local communities to seek justice in the courts.
“This legislation is yet again another give-away to the fossil fuel industry that will weaken environmental protections, create more sacrifice zones, and unabashedly squander our children’s future,” said Sherry Pollack, cofounder of 350Hawaii.
“Let’s be clear. At a time when our country needs to move to a 100% renewable, carbon free future, this bill, and the loopholes it will create, will only drag us back to the fossil past, and seriously undermine our efforts to combat climate breakdown.”
With the climate crisis already threatening everything we love, instead of creating loopholes designed to perpetuate our dependence on fossil fuels, we should be advancing legislation like the Clean Electricity and Transmission Act and the Environmental Justice for All Act, designed to help us reach our clean energy goals while protecting communities. Anything less is unacceptable. Congress: Reject this outrageous measure. Our children, and future generations, are counting on you.