June 2020 - The oil industry, deep in debt due to reckless drilling expansion, is lobbying federal allies to put them in the front of the line for more Covid-19 assistance funds, squeezing out struggling Americans who are desperate for help to feed their families. 

These companies are also putting pressure on the Bureau of Land Management to create a fire sale on oil and gas leases and an increase of drilling permits, and to open up drilling on thousands of acres in Montana near Yellowstone National Park and vast new areas of public land in Colorado and Wyoming. In Utah, new leases are proposed right outside Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and Bears Ears National Monument.

A group of over 40 environmentally minded lawmakers is backing the ‘Resources for Workforce Investments, Not Drilling (ReWIND) Act’. This bill aims to prevent fossil fuel companies from receiving funds provided for under previous coronavirus aid packages, halt the sale of new fossil fuel leases, and prevent the Trump administration from enriching fossil fuel companies in a number of other ways.

Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), co-sponsor of the legislation, said: “The CARES Act passed to help Americans struggling to make it through the COVID-19 public health crisis—not to make it easier for fossil fuel companies to drive us closer to climate catastrophe,”

ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to co-sponsor the ReWIND Bill (House Bill H.R. 6707 and Senate Bill S. 3611).  

CONTACT: Your Representative & Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
or
  S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Good News: The US Energy Information Administration projects that this year, for the first time, there will be more electricity generated by renewables than by coal. Renewables are just cheaper!