Washington, D.C. – President Biden announced this morning that he is invoking the Defense Production Act to spur clean energy development and speed the transition away from fossil fuels.
The announcement is a win for the frontline communities, grassroots groups, and climate organizations who have been calling on the administration to take this step for over a year.
Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of over 1,200 organizations, has sent letters and petitions to the administration, led online campaigns, and organized mass demonstrations at the White House demanding President Biden use his executive authority to confront the climate emergency and, specifically, invoke the Defense Production Act to drive clean energy development.
Over the coming weeks, the coalition will be working to pressure the White House to build on today’s announcement, declare a climate emergency, and stop the federal approval of all new fossil fuel projects.
The Build Back Fossil Free coalition issued the following response to today’s announcement:
“This announcement is a victory for our movement, which has been calling on the Biden Administration to take exactly this step as one of the key ways to respond to the climate emergency and end our dependence on fossil fuels. When we first raised invoking the Defense Production Act for clean energy, few so-called ‘experts’ took it seriously, but today, the President delivered. That’s the power of grassroots organizing.
President Biden did the right thing on clean energy by invoking the Defense Production Act, now he needs to do the right thing on fossil fuels by stopping the federal permitting of all new coal, oil and gas infrastructure. Solar panels won’t save us if we’re still adding fuel to the flames.”
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