Demand Progress

End government bailouts for Big Oil

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    End government bailouts for Big Oil

    Petition to the Biden Administration:
    We urge you to end all government bailouts, handouts, and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

    Each new oil and gas project that gets built is wholly incompatible with efforts to avert total, global climate catastrophe. This is simply the reality of a warming planet, more extreme weather, and disturbing public health trends.

    So, why did the U.S. government give taxpayer dollars earlier this month to prop up a major natural gas distributor named Trafigura?1 The decision to give a taxpayer-funded bailout to the fossil fuel industry is unthinkable given the current state of the climate.

    The fossil fuel industry has been receiving tens of billions of dollars in subsidies from taxpayers, yet oil and gas companies have earned record profits exporting and selling fossil fuels, including natural gas, across the globe.2 These dirty profits are then used to finance stock buybacks for their shareholders — driving up energy prices in the United States.

    The Biden administration must stick to its promises on combating climate change and immediately halt government bailouts to an industry destroying the environment and public health.

    Sign the petition: End taxpayer bailouts for Big Oil now!

    Besides being the main driver of the climate crisis, fossil fuels release pollutants that lead to early death, heart attacks, respiratory disorders, stroke, and asthma. It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.3 Communities nearest fossil fuel production have been ravaged with health issues.

    Taxpayer dollars should not be funding an industry directly responsible for these devastating health outcomes.

    With each new oil drilling project and natural gas flowing infusion of capital, we move one step closer to environmental destruction and ever-more dangerous health outcomes. Fossil fuel corporations shouldn’t be getting public support for their greedy, harmful industry.

    Add your name: No government handouts for the fossil fuel corporations making us sick and destroying the environment.

    Sources:

    1. Sierra Club, “Groups Respond to Multi-Million Dollar Loan Approval for LNG Exports,” July 14, 2023.
    2. Ibid.
    3. Harvard Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, “Fossil Fuels & Health,” 2023.