| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Friday, May 15, 2020 |
| For more information: | Camila Gallardo |
| camila.Gallardo@mothersoutfront.org | |
| (305)215-4259 |
Mothers Out Front Calls Out Congress on Efforts to Bailout the Fossil Fuel Industry
As Congress prepares to vote on a new stimulus package, Mothers Out Front issued the following statement:
We were dismayed to learn that the newest stimulus bill being developed by Congress includes funds to be used for bailing out oil and gas companies, yet no funds allocated to building a green economy. The fossil fuel industry has deliberately misled the public for decades, polluted our air and water, leading to negative health impacts for those of us who live on the frontlines of extraction and processing, and led to climate change which affects us all.
Mothers around the country are clear on the links that the coronavirus has to the climate crisis. We see the connections between industrial pollution and those who suffer the most from the virus. Americans who live on the frontlines of fossil fuel and other industries that pollute our air and water, many of whom are Black and Latino families, are contracting the virus in higher numbers and are dying from it at disproportionate rates.
At a time when the effects of environmental destruction are so clearly linked to the health of people around the world, it seems impossible to imagine that our government would not be doing everything within its power to build a clean energy sector—one that provides a just transition for workers in the energy industry and ensures that all children will have the hope of a livable climate for their lifetime. We call on Congress to learn the lessons that the pandemic so urgently brings to us all and to acknowledge the links of industry to public health. We must transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy.
Mothers Out Front is a national movement that brings together mothers to take action on climate change and work towards a just transition away from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy.
Visit: www.mothersoutfront.org
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