MITCH JONES, Seth Gladstone, sgladstone@fwwatch.org
    As world leaders wrap up the COP 26 conference in Glasgow, climate activists are expressing frustration with the unwillingness to directly confront the fossil fuel industry, and are strengthening their calls on the Biden administration to take necessary executive action to address the escalating global crisis.

    Jones is policy director at the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch.

    He said today: “So far, the White House has made a series of moves to appease the fossil fuel industry — from continuing to approve new drilling and fracking permits to the failure to intervene to stop the dirty Line 3 and Dakota Access pipelines. The White House has also embraced industry scams such as carbon capture and blue hydrogen, which will only prolong our dependence on fossil fuels.

    “And the administration’s remaining legislative agenda on climate — the Build Back Better Act — would even include subsidies to the coal industry, in the form of lucrative tax breaks for carbon capture schemes that are essentially non-existent. (For more background,  see Food & Water Watch’s Biden Climate Watch feature).

    “Everyone can see that the climate provisions of the Build Back Batter Act have been substantially weakened — and there are still doubts about its final passage nonetheless. But it’s important to understand that the fate of climate action does not rest on a handful of recalcitrant Senators or world leaders. There is plenty that President Biden can and must be doing to promote a safe and livable future. Biden must use his executive authority to stop the expansion of fossil fuels, reject industry-friendly scams, and put the full force of his administration behind a transition off fossil fuels.”