A group of young climate activists were arrested Monday for blocking the entrance to President Biden’s campaign headquarters in Delaware while demanding that he “end the era of fossil fuels.”
The left-wing climate group Sunrise Movement said 21 of its members were arrested and about 80 others participated in a protest in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday. Activists have warned that millions of young voters will stay home in November unless Biden takes decisive action to combat climate change.
“Climate change is right under our noses. Our homes are flooding, we are breathing toxic air, and the president is expanding oil and gas production to record levels. Black people like me are dying,” Sunrise campaign director Kidus Girma said in a statement after the announcement. protest. “So President Biden is going around claiming he’s the climate president and wants our votes? That’s a bull—“
Although Dilma did not say what actions Biden has taken to increase dependence on fossil fuels, the Sunrise Movement reiterated its call for Biden to formally declare global warming a national emergency. Biden has resisted this action throughout his presidency. A climate emergency declaration would allow Biden to bypass Congress and take many executive actions not normally authorized by the White House.
Sunrise Movement activists were arrested Monday for allegedly blocking the entrance to President Biden’s campaign headquarters in Delaware. (Sunrise Movement/X/video screenshot | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Additionally, the Sunrise Movement broadly opposes all oil, gas, and coal development and instead calls for an aggressive nationwide transition to green energy sources such as wind and solar. Fossil fuels currently generate the majority of the nation’s electricity and support both the U.S. transportation and manufacturing sectors, according to federal data.
“If you want to protect low-income communities of color like me who live next to fossil fuel production that’s killing us with cancer and asthma,” said Ariela Lara, a Sunrise Movement volunteer. , there are a lot of things we can sign tomorrow.”
“Every time a climate disaster occurs, we can ensure that no one is displaced and that everyone has access to free health care,” she continued. “Biden could end the era of fossil fuels by refusing to approve a single oil and gas well in this country. You can’t build fuel and then claim to be the climate president. Science doesn’t work that way, and young voters know that.”
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But while Biden has yet to declare a climate emergency, he has repeatedly targeted the fossil fuel industry while seeking to expand green energy.
President Biden speaks during a press conference on the grounds of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Arvada, Colorado, on September 14, 2021. (Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images)
Shortly after taking office, the president signed an executive order suspending all oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters and revoking permits for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. A federal court eventually intervened to force the Biden administration to continue with the leases, but the administration hobbled new lease sales and created regulatory hurdles for producers.
And Biden signed the Inflation Control Act, which earmarks tens of billions of dollars for green energy programs. The administration also launched an onslaught of environmental regulations to curb the output of fossil fuel power plants, promote electric vehicles and encourage the electrification of the residential sector.
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“There’s only one existential threat we face in this world, and that’s the environment,” Biden said at a campaign reception Thursday.
“So it’s literally an existential threat. It’s even bigger than nuclear power or nuclear war,” he added. “It’s horribly bad and it just makes the environment incredibly worse. But it’s about the environment.”
The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
