July 30, 2019
Contact: Kevin Zeese, kzeese@howiehawkins.us
Hawkins Becomes First Candidate To Endorse 350.org Climate Pledge
Green POTUS candidate also opposes Enbridge 5 tunnel construction
Green POTUS candidate also opposes Enbridge 5 tunnel construction
(DETROIT, MI) Howie Hawkins, a Green Party candidate for president, is the first candidate to endorse the candidate pledge of 350.org on the climate crisis. Hawkins has made confronting the climate crisis central to his campaign.
Hawkins is opposed to the proposed tunnel
for the Enbridge Line 5 through the Straits of Mackinack, which has
leaked 33 times into Michigan’s public waters since 1968. Most recently
Michigan suffered from the largest oil pipeline spill in the nation’s
history in 2010, when an Enbridge pipeline burst and dumped heavy crude
oil into the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries. “We should oppose new
fossil fuel infrastructure and instead invest resources into developing
renewable energy,” Hawkins commented.
To ensure we take action at the scale of
the climate crisis, we’re asking candidates to pledge to do the
following on their first day in office:
- Reject all new federally-approved coal, oil, gas, and other fossil fuel project permits. From the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, our next president will have the ability to block new fossil fuel infrastructure and expansion. New fossil fuel projects will, without a doubt, catalyze climate change. If we’re serious about cutting emissions, we need to stop building new projects that will lock us into decades of fossil fuel use.
- Ban oil and gas drilling and fracking on public lands and off our coasts. Oil and gas from public lands make up roughly a quarter of domestic oil and gas production. A real climate leader cannot allow more dangerous emissions to be pumped out of our public lands and waters.
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. While we know the Paris agreement isn’t nearly strong enough to stop the climate crisis, it establishes a floor for our nation’s ambitions on fighting for a stable climate.
- Ask Congress to investigate the fossil fuel industry’s role in misleading the public and stalling climate action, and to prepare to hold the industry accountable.
Hawkins, the original Green New Deal candidate, is seeking the nomination for president from the Green Party of the United States. Hawkins has put forward an ecosocialist Green New Deal that
interrupts climate change through a plan of economic democracy that
upholds the rights of humans and nature. His plan calls for transition
to clean, renewable energy by 2030 with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
It also includes an Economic Bill of Rights to develop programs to
secure basic economic human rights for all. And, includes a Green
Economy Reconstruction Program that will reconstruct all economic
sectors for ecological sustainability, from agriculture and
manufacturing to housing and transportation.
The Hawkins Ecosocialist Green New Deal
should be the standard by which all proposals by Democrats and others
are measured as it is based on science and the urgent need for
transformation to confront the climate crisis. It is not watered down by
the politics of the big business-funded Democratic Party but provides
for the necessities of the people and protection of the planet.
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