I Risked Arrest in Solidarity with Frontline Communities to Tell President Biden: Choose Our Future Over Fossil Fuels

This week, I was one of more than 500 people that risked arrest at the gates of the White House in response to an urgent call to stand alongside frontline communities that have been carrying the burden of the pollution caused by fossil fuel infrastructure. I was proud to join them in urging President Biden to honor his commitment to climate justice and use his authority to stop fossil fuel projects now.

For the first 120 years of its history, the Sierra Club had an embargo on civil disobedience. This week was only one of a handful of times that Sierra Club leaders have risked arrest to draw attention to our cause. But frontline community leaders, supported by Sierra Club members and supporters, have tried everything to urge our elected officials to stop steering us toward climate and environmental catastrophe. We’ve sent petitions, rallied, and even testified before Congress. 

But as these frontline community leaders write, “We have everything to lose and no time to wait.” Fossil fuel projects are a daily health and justice disaster for communities that live near them—especially Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other communities of color and low-income communities fighting a long legacy of environmental racism and toxic pollution. From oil and gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast, to toxic plastics and petrochemical facilities in Appalachia, to oil and gas pipelines in the Midwest and drilling in the Arctic, fossil fuel expansion projects violate Indigenous rights and threaten sacred sites; threaten public health; and pollute our land, air, and water. 

All of these projects are pushing our climate to the brink of disaster, and we need President Biden not to listen to fossil fuel executives and instead support the health and safety of our communities.

President Biden campaigned on a bold vision of climate action and environmental justice, and he's taken important steps toward making that vision a reality. But climate justice doesn't mean building clean energy in some communities while leaving others to be sacrifice zones for fossil fuel industry greed. 

In the early days of his administration, President Biden issued an executive order on environmental justice, which established “the imperative for all federal agencies to incorporate an environmental justice framework into their decision-making.” He made the welcome and long-overdue decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. But his administration has also made decisions to allow for the buildout of fossil fuel infrastructure that threaten to undermine his commitment to climate and environmental justice. 

Despite months of protests along the pipeline’s route, Biden allowed the Line 3 pipeline to move forward. Because of this inaction, hundreds of thousands of gallons of dirty tar sands oil will now flow through critical waterways, Anishinaabe treaty lands, and numerous Midwestern communities every day. His administration is also supporting the expansion of fracked gas export facilities. If built, they will worsen the climate crisis and the health impacts of fossil fuel infrastructure on Latinx and Indigenous communities on the Gulf Coast. 

We all deserve to live in healthy communities free of toxic fossil fuel pollution and safe from climate disasters. Congress is considering adopting strong policies for clean energy and environmental justice in the Build Back Better Act. Yet President Biden need not wait for Congress to address our climate and environmental crises. As the administration prepares for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow next month and hopes to lead the world into compliance with the Paris Agreement, it’s critical that they start within our own borders by rejecting fossil fuels in favor of clean energy. 

On Indigenous People’s Day, more than 130 people were arrested at the White House. More people were at the White House every day this week, responding to the call of leaders on the frontlines of climate change and fossil fuel infrastructure fights. We’re urging President Biden to honor his commitment to climate justice and use his authority to stop fossil fuel projects now. Will you support this movement for a livable future by sending a message to the White House today?