Dear Speaker Pelosi:

In these uncertain times, we appreciate elected leaders who work tirelessly to ensure that American workers and families are supported and cared for during the pandemic. We know that a tremendous amount of work goes into the stimulus bills and that complicated legislation requires bipartisan cooperation. As Mothers Out Front we applaud the work you are doing to protect our most vulnerable citizens. We are writing today to ask that you make that protection complete by addressing the grave threat to our health that the climate crisis presents.

We were dismayed to learn that the newest stimulus bill being developed by Congress could be used for bailing out oil and gas companies. Worse, it has no funds allocated to building a green economy. At a time when the effects of environmental destruction are so clearly linked to the health of people in our country and around the world, it seems impossible to imagine that our government would not be doing everything within its power to build our 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.

Mothers around the country understand the clear links between the coronavirus and 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 often fare the worst from the virus. Black and Latino Americans are getting the virus in higher numbers and are dying from it at disproportionate rates. 

We call on Congress to learn the lessons that the pandemic so urgently brings to us all. We must acknowledge the links of industry to public health and we must transition away from fossil fuels and to clean, renewable energy. 

We respectfully ask that you and all members of Congress seize this moment in time to turn away from the fossil fuel industry.  This industry has deliberately misled the public for decades, polluted our air and water, which has led 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. Instead, we urge you to fund the future through green stimulus. The blue sky that shines above us all right now is a reminder that we can do things differently. We cannot go back to pre-pandemic life, we must go forward into a cleaner, more just future. 

Thank you,

Kathie Piccagli and Maia Piccagli, Mothers Out Front San Francisco

Adelita Serena, LaTisha Harris, Linda Hutchins-Knowles and Sandy Naranjo, Mothers Out Front California

Anya Deepak, Bobby Monacella, Electa Sevier, Eliza Johnston, Ellen van Bever, Kelsey Wirth, Susan Campbell, Vanessa Rule, Mothers Out Front National Leadership Team

References:

https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200427-how-air-pollution-exacerbates-covid-19

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/08/us/coronavirus-pandemic-race-impact-trnd/index.html