Environmentalists are pressuring the Democratic Party to include a ban on fracking and a carbon tax in a last-ditch attempt Friday to take a firmer stance on climate change in the party’s platform.
“More than 10,000 Friends of the Earth Action members have emailed delegates making it clear that the Democratic Party platform needs to be strengthened to reflect the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action. “It is no longer enough for the Democratic Party to play lip service to climate change while refusing to commit to the action necessary. Science needs to be the barometer, not climate-denying Republicans.”
Pica said his group, which was the first to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, reached out directly to Democratic Party platform committee members “and demanded that they support a series of amendments that would add meaningful climate action to the party platform.”
Friends of the Earth Action members want the following amendments to the platform to be included: “Putting in place a carbon tax, opposing the dangerous Pacific trade deal, banning fracking, ending fossil fuel leasing on public lands, and creating a carbon test.”
Many of the measures, including the ban on fracking, which has led to the nation’s oil and gas boom, were supported by Sanders on the campaign trail, which worked to push presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton further to the left on environmental issues.
But with Sanders preparing to concede to Clinton with a formal endorsement next week, it is not clear whether the party will approve what Pica and Sanders’ supporters are asking for.
“Friends of the Earth Action members weighed in, in advance of the next salvo in the battle between surrogates for presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders over the climate ambition in the Democratic platform,” a statement from the group added. “At the drafting committee meeting in June, six important climate amendments were defeated by a single vote and thus kept out of the draft platform. In each case the committee members chosen by former Secretary Clinton voted together against stronger climate amendments.”
“This fight will determine if the Democratic Party is going to continue with soft climate denial,” Pica said.
