Category: Press

Food & Water Action Endorses Environmental Champs in Pennsylvania

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ClimatePress


Pittsburgh, PA – Less than two weeks out from the primary election, Food & Water Action announced its endorsement of six candidates for state legislature who would put people and the planet over corporate profits. 

The group – the political arm of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch – has played a key role in electing progressives like Reps. Danielle Friel Otten, Summer Lee, and Elizabeth Fiedler, and will work to get this slate of candidates elected to expand the progressive caucus: 

Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler for House District 184

Paul Prescod for Senate District 8

Tara Zrinski for Senate District 14

Izzy Smith-Wade-El for House District 49

Andre Carroll for House District 201

Carol Kazeem for House District 159

Mandy Steele for House District 33

“Pennsylvania needs a strong bloc of progressive legislators to ensure that we’re not only standing up to Republicans, but to the corporate interests trying to control the Democratic Party,” said Food & Water Action Pennsylvania Director Megan McDonough. “Electing these great leaders would expand the power of the climate movement inside and outside Harrisburg.”

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Biden’s Pro-Ethanol Gas Move is Bad for the Planet and Pointless for Consumers

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ClimatePress

Washington, DC – Today during a visit to Iowa, President Biden is expected to announce a suspension of seasonal regulations on E15 gasoline, an ethanol-heavy blend of fuel promoted by the corporate factory corn farming industry. Biden is touting this move as providing relief for consumers from high gas prices – yet only about 1.5 percent of gas stations nationwide currently have access to the less expensive E15 blend. 

Meanwhile,  the ethanol industry in Iowa is embroiled in a political melee over three proposed carbon capture pipelines which the industry claims would help mitigate the rampant pollution and environmental degradation caused by ethanol production and related mass-scale factory corn farming. Recent Food & Water Action polling found that a plurality of Iowa voters oppose the carbon pipelines proposed for the state, and 80% oppose using eminent domain to build them.

In response, Food & Water Action’s Managing Policy Director Mitch Jones issued the following statement:

“President Biden’s assertion that the polluting, resource-wasting ethanol industry will somehow magically fix our nation’s gas price crisis is as silly as it is dangerous. Only a tiny fraction of American gas stations currently have access to ethanol-heavy gas in the first place. But more importantly: Biden’s move to double-down on production from the pollution-plagued ethanol industry is driving us deeper into the hole of dirty fossil fuel mixtures. The only valid solution to escaping the grip of expensive, polluting energy is to transition immediately to clean, renewably-sourced electricity for our cars, homes and businesses.”

Contact: Seth Gladstone – [email protected]

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Biden Set to Double Down on Polluting Ethanol as Iowans Fight Off Ethanol Industry Carbon Pipelines

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FoodPress

For Immediate Release

Today, while touring an ethanol plant in central Iowa, President Biden is expected to announce a suspension of a summer ban on E15. Iowa’s ethanol industry is embroiled in a political melee over three proposed carbon capture pipelines which plan to extend a lifeline to polluting ethanol facilities through the construction of hundreds of miles of hazardous pipeline across the state.

Recent Food & Water Action polling found that a plurality of Iowa voters, across all party lines, oppose the carbon pipelines proposed for the state, and 80% oppose using eminent domain to build them. It is unclear whether President Biden’s announcement today will mention these dangerous projects or the billions of federal taxpayer dollars that support them.

Food & Water Action Senior Iowa Organizer Emma Schmit issued the following statement:

“If Biden wants to curry favor with rural Democrats, he need look no further than the smokestacks of the ethanol refinery he’ll tour today. His visit comes as Iowans of all political leanings rally together to fight the ethanol carbon pipelines proposed for the Midwest. The anti-pipeline movement’s opposition is reaching a fever pitch; Biden’s silence on this issue would be deafening.

“Proposals to clean up the ethanol industry with a network of hazardous carbon pipelines across our state and private land are like putting lipstick on a pig. Biden should use his executive authority to transition off polluting energy sources and give the public real clean energy alternatives to dirty fossil fuels, not displace them with polluting biofuels on the public’s dime. And in Iowa, our elected officials must listen to the people demanding a stop to these carbon pipeline projects, and end the threat of eminent domain to build them.”

Contact: Phoebe Galt, [email protected]

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New Poll Finds Iowa Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Eminent Domain for Carbon Pipelines

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FoodPress

For Immediate Release

A new poll, released today by the national advocacy group, Food & Water Action, found that Iowa voters overwhelmingly oppose the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines. The poll, commissioned by Food & Water Action, was conducted by Change Research. Its release comes one week after a public hearing on the issue, where over 150 landowners, legislators and advocates rallied at the capitol, demanding the state legislature act this session to ban the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Poll results highlight that eminent domain is top of mind for registered voters heading into the midterm election.

Voters object to carbon pipelines and the use of eminent domain to build them:

  • A plurality (44%) are opposed to the three carbon pipelines proposed for Iowa. Only 35% support them, 21% are unsure.
  • A supermajority (80%) oppose allowing private corporations to use eminent domain to build them. This opposition crosses party lines.
  • 80% of voters who are favorable towards Kim Reynolds oppose the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines.

Voters want their legislators to fight the use of eminent domain to build these pipelines:

  • 73% of voters say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supported using eminent domain to build carbon pipelines. This includes 78% of Democrats & leaners, 70% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans & leaners.
  • 70% of voters support Iowa legislators in the General Assembly blocking the use of eminent domain for these pipelines. This includes 72% of Democrats & leaners, 69% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans & leaners.

Food & Water Action Senior Iowa Organizer Emma Schmit issued the following statement:

“Iowans are united against unsound carbon capture scams and the hazardous pipelines that accompany them. We are opposed to carbon pipelines and categorically opposed to the seizing of land necessary to build them.

“Iowans know that the proposed projects aren’t intended to help our state — instead, these schemes are designed to funnel profit into the pockets of huge corporations, taking our land and using our tax dollars to make it happen. We are staunchly opposed to the use of eminent domain in order to fulfill the greedy aspirations of private corporations.

“Voters will not take inaction as an answer. Iowa’s State Senators must address the predominant concerns of constituents by banning eminent domain for carbon pipelines this session — or else feel the consequences at the ballot box.”

Contact: Phoebe Galt, [email protected]

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National Environmental Group Endorses Maxwell Alejandro Frost for Congress

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ClimateDemocracyPress

The national environmental advocacy group Food & Water Action is endorsing Maxwell Alejandro Frost in the primary for Florida’s 10th Congressional district.

The group was in the midst of considering an endorsement in the contested 10th Congressional District when State Senator Randolph Bracy, one of Frost’s opponents in the race, sided with Republicans and the fossil fuel industry in voting to undercut the state’s net metering rules. The law, which passed with Gov. DeSantis’ support, will make it harder for Floridians who have invested in solar for their homes to sell electricity back into the grid, giving more power to utility corporations and fossil fuel power plants. 

Food & Water Action Political Director Sam Bernhardt issued the following statement:

“Sending Maxwell Alejandro Frost to Congress won’t just win another vote for climate action; it will send a movement builder to DC. Maxwell is an organizer focused on building the power of progressive movements. We look forward to building the climate movement together with him.”

Food & Water Action, the political and lobbying arm of the national advocacy group Food & Water Watch, mobilizes people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

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