Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, joined 60 of her House colleagues, led by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), in urging President Biden to declare a national climate emergency. In the letter, the members write that the scope and urgency of the climate crisis merits the full power of the executive branch in the form of an emergency declaration. 

“A national emergency declaration will allow the United States to mobilize domestic industry, ramp up domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies, and deploy resilient energy infrastructure,” the Members wrote. “The recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine underscores the need to shift from reliance on oil and gas toward domestic renewable energy. We have the tools to build up a stronger renewable energy industry in America, generating millions of high-quality American jobs and rejuvenating our post-pandemic economy.”

Blumenauer, Ocasio-Cortez, Pingree, and dozens more House Democrats sent a similar letter to Biden in April, but are amplifying their call to the President to urgently act on climate in the wake of reports that Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will not support a budget package that includes climate or tax provisions. 

Pingree’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2023 funding bill invests in clean energy technology, climate mitigation programs, and environmental protection, taking a whole-of-government approach to fighting climate change.

The National Climate Emergency Act, which Pingree is a cosponsor of, would direct the President to declare a national climate emergency to ensure large-scale, government mitigation, action, and investments to fight climate change. 

Pingree has championed a bold agenda to combat the climate crisis, including introducing legislation to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. agriculture by 2040 and cosponsoring over 40 bills in the 117th Congress to combat the climate crisis, including the visionary Green New Deal. Pingree recently attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, to help reassert American leadership on addressing the climate crisis.

Full text of the letter is available below and online here. 

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 Dear President Biden,

We share your belief that climate change is not only a crisis, but also an unprecedented opportunity to revitalize communities across the United States. Given the scope and urgency of the crisis, we request that you move to use the full power of the executive branch to combat climate change by declaring a national climate emergency. 

Such a declaration would unlock the broad powers of the National Emergency Act (NEA), the Defense Production Act (DPA), and the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to revitalize the economy, create millions of new, well-paying American jobs, and invest in healthy and resilient communities. 

A national emergency declaration will allow the United States to mobilize domestic industry, ramp up domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies, and deploy resilient energy infrastructure. The recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine underscores the need to shift from reliance on oil and gas toward domestic renewable energy. We have the tools to build up a stronger renewable energy industry in America, generating millions of high-quality American jobs and rejuvenating our post-pandemic economy. 

We urge you to support the National Climate Emergency Act of 2021 (H.R. 794/ S. 938), introduced by Representatives Blumenauer and Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders, which mandates a national climate emergency declaration and outlines the federal response, including principles of a just transition. 

We urge you to act boldly, treating this like the emergency it is, by declaring a national climate emergency. 

Sincerely, 

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