US Department of Energy Needs To Listen to the People

Relatives,

This week, dozens of organizations submitted a letter to US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm addressing concerns that their Advisory Board (SEAB) meeting on January 25th, 2022 did not address the harms that CCS, hydrogen, fossil fuel, and nuclear subsidies will have on frontline communities and the climate.

Only fifteen minutes of the 4.5-hour meeting was allotted for the public to speak, limiting speakers to two minutes each. The process was neither respectful, equitable, nor did it allow enough time to hear from those directly harmed by the DOE’s projects. As such, the SEAB does not have adequate input to meet its responsibilities as advisors on said projects.

The advisory board attempted to adjourn the meeting ten minutes early, willfully ignoring people in the queue waiting to speak. One of those silenced speakers is a respected Indigenous elder and grandmother, whose voice we would like to amplify.

“We hear today that the bulk of the billions in funding will go to industry and their tech experts for false solution demonstration projects and as such how will community opposition where these will be sited be respected and acted upon? There is a long history of ramrodding destructive and extractive projects like pipelines and fracking by approving permits despite volumes of evidence of broken promises of no harm. The false solutions being proposed now are going forward despite our opposition and will not only waste billions of dollars and months/years doing the wrong projects but will prop up and continue expansion of fossil fuel extraction that is the source of what we must eliminate as quickly as possible to have any chance of avoiding the obvious.

There is no environmental justice when the extraction of these resources will be expanded across Appalachia, the Dakotas, and the Gulf states to include CCUS which will bring more destruction of land, air, water, and biodiversity siting of highly volatile and dangerous liquified carbon pipelines, exacerbating and continuing the suffering of the most vulnerable and least able to protect themselves from the industry.

Finally, the question was asked, what POCs need in this process. We NEED solid and quantifiable assurances that we will not continue to be used as tokens and ignored and that true/actionable opportunities for meaningful engagement by POC and all front line communities from the onset through implementation will fully respect our rights to self-determination for our communities. Thank you for your time.”

The letter demands that the DOE SEAB extend the public comment period and for one-on-one meetings with Indigenous and frontline communities who will be impacted by the billions that will fund additional false solutions.”

The DOE ensuring our voices are heard and respected is vital to democracy and our process in government participation. Our communities are directly impacted by the decisions made at every level of government and it is not just our right but the DOE’s responsibility to make sure there is a fair and equitable process provided for us to speak up.

Join us today in demanding DOE SEAB prioritize the inclusion of Black, Indigenous and communities of the global majority’s voices and a longer public comment period with an E-mail here: SEAB@hq.doe.gov or a phone call: (202) 586-5260 or both!

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