August, 13 2019, 12:00am EDT
As Trump Tours Petrochemical Plant, Activist Groups Push Back
Fight to Stop Massive Clean Energy Loan Guarantee to Fracked Gas Storage Site
WASHINGTON
As Donald Trump visits a Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County to promote his support for the fracking and plastics industries, a coalition of groups working to stop the environmentally dangerous fossil fuel buildout in the region are highlighting a dubious plan to use a clean energy program to offer a massive loan guarantee to a gas storage 'hub.'
The groups released a letter today urging the Senate to support an amendment similar to one passed in the House (HR 2740) that clarified the purpose of the program in question, and to oppose any plans to use a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program to support fossil fuel projects.
On June 19, the House of Representatives passed an amendment filed by Reps Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) clarifying that funds used in the Title XVII clean energy program cannot be used to support projects that do not decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
That program is intended to provide loan guarantees for projects that "avoid, reduce or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic [human-caused] emissions of greenhouse gases." The advocates point out that a fossil fuel storage facility built to support the petrochemical industry is clearly outside the scope of the project.
The DOE is currently considering a $1.9 billion loan guarantee for the Appalachian Storage Hub, a key part of a massive petrochemical buildout in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The multi-billion dollar facility would provide a steady supply of natural gas liquids like ethane, a key feedstock for plastic and petrochemical production, to surrounding facilities.
"This storage hub would help create a cluster of fracked gas, petrochemical and plastics infrastructure that would transform the region into a new Cancer Alley - and it would absurdly be enabled by a federal clean energy program," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director at Food & Water Watch. "This Trump-friendly scheme would expose Appalachian residents to increased harm from fracking and industrial toxic emissions, while creating more plastic trash that is filling our oceans. The Senate must follow the lead of the House by voting to ensure that our clean energy programs actually promote clean energy, not filthy fracking and plastics."
"The scheme for a petrochemical hub in the Ohio Valley is yesterday's answer to today's problems, and it ignores tomorrow's crises. It ignores climate change, which would be worsened by every element of the plan. It ignores the rapidly increasing problem of plastic waste choking our oceans and infiltrating our bodies--and the rapidly increasing movement away from plastic. And it ignores the steady movement toward cleaner, sustainable energy sources like wind and solar. This is not a plan for sustainable economics for the people of our region--it's a plan to keep the fracking industry going a little longer," said Mary Wildfire, a West Virginia resident and volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
"Our communities have been disappointed by boom-and-bust economies for too long for our representatives to continue to invest public dollars in them. We need and deserve investments in good, clean jobs, creating an economy that thrives and a healthy environment," said Sarah Martik from the Center for Coalfield Justice.
"It is of utmost importance that the Senate votes in favor of this amendment. The Appalachian region has been a sacrifice zone for the fossil fuel industry long enough. These hills and valleys of Appalachia are beautiful. We should start healing and replenishing this region, not pillaging and polluting it even more. The U.S. government should not fund these toxic, awful projects," said Bev Reed, a resident of Belmont County, Ohio and an intern with the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign.
"Trump and his administration's actions, from the secretive $83.7 billion-dollar memorandum of understanding with China to trying to tap taxpayer dollars to promote this massive petrochemical complex in the Appalachian region, is a blatant railroading of our democracy in favor of corporate interests," said Dustin White, project coordinator with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. "If allowed to be built, this petrochem hub would severely impact human health and perpetuate the already severe economic and environmental injustice in the region while exacerbating climate change and extreme plastic pollution globally. A truly great President would prioritize the health and safety of people over corporate profits and pollution."
The Shell plant Trump is visiting has been backed by over $1 billion in state tax cuts and other subsidies; other petrochemical 'cracker' plants are planned for the Appalachian region. The storage hub is the centerpiece of a multi-billion network of pipelines and infrastructure that would transform the area into a chemical manufacturing cluster to take advantage of the nearby fracked hydrocarbons.
"These plastic pellets are a poison," said Deanna Rushing of Extinction Rebellion Kentucky. "We can see for ourselves the unwillingness to clean up the pellet spills in Texas on the part of those responsible. Why should we believe Shell will be responsible? We know the cost of clean-up litigation is literally nothing to a company this size. Pennies on the dollar they spend before they start producing. The pellets are just visible evidence of the toxins that go in the water table. Since 2005, the fracking companies have not been mandated to disclose what goes into fracking solvents so we really don't know what is actually leaking from all these wells. The pipelines are poisonous to the environment just getting built, and the tree canopies that have come down are devastating for migrant birds and insect populations. This has to stop."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular 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.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
UN Chief: Tax Big Oil's Windfall Profits and Power AI Data Centers With Renewable Energy
"The companies driving climate chaos cannot continue profiting from the destruction while vulnerable countries struggle."
Jun 24, 2026
As world leaders face mounting pressure to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel giants that are wrecking the planet, United Nations António Guterres pushed for such policies in a pair of speeches at London Climate Action Week, arguing that "polluters must pay."
Since assuming his post nearly a decade ago, the UN chief has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency and demanded that rich countries and companies responsible for the crisis contribute financially to adaptation and mitigation efforts, particularly in the Global South.
Just months away from the end of his term, Guterres on Tuesday highlighted the latest warnings from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and that "climate disasters are becoming more frequent, more destructive, and more costly." He also flagged key tipping points—including melting ice sheets driving sea-level rise, shifts in conditions of the Amazon rainforest, and the weakening of major ocean circulation systems.
"Here in London—the city of Dickens—it is clear that our world is facing a Tale of Two Crises," he said. "A climate crisis pushing us deeper toward higher temperatures and closer to catastrophic tipping points. And an energy crisis exposing the folly of a world hooked on hydrocarbons."
"On the surface, these crises may seem separate. But they share the same destructive origin: fossil fuels," he continued. "And they demand the same answer: a fast, fair transition to clean energy—and a surge in adaptation, resilience, and climate justice for those already facing climate harm."
The UN leader stressed that "renewables are the cheapest, fastest, and most scalable source of new electricity in most of the world."
"Since 2010, the cost of solar has plummeted by almost 90%, onshore wind by more than 70%, and battery storage by 95%," he pointed out. "More than 90% of new renewable power added globally is already cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel alternatives."
While outlining several essential steps for ending fossil fuel dependence, Guterres issued various calls, such as urging "far greater urgency" to limit any overshoot of the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C temperature goal for this century, and action in response to the exploding energy demands from artificial intelligence data centers.
Data centers have been met with fierce pushback from communities around the world concerned about water, land, and climate impacts. Guterres said that "by 2030, they could use more power than all but five countries—and enough water to meet the basic needs of all 1.3 billion residents of sub‑Saharan Africa for an entire year."
He proposed the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, "calling on every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose the full environmental impact of its systems—carbon, water, and land footprints—and to commit to power every data center with renewable energy by 2030."
"No more hidden costs. No more shifting the burden onto those least able to bear it," explained Guterres. "It is time to come clean. If AI is to help build a better future, it must be honest about what it costs us now."
As data centers are sucking up massive amounts of power, he acknowledged that "families feeling the strain with higher bills, greater uncertainty, a sense that the system is not working for them—while fossil fuel giants continue to reap extraordinary profits."
"The eight largest fossil fuel companies reported pocketing an extra $6.5 billion in the first quarter of this year alone—and that only includes one month of the Middle East crisis, as oil prices continued to climb and profits to rise," Guterres said.
Without directly mentioning how the US-Israeli war on Iran—which Guterres has criticized—has driven up oil prices around the world, the UN leader said that "these are windfall gains born of pain—of instability, hardship and dependence. I urge governments to tax them."
"Let me conclude where I began—with Dickens," he said. "For the climate agenda, this is indeed the best of times and the worst of times. The worst—because climate impacts are intensifying, tipping points are looming, and the energy crisis has exposed the deep risks of dependence on fossil fuels."
"But also the best—because the renewables revolution is well underway," he added. "A revolution of clean power, electrification, falling costs, rising ambition—and vast opportunity."
Following his special address on Tuesday, Guterres spoke Wednesday at the Climate & Development Financial Forum, where he emphasized that "the countries facing the greatest climate impacts are those who contributed least to causing them."
In addition to arguing that the international community has to "recognize that climate risk is economic risk," "global financial systems must recognize the value of resilience," and "we need better preparation before disasters strike," the UN chief spotlighted the necessity of closing "the finance gap" in terms of adaptation.
He called for developed countries to triple adaptation finance, replenish multilateral climate funds, and prioritize grant-based and predictable finance, and for multilateral development banks to "use their expanded lending capacity to aggressively scale up investment in resilience."
He also reiterated his call for governments "to tax windfall profits from fossil fuel companies to help finance adaptation and climate related losses and damages," declaring that "the companies driving climate chaos cannot continue profiting from the destruction while vulnerable countries struggle."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Stupid, Costly and Deadly': Trump Spent At Least $11 Billion Paying Government Workers Not to Work
"Donald Trump has often spoken about... making the government more efficient. Yet his massive federal layoffs and resignation programs have been the epitome of inefficiency."
Jun 24, 2026
A report released by government watchdog Public Citizen on Wednesday estimates that the federal government has blown billions of dollars paying former federal workers to not do their jobs.
According to Public Citizen, nearly 140,000 members of the federal workforce have taken part in the Trump administration's Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), which in turn has paid them at least $11 billion in exchange for not working.
Citing data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the report calculates that "paying federal employees in the DRP not to work cost between $11.1 billion and $15.1 billion through March 2026," which would be enough money to pay for 3.6 billion school lunches, a full year of daycare for more than 837,000 children, or the combined annual salaries of 149,000 public school teachers.
The report finds that "the costs of paying federal workers not to work" will only rise over the next year.
"Since the beginning of 2026, several agencies have offered new rounds of the Deferred Resignation Program permitting federal employees to stop working, but to stay on the federal payroll through September 2026," the report states, "adding even more to the burgeoning financial cost of this billion-dollar resignation program."
The report emphasizes that there will be additional "massive costs on society" that will come from having a gutted federal workforce that aren't captured by its $11 billion estimate.
One obvious area where staff losses will cost the government money will be in lower tax collection, given that staffing at the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) fell by 25% over a four-month period last year.
"The Budget Lab at Yale University estimated that a 22% reduction in IRS staffing levels would result in a $197.7 billion loss over a 10-year period," the report notes, "the overwhelming majority of which will come from top earners who will escape paying what they owe."
Other critical government departments to see significant staff losses thanks to the DRP include the Department of Defense, which has lost 48,000 workers; the Department of Treasury, which has 23,000 fewer workers; and the Department of Agriculture, with a loss of more than 14,000 employees.
"Donald Trump has often spoken about cutting waste and making the government more efficient," the report concludes. "Yet his massive federal layoffs and resignation programs have been the epitome of inefficiency and have resulted in billions of dollars in wasted federal funds."
Douglas Pasternak, Public Citizen researcher and author of the report, said that "the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government have been stupid, costly and deadly," and pointed to other negative impacts of the layoffs in addition to the costs of paying people to not work.
"Multiple agencies had to rehire those who took part in this program because Trump officials realized how vital they were to managing critical national programs," Pasternak said. "Even worse is the work left undone by the coerced departure of these workers, costing billions of dollars and putting untold numbers of lives at risk as the federal government fails to perform crucial functions."
Keep ReadingShow Less
On Dobbs Anniversary, Graham Platner Highlights ‘Stirring Defense’ of Kavanaugh by Susan Collins
With the Supreme Court's overturning of abortion rights just as unpopular as it was four years ago, Democrats are hoping to highlight the "toxic, anti-choice records" of their GOP opponents.
Jun 24, 2026
Fresh off an endorsement from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is continuing to hammer his Republican opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, over her vote to confirm US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which helped set the stage for the right-wing court to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022.
Platner marked the four-year anniversary of the court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on Wednesday by posting a video of Collins (Maine) from 2018, standing before the Senate and giving what he called a "stirring defense" of Kavanaugh, whose nomination by President Donald Trump was at risk of being derailed by accusations of sexual assault from three women that had been aired during his confirmation hearing.
Collins, who'd go on to serve as a deciding vote to confirm Kavanaugh to the high court, described the then-federal judge as "an exemplary public servant" whom she'd hoped would "work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court, so that we have far fewer 5-4 decisions."
Around that time, she said she'd been assured that Kavanaugh viewed Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion before fetal viability, as established precedent that he would keep in place if confirmed.
Of course, Dobbs itself ended up being a 5-4 decision, with Kavanaugh being one of the five conservatives who voted to hand decision-making on reproductive autonomy back to the states. (The court also voted 6-3 to uphold the 15-week Mississippi abortion ban at the center of the case.)
Since the ruling, 13 states have almost or totally outlawed abortion, while seven more have restricted it to between 6 and 12 weeks of gestation, according to KFF. States with bans have seen increases in both infant and maternal deaths, and delays to emergency and miscarriage care from providers unsure if they are putting themselves at legal risk.
As Collins has run for her sixth term in the Senate, her pivotal vote for Kavanaugh has come back to haunt her. While Collins said in 2022 that she had been "misled" by Kavanaugh about his stance on Roe, she has insisted this month that she did not "regret" voting to confirm him.
She has, however, appeared eager to downplay the impact of her decision. On Monday, she falsely stated that, "Whether Justice Kavanaugh were confirmed or not, Roe v. Wade would have been overturned, given the 6-3 vote.”
In fact, the vote to fully overturn Roe was 5-4, as Chief Justice John Roberts did not join his fellow conservatives in ending the precedent, leading Platner to accuse her of "lying through her teeth."
While abortion does not rank high on the list of issues Americans say will determine their vote, the Dobbs decision is just as despised—if not slightly more so—compared with four years ago, when it helped to fuel an unexpectedly strong Democratic showing in the 2022 midterms.
According to a nationwide poll from Marquette University this May, 61% of Americans still said they disapproved of the decision to overturn Roe, compared with 58% who said the same thing in June 2022 shortly after the draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked.
As the second Trump administration turbocharges attacks on reproductive rights, pro-choice groups are hoping to make Collins pay for her role in midwifing this new reality and have thrown their full weight behind Platner, who has said he'd fight "tooth-and-nail to restore and protect reproductive freedom."
"Mainers deserve a senator they can trust to have their backs at every turn. It is clear that it is not Susan Collins,” said Planned Parenthood Action Fund president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson in a statement endorsing Platner on Monday. "We know we can count on Graham Platner to fight for everyone to get the essential, lifesaving care they need as part of a pro-reproductive rights Senate majority."
Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), said the party is seeking to highlight its Republican opponents' "toxic, anti-choice records" at the national level in the hope that "the American people will vote against Republicans who paved the way for Roe’s demise and cheered on the rollback of our rights.”
A press release sent by the DSCC on Wednesday highlights the voting records of other top GOP midterm targets, including Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who signed an amicus brief in support of overturning Roe and has said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest or to protect a mother's life. It also called out Reps. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), who co-sponsored total national abortion bans that would have also outlawed in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The Maine Democratic Party, meanwhile, has zeroed in on Susan Collins' vote for Kavanaugh with a new digital ad and a series of prominent newspaper ads that draw a direct line between her decision and the slew of abortion bans that followed.
“Susan Collins wants Mainers to forget what happened after she cast the decisive vote for Brett Kavanaugh. But Mainers haven’t forgotten," said Kristi Johnston, a spokesperson for the Maine Democratic Party.
"Four years after Dobbs, Collins continues to defend that vote while rubber-stamping more anti-abortion judges onto the federal bench," she added. "Mainers deserve to know exactly what role Susan Collins continues to play in stripping away reproductive freedom.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular