Thread by @collinrees

THREAD: @JayInslee's new climate plan is really, REALLY important b/c it takes the climate conversation to a new level that hasn't been explored much – how we actively dismantle the fossil fuel industry & its political power to win the change we need. 1/n

jayinslee.com/issues/freedom…

This plan ends subsidies, stops new fossil fuel infrastructure, & bans fossil fuel exports.

Here's our @OilChangeUS response, but I want to explain why this plan is so exciting & takes the discussion on dealing w/ climate crisis to the next level. 2/n

oilchangeusa.org/response-insle…

The science shows that right now, the carbon in already-operating oil & gas fields & coal mines would take us wayyyy beyond 1.5ºC. To clarify: that's w/ already-existing fossil fuel infrastructure only. 3/n

priceofoil.org/2016/09/22/the…

What that means is *every single* new piece of fossil fuel infrastructure digs a deeper hole.

Each new oil well, gas pipeline, & export terminal makes the problem worse, & will need to be retired long before the end of its "useful life" (side note: we need new terminology). 4/n

Instead of confronting this fact, the fossil fuel industry, its billionaire CEOs, & the overwhelming majority of both parties in the U.S. are rushing to build as much fossil fuel infrastructure as they can, w/o making any real plans for a transition to a different economy. 5/n

Thanks to these billionaires & politicians on both sides of the aisle, the U.S. is set to unleash the world's largest burst of new oil & gas production by 2030 — & the carbon that comes w/ it — if we don't do something about it ASAP. 6/n

priceofoil.org/2019/01/16/rep…

Tribal nations & communities are desperately trying to stop & delay this massive buildout, while workers are constantly abused by billionaire oil, gas, & coal executives & kept in fear of losing the hard-fought gains they've won over the last century of incredible organizing. 7/n

Meanwhile, your tax dollars are fueling the crisis. The U.S. gives over $20 BILLION in subsidies to oil, gas, & coal production every single year, & that number has increased significantly following the Trump & GOP tax cuts. 8/n

priceofoil.org/2017/10/03/dir…

This means even the HUGE task of transitioning to 100% RE in the next 10-20 years won't be enough.

Research shows if we don't phase down oil production & limit exports (ie, reinstate Crude Oil Export Ban lifted in 2015), we're still in deep trouble. 9/n

greenpeace.org/usa/reports/fo…

Given all of this, a real plan to:

a) Limit the fossil fuel industry's expansion
b) End heavy subsidization from U.S. taxpayers
c) Phase out existing extraction w/ a just transition

isn't just "nice to have" policy. It must be a critical piece of any serious climate plan. 10/n

It's also critical to protect workers. We've seen time & again that when industry goes belly-up, workers are the first to be abandoned by billionaire CEOs — it's been happening w/ Big Coal for 20 years.

Pensions are cut, health benefits are slashed, layoffs skyrocket. 11/n

Careful planning & strong labor involvement in the plan to phase out oil, gas, & coal production are key to a truly just transition.

Because if we don't make a plan for this managed transition, we're headed straight for either climate disaster or economic chaos (or both). 12/n

This is why no climate plan is complete w/o dealing w/ all facets of the problem.

This 'Freedom from Fossil Fuels' plan means nothing w/o a strong agenda for heavy, sustained investment in social protections, thriving wages, & good, family-sustaining jobs. 13/n

A plan for 100% renewable energy is just a slogan if you're not also actively implementing a plan to phase out fossil fuel infrastructure & diminish the fossil fuel industry's political power (which will be a necessity to get ANY sort of climate policy passed, at any level). 14/n

All of this is why much of the climate movement spends a lot of time yelling about stopping pipelines & ending subsidies & banning exports.

It's not that we don't love clean energy (we do). It's b/c we also have to go directly after the industry to have a chance at success. 15/n

It's not just b/c we hate billionaires (although we definitely do) or hate labor (we definitely don't; we love them).

It's b/c if we don't have a plan to carefully dismantle the fossil fuel industry as we build a new world, things could turn ugly really, really quickly. 16/n

Kudos to @JayInslee for a plan that addresses this problem in a serious way.

The 'Freedom from Fossil Fuels' plan stops new fossil fuel infrastructure, bans fossil fuel exports, ends fossil fuel subsidies, & commits to figuring out how to phase out existing infrastructure. 17/n

It creates a Presidential Commission to study how to make this phase-out of fossil fuel production a reality.

It puts key options such as "buying out & decommissioning fossil fuel assets," which is a conversation that we sorely need to be having. 18/n

thenextsystem.org/learn/stories/…

And crucially, it's connected at the hip w/ his 'Evergreen Economy' plan to commit heavy investment to protect Americans & create good, family-sustaining jobs.

Inslee's plan does a lot more than that, & honestly every climate policy wonk should read it cover-to-cover. 19/n

It's far from perfect, b/c we're still figuring out how we talk about all this. The conversation is long overdue.

One of our biggest problems is that *not enough people are thinking about how to enact this phase-out.* It's scary & means confronting real power in scary ways. 20/n

But it's also essential:

a) To meet climate goals
b) To protect Indigenous rights & communities everywhere
c) To enact a truly just transition for workers

To sum up, this plan is awesome, but I hope ten better plans pop up in the next few months. We desperately need them. /END