Tell Congress: Pass the ReWIND Act now!
As the US continues to lead the world in COVID-19 infections and deaths, Trump and the GOP remain chiefly concerned with their real constituency: Big Oil and other corporate polluters. While nurses and frontline responders work without PPE or hazard pay, no expense is being spared by Trump and his cronies to save this dying industry.
Thankfully, progressive leaders in Congress like Representative Barragan and Senator Merkley are fighting back. Together our champions have introduced the Resources for Workforce Investments, Not Drilling, or ReWIND, Act. This legislation would ban the Trump administration from using the tools at its disposal to bailout Big Polluters.
Here are some of the most important provisions:
- Corporate Slush Fund. Thanks to emergency action taken by Congress in March, the Federal Reserve has as much as $4.5 trillion in emergency lending at its disposal. This is money meant for businesses and municipalities hit hard by the coronavirus, but it comes as no real surprise that Big Oil is working hard to secure special access to the funds. Already, one of the Fed’s lending programs has been modified to make it easier for oil and gas companies to receive this money. The ReWIND Act would stop this bailout by making oil, gas and coal companies categorically ineligible for any of these funds.
- National Security Loans. In addition to loans from the Federal Reserve, there is $17 billion in emergency lending under the direct supervision of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. In theory, it is for industries essential to national security, but, because the law doesn’t define exactly what that means, there is a serious risk that oil and gas could gain access to this money. The ReWIND Act would eliminate this risk by eliminating the eligibility of polluters to apply.
- Lease Sales. Even though we are in the middle of a pandemic, Trump’s Department of the Interior has been moving forward with a firesale of oil and gas leases and drilling permits on public lands and waters. These leases and permits would allow for more dirty fossil fuel extraction, putting workers and frontline communities at increased risk, all while there is a historic glut on the oil market and oil prices are crashing. The ReWIND Act puts a stop to this irresponsible behavior by placing a moratorium on new federal lease sales until after the national emergency is over.
- Royalty Relief. Plundering our public lands isn’t new for the Trump administration, but using the pretext of the coronavirus is. Unfortunately, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt — himself a former oil lobbyist — is implementing an item high on Big Oil’s wish list: royalty relief for oil and gas extracted from our public lands and waters. Royalties, the share of profits from extraction passed along to taxpayers, are being reduced for companies on a case-by-case basis — even though industry and some Republicans are pushing for across the board reductions. The ReWIND Act would stop this giveaway by eliminating the Interior Secretary’s discretionary power to reduce royalties.
- Oil Purchases. When the first stimulus bill was being negotiated in March, a groundswell of popular opposition eliminated one of the dirtiest provisions: $3 billion worth of purchases into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the nation’s emergency oil supply. The hope was to lift oil company profits by lifting the price of oil itself. Unfortunately, the demand for Trump, the GOP, and even a few Democrats to purchase oil has not disappeared. In fact, thwarted by Congress, the Trump administration has begun leasing out space in the SPR to accommodate companies with too much oil to store. The ReWIND Act would put a stop to this by banning the leasing of SPR space and ensuring that storage capacity is not increased any further.
This bill isn’t a symbolic gesture. It is the minimum needed to stop a runaway bailout for polluters using the coronavirus as the thinnest pretext. Our demand is simple. As negotiations continue towards the next relief package, we need the ReWIND Act to be part of the deal. This won’t be easy, but it is absolutely necessary.
Over 30 members of Congress have already cosponsored the ReWIND Act. But to convince leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, it needs much more support — from activists like you and from other members of Congress. Can you help tell your representative to support the ReWIND Act today?
