Cabinet Climate Test

President-elect Biden likes to think of himself as a no-nonsense kind of guy. He likes to tell it straight, no malarkey. In that spirit here is 350.org’s no-nonsense list of criteria for the Biden-Harris cabinet and executive leadership appointments.

We need an executive branch ready to stand up to the fossil fuel industry to take on the climate crisis. Really, we mean it, No Malarkey!

350.org makes endorsements based on the following criteria:

1. No nominees who have profited from fossil fuel money.

Potential nominees who have accepted fossil fuel money cannot be trusted to hold that industry legally or financially accountable for the decades of climate harms inflicted on our air, water, or frontline communities. Recent polling from Data for Progress found that 61% of Democrats support the exclusion of fossil fuel lobbyists and representatives from serving in the federal government.

A potential nominee who served in a senior or executive capacity at a fossil fuel company is unfit to lead America into a carbon-free future. After four years of the corrupt Trump administration placing industry insiders into key positions where they rolled back protections at the behest of their leaders, should not be replicated by the incoming Biden administration.

Potential nominees whose work is supported by money from fossil fuel investments are blinded to the existential threat industry poses to our nation and our planet.

2. Nominees who have a record of supporting clean energy and climate justice.

  • For current or former elected officials: President-elect Biden should choose nominees who have a record of supporting clean energy, embracing climate and environmental justice, ending fossil fuel subsidies and the extractive dirty fuels industry.It is not enough to be a backbencher, America needs leadership and strong voices from those who served in government and also supported legislation that moves us to a fossil fuel free future. Biden should not bring back former cabinet members who worked for dirty energy companies.
  • For nominees from the private sector: Biden must choose nominees who have strong records of, or have expressed support for moving to a fossil free future.
  • From investigations, to lawsuits, and beyond, hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for their role in causing the climate crisis.
  • Support for the fossil fuel divestment movement. Not a penny more for dirty energy, whether through individual investments or federal subsidies. 

3. Nominees who have taken action to keep fossil fuels in the ground by opposing new coal, oil, and gas projects.

  • The active opposition to destructive & extractive fossil fuel projects like pipelines, coal mining, or offshore drilling, is the sign of a true Climate Champion.

4. Nominees who have a record of supporting corporate accountability.

  • For current or former officials and nominees from the private sector: President-elect Biden should choose nominees who have a record of opposing liability immunity for corporations, especially those in the  fossil fuel sector.Biden should not bring in cabinet and transition team members who have worked for companies that have actively worked against the best interests of workers and the environment.
  • Nominees should show support for the tenets of a just transition to a workers-first, 100% clean energy economy.

5. Nominees who have a record of advocating for policies at the intersection of climate and other social justice issues like racial, gender, class, and immigration justice.

Who We Support

We endorse Representative Deb Haaland*, Dr. Mustafa Ali, Lori Garver, and Representative Marcia Fudge to join the Biden Administration.

Congratulations to Rep. Haaland on her appointment to Interior Secretary!

Rep. Deb Haaland

Rep. Deb Haaland

U.S. Secretary of the Interior

About Rep. Haaland

Lori Garver

Lori Garver

NASA Administrator

About Lori Garver

  • Lori Garver is the former Deputy Administrator of NASA. She led the NASA transition team for President-Elect Obama and was his lead space policy advisor on the campaign. Previous senior positions have included General Manager of the Air Line Pilots Association, Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans at NASA and Executive Director of the National Space Society.
  • Garver was the space policy advisor to the Hilary Clinton campaign and was the deputy administrator at NASA during the first term of the Obama administration. She is now CEO of the Earthrise Alliance, a non-profit group in Washington, D.C., that funds anti-climate change initiatives.
  • Lori is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace.
  • Garver is a strong proponent of focusing NASA’s work on earth science and the climate crisis rather than the renewed push for multi billion dollar manned missions. She visions a more active role for NASA in researching & combatting the climate crisis.
  • “NASA could also move beyond measurement and into action — focusing on solutions for communities at the front lines of drought, flooding and heat extremes.” – Lori Garver

 

Dr. Mustafa Ali

Dr. Mustafa Ali

Head of Environmental Protection Agency or Council on Environmental Quality

About Dr. Ali

  • Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 24-years. At the EPA, Dr. Ali served as the Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice and Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization.
  • At the EPA, Dr. Ali led the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJIWG), which consisted of 17 federal agencies and White House offices focused on implementing holistic strategies to address the issues facing vulnerable communities.
  • He served as the Director of Communications in the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), where he led the Communications and Stakeholder Involvement (CSI) team.
  • Learn more about Dr. Mustafa S. Ali here.

Rep. Marcia Fudge

Rep. Marcia Fudge

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

About Rep. Fudge

  • Representative Fudge has been a long time ally of food-chain workers, family-scale farms and supports the unionization of USDA workers.
  • She continuously fights to increase SNAP and other nutrition benefits programs.
  • Representative Fudge has been a strong climate advocate and would be an excellent Secretary of Agriculture.
  • Read the coalition letter of support for Rep. Fudge.

Who We Oppose

We wholeheartedly oppose the possible nominations of Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, and David Frederick.

Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

U.S. Secretary of Energy

About Ernest Moniz

  • Ernest Moniz has accepted a combined $486,668 worth of fees and stock awards from Southern Company in 2018 and 2019. Moniz has been closely tied to BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Eni, and Saudi Aramco.
  • He is a strong proponent of “clean” coal, the exportation of liquified natural gas and is the main author of the false idea that methane can serve as a “bridge fuel”.
  • Ernest Moniz should not serve in any role in the Biden Administration and is a blatant example of the wrong kind of energy policy.
  • Read the coalition letter in opposition to Ernest Moniz.

Heidi Heitkamp

Heidi Heitkamp

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

About Heidi Heitkamp

  • Former Senator Heitkamp has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from giant agribusiness companies including Bayer-Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Syngenta and Cargill. She has raised $633,000 from the fossil fuel industry–– more than any other incumbent Senate Democrat during her two elections.
  • She was proud to cut $4 billion from SNAP in 2014.
  • She supported the toxic nomination of Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and has consistently opposed programs to reduce greenhouse gases. She supported the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
  • Read the coalition letter in opposition to Heidi Heitkamp.

David Frederick

Solicitor General

About David Frederick

  • Politico — Frederick, a partner at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick who served in the solicitor general’s office during the Clinton administration, should not serve as Solicitor General as he represents major corporate interests — filing a Supreme Court brief in November on behalf of BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and other oil companies in a climate change case.
  • Huffington Post – In court filings in California and Rhode Island last year, Frederick argued that federal law prevents states from suing Shell and other oil companies over climate change. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled against Exxon Mobil in a case that Frederick argued on behalf of the state of New Hampshire, forcing the oil giant to pay a $236 million fine for contaminating groundwater.
Add your name

Endorse the Cabinet Climate Test

Joe Biden's appointments will shape his administration, so now is the moment for our movement to be crystal clear: no fossil fuel allies in the Biden Administration.

Add your name to endorse our Cabinet Climate Test.

View the full petition text.

We call on the Biden and Harris Administration to adhere to the Cabinet Climate Test:

  1. No nominees who have profited from fossil fuel money.
  2. Nominees who have a record of supporting clean energy and climate justice.
  3. Nominees who have taken action to keep fossil fuels in the ground by opposing new coal, oil, and gas projects.
  4. Nominees who have a record of supporting corporate accountability.
  5. Nominees who have a record of advocating for policies at the intersection of climate and other social justice issues like racial, gender, class, and immigration justice.
Now is the moment for our movement to be crystal clear: no fossil fuel allies in the Biden Administration.

We call on the Biden and Harris Administration to adhere to the Cabinet Climate Test:

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