TAKE ACTION – Help Block the Appalachia Storage Hub Loan Guarantee; Contact Your Reps in Congress

Last year, the Appalachian Development Group, one of the main groups behind the Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub/Petrochemical Mega-Complex, was invited to submit a Part II Application for a loan guarantee under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. Ideally, the Title XVII loan program provides loan guarantees to “accelerate the deployment of innovative clean energy technology.” How in the world a project like this petrochemical hub even got qualified to apply for the loan guarantee when it could increase air and water pollution in the Ohio and Kanawha river valleys, increase Fracking in our region, call for additional large pipelines, create more plastic pollution, and exacerbate climate change is beyond us.

However, we have good news!  Thanks to your help and our friends at Food and Water Watch we have a chance in Congress not only to block funding guarantees for the petrochemical hub, but to also keep the DOE from offering loan guarantees to any project that doesn’t avoid or mitigate carbon emissions! Because of your pressure, Representatives Ilhan Omar and Pramila Jayapal have sponsored an amendment to the appropriations bill that made it through Rule Making Committee and is up for a full vote on the floor in the house.  

Now we need your help to get it passed by the full House of Representatives!  Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to contact your Representative, and tell them to support the Omar-Jayapal Amendment, Amendment 105 in Rule II on HR 2740. The vote on this in the next few days so this is a rapid response request to reach out to your House rep!

Here is how you can take action: 

1. Sign this petition to send a message to your rep telling them to vote yes.
2. Call your representative! You can use this number with a recorded prompt 1-866-946-1451, but feel free to call the offices directly. Here are two sample scripts you can use:

Short Version:

“I urge you to support the Omar-Jayapal amendment 105 in Rule 2 on HR 2740. We need more renewable energy, not more fossil fuels.”

Long Version:

“I’m a constituent and I’m calling to ask Representative [insert rep name here] to support the Omar-Jayapal amendment 105 in Rule 2 on HR 2740. We have little time to stop the worst of the climate crisis, and the federal government should not be giving handouts to the fossil fuel industry. We should be investing in clean energy, not fracking and plastics.”

(If you’d like to add what organization you’re calling from, feel free to add it into the script!)

But wait there’s more…

We also want you to share this information with your friends and allies all over the nation!  You can use the template email below to send to them.  Just copy and paste and change the highlighted parts.

Subject Line: Blocking the Appalachia Storage Hub/Petrochemical Complex loan guarantee (or whatever you’d like, really)

Hi [Friend or Ally],

Big news! Representatives Omar and Jayapal have offered an amendment to block the federal government from giving loan guarantees to projects that do not mitigate climate change. This amendment is now going to a full floor vote! If passed, it would go a long way to fighting back against fossil fuel projects, like the Appalachia Storage Hub. 

We need your help in getting this passed through the House! All the representatives in the house need to be told to VOTE YES on the Omar-Jayapal Amendment, Amendment 105 in Rule II on HR 2740.  The vote on this in the next few days so this is a rapid response request to reach out to your House rep. 

​We have two asks: 

1. Sign this petition to send a message to your rep telling them to vote yes
2. Call your representative, using the scripts and call info provided. Here are two sample scripts:

Short:

“I urge you to support the Omar-Jayapal amendment 105 in Rule 2 on HR 2740. We need more renewable energy, not more fossil fuels.”

Long:

“I’m a constituent and I’m calling to ask Representative [insert rep name here] to support the Omar-Jayapal amendment 105 in Rule 2 on HR 2740. We have little time to stop the worst of the climate crisis, and the federal government should not be giving handouts to the fossil fuel industry. We should be investing in clean energy, not fracking and plastics.”

If you’d like to add what organization you’re calling from, feel free to add it into the script! We’re using this number with a recorded prompt 1-866-946-1451, but feel free to call the offices directly!

Thanks,

[Your Name]

If you need more information, contact OVEC Project Coordinator Dustin White at dustin@ohvec.org or Andrea Chu with Food and Water Watch at achu@fwwatch.org.