Extinction Rebellion Demands Mayor Bowser Take Action to End Methane Now

Rebels deliver a letter to the mayor demanding she be a true climate leader and take a stand to transition DC off of methane gas

Washington, DC – Today, rebels from Extinction Rebellion DC delivered a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser that demands she name and act on the need to transition off methane gas to secure a livable future for DC residents. Most urgently, this means addressing the incompatibility of Washington Gas’ Project Pipes, a $4.5 billion program to replace all methane gas infrastructure in DC through 2045, with the mayor’s own climate goals.

Read the full letter here.

Two rebels dressed in hazmat suits hand-delivered the shiny, gold envelope with the letter to Mayor Bowser’s office. The letter requests Mayor Bowser respond to the demands by April 19th so rebels can applaud her climate leadership on Earth Day.

Extinction Rebellion DC’s demands for the mayor:

Make a public statement that DC must phase out methane gas in order to meet its goals to combat the climate crisis, as outlined in your Carbon Free DC plan, and that Washington Gas’ plans to replace all of DC’s methane gas infrastructure through Project Pipes will make these goals impossible to meet.
Commit to immediately begin work on aligning the agencies in your administration on supporting a managed, just transition off methane gas that prioritizes DC’s most marginalized people and ends the city’s reliance on gas by 2032.

“Despite her presence in the aftermath of gas explosions and lip service to climate action, Mayor Bowser has largely left Washington Gas and its methane product unnamed. Methane gas is polluting our air, jeopardizing our health and safety, and accelerating the climate crisis,” said Carol Spring (she/her), press spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion DC. “If Mayor Bowser wants to be the climate leader she says she is, then she must name the elephant in the room. Methane gas has no place in a livable future. Our demands are an invitation for her to be a true climate leader and join us in building the livable future DC residents deserve.”

The letter comes at a crucial moment in XRDC’s broader campaign to get methane out of DC. Earlier this year, 11 out of 13 DC Councilmembers signed a letter to the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) urging them to reject Project Pipes. The Office of the People’s Counsel has also requested the PSC open an investigation into Washington Gas’ gas leak reduction program, as a recent analysis shows that the corporate utility is failing to adequately address gas leaks and instead pouring money into potentially leaking pipes rather than actually leaking ones.

Given the danger Washington Gas’ methane product poses to the District, the mayor has a moral duty to act to protect her constituents and end methane now.

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Note to Editors:

For more information about Washington Gas' toxic pipeline project and XRDC's campaign to stop it visit https://www.xrdc.org/gas

DC has some of the oldest underground methane gas pipes in the country, with more than 3,000 leaks in the District. More than 70% of the leaks identified by DOEE in 2021 were at hazardous levels, posing a severe and immediate threat to the city’s residents.

Project Pipes, Washington Gas’s $4.5 billion pipeline replacement program, has failed to adequately reduce emissions or address leaks from its aging gas system according to the DC Office of the People’s Counsel.
When burned indoors, methane produces a poisonous cocktail of other chemicals and gasses like formaldehyde, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide. Children in homes with gas stoves are 42% more likely to have asthma than children whose families use electric stoves, a similar rate to children living with cigarette smokers. Stoves continue to leak methane into your home even when they’re turned off.
Washington Gas will tell you methane gas is “renewable,” “clean,” “natural,” “responsible,” and “green.” In fact, greenhouse gas emissions from the use of methane gas now exceed coal emissions in the United States — and methane heats the planet up to 80 times faster than carbon dioxide.
When methane leaks directly into the air, researchers have found it has a worse climate working impact as burning coal.
In 2020, methane accounted for nearly a quarter of DC’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane concentrations in the atmosphere are so high that they’re now responsible for 30-50% of the global rise in temperatures. Leaking gas pipes, like those in DC, are a major source of US methane emissions. The amount of methane the fossil fuel industry releases is far worse than regulators think.
DC has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2045. Washington Gas’ plans make this goal impossible to achieve. The Department of Energy and Environment calls Washington Gas’ business plan “technically deficient with significant errors.”
This is part of a longer coordinated PR campaign from Washington Gas. They have sponsored Petworth’s street festival, a community food drive for Thanksgiving, and is an official media partner with WUSA9, which provides an easy outlet for their greenwashed PR. All of this is smoke and mirrors so Washington Gas can go through with their deadly Project Pipes.

About Extinction Rebellion

Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate & ecological crisis, including the sixth mass extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices if rapid action is not taken.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.

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