Extinction Rebellion Hacks Bus Stop Ads to Expose Washington Gas Greenwashing
Washington, DC – Over the weekend, rebels posted four satirical ads for Washington Gas at high-traffic bus stops across the District to expose Washington Gas’ greenwashing and lies.
Ads were placed in several different neighborhoods, including Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, and Shaw. One ad reads, “Cancer. Birth Defects. Premature Death. Brought to you by Washington Gas.” The other ads point out other damaging impacts of Washington Gas’ PROJECTpipes, such as worse health and acceleration to climate chaos.
Washington Gas has an extensive coordinated greenwashing campaign, from lying on customers’ bills about natural gas being a “clean, efficient, and reliable source of energy” to sponsoring environmental content in local media outlets. These ads expose these lies and tell the truth about Washington Gas.
“Washington Gas’ lies only serve to protect their bottom line–and they are directly harming our community in the meantime. Their PR stunts are just smoke and mirrors so they can spend billions of dollars to continue pumping toxic methane gas into our homes for decades to come,” said Reilly Polka, Press Spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion DC. “Methane not only warms our atmosphere faster than carbon dioxide, but it also contains volatile compounds like benzene and formaldehyde, which are linked to cancer and respiratory problems. It’s time for Washington Gas to be held accountable for harming our health and accelerating our descent into climate chaos.”
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was very clear in their latest report that we cannot build any more fossil fuel infrastructure. The DC Council and the DC Public Service Commission must not be manipulated by Washington Gas’ greenwashing. The only responsible course of action is to stop Project Pipes and electrify DC.
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
Methane is the gas piped into your home to cook your food and heat your house. DC has some of the oldest underground methane gas pipes in the country, and these pipes are leaking large amounts of methane throughout the city. There are more than 3,000 leaks in the District – and over 70% of the leaks in 2021 were at hazardous levels, posing a severe and immediate threat to the city’s residents.
Methane gas kills. It severely harms the health of DC’s residents, especially the most vulnerable — children, the elderly, and people experiencing homelessness. When you light your stove, it sends nitrogen dioxide into your home. That can cause cardiovascular problems, respiratory disease, and premature death.
A gas stove also releases chemicals that can cause cancer and birth defects.
A lit gas stove also 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.
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. And gas stoves in the United States release the same amount of greenhouse gas as 500,000 cars.
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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