President Biden must act urgently to protect communities and the climate from the risks of oil and gas exports, by putting a halt to the industry’s plans to expand to new overseas markets and lock us into decades of oil and gas extraction. The time is now to ban oil and gas exports, which would slow oil and gas extraction in the Permian Basin, spare frontline communities throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast from exposure to deadly pollutants, and lower global CO2 emissions.

Spanning southeast New Mexico and west Texas, the Permian Basin is one of the largest oil fields in the world. Oil and gas companies are polluting frontline communities near fracking wells, pipeline routes, refineries, and export terminals throughout the Gulf Coast region, while extracting enough fossil fuels to lock us into an irreversible climate crisis. Communities in the Permian and Gulf Coast have become sacrifice zones of the fossil fuel industry, destroying the local environment and harming human populations with extreme air and water pollution. Human impacts include asthma, respiratory disease, cancers, and many other chronic illnesses. The industry also threatens sea turtles, ocelots, and many other endangered species.

The fossil fuel industry wants to export oil and gas to new overseas markets because the growing transition, as slow as it has been, to a clean energy economy has left the U.S. with no need for expanded fossil fuels.

The fossil fuel industry continues to lobby to protect their corporate profits and we must take action to ensure that the Biden Administration is standing up for our water, air, climate, and communities. We have a once-in-a-generation chance at healthy communities, millions of good-paying jobs, and a better life for those of us faced with fossil fuel pollution and the impacts of climate change — but we cannot take anything for granted. The movement that defeated Trump must now mobilize to win a just recovery from the Biden administration.