[MCN] Earth Day Rally to Halt Fossil Fuel Funding

[Jeffrey J. Smith]

On Earth Day, this Friday, April 22, 350 Montana is calling climate and
clean energy activists to Helena for a noon rally in Hill Park, on the
corner of North Park and Neill Avenues, to demand an end to federal fossil
fuel financing.


We will march to the Helena branch of the Federal Reserve Bank at 100 Neill
Avenue.



“Greenhouse gas emissions were the highest on record in 2021, and, not
surprisingly, so were global temperatures,” said Jeff Smith, co-chair of
350 Montana. “The world’s scientists are imploring us to substantially
reduce emissions if we want to limit rising temperatures to 1.5 C. We have
a rapidly closing window of only 10 years. It’s time to transition to clean
energy.”



Energy from wind and solar backed by modern storage technologies is cleaner
and cheaper than fossil fuels
<https://www.350montana.org/2021/05/27/the-cleanest-energy-is-also-the-cheapest-energy/>.
Developing Montana’s vast wind and solar resources promises to revitalize
rural Montana towns, with some economists predicting a new “cash crop” that
could exceed a $60 billion <https://rmi.org/insight/seeds-of-opportunity/>
investment by 2030.



At the same time, Montanans are standing up in every public meeting
involving the future of our energy system and demanding clean energy,
whether it’s in front of the Public Service Commission in Helena or at a
Yellowstone County Commissioners’ meeting to permit a high-pressure methane
pipeline.



Yet, in the past two years, the Federal Reserve Bank has pumped $2 trillion
into the U.S. fossil fuel industry. The Fed, in other words, is funding the
climate crisis.



Meanwhile, Montana Senator Steve Daines and his Republican colleagues
refuse to even show up to do their job
<https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/business/economy/senate-republicans-vote-fed-nominees.html>
in the Senate Banking Committee where a whole slate of new bank directors
would adjust the direction of federal financing and add climate costs to
the Bank's decision-making.



The Helena rally is part of a nationwide Earth Day initiative at the 24
branches of the Federal Reserve Bank.


Call 406-880-8320 to reserve a seat in the carpool leaving at 9am from
Sacajawea Park in Missoula. We'll return by 4pm.
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