Dems face environmentalist backlash after dropping fossil fuel demand from platform

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Joe Biden pledges to ban fossil fuels if elected

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden vows to eliminate subsidies for coal and fracking; reaction from the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Mandy Gunasekara, former EPA official.

Joe Biden’s campaign says that the Democratic presidential nominee remains committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies to fight climate change .

Democrats faced some backlash from environmental groups after the party quietly dropped language calling for the end to the subsidies from its platform.

"Vice President Biden's commitment to ending fossil fuel subsidies remains as steadfast as it was when he outlined this position in the bold climate plan he laid out last year,” Biden campaign policy director Stef Feldman said on Wednesday.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM ADOPTED AMID PROGRESSIVE DISSENT

Biden will demand a worldwide ban on fossil fuel subsidies and seek to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies in the United States during the first year of his presidency, she added.

The deleted provision in the platform read “Democrats support eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels, and will fight to defend and extend tax incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy.”

The line was added this summer to the party platform, which was approved and adopted this week at the Democratic National Convention. But the line was removed from the final version of the platform. Democratic Party officials told HuffPost, which was first to report on the omitted line, that the language was “incorrectly included” and was removed “after the error was discovered.”

The removal of the line didn’t sit well with environmental leaders and groups.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg tweeted, ”'The Democratic National Committee this week quietly dropped language calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks from its party platform' So, not even the very very minimum...”

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist, author and journalist, tweeted, “Hoping this was just a mistake, because ending fossil fuel subsidies is a no-brainer.”

Among the numerous environmental groups protesting was Evergreen Action, which called the move “a shocking reversal -- one that's out of step with the vast majority of Democrats."

While the language was dropped from the party’s platform, it remains on the Democratic National Committee’s website.

Conservative estimates put the cost of U.S. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year, and other estimates are dramatically higher. Ending such subsidies is a key goal among progressive and moderate Democrats who see it as a crucial step to combat climate change. The Trump administration opposes such moves and defends the subsidies.

The controversy over the platform flared hours before combating climate change was spotlighted during the first hour of Wednesday’s session of the Democratic convention.