President Biden is visiting Central California today to tour scenes of recent catastrophic flooding and discuss recovery efforts with state and local leaders. The flooding resulted from extreme weather conditions – long-term drought, punctuated by a brief period of intense precipitation – driven largely by climate change. 

Meanwhile, in response to the deepening climate crisis, Biden and Governor Newsom are both fostering the development of fundamentally flawed technology schemes like carbon capture (CCS) and hydrogen power. Last year’s federal infrastructure bill and Inflation Reduction Act allocated tens of billions in current and future subsidies for such programs, while Newsom’s recent budget proposal, introduced last week, included nearly $100 million in similar incentives.

Also today, Food & Water Watch released a new report showing that direct air capture (DAC), a fledgling CSS technique currently being hyped by Biden, Newsom and a wide range of political leaders, would actually increase greenhouse gas pollution when accounting for the emissions created by the power needed to run the process in the first place.

In response, Food & Water Watch’s California State Director Chirag Bhakta issued the following statement: 

“President Biden’s attention to the climate-driven flooding pummeling our state is appreciated, but what would be even more appreciated is a serious approach to confronting the climate crisis from both him and our governor. This means a rejection of faulty schemes like carbon capture, which are promoted by the oil and gas industry as a means of entrenching the dirty energy status quo.

“A true commitment to the welfare of communities in California and across the country would be an unequivocal rejection of new fossil fuel infrastructure and the embrace of a rapid transition to a truly clean, renewable energy future.”

Contact: Seth Gladstone – [email protected]

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