DC Mayor Refuses Red Carpet Invite to Step into True Climate Leadership
While Mayor Muriel Bowser failed to meet XRDC’s demands, rebels demonstrated what a fossil-free future could look like in DC
Photo features a green banner with white lettering that reads, “Bowser, Be a True Climate Leader” held in front of the Wilson Building entrance over a red carpet spread across the street. Photo by Will Dickson
Washington, DC – This morning, Extinction Rebellion DC rolled out a giant red carpet from the Wilson Building across the street to Freedom Plaza to invite DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to an Earth Day gala, a demonstration of what a livable future free of fossil fuel combustion could look like. Mayor Bowser refused to join, leaving Extinction Rebellion DC’s (XRDC) demands unmet and her role in building a livable future unfulfilled.
Large puppets representing protectors of the Earth walked down the red carpet to join the gala, followed by various attendees dressed in black tie attire and animal costumes. Rebels then called for Mayor Bowser to join, offering her a chair and an enlarged version of the demands to sign. In her absence, the puppets performed a skit outlining Washington Gas’ deceitful tactics and the power of collective action, and representatives from other local organizations gave speeches about what a livable future looks like to them.
“Mayor Bowser’s budget proposal and failure to meet our demands shows where her priorities lie. Mayor Bowser isn’t just leaving climate out of the conversation. She is actively rolling back progress DC has made for climate action and equity, prioritizing wealthy businesses and police over the needs of the people,” said Rachel (they/them), press spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion DC. “Today’s gala was a beautiful demonstration of the fossil-free future DC residents deserve. Mayor Bowser’s absence shows that we can’t rely on our current leaders or our current system to deliver that future. We must rely on each other. Together, we can harness our collective power to tackle the climate crisis by implementing a just and equitable transition and bringing about the livable future we saw so clearly today.”
The action follows Mayor Bowser’s controversial FY2025 budget proposal and XRDC’s subsequent letter delivery demanding the mayor take a very different path: one of a true climate leader. XRDC demands that the mayor:
Make a public statement that DC must phase out methane gas in order to meet its goals to combat the climate crisis, as outlined in your Carbon Free DC plan, and that Washington Gas’ plans to replace all of DC’s methane gas infrastructure through Project Pipes will make these goals impossible to meet.
Commit to immediately begin work on aligning the agencies in your administration on supporting a managed, just transition off methane gas that prioritizes DC’s most marginalized people and ends the city’s reliance on gas by 2032.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure replied to XRDC’s initial letter, but the response failed to meet the stated demands. Instead, they provided canned rhetoric on what the DC Government is doing to transition away from fossil gas with little actual action from the mayor herself to back it up. Additionally, many of the programs touted in the reply, such as the Solar for All and Affordable Home Electrification programs, are significantly weakened due to slashed funding in Mayor Bowser’s budget proposal.
This action also marked two years since the launch of XRDC’s End Methane campaign. In that time, key milestones have been reached: 11 out of 13 DC Councilmembers signed a letter to the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) urging them to reject Project Pipes; the Office of the People’s Counsel requested the PSC open an investigation into Washington Gas’ leak reduction program, and the DC Attorney General asked the PSC to reverse their decision to give Washington Gas another $50 million to continue the costly, controversial project.
Following these milestones, now is a key moment for the mayor to speak out and use her influence to stop this deadly project. She helped pass laws that put DC’s current climate goals into place and touted them in Dubai at last year’s COP28. In order to live up to her promises, Mayor Bowser has a moral duty to speak out about the dangers of methane gas and the city’s need to transition off it in order to secure a future where all DC residents can thrive. Mayor Bowser must end methane now.
###
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
DC has some of the oldest underground methane gas pipes in the country, with more than 3,000 leaks in the District. More than 70% of the leaks identified by DOEE in 2021 were at hazardous levels, posing a severe and immediate threat to the city’s residents.
Project Pipes, Washington Gas’s $4.5 billion pipeline replacement program, has failed to adequately reduce emissions or address leaks from its aging gas system according to the DC Office of the People’s Counsel.
When burned indoors, methane 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.
When methane leaks directly into the air, researchers have found it has a worse climate working impact as burning coal.
In 2020, methane accounted for nearly a quarter of DC’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
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.
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.
What Emergency? | This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook | FAQs