Toxic Tour, “Climate Revival” Call for Ending Polluter Handouts
Houston, March 10: Forty religious leaders gathered in Houston over the weekend and at the CERAWeek protests on Monday, calling for an immediate end to fossil fuel subsidies and the expansion of fossil gas (LNG) infrastructure.
“Every year, the oil industry receives $20 billion in Federal subsidies which pollute the air, destroy the climate, and harm communities, while enriching corporations that have knowingly caused the climate crisis,” said the Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, GreenFaith USA Coordinator. “That’s $2 million every hour to one of the world’s wealthiest industries, while 2.5 million US children are homeless. This is morally obscene. The giveaways must stop.”
Expanded oil and gas subsidies, which are included in current versions of upcoming Federal tax legislation, would support a massive expansion of LNG projects which will more than double national export capacity by 2030. This expansion would lock in decades of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years.
“The impacts of climate change—wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and extreme heat—are already devastating communities nationwide,” said Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder and CEO of Dayenu, a national Jewish climate organization. “What is under threat is nothing less than our ability to live l’dor vador, from generation to generation.” In 2024 alone, the U.S. suffered 27 climate-related disasters, each causing over $1 billion in damages, disproportionately affecting low-income communities.
The visiting faith leaders from eight states and Washington DC met with clergy from across Texas, including pastors in African American communities adjacent to fossil fuel facilities. They learned about the prevalence among residents of respiratory and skin diseases and cancers, along with the levels of subsidies provided to the industry, including foregone tax revenues amounting to $1 billion in Harris County alone.
“The government is threatening to cut trillions in life-saving federal funding while continuing to send billions in tax dollars to fossil fuel corporations,” said Ilka Vega, Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice at United Women in Faith of the United Methodist Church. “We have to stand up to the harm of this administration funding the climate crisis while systematically slashing funds to healthcare, affordable housing, and education.
On Sunday and Monday, religious leaders took part in public demonstrations outside of the annual oil and gas industry CERAWeek conference, a large gathering of fossil fuel industry officials and their government and financial supporters. Events included a “Climate Revival” featuring grammy-nominated vocalist and 2025 Earth Day Ambassador Antonique Smith along with other faith leaders who prayed, sang and shared messages with participants and passersby. Carrying signs saying “No Faith in Fossil Fuels” and t-shirts emblazoned with “End Polluter Handouts”, people of faith joined hundreds of other activists demanding “Clean Air Not Another Billionaire”. “Religion and spirituality are about waking up,” said Adam Lobel, a Guiding Teacher with the Buddhist organization One Earth Sangha. “It’s delusional to keep using tax resources – meant for the common good – to subsidize a wealthy industry. We need to wake up and stop it.”
The faith leaders issued a letter to President Trump, Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Thune calling on them to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and stop the LNG expansion. “Our faiths call us to be caretakers, not destroyers,” the letter states. “We call on you to champion tax legislation that eliminates fossil fuel subsidies, to end LNG expansion, and to redirect funds toward a better future. The moral choice is clear—protecting life, not prolonging and increasing harm.”
Religious leaders and people of diverse faiths are invited to sign the letter through April 15, when individual tax returns are due.
Contact: Rev. Amy Brooks, GreenFaith USA Coordinator, amy@greenfaith.org, 704-458-4438
