Earth Day 2024, Washington, DC | The red carpet had been rolled out from the high doors and down the polished steps of the Mayor’s offices into Freedom Plaza. A procession of large puppets representing the protectors of the Earth opened the festivities, as gala attendees arrived in black tie and colorful regalia. Guests dressed in animal costumes could be seen interspersed among the revelers. The drumming was wild and full of joy, as was springtime itself. But, forebodingly, at the head of the venue, there remained an empty chair.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, the guest of honor, had refused to join.
XRDC activists rolled out a giant red carpet to invite Mayor Bowser to an Earth Day gala. She refused to join. | Image: Will Dickson
DC’s got a gas problem
Organized by Extinction Rebellion DC (XRDC), the 2024 Earth Day Gala marked the two year anniversary of their campaign to #EndMethane and #ElectrifyDC, an effort to stop Washington Gas’ $12 billion pipeline replacement program, Project Pipes.
DC has some of the oldest underground methane gas pipes in the country, with more than 3,000 leaks. More than 70% of the leaks identified in 2021 were at hazardous levels, posing a severe and immediate threat to the city’s residents. According to the DC Office of the People’s Counsel, Project Pipes has failed to adequately reduce emissions or address leaks from its aging gas system.
When burned indoors, methane produces a poisonous cocktail of 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 even continue to leak methane into homes when they’re turned off.
Washington Gas claims that methane gas is “renewable,” “clean,” “natural,” “responsible,” and “green,” all the sparkly buzzwords that grease the wheels of business as usual. In truth, greenhouse gas emissions from the use of methane gas now exceed coal emissions in the United States – a dangerous development since when methane leaks directly into the air, researchers have found that it has a worse climate impact than burning coal.
Overall, methane heats the planet up to 80 times faster than carbon dioxide. 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. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the amount of methane the fossil fuel industry releases is far worse than regulators think, largely due to the greenhouse gas emissions from “venting” and “flaring” excess natural gas, which over one decade is equal to those of nearly 42 million cars annually.
All of this doom and gloom data makes it crystal clear that though DC has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2045, Washington Gas’ plans make this goal impossible to achieve. Even the Department of Energy and Environment calls Washington Gas’ plan “technically deficient with significant errors.”
So how is it possible that Project Pipes is pushing ahead? Beyond the normalized yet criminal, anti-democratic activities of fossil fuel lobbyists, the answer is big budget greenwashing. To obfuscate the fact that the numbers and results do not add up, Washington Gas has been pouring money into a coordinated PR campaign. They sponsored Petworth’s street festival, a community food drive for Thanksgiving, and are an official media partner with WUSA9, which provides an easy outlet for their greenwashed PR. According to XRDC organizers, “all of this is smoke and mirrors so that Washington Gas can go through with their deadly Project Pipes.”
“Despite her presence in the aftermath of gas explosions and lip service to climate action, Mayor Bowser has largely left Washington Gas and its methane product unnamed. Methane gas is polluting our air, jeopardizing our health and safety, and accelerating the climate crisis,” said Carol Spring (she/her), a press spokesperson for XRDC. “If Mayor Bowser wants to be the climate leader she says she is, then she must name the elephant in the room. Methane gas has no place in a livable future. Our demands are an invitation for her to be a true climate leader and join us in building the livable future DC residents deserve.”
XRDC threw a beautiful Earth Day Gala, a glimpse of the healthy, thriving, fossil-free future they are working toward. Mayor Bowser refused the invite. Her absence, along with her budget proposal and failure to meet their demands, shows where her priorities lie. | Image: Will Dickson
An anniversary and an invitation
XRDC and allies have been resisting Project Pipes through non-violent direct action, from chaining themselves to construction sites to disrupting gas conferences. They have also focused on community outreach, solidarity, and positive vision for a just and fossil-free future, growing and diversifying their numbers. Two years later, there is indeed much to celebrate.
Key milestones of the #End Methane campaign include:
- Eleven out of thirteen 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
- The DC Attorney General asked the PSC to reverse their decision to give Washington Gas another $50 million to continue the project
Building on the momentum of these wins, the 2024 Earth Day Gala was not just an anniversary celebration, it was a creative action in what is a crucial moment for the campaign. As a campaign organizer explains:
“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.”
The Earth Day action followed Mayor Bowser’s controversial 2025 budget proposal and XRDC’s subsequent letter delivery demanding the mayor take a very different path: one of a true climate leader. In line with Extinction Rebellion’s worldwide demands, “Tell the truth. Act Now.”, 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 failed to meet the 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. Cynically, many of the programs touted in the reply, such as the Solar for All and Affordable Home Electrification programs, are actually significantly weakened due to slashed funding in Mayor Bowser’s new budget proposal.
“The mayor only talks good on climate when it suits her. That’s why this Earth Day, XRDC is gathering to call on the mayor to end methane now and help us build the livable future we deserve,” said another organizer prior to the event.
On the morning of April 22, XRDC rolled out a giant red carpet from the mayor’s office, inviting her to the Earth Day gala, a demonstration of what a livable future free of fossil fuel combustion could look like. The action started with a march to the Wilson Building, where the large “livable future gala” was held. “It was a gathering of all of us to show Mayor Bowser what we’re creating and inviting her to take part in creating it,” explained an organizer.
Two years ago, XRDC launched a campaign to #EndMethane and #ElectrifyDC. The April 22nd action was the culmination of two years of hard-earned victories, and it is the next necessary step to kicking methane out of DC for good. | Image: Andrew Derek Strachan
The event featured speeches from organizers of different local groups, a puppet show by theater students from Towson University, a large red carpet, and a banner that read “BOWSER: BE A TRUE CLIMATE LEADER”.
Participants then called for Mayor Bowser to join, offering her a chair and an enlarged version of their demands to sign. In her absence, the puppets performed a skit outlining Washington Gas’ deceitful tactics and the power of collective action. Representatives from other local organizations gave speeches about what a livable future looks like to them.
Organizing towards a livable future
“I think the action was a great Earth Day moment,” shared Stef S (she/her), an organizer with XRDC. “The theater, the red carpet to the Wilson Building, the wonderful drums, and the people’s energy really came together. The message we sent to Mayor Bowser was clear: Project Pipes must end now and as our leader she should be supporting the councilmembers and many citizens who have raised their voices against it. Project Pipes perpetuates fossil fuel infrastructure and emissions for decades to come, and this has no place in our future. It has no place in our city.”
Stef started organizing with XRDC in 2021, and for her this is a family effort.
“My husband and I are in XRDC, and we involve our eight year-old daughter in everything we do. It is for her that I organize. I need to feel that I am doing everything in my power to leave a livable planet for her and for her children. I also want her to grow up with a clear sense of justice and agency. As I got involved, I found so much beauty and energy in social movements that now I cannot imagine my life without it. It has brought me such a sense of purpose, and a way to find joy, even as we are facing the greatest challenge of all.”
During the action, an open invitation was extended to a People’s Assembly, where, as Stef explained, “people from all walks of life get together to discuss issues and find solutions, and that felt very powerful. It is a first step towards restoring direct democracy…once people take back that power, the many can defeat the money.”
Though participants and onlookers were galvanized by the action, sadly, the Mayor’s chair remained empty. The event concluded with one of the organizers and her mother going into the Mayor’s Office and delivering (again) their set of demands, which have so far gone unanswered. (The Mayor’s office did not reply to a request for comment for this article.) While Mayor Bowser, like so many officials, declines her constituency’s invitation to become a part of building a livable future, the growing movement behind this vision will fight on, with or without her.
“Mayor Bowser’s budget proposal and failure to meet our demands shows where her priorities lie. The Mayor 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), a press spokesperson for XRDC.
“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.”
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Follow XRDC and get involved. Extinction Rebellion is a global and politically non-partisan movement that uses non-violent direct action to persuade governments to act justly on the climate and ecological emergency.
