House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not forbid members of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis from taking donations from fossil fuel companies, she revealed in a Rolling Stone interview published Thursday. She had it wrong, though: The committee’s nine Democratic members took a combined $198,000 from fossil fuel industry political action committees in the 2018 midterm elections, as HuffPost previously reported. Activists believe members should refuse fossil fuel money as a sign of their independence from the industry that has attempted to stall climate action while contributing greatly to the problem. Some committee members have made efforts to distance themselves from fossil fuel companies. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) divested up to $100,000 worth of shares of a mutual fund with fossil fuel utility holdings in January after a watchdog group called her out.

Source: Huffington Post February 28, 2019 16:30 UTC