APEC protesters launch actions with banner over Treasure Island tunnel on Bay Bridge
SAN FRANCISCO – The first action in more than a week of planned protests during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco kicked off Wednesday.
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Early Wednesday morning, the group Oil and Gas Action Network launched the actions by hanging a 75-foot banner above the Treasure Island tunnel on the Bay Bridge reading "Biden & APEC: End Fossil Fuels."
As over 21 heads of state arrive for the conference starting this weekend under the theme "Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All," protesters are arriving with the same challenge.
"We expect about 200 different organizations to come to the city to participate in a range of creative actions," said Matt Leonard, a spokesman for the group.
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Different groups will protest other causes, including labor rights and climate justice. But his group's focus is on U.S. policy on fossil fuels.
"President Biden has come under consistent fire for his administration's approval of massive new fossil fuel projects," the group said in a statement. "They include the Willow Pipeline in Alaska and the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2022 the resulting total net petroleum imports (imports minus exports) were about -1.19 million barrels per day, which means that the United States was a net petroleum exporter.
"A lot of the proposed fossil fuel development in the U.S. is meant for export markets where we're literally exporting pollution and emissions to other countries," Leonard said. "While people like Biden and (Gov. Gavin) Newsom are claiming that they're reducing usage of fossil fuels in the U.S., the reality is we're just producing them for other people to burn. And that's equally, if not more problematic."
Leonard said the largest of the planned peaceful protests is planned for Sunday, starting at The Embarcadero in San Francisco.
