Biden's tour of the West a chance to commit on climate action, public lands drilling reform

President Biden will tour the Western United States this week, making stops in California, Idaho, and Colorado to tout his economic agenda. The visit comes as states across the region have experienced record breaking heat, raging wildfires, and historic drought, all fueled by climate change. While the Biden administration has taken many actions to address climate emissions, it is going backwards in one very specific area—oil and gas drilling on our public lands. 
 
As Biden calls for Congress to act, his administration is preparing to auction off drilling rights to more than 700,000 acres of public land in Colorado and Wyoming. In the Gulf of Mexico, the president is moving ahead with a fire sale, offering oil and gas companies 80,000,000 offshore acres for drilling—an area larger than all but four U.S. states.

The Biden administration does have many tools to reform the broken and outdated system governing public lands drilling. Earlier this year, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland sent a report to the White House detailing specific ways to change policies that have benefited oil companies at the expense of taxpayers, communities, and our climate. Further, Secretary Deb Haaland has broad discretion to determine which public lands, if any, are made available for oil and gas leasing. In recent weeks, Congressional committees have advanced legislation to reform the public lands drilling system, taking action while the Biden administration has seemingly reversed course.

In a column in today's Denver Post, Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala wrote, "Next month, the president will head to a global climate summit, urging world leaders to cut carbon emissions, while he simultaneously expands oil and gas drilling at home and does nothing to fix a broken leasing system. When the president encourages Congress and the world to act, he has an obligation to lead by example. President Biden has the power to take substantial steps to address the climate crisis via America’s public lands. If you see him in Colorado, tell him it’s past time for him to use it."

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