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Over 1,000 environmental and Indigenous groups delivered a letter to the White House yesterday, demanding President Biden end leasing, drilling, and mining on public lands. The groups claimed to have millions of signatures of support for the request, according to E&E News.
"We cannot address climate in the U.S. if we don't address the leasing program," Nicole Ghio, fossil fuels program manager at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, told E&E News. "This is something people have been fighting for for years, to the extent that Biden, during his campaign, actually campaigned on this."
Fossil fuels extracted from public lands account for nearly a quarter of the nation’s carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. An academic study estimates that ending new fossil fuel leasing would reduce those emissions by 280 million tons per year. That's roughly equivalent to taking 55 million cars off the road each year.
The petition comes as the United States prepares to participate in COP 26, a global climate conference, in Glasgow. The United States is one of the world's biggest polluters, so it's incumbent on us to lead by example. Reforming the outdated leasing system and leasing less public land to oil and gas companies would send a strong message to the global community that the United States is committed to addressing the problem of climate change in a meaningful way.
Instead, the Biden administration is moving forward with plans to lease over 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for drilling, locking in decades of pollution. Biden is also planning to lease up to 700,000 acres in the West, which will lock in even more emissions in addition to degrading our public lands.
But it doesn't have to be this way. The Biden administration could offer a small fraction of those leases and still meet its obligations under law. It could also make changes to the leasing program, like ending the wasteful practice of non-competitive leasing and increasing bonding requirements. We encourage President Biden to use his executive authority to do so.
Deb Haaland's successor on the role of climate in politics
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury represents New Mexico’s 1st congressional district, which includes her hometown of Albuquerque. She took office in the summer of 2021, replacing now-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
She came on our podcast, The Landscape, to talk about running on a climate platform, centering climate in the reconciliation process, and the tough challenges facing New Mexico related to climate change.
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Utah elected officials like Senators Romney and Lee are trying to incite division between Indigenous Peoples, tribal leaders, and communities... Ultimately, these lawmakers’ statements are invalidated by their position within a party that promotes the violation of treaty and Indigenous rights.”
