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On Sunday, the Interior department announced that it is using executive action to protect millions of acres of land and ocean in the Arctic. President Biden is withdrawing 2.8 million acres in the Beaufort Sea from future oil and gas leasing. When combined with previous protections put in place by the Obama administration, this would put the Arctic Ocean entirely off-limits to new leasing. The Interior department is also initiating a rulemaking process to protect more than 13 million acres of the land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the largest contiguous area of public lands in the US. The proposed rules, which the department says will be available in the coming months, would limit future oil and gas leasing in designated Special Areas within the NPR-A. While limiting future leasing is important, most areas of interest to oil and gas companies have already been leased, recent lease sales have drawn scant interest, and several companies have abandoned plans to pursue development in the area.
This proposed rule, along with others such as those related to reforms to the oil and gas program, must be released by April of this year to give the administration time to complete the rulemaking process before any final rules are subject to review under the Congressional Review Act.
Meanwhile, the Interior department is also expected to issue its decision on the Willow oil and gas project. Since ConocoPhillips already holds leases for the area, the project will not be impacted by any proposed new protections. According to reports, the department is planning to approve three of the five drilling sites ConocoPhillips had sought approval for, the minimum ConocoPhillips had indicated would need to be approved for the proposal to be economically viable. The project, which could begin construction within days of approval and comprise about 200 wells, has the potential to release an amount of carbon equivalent to adding two million cars per year over the roughly 30 years of the project. The International Energy Agency has found that approval of any new fossil fuel development is incompatible with the scientifically-supported goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
It's been over 100 days since Biden promised to protect Avi Kwa Ame
It’s been 100 days since President Joe Biden promised he would protect a large swath of Mojave Desert in southern Nevada called Avi Kwa Ame that is sacred to multiple tribes, including the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the Hopi Tribe. “I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that’s central to the creation story of so many tribes here today,” Biden told Tribal leaders at the White House Tribal Nations Summit last November. The Nevada Independent reported last Tuesday that Biden planned to designate the monument on a fundraising trip to Las Vegas this week but retracted that report after receiving new information. As a new blog from the Center for Western Priorities points out, every day that passes without protections for Avi Kwa Ame undercuts the Biden administration’s promise to prioritize the protection of public lands and honor Tribal nations.
To learn more about Avi Kwa Ame, watch the Center for Western Priorities short film, part of our Road to 30: Postcards series, and for an up-to-the-second clock counting the time since Biden promised to protect Avi Kwa Ame, see the top of the Center for Western Priorities website.
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If the Biden administration is serious about their commitments to address the climate and nature crises, it’s imperative that the president double down on durable, meaningful action.”
