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fossil fuel drilling
Biden Told to Act on His Climate Rhetoric by Halting New Fossil Fuel Drilling
"President Biden needs to stop approving fossil fuel infrastructure projects, end fossil fuel production on public lands and waters, and declare a climate emergency," said one climate campaigner.
Feb 08, 2023
President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union address Tuesday that the climate crisis is an "existential threat" and political leaders have an obligation to confront it.
Seconds later, the president briefly deviated from his prepared remarks to add, "We're still going to need oil and gas for a while"—prompting applause from Republican lawmakers.
To climate advocates, Biden's comments underscored the tension between the president's exhortations to treat climate change like the emergency it is and his continued approval of fossil fuel drilling projects that will spew millions upon millions of tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, making it more difficult to meet critical emission-reduction targets.
Biden noted accurately in his speech that the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law last year, is "the most significant investment" in the nation's history to combat the climate crisis, which is fueling increasingly extreme weather events that displaced more than 3 million adults across the U.S. in 2022—and tens of millions more globally.
But environmentalists said there's much more the president can do, unilaterally, to bring rising U.S. emissions into line with the administration's pledges and phase out fossil fuel production that is driving habitat destruction, species extinction, sea level rise, and other catastrophic outcomes.
"There is no denying that President Biden has made important strides to invest in renewable energy through the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act," said Jeff Ordower, 350.org's North America director. "However, we are not truly living up to real climate solutions if Biden continues to rely on the fossil fuel industry and allow them to pump more oil and gas."
"Biden casually suggested that the U.S. will 'need oil for at least a decade or longer'—this is unacceptable," Ordower added.
"When it comes to fossil fuel development on our public lands, President Biden must match his words with actions."
The State of the Union address came just a week after the Biden administration took a key step toward approving a massive ConocoPhillips drilling project on Alaska's North Slope. Even under the scaled-back version that the Bureau of Land Management has suggested, the Willow Project would emit an estimated 9.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Ordower noted that, if granted final approval by the Interior Department, Willow "would be the largest oil and gas development on federal land."
"As long as the United States continues to green light fossil fuel projects like the ConocoPhillips Willow Project," he argued, "the U.S. will not be able to bring down emissions or meet its targets. President Biden needs to stop approving fossil fuel infrastructure projects, end fossil fuel production on public lands and waters, and declare a climate emergency to truly protect frontline and BIPOC communities and live up to his promises."
More than two years into his presidency, Biden has badly failed to meet his campaign pledge to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters. According to one recent study, the Biden administration approved more fossil fuel drilling permits during its first two years than its openly industry-friendly predecessor.
Last month, more than 300 climate organizations outlined nine steps Biden can take without congressional approval to rein in climate-wrecking fossil fuel production, including halting "new exploration, development, and drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska."
Abigail Dillen, the president of Earthjustice, said in a statement Tuesday night that "when it comes to fossil fuel development on our public lands, President Biden must match his words with actions, which means saying no to greenlighting projects like Willow in the Western Arctic, which will harm fragile ecosystems already harmed by climate change, emit hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide, and further line the pockets of oil and gas companies who continue to rake in record profits."
Dillen went on to lament that "too many devastating Trump rules remain on the books." E&E Newsreported last month that "among the big-ticket environmental policy reversals the Biden team hasn't yet completed are regulations surrounding how government agencies consider the environmental impacts of their decisions, endangered species protections, and limits on power plants' emissions of greenhouse gases and air toxics."
"We need the Biden administration to finalize strong rules to hold polluting industries accountable and protect communities from pollution," Dillen said.
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said late Tuesday that while "we've heard a lot of good things" from Biden, "he must act on his words, use his full executive authority to stop the climate crisis, and deliver for our generation."
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Violent Assault on Greenpeace Activists Scaling Arctic Rig
Peaceful protests against dangerous arctic drilling met with extreme force and seizures; Putin denounces activists as 'violating international law'
Sep 25, 2013
Video released by Russian security forces Wednesday shows armed Russian coast guard agents violently shutting down last week's peaceful Greenpeace International protest against a Gazprom-owned offshore drilling rig in Russia's arctic waters.
Russian forces are shown firing gunshots into the water completely unprovoked and dangerously pulling the ropes securing Greenpeace International activists as they descend from the rig, which they had nonviolently scaled in protest of dangerous drilling. Greenpeace's Sini Saarela from Finland yells "I'm coming down!" as Russian forces yank on her climbing ropes. The video was apparently taken from the rig the activists were climbing.
All 'Arctic Sunrise' crew members, who hail from 18 different countries, including the two whose violent detention is depicted in this video, are still under detention near Murmansk and some have been notified they face piracy charges, according to a Greenpeace International statement. As Common Dreamspreviously reported, Russian authorities violently seized the ship 12 hours after activists launched their peaceful protest against Russian oil giant Gazprom last week.
Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the seizures Wednesday, declaring the activists had broken international law. Greenpeace International spokespeople insist organizers took great pains to contact Russian authorities and Gazprom to notify them of their planned peaceful protests.
Greenpeace International organizers blasted Putin's claims of wrong-doing. "Let's be absolutely clear about this: the real threat to the Arctic comes not from Greenpeace International but from oil companies like Gazprom that are determined to ignore both science and good sense to drill in remote, frozen seas," declared Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace International's Arctic oil campaign.
The Russian Arctic National Park--termed the 'Pearl of the Arctic'--is an important habitat for narwhals, polar bears, and whales. The Russian government has allowed Rosneft and ExxonMobil to conduct exploratory drilling on 450,000 hectares of park land, in direct contradiction of federal laws that protect the park.
Experts say that the sear route near the park, controlled by Russia, is expected to be a key path for export of oil and gas extracted from the arctic.
The Arctic Sunrise is on a month-long journey in the arctic to expose this and other violations of Russian environmental laws.
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