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gulf drilling
Climate Campaigners Stage Blockade at White House Correspondents Dinner
"We disrupted the rich and powerful because Joe Biden's approval of deadly new oil and gas projects is killing the planet," said the campaign group Climate Defiance. "We will continue to disrupt until we end fossil fuels."
Apr 30, 2023
Members of the corporate media were greeted by hundreds of climate action organizers Saturday night as they arrived at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.
Youth-led direct action group Climate Defiance staged a blockade of the event to demand that President Joe Biden fulfill his campaign promise to end fossil fuel extraction on public lands.
The protest came weeks after the Biden administration approved Willow, the massive oil drilling project on federal lands in Alaska, and a month after an oil and gas lease sale of 1.6 million acres of offshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico went forward.
"The president promised us an end to new leasing on federal lands but failed to deliver. Now, he needs to hear from the voting bloc that delivered him the 2022 midterm elections," said Climate Defiance ahead of the protest, referring to research showing that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 were crucial to Biden's victory in 2020.
According to Pew Research, 62% of young voters support a complete phaseout of fossil fuels.
Climate Defiance is backed by the Climate Emergency Fund, a nonprofit run by climate psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon. The group was joined by organizers from the Sunrise Movement, which has helped push more than 100 Democratic lawmakers to co-sponsor Green New Deal legislation.
\u201cIt was an honor to join forces with comrades from West Chicago to West Virginia and everywhere in between to fight for our planet and future. Thank you @ClimateDefiance for bringing us together. \u270a\ud83c\udf0e\u201d— Sunrise Movement NYC \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement NYC \ud83c\udf05) 1682834158
Documentarian Ford Fischer posted a video of a government vehicle attempting to drive through the protesters before retreating.
\u201cVIDEO THREAD: Tonight, climate activists attempted to blockade the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.\n\nOne government vehicle attempted to drive through the protesters, pausing right in front of them and then hitting the gas again, pushing into them, but then\u2026\u201d— Ford Fischer (@Ford Fischer) 1682834130
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a Green New Deal co-sponsor, thanked the demonstrators for the action as he walked past them, and climate scientist Peter Kalmus joined the group at one point, telling them, "You guys are on the right side of history... President Biden is on the wrong side of history [for] expanding the fossil fuels during a climate emergency."
\u201cClimate scientist Peter Kalmus @ClimateHuman spoke out at the blockade, telling the activists "you guys are on the right side of history."\n\n"President Biden is on the wrong side of history," he says for "expanding the fossil fuels during a climate emergency."\u201d— Ford Fischer (@Ford Fischer) 1682834130
Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86), who were recently expelled from the state House for participating in a gun control protest before being reinstated, also joined the campaigners to say that the interconnected fights "for democracy, climate justice, and an end to mass shootings require a coordinated emergency response."
"We're fighting a system that is trying to put the profits of the gun industry, the profits of the fossil fuel industry, the profits of the for-profit healthcare over the lives of our people," he said. "So we must stand together. We must let them know that if you come for one of us, you come for all of us."
\u201cWATCH: \u201cOur fights for democracy, climate justice, and an end to mass shootings require a coordinated emergency response.\u201d\n\n@brotherjones_ joined @ClimateDefiance outside the #WHCorrespondentsDinner in DC as they fight fossil fuels. \nhttps://t.co/WngL0CM0p5\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1682819207
"We disrupted the rich and powerful because Joe Biden's approval of deadly new oil and gas projects is killing the planet," said Climate Defiance after the blockade. "We will continue to disrupt until we end fossil fuels."
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The Willow Project Was a Key Climate Test. And Joe Biden Failed It.
The rubber-stamping of such a project sends a message not just to our generation but humanity as a whole: The future of our planet and the present well-being of frontline communities are being sacrificed for short-term economic gain and political expediency.
Apr 07, 2023
President Joe Biden’s recent approval of the Willow Project in Alaska has alarmed many young people and once again made us question his seriousness about addressing the climate crisis before it is too late.
His decision to greenlight ConocoPhillips’ massive oil project isn’t just a betrayal of his promises on the campaign trail when he vowed to halt drilling on federal lands and to help the United States make the transition toward clean energy. It’s a betrayal of our generation’s future and of the millions of people suffering the impact of the climate crisis.
As if that were not enough, the Biden administration is auctioning off more than 73 million acres of waters in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling — double the size of the Willow Project if it goes ahead as planned. The president faced one of the greatest tests of his commitment to addressing climate change, and he failed. His administration must step up and commit to do better.
As young people who will inherit a burning planet, we are gravely concerned about the long-term impact of the Willow Project and the precedent it sets for future decisions on climate and energy policy.
By the administration’s own estimates, the Willow Project on Alaska’s North Slope is projected to add 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution to the atmosphere per year. That’s the equivalent of adding 2 million gas-powered cars to the road every year — potentially for 30 years. Despite the large amounts of emissions that await, the administration — which faces pressure from unions, Alaskan lawmakers and some Native Alaskans who support the project — argues that refusing a permit for the Willow Project would trigger legal issues due to previously issued leases.
However, this decision not only contradicts Biden’s promises but also undermines the steps set forth by last month’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change synthesis report. The IPCC, a panel of experts brought together by the United Nations, made it clear that the world already has too many fossil fuels in production to limit global warming to the relatively safe level of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) unless swift action is taken.
Young people and members of marginalized communities are the ones who will bear the brunt of the consequences of the escalating climate emergency. The rubber-stamping of such a project sends a message not just to our generation but humanity as a whole: The future of our planet and the present well-being of frontline communities are being sacrificed for short-term economic gain and political expediency.
Millions of young people made their concerns about Willow known. Youth-led climate organizations, such as the Sunrise Movement, have been vocal about the potential repercussions of approving Willow, warning that it could turn young voters away from the administration. Young people organized online, pushing the massive oil project to trending status on TikTok the week before Willow’s approval, part of an effort that garnered around 5.6 million messages calling on Biden to reject the plan. But the voices of millions who spurred into action were left gutted on March 13 when Willow was approved.
Greenlighting the project also highlights the glaring disconnect between the administration’s climate rhetoric and actions. While the US has made some landmark investments in clean energy under Biden through the Inflation Reduction Act, the project will undermine these efforts and threaten the fragile Arctic ecosystems, wildlife and Indigenous communities, conservation groups say. What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.
Scientists warn us that crossing the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius could trigger multiple climate tipping points, leading to irreversible and dangerous impacts with serious implications for humanity. The Willow Project, set to produce 600 million barrels of oil and generate roughly 278 million tons of carbon emissions, goes directly against the word of climate scientists.
By supporting the Willow Project, the administration is exacerbating the climate crisis and further jeopardizing the well-being of vulnerable populations.
The impact of climate change is already disproportionately affecting communities in the global South — a crisis they have done little, if anything, to create. Africa, for example, is responsible for about 4% of global emissions. It faces devastating floods, droughts, food scarcity and displacement due to rising sea levels — and the number of people suffering will surge as fossil fuel production continues to expand. By supporting the Willow Project, the administration is exacerbating the climate crisis and further jeopardizing the well-being of vulnerable populations.
As young people who will inherit a burning planet, we are gravely concerned about the long-term impact of the Willow Project and the precedent it sets for future decisions on climate and energy policy. We have said it before and we say it again: We need system change, not climate change. We need people in power who show real climate leadership, who will work with young people and stand by their promises. Considering that the USA is the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gasses, stopping developments like the Willow Project is the bare minimum of what it needs to do.
The US reduction targets are already insufficient for keeping global warming below 1.5°C and we need to see ramped up ambition and accelerated implementation from Biden. He must prioritize the future of our generation, frontline communities and the planet. We urge the president to stick to his word and not commit to funding any new fossil fuel development.
That means stopping the Willow project and ensuring there can be no more of its kind. It is the only way to secure a livable planet for all. It is also a chance to listen to our generation and take the first important steps away from a broken political system where leaders care more about short-term political gain than our collective futureKeep ReadingShow Less
And They're Back... BP Wins Two Dozen New Leases to Drill in Gulf
Oil giant makes winning bid on numerous drilling sites just one week after ban lifted
Mar 21, 2014
Less than four years after the largest single disaster in the history of the oil industry and just one week after a ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was lifted by the US Department of the Interior, oil giant British Petroleum (BP) was awarded a license to drill in two dozen separate locations this week as it made winning bids at a federal auction with a total pricetag of $54 million.
The Interior Department lease auction on Wednesday included 326 blocks that received bids from 50 oil and drilling companies.
According to the Associated Press:
BP was the only bidder on a tract a few miles west of [of where the 2010 Deepwater Disaster occured], getting it for $1.2 million. The company was suspended from new federal business after pleading guilty in November 2012 to criminal charges from a major oil spill in the Gulf two years earlier. The suspension was lifted Friday and BP bid a total of $53.8 million on 31 tracts Wednesday, with high bids on 24.
"As the nation's largest energy investor, BP is committed to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where we have been an active player for a quarter century and have a multi-billion dollar investment program underway," spokesman Brett Clanton said in an emailed statement. "BP's participation in today's lease sale not only underscores the importance of the region, but it is also a testament to the vital role BP plays in the American economy and to the country's energy future."
BP's highest bid was $8 million for an Atwater Valley tract about 180 miles south of Biloxi, Miss., and 10 to 15 miles northeast of the day's most hotly contested tract -- the one for which Freeport-McMoRan bid $68.8 million. The other five bids included Exxon Mobil Corp.'s $45.5 million.
BP didn't bid on that tract, but paid $1.2 million each for two within 20 miles west of it and one just east of its own $8 million purchase.
Subsequently, in an interview with the Real News Network, author and freelance journalist Cherri Foytlin, who has covered the story of the BP Deepwater disaster closely and written a book on the subject, said that BP's return to the gulf is a travesty of justice and an affront to those in the region still suffering from the impacts of the 2010 blowout.
Justice has not been served, says Foytlin. "We are still seeing a large amount of environmental damages here in the Gulf Coast, and the fishing communities are still having low catches, so the communities here and the people here who are dealing with this are continuing to be affected."
"I feel like we're an abused child that's been put back in the hand of the abuser," she continued. "I don't believe that BP is going to go out and make everything okay and safe out there. The track record that they have has not proven to the American people or to the Gulf citizens up to this point that they're serious about making those changes, except for on paper."
Watch the video:
BP Gets Green Light to Drill in Gulf, But Has SafetyJournalist Cherri Foytlin discusses how Gulf residents are still experiencing the aftereffects of the oil spill in health effects and ...
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