Oil companies are still devouring federal lands with drilling -- at a higher rate than when Trump was president.
When Biden was on the campaign trail, he said he would end new oil drilling on federal lands.1 He did issue an Executive Order pausing new drilling leases -- but a judge threw it out. Now the Biden administration is on track to approve over 6,000 new oil drilling permits (which are different from leases) on federal lands for companies like ExxonMobil and others.2 That’s more permits than any year since George Bush was president.3
For context, Trump never issued more than 4,200 permits in one year. In his first year, Biden will have authorized more drilling permits on federal lands than Trump did in his first two years in office combined.4 These new permits, combined with new authorizations for Liquefied Natural Gas almost ensure that the United States will not meet the goals we set in the Paris agreement.5
Tell Biden and the Department of the Interior: No Drilling on Federal Land!
From wildfires in the Pacific Northwest causing unsafe air as far as away as New York, to floods across the globe from Brooklyn to Germany to China, and historic heat waves across the West Coast, we are feeling the effects of global warming.
When thinking about the scale of the climate crisis, things can feel hopeless. But together, we can take action to fight climate catastrophe.
Biden claims to care about climate change. It's not too late to prove he means it. So far, he’s approved over 2,000 drilling permits. Biden can and must immediately stop issuing new drilling permits on federal land.
We can't let Big Oil get what they want and give up on addressing climate change. The president has proven to be responsive to public pressure on oil and the climate crisis, and your voice could make a difference. Together, we need to show the president that Americans want a safe future on our planet, not new oil wells.
Tell Biden: Save our planet, stop drilling on federal land!
Sources:
1. The Washington Post, "Biden vowed to ban new drilling on public lands. It won't be easy," November 19, 2020.
2. NPR, "Biden Promised to End New Drilling On Federal Land, But Approvals Are Up," July 13, 2021.
3, 4. Bureau of Land Management, "BLM Oil and Gas Statistics," 2021.
5. NPR, "Biden Promised to End New Drilling On Federal Land, But Approvals Are Up," July 13, 2021.