Federal Lands
Haaland’s Interior Department has restored protections for monuments like Bears Ears and wild spaces like the Tongass National Forest. That’s a big win for the public and Indigenous groups that were on the frontlines of the fight to protect Bears Ears.
But the department is all but failing when it comes to keeping oil and gas interests off public lands. After a promising start with Biden signing an executive order pausing the federal oil and gas leasing program, his administration caved to a lawsuit brought by red states, offering the largest fossil fuel lease sale in U.S. history in November. It also defended a Trump-era plan to allow ConocoPhillips drill in the Arctic. Since taking office, Biden has approved more lease sales than Trump did in every year of his presidency except the last one. Meanwhile, the White House also argued in September that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showing the dire impacts if we keep digging up fossil fuels “does not present sufficient cause” to end offshore drilling. Looks like someone needs a crash course in climate science and reading comprehension.
Grade: C
