BIDEN GIVETH AND HE TAKETH AWAY
It is a huge victory for the earth that the Biden administration has just announced new regulations that will limit future oil drilling in the western arctic. According to Earthjustice who fights in court to protect our environment and public lands, this will “help preserve 13 million acres of ecologically sensitive lands inside the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska by increasing protections from oil and gas development. These regulations will completely prohibit any new oil and gas leasing for 10.6 million acres in the Reserve that have been designated as Special Areas. This means protecting the habitat of caribou, polar bears, musk oxen, and other animals who live in these areas.
Meanwhile, totally offsetting this move to preserve the environment in Alaska, Biden has given ConocoPhillips’ the right to drill in 13 million acres of Alaska’s North Slope. The Willow Project, as it is called, was passionately fought by environmentalists, politicians on the right and left, as well as in court. Unfortunately, a federal judge in Alaska refused to halt the project. A spokesperson representing the Center for Biological Diversity said regarding the Willow Project, “Protecting one area of the Arctic so you can destroy another doesn’t make sense and it won’t help the people and wildlife who will be upended by the Willow Project. Biden approved the Willow Project knowing full well it’ll cause massive and irreversible destruction.” Environmental lawyers appealed the judge’s decision and are now awaiting a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Whatever backroom, unheard, publicly unseen meetings that are going on in the White House, it is obvious that unsavory deals are being made. When a president takes two completely opposite actions regarding drilling in the same state – one saving the environment and the other completely destroying it, we can be certain Biden is not making decisions based on what’s good for the earth and it’s inhabitants.
Here is a link to the Whitehouse email where you can give your opinion regarding the Willow Project. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
LIES OF THE OIL COMPANIES
We constantly hear from oil companies, their supporters, and misguided members of the public that drilling in the most sensitive areas of our country – any and all public lands, national parks, the Grand Canyon, animal habitats, near communities, large and small, offshore all along our coastlines, and in the Gulf of Mexico will make oil prices go down because all this oil sucked out of our U.S. earth belongs to us and will stay right here. What an incredible whopper of a lie that is.
This month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals gave oil companies the right to initiate the largest oil export project in the United States. The Sea Port Oil Terminal off the coast of Brazoria Country, Texas will have the capacity to export 2 million barrels of crude oil per day to foreign markets. Experts predict “that crude oil exports from this terminal could have lifecycle emissions equivalent to operating nearly 90 new coal-fired power plants and cause more terminals to be built, more pipelines, and more petrochemical facilities.” The destruction of our environment and our health is unimaginable if these kinds of projects are allowed to go forward unchecked.
THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
We do not benefit in any way from oil that is drilled in this country. Only oil companies benefit. People who believe otherwise are deluding themselves. Right now the U.S. is the 5th largest exporter of oil in the world. Oil companies aim to make the U.S. number 1. And surprise, surprise, gas prices at the pump continue to skyrocket.
The Arctic Tundra belongs to us and the Animals Who Call it Home
Not Oil Companies