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Groups to Obama: Keep It in the Ground, Cancel Fossil Fuel Auction in Santa Fe

Date
April 18, 2016
Contact
Rebecca Sobel (505) 216-6826 rsobel@wildearthguardians.org
In This Release
Climate + Energy  
#KeepItInTheGround

Monday, April 18, 2016
Groups to Obama: Keep It in the Ground, Cancel Fossil Fuel Auction in Santa Fe

Local, regional and national organizations send letter calling on President to keep fossil fuels in the ground
Contact: Rebecca Sobel (505) 216-6826 rsobel@wildearthguardians.org

Additional Contacts:

Mariel Nanasi, New Energy Economy, (505) 989-7262
SusanGordon, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, (505) 577-8438
Eleanor Bravo, Food & Water Watch, (505) 730-8474
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414
Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network, (415) 238-1766
Marissa Knodel, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0729


SANTA FE, N.M.— Local,regional and national organizations sent a letter to President Obama today callingon him to keep federal fossil fuels in the ground and cancel the Bureau of LandManagement’s federal oil and gas auction slated for April 20 in Santa Fe, N.M.,owing to concerns over runaway greenhouse gas pollution and the climate crisis.The Bureau will be auctioning more than 2,300 acres of publicly owned oil andgas in Kansas and Oklahoma to private fossil fuel corporations on Wednesday.

The agency authorized this sale despite the worsening climate crisis;administrative challenges to the auction by the Center for BiologicalDiversity, Sierra Club and others reduced its size from 36,000 to 2,300 acres.

“Days away from signing the Paris climate agreements, the president sayshe’s committed to climate leadership,” said Rebecca Sobel, senior climate and energycampaigner for WildEarth Guardians. “But the hypocrisy is stark—we can’tavert climate catastrophe while BLM continues to auction off our public landsfor fracking. The time for ‘all of the above’ energy policies are over.”

“We can’t talk the talk of addressing climate change and preserving theplanet for our children and lease federal land to the polluters,” said MarielNanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy.

“We’re out of time for delays, half-measures and ‘all of the above’energy policies,” said Taylor McKinnon with the Center. “Limiting temperaturerise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as the Paris climate agreement aims,requires keeping fossil fuels in the ground. President Obama should do that nowby stopping new fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans.”

“Fossil fuel companies have made millions off public land leases whilewrecking the environment, harming people’s health, violating Indigenous rights,and passing off massive clean-up costs to taxpayers. It’s time for PresidentObama and the BLM to heed the people’s call to keep it in the ground, end thecorporate giveaway, and cancel these lands sales forever.” said Ruth Breech, seniorcampaigner for Rainforest Action Network.

Today’s letter states that the sale perpetuates a conflict between theObama administration’s climate goals and its “all of the above” energy policyby leasing federal fossil fuels that should be considered “unburnable” in thecontext of global carbon budgets. It notes that climate science makes clear thata majority of fossil fuels must be kept in the ground to avoid dangerouswarming and the impacts of drought, severe wildfires, extreme weather eventsand global sea-level rise. Federal fossil fuels—those that the presidentdirectly controls—should be the first taken off the table.

“President Obama’s climate legacy depends on keeping fossil fuelsin the ground,” said Marissa Knodel with Friends of the Earth. “With morefossil fuels leased than can be burned to avoid climate catastrophe, President Obamamust put a stop to all new lease sales of public fossil fuels.”

In September more than 400 organizations and leaders working on the“Keep It in the Ground” campaign delivered a letter calling on President Obama to end new federalfossil fuel leasing following reports that doing so would keep up to 450billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution in the ground, and that the presidenthas the legal authority to do so now, without Congress.

“The American Southwest will be among the regions hardest hit byclimate change,” said Eleanor Bravo of Food & Water Watch. “Continuing tosell off fossil fuels from beneath our federal lands is no better than outrightdenial of climate science. Let’s put an end to drilling, fracking and miningfor publicly owned fossil fuels, and remake energy systems in the southwestbased on clean, renewable solutions.”

“The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment is a network ofgroups in the Grants mining district representing communities directly impactedby uranium mining,” said Susan Gordon with the Alliance. “We stand with othergroups today to support keeping all dirty fuels in the ground — oil, gas, coaland uranium—and we support a rapid transition to clean, renewable non-nuclearenergy.”

Groups calling on Obama to withdraw this week’s sale include Center forBiological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, InterfaithWorker Justice – NM, New Energy Economy, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light,Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE), Rainforest Action Network,Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians.

Hundreds of climate activists plan to rally outside of the Santa Feauction at 8:30 on Wednesday should it go forward. Over the past severalmonths, the “Keep It in the Ground” movement has resulted in increasingly largepublic protests at federal fossil fuel auctions in Alaska, Utah, Nevada,Wisconsin, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana; several have been halted due to agencies’inability to accommodate crowds.

To download a copy of today’s letter, click here.

To view a media advisory for Wednesday’s Santa Fe rally, click here.

Background
The American public owns nearly 650 million acres of federal public land, andmore than 1.7 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf — and the fossil fuelsbeneath them. Some 67 million acres ofU.S. public lands are already leased to dirty fossil fuel industries, an area55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park containing up to 43 billiontons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Nearly one quarter of all U.S.climate pollution already comes from burning fossil fuels from public lands.Remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not beenleased to industry contain up to 450 billion additional tons of potentialgreenhouse gas pollution.

InSeptember more than 400 organizations called on President Obama to end federalfossil fuel leasing. In November Sens. Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (D-Vt.) andothers introduced the “Keep It in the Ground Act,” legislation to end newfederal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases.Last month the Obama administration placed a moratorium on federal coal leasingwhile the Department of the Interior studies its impacts on taxpayers and theplanet. Since November 2015 in response to “Keep It in the Ground” protests,the BLM has postponed oil and gas leasing auctions in Utah, Montana, Wyomingand Washington, D.C.

Downloadthe September “Keep It in the Ground” letter to President Obama.

DownloadGrounded: The President’s Power to Fight Climate Change,Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground (this report details the legal authorities withwhich a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases).

DownloadThe Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S.Federal Fossil Fuels (this reportquantifies the volume and potential greenhouse gas emissions of remainingfederal fossil fuels).

DownloadThe Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet.

DownloadPublic Lands, Private Profits (this report details the corporations profitingfrom climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction on public lands).

DownloadWildEarth Guardians’ formal petitioncalling on the Department of the Interior to study for the first time ever theclimate impacts of the federal oil and gas leasing program and to place amoratorium on new leasing until completed that study is completed.

Download the Center for Biological Diversity’s formal petition calling on the Obama administration to halt all newoffshore fossil fuel leasing.