Federal lands across the country are an important component in America’s fight against climate change in part because they protect forests that act as a carbon sink. But even as it seeks to rein in emissions, the federal government is being pressured to lease more public lands for oil and gas development.
“A decision to open an area to oil and gas development will have a direct impact on climate change because of the fossil fuels that are burned to develop the site and the methane gases that are often released during development and production,” Mark Squillace, a natural resources law professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and environmental attorney Alexander Hood wrote in the Lewis and Clark Law School Environmental Law Review.
Though some scientists and environmentalists are urging the Obama administration to close off all federal public lands to oil and gas leasing because they see it as a cause of climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in an August news conference that the administration wants to keep the land available for oil and gas leasing and development to bolster U.S. energy independence and reduce oil imports.
“These decisions are typically made by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),” said Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who signed a letter on Tuesday urging the White House to halt all oil and gas leasing on federal lands. “If you look at their official position, they give lip service to climate change, talking about the importance of facilitating renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and carbon sequestration projects, but they conspicuously avoid talking about the central problem — the continued extraction of fossil fuels.”
Read more at Warming Casts Shadow over Oil Leasing on Public Lands
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