President Obama leaves Gulf of Mexico as energy sacrifice zone
by Marissa Knodel, climate change campaigner
But even as we move full steam ahead towards cleaner energy, the United States will still need to use fossil fuels in the near term. — The White House
Last week the Obama administration responded to a “We the People” petition submitted online on March 30 that called on President Obama to secure his climate legacy by halting all new drilling, fracking and mining on public lands and waters. The petition received over 100,000 signatures from committed activists across the broad Keep It in the Ground movement. The White House response said the Obama administration is committed to tackling climate change and transitioning away from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy, but that fossil fuel energy development will need to continue in the near term.
We are incredibly disappointed that President Obama still doesn’t get it. Trying to justify new fossil fuel development blatantly ignores the urgency and scale of what the climate crisis demands we do to mitigate its worst impacts, and is tantamount to climate denial.
President Obama cannot claim to be a climate leader while he auctions off millions of acres of public lands and waters to Fossil Fuel Empires. More fossil fuels have already been leased than can be burned to avoid climate catastrophe. Staying on the fossil fuel path is irresponsible and hypocritical at a time when we need to break free from fossil fuels and accelerate a just transition to a clean energy economy.
The dirty legacy of fossil fuels is already wreaking havoc on our planet, natural landscapes, and the health and welfare of communities. Just last week, Shell spilled approximately 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and proved once again that drilling never has been and never will be safe. Coastal wetlands are shrinking along the Gulf Coast at a rate of one football field an hour, and the people of Isle de Jean Charles are being labeled America’s first climate refugees. Half of U.S. petroleum and natural gas refining capacity takes place along the Gulf Coast, where towns like Port Arthur, Texas live under a toxic cloud, and the area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana is infamously known as “cancer alley.” The Obama administration must stop treating places like the Gulf as energy sacrifice zones, and to protect what natural heritage is left from energy companies that seek to drill, frack and mine for profit.
The seas may be rising, but so are the people. In less than a year, thousands of people have rallied against new fossil fuel development and successfully postponed five oil and gas lease auctions, stopped Shell from drilling in the Arctic, and kept the Atlantic safe from offshore drilling. Every victory shows that people power trumps fossil power. It’s President Obama’s duty to listen to the American people and take quick and decisive action when they say “Keep It in the Ground!”
Take action: Tell Obama to #KeepItintheGround
