September, 02 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tel: (520) 623.5252,Email:,center@biologicaldiversity.org
Documents: Trump Administration Waiving Rules for Oil Drilling, Mining
50 Major Projects Could Be Exempted From Key Environmental Laws
WASHINGTON
Documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity show that a presidential executive order has prompted the Department of the Interior to consider exemptions to key provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act for more than 50 major projects.
Twenty-one of the projects involve fossil fuel extraction and mining activities. These include the Jordan Cove liquid natural gas export terminal in Oregon and the Converse County Oil and Gas Project, which will allow 5,000 new wells in Wyoming. Other projects being considered for expedited approval involve grazing, energy storage and transmission, water delivery, highway construction and renewable energy.
"Rushing to approve more climate-killing fossil fuel projects while ignoring environmental harms is wrong, and using COVID-19 as an excuse is despicable," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center. "This massive giveaway to special interests shows the Trump administration only cares about currying favor with polluters. Poisoning our air and killing endangered wildlife won't help fight the coronavirus."
On June 4, President Trump cited COVID-19 when he signed an executive order requiring all federal agencies to invoke their emergency authority to bypass the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws to approve projects as fast as possible. These records are the first that have been released highlighting what projects are under consideration under that order.
Federal agencies already had emergency powers to respond quickly to actual emergencies like natural disasters. Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, this emergency power has been invoked 47 times to expedite recovery efforts from such disasters. Similarly, projects can be approved rapidly under the Endangered Species Act in emergency circumstances, with consultations happening afterwards.
As the records show, President Trump's executive order allows any project to be approved anywhere in the country based on the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June the Center sought information under the Freedom of Information Act from every federal agency involved in the approval of infrastructure projects. After every federal agency refused to provide any records, the Center filed suit in federal court to force the release of information.
"These documents show that dozens of dangerous projects could be rubber-stamped without any environmental review," said Hartl. "We'll fight every one of them in court if need be to stop this administration's relentless assault on our environment."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
'My Child Is Human': Palestinian American Mother Disrupts Austin Testimony
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A week after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that the U.S. has no "evidence of genocide being created" in Gaza, peace activists disrupted the Pentagon chief's testimony on the Biden administration's 2025 budget request and demanded he acknowledge the humanity of Palestinian children.
"My child is human!" said Nasbeebah Hajjaj, a Palestinian-American woman who held up her 16-month-old son, Hamza. "Stop killing Palestinian children!"
The anti-war group CodePink said Hajjaj immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was two months old, and has lost approximately 20 family members to Israel's bombardment of Gaza since October.
The group targeted Austin's testimony a month after the Biden administration released its 2025 budget request—a proposal that includes $1.1 trillion in military-related spending. Despite growing calls from U.S. lawmakers and rights advocates, the White House has not announced conditions for military aid to Israel, which has been widely accused of human rights violations as it has assaulted Gaza and blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians.
Israel's bombardment has killed at least 33,899 Palestinians so far, and more than two dozen people have died of starvation in recent months as international experts have warned parts of northern Gaza are facing famine.
At least 13,000 children have been killed, and the United Nations reported in February that 70% of those killed overall have been women and children—even as Israel and the U.S. have insisted Israeli forces are targeting Hamas.
The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in January saying Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza, and lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have expressed support for the ruling—but the U.S. has dismissed the court's findings, including at Austin's hearing last week.
While Hajjaj held up her son at Wednesday's hearing, another protester, identified by CodePink as Helen, addressed the defense secretary.
"Secretary Austin, why are you denying Israel's genocide in Gaza? Why are you denying genocide in Gaza?" said Helen, who was arrested after being led out of the hearing. "The whole world sees it! You know the laws of war! You know you have blood on your hands! You have blood on your hands! We have blood on our hands."
The advocates chanted, "Shame on you!" as they were led out of the hearing room.
Outside the hearing room, Hajjaj emphasized that the Biden administration has "the power to stop" Israel's attacks on Gaza by cutting off its military aid—of which the U.S. is the largest international supplier. The Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that the U.S. cannot provide military funding to countries that block American humanitarian aid.
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The report highlights the rise of a new class of billion-dollar military contractors, "a combination of gargantuan tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and hundreds of smaller, pre-IPO startup companies supported by VC firms."
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A lack of transparency is obscuring the true value of some of the largest military contracts to tech companies.
"One estimate indicates that U.S. military and intelligence agencies awarded at least $28 billion to Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) between 2018 and 2022," the report states. "The actual value of these contracts is likely much higher, because many of the largest known contracts with U.S. tech companies are classified and withheld from public procurement databases."
González found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
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González said that multi-year software-as-a-service contracts "could make the Pentagon and CIA more dependent than ever on the expertise of technical experts from the private sector."
The risk of conflicts of interest increases as military-dependent tech companies go public.
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There's also the danger of a "revolving door" between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon as many senior government officials "are now gravitating towards defense-related VC or private equity firms as executives or advisers after they retire from public service."
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González details how "overblown, inaccurate, ideological talking points are driving defense funding for Big Tech," including "grandiose claims about the effectiveness of artificial intelligence; the overestimation of China's military and technological capabilities; the idea that America has the ability and duty to protect the world's democratic societies; and a steadfast belief that the best way to preserve U.S. dominance is through a free market that prioritizes corporate needs."
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About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
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