November, 12 2020, 11:00pm EDT
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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Corey Himrod, Alaska Wilderness League, (202) 544-5205
Nicole Schmitt, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, (907) 917-9453
Pam Miller, Arctic Audubon Society, (907) 441-2407
Rebecca Sentner, Audubon Alaska, (907) 276-7034
Chris Rider, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Yukon Chapter, (867) 393-8080
Gwen Dobbs, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0269
Rebecca Bowe, Earthjustice, (415) 217-2093
Rose Mohammadi, Environment America, (650) 526-8889
David Raskin, Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, (425) 209-9009
Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth US, (202) 222-0744
Emily Samsel, League of Conservation Voters, (828) 713-9647
Matt Smelser, National Audubon Society, (202) 516-5593
Anne Hawke, Natural Resources Defense Council, (646) 823-4518
Erica Watson, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, (907) 452-5093
Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, (914) 261-4626
Tim Woody, The Wilderness Society, (907) 223-2443
Dawnell Smith, Trustees for Alaska, (907) 433-2013
Trump Administration Invites Oil Industry to Desecrate Sacred Arctic Refuge
Agency is ignoring impacts to people, climate, and wildlife, and relying on flawed science in its rushed, secretive process.
WASHINGTON
Amid a global public-health crisis and with oil prices at extreme lows, the lame duck Trump administration is expected to issue a "request for nominations" as early as Monday, asking oil companies to identify their preferences on areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain to lease for oil drilling. This is the latest move by the Trump administration in its rushed process to open one of the nation's most iconic and sacred landscapes to oil drilling.
The case for protecting this sacred land is so clear that five of the six major U.S. banks -- Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo -- are among the two dozen banks around the world that have announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge. And President-elect Biden has made permanent protection for the Arctic Refuge and other areas impacted by President Trump's attack on federal lands and waters a Day One priority.
INDIGENOUS LEADERS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS:
"The oil and gas lease sales on the Arctic Refuge demonstrate the Trump administration's complete disregard for the human rights of the Gwich'in & Inupiat people and our ways of life that depend on the health of the Refuge's coastal plain," said Jody Potts (Han Gwich'in), Native Movement regional director. "In the Arctic, our peoples are being heavily impacted by a climate crisis due to fossil fuel extraction, which we cannot afford to continue. The adverse impacts of oil development in these sacred and critical caribou calving grounds will be heavily felt by Gwich'in and Inupiat villages. As a Gwich'in person, I know my family's food security, culture, spirituality and ways of life are at stake. Gwich'in people will not compromise and we will defend our way of life for future generations until this sacred land is permanently protected."
"The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is sacred land that sustains not just the Gwich'in and Inupiat Peoples but is one of the last untouched ecosystems in the world," said the director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), Siqiniq Maupin. "The global consciousness is shifting into an equitable and just transition to a sustainable economy, yet the United States continues to ignore science and human rights. Indigenous Peoples have passed down stories for generations of the climate crisis we are currently facing. Without Indigenous leadership and values going forward we are left with empty promises, boom and bust economy, and endangering the health and safety for all. Inupiat People value all life and the narrative of our Inupiaq Nation supporting this type of project goes against all our principles, ways of life, and who we are. SILA stands in solidarity with the Gwich'in for protection of the Porcupine caribou birthing grounds."
"This administration has consistently ignored our voices and dismissed our concerns. Our food security, our land and our way of life is on the verge of being destroyed. Handing up this very sacred area to oil companies is a violation of our human rights," said Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee. "Any company thinking about participating in this corrupt process should know that they will have to answer to the Gwich'in people and the millions of Americans who stand with us. We will continue to protect this place forever. This fight is far from over, and we will do whatever it takes to defend our sacred homelands."
"The Trump administration opening up oil lease sales is devastating to our way of life and to our future," said members of the Gwich'in Youth Council. "The Gwich'in people's identity is connected to the land, water and animals. We have lost so much we can't afford to lose more. Please stand with the Gwich'in Nation and help us prevent oil extraction in the calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, the sacred place where life begins."
A COALITION OF INDIGENOUS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS RESPONDED AS FOLLOWS:
"The Trump administration is barreling forward with a last-minute lease sale in America's most iconic wilderness after sidestepping the environmental review process mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. The Interior Department's own documents show it has altered or disregarded scientific data on drilling's impacts on imperiled wildlife, including threatened polar bears who den on the coastal plain; drastically overestimated potential leasing revenue; and failed to adequately consult with the Indigenous Peoples of the Gwich'in Nation of Alaska and Canada who make their home along the migratory route of the Porcupine caribou herd and rely on the herd for their survival.
"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not move forward with this rushed lease sale. This agency acknowledged that drilling would release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, but asserted that, 'there is not a climate crisis.' BLM has compromised the integrity of its analysis and the hard-working career scientists and professionals who have dedicated themselves to protecting the coastal plain's exceptional values. BLM should scrap this flawed review and start over. The agency needs to truly, thoroughly assess all the impacts from oil and gas activities before holding a lease sale.
"Political appointees in the Trump administration have flouted the law at the expense of a wondrous expanse of land that has sustained Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years and that the vast majority of Americans want to protect. Any company that is foolish enough to participate in this sham process must now know that we are fully committed to challenging these legally flawed actions in court. The will of the American people and the rule of law will prevail."
Members of the public are encouraged to stand with these communities in opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Learn more at: https://www.arcticrefugedefense.org/act/take-action
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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US Leads Global Surge in Oil and Gas Expansion, Analysis Finds
"The U.S. has become a petrostate and is still, even under President Biden, permitting new drilling," John Sterman of MIT said. "The developed countries don't show any significant efforts to limit drilling."
Jul 24, 2024
Five wealthy countries including the United States have led a global surge in oil and gas development in 2024, threatening international climate goals, according to an analysis published by The Guardian on Wednesday.
The U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Norway together are projected by the end of 2024 to have issued licenses for fossil fuel projects that will emit 11.9 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—far more than in any of the previous five years, and roughly equal to a full year of emissions from China, the world's highest emitter—according to industry data analyzed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and shared with the newspaper.
The five states are responsible for more than two-thirds of all oil and gas licenses issued globally since 2020, with the U.S. alone accounting for half of the world total. President Joe Biden's administration increased oil and gas licensing by 20% over Trump-era levels, and issued a record 758 new extraction licenses in 2023, according to the analysis.
"The U.S. has become a petrostate and is still, even under President Biden, permitting new drilling," John Sterman, a climate policy expert and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's business school, told The Guardian. "The developed countries don't show any significant efforts to limit drilling."
Sterman pointed to a "fundamental contradiction" between rich countries' international commitments and their ongoing fossil fuel expansion. "We can't keep going on like this," he said.
Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion
Surge by world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK- threatens to unleash 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions.
By @olliemilman & @ninalakhani https://t.co/esY5IuIfi9
— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) July 24, 2024
The industry's grip on U.S. politicians has made significant policy change in Washington difficult. In the past decade, fossil fuel companies have spent $1.25 billion on federal lobbying and more than $650 million on campaign contributions, according to OpenSecrets data.
The Conservative-led U.K. government issued a surge of North Sea licenses in the first half of this year, but lost power to the Labour Party following a general election earlier this month. It's not yet clear if Labour will be able or willing to rescind licenses already issued. Currently the U.K. is set to finish 2024 with 72 licenses for projects that would create 101 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—a 50-year high, according to the IISD analysis. Norway and Australia are also seeing major upticks this year.
Capital expenditure at the world's largest oil companies is up 60% since 2020, with $302 billion projected to be spent on well development this year, The Guardian reported. The fossil fuel expansion continues even though the reserves in rich countries are generally hard to reach, as more accessible reserves have already been tapped.
The expansion also comes in spite of disturbing climate news—2023 was hottest year on record, June was the 13th consecutive hottest month, and Monday was the hottest day, having broken a record set the previous day—and dire warnings from leading international institutions. No new fossil fuel projects can proceed if the world is to meet the 1.5° Paris agreement target, the International Energy Agency declared in 2021.
In December, at the United Nations COP28 climate summit, the world's nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, though the agreement was viewed by climate campaigners as weakly worded and ridden with loopholes.
Delegates from wealthy Western nations often present themselves as change-seekers in international climate negotiations, but the IISD analysis adds to evidence that such nations are in fact a big part of the problem.
"Fossil fuel corporations, and the governments that support them, will never stop unless forced to," Bill McGuire, a climate scientist at University College London, said on social media in response to the analysis. "Neither has any interest in the future of the climate, our world, or their own kids."
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Arkansas Supreme Court Orders State to Count Abortion Rights Signatures
The limited ruling was called "a good start" by one pro-democracy group, as advocates hope to include an abortion rights amendment on November ballots.
Jul 24, 2024
Abortion rights advocates in Arkansas were cautiously optimistic Tuesday evening that the state government would count the signatures of more than 100,000 residents who signed petitions in support of an anti-forced pregnancy constitutional amendment, after the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a limited order calling on the secretary of state to begin the process.
Secretary of State John Thurston, a Republican, moved earlier this month to disqualify the petition that advocates had spent months gathering signatures for, claiming organizers had failed to provide information about paid signature-gatherers who had worked on the campaign run by Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG).
On Tuesday evening, the court ruled that Thurston must begin "the initial count of signatures collected by volunteer canvassers according to A.C.A. 7-9-126(a)," but said nothing about whether signatures gathered by paid workers needed to be counted.
The order did not indicate whether Thurston is required to begin the second stage of the tallying process, in which his team would verify that the signatures are accurate and belong to Arkansas voters.
That stage would begin a "cure" period during which AFLG would be allowed to continue collecting signatures.
"We are heartened by this outcome, which honors the constitutional rights of Arkansans to participate in direct democracy."
AFLG turned in more than 101,000 signatures in time for the July 5 deadline, including an estimated 87,382 that were collected by volunteers and 14,143 gathered by paid workers, according to the Arkansas Times.
The state requires a petition for a constitutional amendment to have at least 90,704 signatures to qualify for the November election ballots—so if Thurston is required to count only the signatures collected by volunteers and does not have to initiate the cure period, AFLG's petition may fall short.
The state Supreme Court did leave open the possibility of an additional ruling on the matter, saying the panel "reserves the right to issue further orders and proceed in accordance with state law."
Despite the uncertainty, AFLG said in a statement that "the will of the people won" this round of the fight to ensure Arkansas residents can vote for abortion rights in November.
"On behalf of 101,000 Arkansas voters, 800 volunteers, and the AFLG team, we thank the court for upholding democracy in Arkansas," said the group. "We are heartened by this outcome, which honors the constitutional rights of Arkansans to participate in direct democracy, the voices of 101,000 Arkansas voters who signed the petition, and the work of hundreds of volunteers across the state who poured themselves into this effort."
The amendment proposed by AFLG would state that the Arkansas government "shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services within 18 weeks of fertilization" or in the cases of rape, incest, or "fatal fetal anomaly."
The pro-democracy group For AR People said the court's ruling was "a good start" and noted that at least three of the court's seven judges—Justices Courtney Hudson and Karen Baker and Chief Justice Dan Kemp—seemed "favorable to AFLG's arguments" that the count, the verification process, and the cure period should commence.
Matt Campbell of the Arkansas Times pointed out that AFLG could legally continue gathering signatures as they would during the cure period, before one officially begins.
"Just because a cure period was not explicitly granted doesn't mean AFLG cannot currently be gathering signatures," said Campbell. "The cure period just officially starts the clock, but signatures can be collected before that clock starts and still be valid."
AFLG said that although the matter is not entirely resolved, the court's decision was "reflective of our state motto: 'The People Rule.'"
"We look forward to that principle guiding the rest of the signature verification process," the group said.
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Israeli Forces Have Killed 366 UN Workers and Family Members in Gaza: Leaked Report
Confidential figures shed additional light on what's been the deadliest-ever war for United Nations staff.
Jul 24, 2024
A leaked report obtained by Drop Site estimates that Israeli forces have killed at least 366 United Nations staffers and their family members in the Gaza Strip since October, an indication of the grave threat Israel's ongoing assault poses to humanitarian relief workers and the enclave's broader civilian population.
Drop Site's Ryan Grim reported Wednesday that the confidential figures, assembled by the U.N.'s Crisis Coordination Center, show that three family members of World Food Program staffers and four dependents of U.N. Children's Fund workers were among those killed by Israeli forces. The total number of U.N. staffers killed so far is 195, according to the data.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the primary aid agency operating in Gaza, has seen the largest impact on staffers and their family members. The leaked report estimates that Israeli forces have killed 158 dependents of UNRWA staffers since October.
Israel's devastating military campaign in Gaza, aided by U.S. weaponry and diplomatic support, is by far the deadliest-ever war for U.N. personnel, who have repeatedly been targeted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers fired on a U.N. convoy heading toward Gaza City. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that "the teams were traveling in clearly marked U.N. armored cars and wearing U.N. vests."
"While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover," he added. "Like all other similar U.N. movements, this movement was coordinated and approved by the Israeli authorities."
Targeting humanitarian relief personnel is a war crime.
#Gaza
Heavy shooting from the Israeli Forces at a UN convoy heading to Gaza city.
While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover.
This took place yesterday. The teams were traveling in clearly marked UN armoured cars & wearing UN vests.
One vehicle…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 22, 2024
Grim noted that the leaked report is just "the latest in a series of alarming findings regarding Israel's actions in Gaza," much of which is facing famine conditions due to what U.N. experts recently described as a "targeted starvation campaign" by Israel.
During a 12-hour period earlier this week, Israeli forces killed at least 70 Palestinians and wounded around 200 others—mostly women and children—in a barrage of attacks on the city of Khan Younis, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
The confidential U.N. data emerged hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday afternoon. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are expected to boycott the prime minister's speech.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the lone Palestinian American in Congress, argued Tuesday that Netanyahu "should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court," alluding to that body's request for an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.
On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested on Capitol Hill during a peaceful Jewish-led demonstration against Netanyahu's visit and U.S. complicity in the IDF's mass atrocities in Gaza.
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