SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Biden Admin Approved Hundreds More Public Lands Drilling Permits Than Trump
Biden Touted 30 x 30 Land Conservation Effort While His Administration Was Busy Approving 900 More Public Lands Oil and Gas Drilling Permits Than Trump
WASHINGTON
Today, responding to news that the Biden administration has approved nearly 1000 more oil and gas drilling permits on public lands than the Trump administration, government watchdog Accountable.US released the following statement:
"Of all the environmental issues where President Biden could be surpassing Trump, handing out nearly 1,000 more leases to drill on public lands is not even on the list," said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. "Just last month the Biden administration was bragging about making progress to conserve 30 percent of our nation's land and water. These new permit numbers fly in the face of that critical goal. The public lands leasing program has been ripe for reform for decades. If only the President would finally act."
As Politico PRO reported today, "the Biden Interior Department approved nearly 900 more permits to drill on public land in 2021 than the Trump administration had in its first year in office, according to an analysis from progressive group Center for Biological Diversity." Many of the drilling permits are in New Mexico, the U.S.'s second largest oil-producing state.
BACKGROUND:
- By November 2021, The Biden Administration Had Already Approved More Oil And Gas Drilling Permits Than The Trump Administration Did Annually For Three Years. The Biden Administration Approved More Oil And Gas Drilling Permits In Ten Months Than The Trump Administration Approved Annually For Three Years. "The Biden administration has approved more oil and gas drilling permits on public lands per month than the Trump administration did during the first three years of Donald Trump's presidency, according to an analysis shared exclusively with The Climate 202." [Washington Post, 12/06/21]
- Joe Biden Pledged To End Oil To New Oil And Gas Leasing On Federal Lands: During His 2020 Presidential Campaign, Joe Biden Pledged To End Oil And Gas Drilling On Federal Land. "Biden's campaign promise to end leasing for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and his early executive order calling for a pause on new federal auctions and review of the leasing program sparked optimism among the greens that he was set to curb output of the fossil fuels driving climate change." [Politico Pro, 12/03/21]
- Just Last Month His Administration Boasting About Its "Progress" Towards Conserving 30% Of The Nations Land And Water: The Biden Administration Attempted To Tout Its Conservation Efforts And Progress Toward Protecting 30% Of US Lands And Waters By 2030 In A December Report. "Today, the Biden-Harris Administration issued its first annual progress report on the America the Beautiful initiative, highlighting steps the Administration has taken over the past year to support locally-led and voluntary efforts to conserve, connect, and restore lands and waters across the nation that sustain the health of our communities, power local economies, and help combat climate change. Released by the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report outlines the collective work to pursue the first-ever national conservation goal established by a President - a goal of conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030." [White House, Press Release, 12/20/21]
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
LATEST NEWS
With Baseless Fraud Claim, White House Says Trump Preparing Anti-Voter Executive Order
Asked to provide evidence supporting her claim of voting fraud in California, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, "It's just a fact."
Nov 04, 2025
President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order aimed at rolling back voting rights, a measure that may include attacks on mailed ballots, a top administration official said Tuesday.
"The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we've seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“Like any executive order, of course, any executive order the president signs is within his full executive authority and within the confines of the law," she added.
Asked by a reporter what is her evidence of electoral fraud in California, Leavitt replied without evidence that "it's just a fact."
LEAVITT: It's absolutely true that there's fraud in California's electionsQ: What's the evidence of that?LEAVITT: It's just a fact
[image or embed]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 4, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Leavitt's remarks came hours after Trump baselessly attacked California’s vote-by-mail system in a post on his Truth Social network.
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump alleged without evidence. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”
Trump has previously vowed to ban mail-in ballots, a move legal experts say would be unconstitutional.
The White House's announcement also came as Americans voted in several high-stakes elections, including California's Proposition 50 retaliatory redistricting proposal; the New York City mayoral race between progressive Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa; gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia; and a crowded contest for Minneapolis mayor highlighted by democratic socialist state Sen. Omar Fateh's (D-62) bid to unseat third-term Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey.
The announcement also followed a federal judge's permanent blocking of part of Trump’s executive order requiring proof of US citizenship on federal voter registration forms.
Democracy defenders have repudiated Trump's attacks on mailed ballots and claims of voter fraud—a longtime right-wing bugaboo unsupported by facts on the ground.
"Voting by mail as permitted by the laws of your state is legal," ACLU Voting Rights Project director Sophia Lin Lakin says in a statement on the group's website about Trump's order from March.
"In his sweeping executive order, Trump tried to bully states into not counting ballots properly received after Election Day under state law by threatening to withhold federal funding," she continues. "A federal court has temporarily blocked this part of the executive order."
"Trump’s effort to target mail-in voting is a blatant overreach, intruding on states’ constitutional authority to set the rules for elections," Lin Lakin adds. "It threatens to disenfranchise tens of millions of eligible voters and would no doubt disproportionately impact historically excluded communities, including voters of color, naturalized citizens, people with disabilities, and the elderly, by pushing unnecessary barriers to the fundamental right to vote."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressive Jewish Group Hits Back After Trump Calls Jews Voting for Mamdani ‘Stupid’
"Trump and his allies claim to defend Jews, yet ignore antisemitism in their own ranks," Jamie Beran of Bend the Arc told Common Dreams.
Nov 04, 2025
President Donald Trump used one of his final messages before New York's mayoral election on Tuesday to insult the many Jewish supporters expected to turn out in favor of the Democratic nominee, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self-professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social just hours after polls opened.
It was one final attempt to smear the assemblyman, who pre-election polls showed leading comfortably, as antisemitic over his criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights, which has revealed stark divisions in opinion among American Jews, with New York being no exception.
Courting Trump's support—which he earned Monday along with that of Elon Musk and senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller—former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has leaned into the most vulgar of Islamophobic attacks against Mamdani over the home stretch of the campaign, referring to him as a "terrorist sympathizer" and suggesting he'd support a second 9/11.
But in the face of these attacks, Mamdani's support among Jewish voters has remained strong. In July, with the field still fractured, he outright led among Jewish voters. And though Cuomo has bolstered his Jewish support since the dropout of incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, polls have varied widely, with some showing Mamdani and Cuomo virtually tied among Jewish voters and others showing Cuomo with a commanding lead.
Mamdani has nevertheless managed to make tremendous inroads with Jewish leaders, most recently the influential Orthodox rabbi, Moshe Indig, who endorsed Mamdani at a meeting in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday.
He had previously earned the support of the Brooklyn native Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and local leaders, including a former mayoral contender for this cycle, Comptroller Brad Lander, and Ruth Messinger, a former Manhattan borough president and Democratic nominee for mayor in 1997.
He has also received the endorsement of several Jewish organizations, including the pro-Palestinian Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action, the New York-based Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), and Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization that deals primarily with domestic matters.
Following his latest insult to Mamdani, Jamie Beran, the CEO of Bend the Arc, said that “Trump is showing once again that he doesn’t care about Jewish people. He only uses us when it’s convenient for him, with no regard to the damage he does to the Jewish community or the danger he puts us in. Both Trump and disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo use smokescreen antisemitism to manipulate Jewish fears for their personal gain."
Trump's attack on Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, is hardly his first. In recent days, the president has slurred the assemblyman as a "communist lunatic" and indicated he'd cut off federal funding from New York if he wins the election. With support from Republican members of Congress, he's also threatened to strip Mamdani's US citizenship and have him deported from the country if he attempts to interfere with deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to carry out mass deportations.
But although Trump has often invoked "antisemitism" to justify his efforts to punish pro-Palestine speech, he's long degraded Jewish people who vote in ways he disagrees with. During the 2024 election, he ranted that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion"—an insult to the 79% of Jewish voters who voted for his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Before that, he'd repeatedly referred to Jewish Americans who do not vote for him as "disloyal" to Israel, a country in which they do not live.
In recent weeks, the Republican Party has been dogged by several scandals related to antisemitism. Last month, a leaked group chat of Young Republican operatives—including several who worked for the New York GOP—was revealed by Politico to be full of praise for Adolf Hitler and jokes about gas chambers. Shortly after, Trump's pick for the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, had his nomination tanked after it was revealed that he'd described himself as having a "Nazi streak."
And over the past week, the Heritage Foundation—the influential right-wing think tank behind Trump's Project 2025 agenda—has dealt with discord in its own ranks after its leader, Kevin Roberts, stridently defended right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson's friendly interview with self-described fascist and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
"The antisemitism smears against Zohran Mamdani increasingly fall flat because people are learning to see through smokescreen antisemitism," Beran told Common Dreams. "That is, how bad actors who have never joined our work, or any work, to actually end antisemitism, instead only use antisemitism to promote themselves and their agendas—which harm Jews, our loved ones, and our neighbors. Trump and his allies claim to defend Jews, yet ignore antisemitism in their own ranks."
"Jewish leaders who actually want to end antisemitism know that leaders like Zohran understand that a strong democracy keeps Jews—and all of us—safest," she continued. "Jews exist across many identities, from immigrants, to trans people, from Black and brown people, to those with disabilities who are struggling to afford life in the city. And actually trying to end antisemitism and all bigotry requires all of us.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
100+ US Campus Protests to Call Out Trump Attacks and Unaffordable Education
"Trump's higher education policies have been catastrophic for our communities and our democracy," said one union leader as the president pressures universities to sign a "loyalty oath."
Nov 04, 2025
Aiming to "organize millions of students to disrupt business as usual and force our schools and our political system to finally work for us," progressive groups and labor unions are planning a nationwide day of coordinated protests at over 100 US campuses on Friday, November 7.
Planned by Students Rise Up, in coordination with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and Higher Education Labor United (HELU), the upcoming demonstrations "will be the first in a series of nationwide days of protests leading up to student strikes and worker actions on May Day 2026," according to organizers.
In addition to the unions, groups backing the effort include Campus Climate Network, College Democrats of America, Gen-Z for Change, Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace, March for Our Lives, and Sunrise Movement, whose executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, stressed in a Tuesday statement that "everyone deserves an accessible, affordable, and quality education."
"Everyone deserves to be safe at school—no matter their race, gender, or immigration status," Shiney-Ajay said. "Everyone deserves the freedom to peacefully protest. We're joining with worker allies to demand our administrations and politicians start fighting for an education system that works for our generation."
We demand an end to student debt! We're disrupting business as usual on Nov 7 to demand college affordability, the freedom to teach & learn, and safety for the most vulnerable on our campuses. Signs made by Josh MacPhee 🔥 grab one when you protest this Friday! #DefendHigherEd#EndStudentDebt
[image or embed]
— AAUP (@aaup.org) November 4, 2025 at 11:14 AM
The plans for the protests come as campus administrations are considering President Donald Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education," which schools can sign for priority access to federal funding and other "positive benefits." Critics have condemned it as "authoritarian" and an "extortion agreement," and some top universities have declined to sign on.
Alicia Colomer, managing director at Campus Climate Network, said Tuesday that "young people are making their message very clear: Universities should be a place of learning, not propaganda machines. That's why students, workers, and alumni around the country are taking action."
As part of Friday's protests, organizers said, participants will urge campus leaders to reject Trump's "loyalty oath" and, more broadly, "commit to freedom of expression, college for all, and security for all at school."
Asked to comment on the day of action, Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the US Department of Education—which initially offered the compact to a short list of prestigious universities—repeated previous statements, telling Inside Higher Ed that "the Trump administration is achieving reforms on higher education campuses that conservatives have dreamed about for 50 years."
"Institutions are once again committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws consistently, they are rooting out DEI and unconstitutional race preferences, and they are acknowledging sex as a biological reality in sports and intimate spaces," Biedermann added, referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Meanwhile, AAUP president Todd Wolfson put out a statement taking aim at the president's assault on higher education.
"From attacks on academic freedom in the classroom to the defunding of lifesaving scientific research to surveilling and arresting peaceful student protesters, Trump's higher education policies have been catastrophic for our communities and our democracy," he said. "We're excited to help build a coalition of students and workers united in fighting back for a higher education system that is accessible and affordable for all and serves the common good."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular