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Biden Administration Holds First Public Lands Lease Sales
Biden continues to violate climate promises with plans to sacrifice 144,000 acres of Western federal lands to Big Oil.
WASHINGTON
Today, the Biden administration kicked off its first onshore oil and gas leases sales with bidding beginning in Wyoming. This marks the first of five planned public lands lease sales across Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Montana.
The Bureau of Land Management currently has no legal obligation to hold these lease sales, and this action is in direct contradiction to Biden's campaign promise to stop new oil and gas leasing on public lands.
Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:
President Biden's massive public lands giveaway in the face of utter climate catastrophe is just the latest sign that his climate commitments are mere rhetoric.
Fossil fuel extraction on public lands causes nearly a quarter of U.S. climate pollution, and minor concessions like raising royalty rates fail to address emissions. The more public lands sacrificed to Big Oil, the more economic damage, death, and destruction are baked into our future.
To stave off the worst of climate change, Biden must keep his promise and end all new leasing on public lands and waters.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
'Like an Obedient Servant': Indian Opposition Blasts Modi's Response to US Killing of Sailors
One Indian politician called President Donald Trump "a cowardly, cold-blooded murderer" and vowed he "will be held accountable for the Indian lives lost."
Jun 15, 2026
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking heat from his political opponents for his response to the deaths of three ship workers who were killed in the Gulf of Oman last week by US forces as part of President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran.
Fury in India has only grown over the past few days as the US has refused to apologize for the deaths of the three men, who were killed by missile strikes as they were working aboard commercial oil tankers.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition National Congress Party, took to social media on Sunday to blast Modi, leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, for remaining "silent" over the killing of the sailors by the US.
"Just days after the murder of three Indian sailors in American attacks—no remorse, no apology," wrote Gandhi, who accused Modi and his allies of behaving "like an obedient servant" by not confronting the Trump administration over the incident.
Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal, who previously served as the chief minister of Delhi, vowed that Trump "will be held accountable for the Indian lives lost," going so far as to call the US president "a cowardly, cold-blooded murderer."
"It is unfortunate that PM Modi remains silent," Kejriwal added, "but soon, India will have a strong prime minister who will make you pay for your misdeeds."
Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor took aim at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for emphasizing, in the wake of the killings, that all ships operating around the Strait of Hormuz "should immediately comply with orders from US forces" or else risk becoming targets.
"Deeply shocking to read this official US statement, which contains absolutely no expression of regret or condolence for the loss of innocent Indian lives," wrote Tharoor. "How can a 'friend' and strategic partner be so deeply insensitive?"
Tharoor added that "practically every merchant ship navigating these crucial waters has Indian crew on board," and asked whether they are "all considered fair fame for US missiles now?"
The US Central Command claimed last week that the ship where the three slain Indian crew members worked "repeatedly refused to comply with directions from American forces," after which US aircraft "fired precision munitions into the ship's engine room."
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Newsom Says DOJ Probe Puts Him and Wife on Trump's Political 'Hit List'
"Donald Trump is simply the most corrupt president in American history. He's turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministry, to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents."
Jun 15, 2026
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said the US Department of Justice was investigating both him and his wife in what he described as an abuse of power being carried out on behalf of President Donald Trump.
In a video posted on social media, Newsom claimed federal agents in recent days "have knocked on the doors of family, friends, and former employees, not because they've found a crime" but "because they're simply trying to find one."
Newsom charged that Trump himself was behind the investigation, which he said was being done in response to his prospective 2028 presidential campaign.
"Donald Trump is simply the most corrupt president in American history," Newsom said. "He's turned the levers of government into his own personal power ministry, to reward cronies and to try to jail his opponents. His personal attorney now runs the Department of Justice, which has repeatedly gone after his political enemies."
Newsom then linked the current DOJ investigation into him to federal investigations of New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and former FBI Director James Comey as yet another politically motivated assault on the rule of law.
"One by one, anyone who has challenged Donald Trump has ended up on his hit list," Newsom explained. "And today, I proudly join that list. After calling for my arrest last year, Donald Trump directed his Department of Justice to investigate me."
The governor said that investigators in recent days had shown particular interest in his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
"If they can't intimidate me, they'll go after the mother of our children," said Newsom. "Donald Trump picked the wrong target. We have nothing to hide."
A source told The New York Times that the investigations into Newsom "were initiated by federal law enforcement officials in California, based on government witnesses offering information there, and were not launched by officials in Washington."
However, Trump has gotten directly involved in multiple DOJ investigations of his political opponents that have led to criminal charges.
Last year, the president inadvertently posted a message on his Truth Social platform that was intended to be a private message to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, in which he pushed her to move more quickly on indicting Comey, James, and US Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
James and Comey would subsequently be hit with criminal charges, although cases against them were dismissed last year by a federal judge. Comey has since been indicted again for posting a purportedly threatening message on social media that some legal experts have described as an "embarrassing" case.
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In 'Grotesque Billionaire Bonanza,' 41 Energy Tycoons Saw Fortunes Grow by $23.5 Billion Since Trump Launched Iran War
“Conflict devastates countries and costs countless lives, yet for some it is extraordinarily profitable,” said the executive director of Oxfam International.
Jun 15, 2026
While much of the world is holding out hope that the US-Israeli war against Iran may finally be reaching an end amid news of a ceasefire agreement, the billionaire owners of some of the world's largest energy companies may not be so thrilled.
A handful of just 41 energy industry barons in Group of Seven (G7) countries collectively increased their wealth by $23.5 billion since the war was launched in late February, according to a report released by Oxfam International on Monday, as the leaders of the world's largest industrialized economies meet in France this week.
The oil shocks resulting from the war have caused fuel prices to spike dramatically, rippling inflation throughout the global economy and straining the pocketbooks of ordinary people around the world. One April report by the United Nations Development Program projected that, as a result of the conflict, an additional 32 million people would be pushed into poverty by the end of the year.
But between March 1 and May 18, owners of the largest oil and energy companies in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, and the UK were adding $300 million on average per day to their collective wealth, Oxfam found through an analysis of Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List.
PRESS RELEASE: G7 energy billionaires pocket $300 million a day since start of unlawful US and Israel war against Iran.
This is equivalent to about $1,000 in the time it takes to blink.
👀https://t.co/UVGHF4a3Tk pic.twitter.com/szSGASCAX8
— Oxfam International Media Team (@newsfromoxfam) June 15, 2026
“Conflict devastates countries and costs countless lives, yet for some it is extraordinarily profitable,” said Oxfam International's executive director Amitabh Behar. “This is a brutal system that redistributes wealth upwards—from workers to shareholders, from the poorest to the richest, from those with the least power to those who already have far too much of it. While families are skipping meals and governments slash life-saving aid, we are witnessing a grotesque billionaire bonanza.”
While their accumulation of wealth cannot solely be attributed to the war, Oxfam noted that the Big Six oil companies—Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, and TotalEnergies—are projected to grow their profits this year by 80% above the pre-war forecast, while the average large G7 company in the sample is projected to see just 8% growth.
Global billionaires saw their wealth increase on average by about 0.42% between March and mid-May. During the same period, G7 billionaires in the energy industry grew their riches by 9%, while those in oil and gas specifically became nearly 11% richer.
Oxfam notes that the Iran War has only widened the chasm between the rich and poor that was already gaping, in no small part thanks to nations in the G7.
While billionaire wealth has surged by nearly $10 trillion since 2020, G7 nations, mostly the US under President Donald Trump, have reduced aid to the poorest nations by $48 billion—equivalent to what billionaires in G7 countries accumulated for themselves in just nine days.
Meanwhile, since 2019, the last time France chaired a G7 summit, Oxfam estimated that 44 people per minute have come to be in need of humanitarian aid, based on 2025 data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
.@Oxfam campaigners posing as #G7 leaders stand around a trash can overflowing with discarded files. The labels read: “gender inequality,” “climate,” and “tax the rich” —critical global issues scrubbed from the agenda to secure President Trump’s attendance at the G7 summit.@AP pic.twitter.com/aE7HkMvKFl
— Oxfam International Media Team (@newsfromoxfam) June 15, 2026
Behar said that in order to secure the participation of the US in this week’s summit, French President Emmanuel Macron has chosen to table any discussions that might offend Trump—including the devastating cost of his war in Iran, Israel’s US-backed wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and anything to do with the climate crisis, which Trump has referred to as "a scam."
"Rather than defending collective governance, Macron and his peers are accommodating its destruction. This will have consequences measured in lives," he said.
Oxfam called for the "G6"—all the Group of Seven member countries, excluding the US—to create a comprehensive plan to protect people from the economic turmoil caused by the war and other spiraling global crises.
“The G6 can’t plead powerlessness,” Behar added. “They can cancel debt. They can tax windfall profits and extreme wealth... They can provide poorer countries with aid. Refusing to act simply because Washington will not join them is not diplomacy—it is cowardice. And it will only accelerate the G6’s slide into global irrelevance.”
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