September, 29 2023, 09:57am EDT
President Biden Fails to Deliver on Promise to End New Offshore Drilling
United States to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, putting communities and climate in jeopardy
President Biden announced plans today to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as part of his final proposed National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2023-2028. The new Five-Year Plan includes three new offshore oil and gas leases, covering an area that stretches from Texas to the Florida Panhandle.
Oceana’s Vice President for the United States, Beth Lowell, condemned the new leasing program and criticized President Biden for failing to keep his promise to prevent new drilling in U.S. waters:
“By failing to end new offshore drilling, President Biden missed an easy opportunity to do the right thing and deliver on climate for the American people. This decision is beyond disappointing, as Americans face the impacts of the growing climate crisis through more frequent and intense fires, droughts, hurricanes, and floods. President Biden is unfortunately showing the world that it’s okay to continue to prioritize polluters over real climate solutions. Expanding dirty and dangerous offshore drilling only exacerbates the climate catastrophe that is already at our doorstep. Unfortunately, it’s our coastal communities who will bear the immediate impact of this shortsighted decision.”
The Five-Year Plan is expected to be approved in December by Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, following a statutory 60-day review period by Congress.
In a 2020 presidential debate, then-Senator Joe Biden told Americans, “I can guarantee you if I am president, there will be no offshore drilling.”
Despite that vow, the Biden administration will now expand offshore oil and gas development with three proposed lease sales scheduled in 2025, 2027, and 2029. The leases offer federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, a region Oceana says has already been overburdened by the devastating impacts of offshore drilling.
“Every new drilling lease is a disaster waiting to happen,” Lowell said. “We know when companies drill, they spill, and offshore disasters impact communities, people, and businesses who rely upon a healthy ocean. Offshore drilling also fuels the climate crisis that will impact every single person living in the United States, but it will be low-income and marginalized groups who are disproportionately impacted. We can’t accept the consequences from President Biden’s failure to act. Congress must immediately reject this proposal during the review period and prevent all new leases on federal waters.”
A 2021 analysis by Oceana found that protecting all unleased federal waters from offshore drilling in the United States could prevent over 19 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. That is the equivalent of taking every car in the nation off the road for 15 years. Ending new leasing could have also prevented more than $720 billion in damage to people, property, and the environment.
The three new leases will add to the more than 2,000 leases the oil industry already holds, according to a recent Oceana report. That totals more than 11 million acres of ocean, with 75% of those acres currently sitting unused.
For more information about Oceana’s campaign to stop the expansion of offshore drilling in the United States, please click here.
Oceana is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world's oceans through targeted policy campaigns.
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Groups Demand Probe of 'Apparently Deliberate' IDF Attack on Journalists
Amnesty International said that the October 13 Israeli tank strike that killed Issam Abdallah and blew the legs off Christina Assi was "likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime."
Dec 07, 2023
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Thursday called for an official investigation of a deadly Israeli attack on a group of journalists, which HRW called "apparently deliberate" and a likely "war crime."
HRW, Amnesty, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse on Thursday all published their own separate investigations into the October 13 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack that killed 37-year-old Lebanese Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded half a dozen other journalists who were covering cross-border clashes between Israeli and Hezbollah troops near the village of Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.
"This is not the first time that Israeli forces have apparently deliberately attacked journalists, with deadly and devastating results."
Reutersdetermined that an Israeli tank crew "fired two shells in quick succession" at the journalists, who HRW said were "clearly identifiable as members of the media, and had been stationary for at least 75 minutes." HRW "found no evidence of a military target near the journalists' location."
"This is not the first time that Israeli forces have apparently deliberately attacked journalists, with deadly and devastating results," HRW Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss said in a statement. "Those responsible need to be held to account, and it needs to be made clear that journalists and other civilians are not lawful targets."
Amnesty International, meanwhile, asserted that the IDF strike was "likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime."
The organization said it "verified over 100 videos and photographs, analyzed weapons fragments from the site, and interviewed nine witnesses. The findings indicate that the group was visibly identifiable as journalists and that the Israeli military knew or should have known that they were civilians yet attacked them anyway in two separate strikes 37 seconds apart."
Aya Majzoub, Amnesty's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, noted that "direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks are absolutely prohibited by international humanitarian law and can amount to war crimes."
"Those responsible for Issam Abdallah's unlawful killing and the injuring of six other journalists must be held accountable," Majzoub added. "No journalist should ever be targeted or killed simply for carrying out their work. Israel must not be allowed to kill and attack journalists with impunity. There must be an independent and impartial investigation into this deadly attack."
According to HRW:
The journalists interviewed said that the first munition struck Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and a short concrete wall, killing him instantly and badly injuring an Agence France-Presse photojournalist, Christina Assi. Thirty-seven seconds later, another attack destroyed the car belonging to Al Jazeera, igniting it in flames, and injuring six journalists, including Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya from Al Jazeera, Dylan Collins and Christina Assi from AFP, and Thaer al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh from Reuters.
Brakhya, an Al Jazeera cameraman, told Amnesty: "I was looking at Issam when we heard the [first] explosion. I saw Issam's body fly, with the glow and the heat behind his back… [I] ran up the hill, heard Christina shouting 'I can't feel my legs,' ran back to where she was, saw Dylan searching for the tourniquet."
Collins, an American deputy editor at Al Jazeera English, said that "as soon as I turned around, I heard Christina's voice saying, 'Oh my God!' I say, 'You're okay.' I ran to her directly and I see that her legs are blown off at the kneecap."
The second Israeli shell exploded as Collins tried to tie a tourniquet around Assi's legs.
"When the second blast hit, I was stunned and dizzy, but in my blurry memory, I remember Issam's leg falling in front of me, I remember looking up and seeing Carmen by the car, her face is black and she is walking like a zombie," he recalled. "Her entire back is covered in shrapnel."
The day after the attacks, IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht said that the Israeli military was "very sorry for the journalist's death."
Presented with Reuters' findings, Hecht later said that "we don't target journalists."
However, Kaiss argued that "the evidence strongly suggests that Israeli forces knew or should have known that the group that they were attacking were journalists."
"This was an unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists," he added.
"They don't want us to see the truth. That's why they're taking out the journalists."
Numerous international observers accused Israeli forces of intentionally targeting journalists in an effort to prevent them from reporting the truth about what many critics call a genocidal war against Palestinians.
"I believe that it is in the military strategy of Israel to kill journalists so that they kill the truth," Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary told Reuters.
U.S. journalist Abby Martin toldMiddle East Eye Wednesday that Israel is "killing the truth."
"They don't want us to see the truth," she said. "That's why they're taking out the journalists."
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) responded to the rights groups' and media probes into the October 13 attacks by demanding an "immediate, independent, and transparent investigation that holds the perpetrators to account."
CPJ cited its May 2023 report, "which showed a pattern of lethal force by the Israel Defense Forces that left 20 journalists dead over the last 22 years. No one was ever held accountable."
According to the report, "The majority of the 20 journalists killed—at least 13—were clearly identified as members of the media or were inside vehicles with press insignia at the time of their deaths."
Since the IDF launched its war on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, CPJ has documented the killing of at least 63 media professionals, including 56 Palestinians, three Lebanese, and four Israelis.
"CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties," said Sherif Mansour, the group's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.
Last month, after also concluding that the group in Lebanon was "deliberately targeted," the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders called on the International Criminal Court to formally investigate the deaths of all journalists killed by Israeli troops and Hamas militants during the war.
"Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats," Mansour said. "Many have lost colleagues, families, and media facilities, and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit."
Nazeh, a Reuters camera operator who survived the October 13 attack, demanded justice for his slain colleague Abdallah.
"We can't bring Issam back. Issam is gone," he said. "But he hears us, he sees us, and he's waiting for us to do something for him... to expose who hit him, who killed him, to the world."
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'Do-Nothing' GOP Unveils 'Sham' Biden Impeachment Resolution
One critic said the GOP aims "to give Donald Trump something to say when it's pointed out he has been twice impeached and is a proven fraudster, sexual assailant, and defamer of women who now faces 91 felony charges."
Dec 07, 2023
As a Republican congressman on Thursday introduced an impeachment inquiry resolution targeting U.S. President Joe Biden, leading House Democrats called out the GOP for serving former President Donald Trump and not the American people.
House Resolution 918, led by Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), formally directs the House Oversight and Accountability, Ways and Means, and Judiciary committees to continue ongoing investigations into whether sufficient grounds exist to impeach Biden. A markup is scheduled for next Tuesday, so a vote may be held as soon as Wednesday.
"This impeachment inquiry is a complete political stunt with zero evidence. What a joke,"
responded Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), president of the House Democratic freshman class.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) declared that "this MAGA-extremist Biden impeachment resolution is a giant fishing expedition and a continued example of this GOP do-nothing Congress."
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)—a constitutional scholar who was the lead manager for Trump's historic second impeachment after the January 6, 2021 insurrection—released a lengthy statement blasting the panel's chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), for the "sham" impeachment inquiry.
"Voting to launch an impeachment inquiry will not change the fact that, following many months of endless investigation by House Republicans this Congress and by Senate Republicans in 2020, the evidence plainly shows no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, much less an impeachable offense," he said. "Chairman Comer cannot even identify what crime he thinks President Biden has committed."
Raskin highlighted the abundance of evidence collected regarding unfounded allegations of the president's misconduct related to his son Hunter Biden's business dealings and legal issues:
This is what we have assembled from House Republicans' 10-month investigation: more than 37,000 pages of subpoenaed private bank records, more than 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports (SARs) made available by Treasury, more than 20,000 pages of emails regarding Hunter Biden released by the National Archives, with more than 62,000 additional pages being produced in the next few days, and dozens of hours of witness testimony from Hunter Biden's business associates, then-Vice President Biden's former financial adviser, and nine witnesses from agencies across the administration... All of it shows no misconduct by President Biden.
We also know that Hunter Biden has offered to testify and answer the committee's questions, under oath and in public, for as long as the committee seeks to go. But, embarrassingly, Chairman Comer refuses to take yes for an answer. He has insisted Hunter Biden must be deposed by lawyers in secret, behind closed doors. There is no reason for a secret deposition because the committee can adopt any format it chooses for a public hearing, including having lawyers questioning Hunter Biden. Obviously Chairman Comer does not want the American people hearing Hunter Biden's testimony or seeing the evidence free from GOP spin, editing, and manipulation.
"Everyone knows that the floundering Biden impeachment probe is designed to give Donald Trump something to say when it's pointed out he has been twice impeached and is a proven fraudster, sexual assailant, and defamer of women who now faces 91 felony charges in federal and state court," Raskin added. "But the price of this stupidity is huge constitutional damage as Republicans try to turn the extraordinary device of impeachment into a meaningless political event, plunging the nation into further lawlessness and nihilism."
Biden is seeking reelection in 2024 and Trump—despite his performance during his first term, four criminal cases, and arguments that inciting the insurrection constitutionally disqualifies him from holding office again—remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
On the campaign trail in recent weeks, Trump has pledged to be a dictator only on "
day one" to "close the border and... drill, drill, drill" as well as to "root out" what he called "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country," fascistic language that drew comparisons to Nazi rhetoric.
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Don't Let Fabricated Outrage 'Distract From Genocidal Violence in Gaza,' Says Naomi Klein
"Keep sharing reports from Gaza," said the author and activist. "Israel is freaking out at the implications, which is why the distraction machine is in overdrive."
Dec 07, 2023
Author and rights advocate Naomi Klein warned late Wednesday that supporters of a permanent cease-fire in Gaza must stay focused on one thing—Israel's mass killing of civilians in the blockaded enclave, a violation of international law—and resist efforts to distract the public from the issue at hand.
"The distraction machine is in overdrive," said Klein on social media after more than a day of commentary and outrage directed at the presidents of three top universities after they testified before the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee at a hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism."
Republican members including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) demanded to know whether the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) would discipline students for "calling for the genocide of Jews."
The university leaders suggested that their schools typically do not punish students for speech alone—in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Penn president Liz Magill said in a video posted later—but said such calls could qualify as harassment if they were "directed and severe, [or] pervasive," and could be punished if it "crosses into conduct."
Sally Kornbluth, president of MIT, said she had "not heard calling for the genocide of Jews on our campus." Stefanik replied that "chants for intifada"—a call for an "uprising" which is not inherently violent—have been heard at the school.
Videos of students holding an anti-war protest at University of California, Los Angeles were widely circulated in October, with some influential pro-Zionist celebrities and commentators asserting that students were proclaiming, "We want Jewish genocide." The protesters were actually addressing Israeli officials and saying, "We charge you with genocide."
"Can someone point me to an example of a student group calling for the genocide of Jewish people?" asked Mari Cohen, associate editor of Jewish Currents. "Why are we having this conversation?
The hearing wasn't the first to confront speech on college campuses since Israel began its U.S.-backed onslaught in Gaza, which has killed at least 17,177 Palestinians in just two months. Last month the House Judiciary Committee invited student leaders of conservative and pro-Zionist groups to testify about "hostility towards certain points of view" on campuses, and the hearing was interrupted by pro-Palestinian rights students who demanded to know whether their speech should also be protected.
Klein said Wednesday that the repeated hearings on the topic "are smoke and mirrors to distract from genocidal violence in Gaza."
Klein suggested that it has not gone unnoticed by Israeli officials that journalists and residents in Gaza have continued to widely share information about the reality on the ground, where dozens of Palestinians were killed Thursday in Israeli air raids on a home in Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) escalated attacks on the city of Khan Younis in the south—previously a relatively safe refuge for people who fled northern Gaza—with "multiple residential buildings and units... flattened," according toAl Jazeera.
"The occupation is trying to destroy all residential buildings in the eastern areas of Khan Younis," reported the outlet on Thursday.
Gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases as well as hepatitis have also begun spreading due to blockades on medical supplies, fuel, and safe drinking water, leading the World Health Organization to warn last month that disease could ultimately kill more civilians in Gaza than the bombs the U.S. has helped to provide for Israel.
"Congress should be working towards a lasting cease-fire to end Israel's deadly assault on Gaza, a hostage exchange, and a path to equality, justice, and safety for all Palestinians and Israelis," said the Jewish-led Palestinian rights group IfNotNow on Wednesday, responding to a House resolution that claimed anti-Zionism and antisemitism are one and the same. "Not wasting precious time using antisemitism as an excuse to shut down free speech."
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