Why Biden’s Arctic Protections Fall Short

Last week, the Biden Administration announced measures to protect the Arctic, including new rules for special areas within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the cancellation of the last remaining Trump-issued oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As these areas are notorious for receiving inadequate protections, this announcement is a solid first step. However, we need to see greater and swifter safeguards if President Joe Biden wants to demonstrate that he’s the climate president he’s made himself out to be.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge holds major significance for communities and wildlife, and an increasing number of companies are publicly committing to rejecting projects in the refuge. Due to widespread local and Indigenous support over the past few years, 20 insurance companies have introduced policies to protect the refuge from oil and gas drilling. In addition, 29 global financial institutions have also introduced protective drilling policies. The leases canceled by Biden should never have been issued in the first place, and last week’s action was long overdue.

Furthermore, the proposed regulations regarding oil and gas drilling in NPR-Alaska don’t go as far as they might seem. In reality, these rules only protect specific parts of the Western Arctic that have never been subject to leases from the fossil fuel industry. The rules don’t address threats associated with development on the million acres of public land already leased to ConocoPhillips and other oil companies. The carbon-bomb Willow Project, for instance, is located on this reserve.

In 2023, BLM data confirmed that the president issued more oil and gas lease sales in his first two years in office than the entirety of Donald Trump’s term. How can President Biden project himself as a climate president with this kind of record?

When the administration determined the Willow Project would become reality, many called on the president to stop the project. From TikTok to Instagram, millions of young people shared their concerns about the project–which is predicted will add about 260 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere over the next 30 years, or the equivalent of an extra 2 million cars on the road per year. Yet, Biden’s Justice Department defended the Trump administration’s original approval of the project and eventually reapproved it in March 2023. Environmental groups across the spectrum, as well as the United Nations, were incredibly disappointed with the administration’s decision to move forward with the largest oil and gas extraction venture ever proposed on federal lands.

This announcement also doesn’t erase the Biden administration’s poor leasing record in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. During the 2020 presidential race, Biden pledged to end drilling on federal lands. Yet, once in office, his administration delayed review of the fossil fuel leasing program for months, and the final report was surprisingly silent on the climate crisis. In the same month, over 80 million acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico were offered up for oil and gas drilling. The Inflation Reduction Act, often touted as an unprecedented climate bill, reinstated canceled offshore lease sales and tied offshore wind sales to more oil and gas leasing. By 2022, the Center for Biological Diversity reviewed data from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that confirmed the Biden administration issued more permits to drill on federal lands than Trump’s. In 2023, BLM data confirmed that the president issued more oil and gas lease sales in his first two years in office than the entirety of Donald Trump’s term. How can President Biden project himself as a climate president with this kind of record?

Environmental groups have worked diligently to hold him accountable from the beginning. In January 2022, groups filed a legal petition calling on the Biden administration to use its executive authority to phase out oil and gas production on public lands and waters. In June 2022, another suit was filed regarding nearly 120,000 acres of land that were offered up for sale in Wyoming. In January 2023, over 300 community groups sent a letter to the Department of the Interior, laying out nine steps that should be taken to preserve public lands and help the president meet his climate commitments. Unfortunately, most of these efforts have been met with either dismissal or silence.

Luckily, there are still concrete steps the Biden administration can take to right the ship. It must commit to phase out drilling on public lands and waters by 2035 and establish guardrails on the current leasing program. It must listen to calls from Indigenous and environmental groups to develop a stronger framework for public land management. It must stop current drilling projects and halt issuing any new drilling permits until there is a proper analysis of potential climate damage in affected regions. Finally, the Interior Department must release a Five-Year Program with no new leases.

The Biden administration cannot pretend to fight climate change until it’s willing to actually address its leasing problem. Fossil fuels cause global warming, and the president can’t continue to conveniently ignore this fact. Reducing oil production on public lands in the U.S. would lead to a global reduction in oil production. If Biden continues to ignore what’s right in front of him, our chances of a livable world will continue to shrink. It’s up to the administration to honor its commitment to end oil and gas leasing nationwide, as well as dismantle climate bomb projects like Willow so substantive, popular climate policies can see the light of day.