From the spread of solar panels to the proliferation of compostable wrappers, climate change is changing our lifestyles in unprecedented ways. The public sphere is no exception: every executive department from Homeland Security to Treasury has begun to rethink its operations as the Earth heats up. [1] Yet, one initiative overseen by the Department of the Interior (DOI) is of singular importance in the battle against climate change—the federal fossil fuel leasing program. [2] Under the program, private companies purchase leases from the federal government that permit them to extract oil, gas, and coal from public lands and waters. [3] In 2018, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency tasked with approving land-based fossil fuel leases, authorized ConocoPhillips’s Willow Project, one of the single largest oil and gas drilling projects to be proposed on federal lands. [4]
Read More