WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 29, 2023)–In response to the Biden Administration’s including new leases in the final Five Year Plan for offshore oil and gas drilling, Tim Donaghy, research manager at Greenpeace USA, said:
“President Biden has been given one opportunity after another to fulfill his campaign pledge to stop all new oil and gas permitting on federal lands and waters. It’s disheartening to see the Biden administration continue to prop up the oil and gas industry despite the threats offshore drilling could pose to communities across the Gulf of Mexico. Enough is enough of the Biden Administration’s willingness to perpetuate the continual sacrifice of Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor communities in the Gulf.
“Our already at-risk ecosystems, vibrant communities and ability to stay within climate-safe thresholds should not be sold off to the highest bidder. 75,000 people did not flood the streets of New York last weekend to see President Biden give Big Oil another hall pass to wreak havoc on our planet. The Biden Administration is quick to tout the climate and economic benefits of the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but giving free rein to fossil fuel expansion risks undermining those successes. If the Biden Administration truly wants to put us on a path to climate sanity, we cannot afford any new fossil fuel leases and infrastructure. Period.”
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Contact: Katie Nelson, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, [email protected], +1 (678) 644-1681
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
