Biden Executive Order to put a pause on all Federal Fossil Fuel Leasing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Julia Bernal, Alliance Director
julia.f.bernal@gmail.com
January 27th, 2021
Biden Executive Order to put a pause on all Federal Fossil Fuel Leasing:
Will this Protect Greater Chaco or will Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham move to exempt New Mexico?
WASHINGTON, DC: President Biden released an executive order that will place an indefinite moratorium on all Federal Fossil Fuel Leasing in the so called US. Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad will pause all new oil and gas leases on federal lands, ensure protections on lands and waters, and begin the undoing of extractive colonialism across Turtle island. But there is much more to be done from the newly appointed administration.
If Congresswoman Deb Haaland secures her cabinet position as Secretary of the Department of the Interior, she would have the power to cancel all Federal Fossil Fuel leasing programs on all public lands under DOI (ei. Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs). Congresswoman Haaland, being from one of our Pueblo communities of Laguna, has held long lasting relationships with Pueblo leaders during her time as Congresswoman for District 1.
Last night, Biden also released a Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships. The memorandum will recycle Executive Order 13175 that came out of the Clinton Administration in 2000. For years, we have been fighting for meaningful tribal consultation and free, prior and informed consent as we believe Indigenous sovereign nations should have say over how our lands and waters are managed.
While Pueblo Action Alliance does not acknowledge the Unites States of America as a legitimate government system because of the imperial occupation on stolen land, we are invested as to how the federal government will treat our Indigenous sovereign nations and demand that any Presidential administration must address the concerns of frontline Indigenous people who bare the brunt of climate change and resource extraction on their ancestral homelands.
In this moment, we must look to our New Mexico state government to see if they will embrace the federal move to end the fossil fuel era. New Mexico receives oil and gas royalties which make up over 80% of the state’s general revenue, but in addressing climate change and water shortages we must look towards solutions that severely decrease carbon emissions and protect freshwater sources. In December 2020, the New Mexico State Land Office announced the Halting Commercial Sale of Fresh Water for Oil and Gas, a step in protecting water resources from being overused by the oil and gas sector.
For Pueblo people, we continue advocating for a cleaner future as we continue to fight to Protect the Greater Chaco region. Now, over 93% of the public lands surrounding Chaco Canyon are leased for fracking and have imposed adverse environmental and health impacts. These are possible steps in ending a legacy of extractive colonialism and protecting culturally sensitive areas like the Greater Chaco region, Bears Ears and other sacred unmarked sites. By pausing federal fossil fuel leasing and a just transition to renewable energies and community autonomy over their future energy grid.