In order to maintain a safe and stable climate for present and future generations, the earth has a limit on how much carbon can be emitted into the atmosphere. Scientific consensus places this limit around 1,000 billion tons of carbon by mid-century, half of which has already been emitted. Staying under that limit will not be easy, and we are running out of time. The problem is not that we lack solutions, but that we have lacked the political will and foresight to implement them.
In order to stabilize global temperatures at a level scientists have determined safe, at least 80 percentof the world’s remaining fossil fuel resources must remain in the ground. As the largest historical polluter, the U.S. must lead by example and lock in our carbon. One of the best places to wage this global fight is on our federal lands and waters, which contain approximately one-third of the remaining fossil fuels in the U.S. and 492 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
Leasing of these publicly owned fossil fuels is responsible for a significant amount of domestic and global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for nearly a quarter of U.S. energy-related emissions and nearly 4 percent of global emissions over the past decade. Despite this pollution and the looming climate threat, the Obama administration continues to lease publicly owned coal, oil, natural gas, and oil shale to private companies, endangering the health and welfare of communities and the planet.
In order to avert catastrophic climate change, the vast majority of remaining fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground. In a first-of-its-kind report, The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S. Federal Fossil Fuels, written by Ecoshift Consulting on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, the potential greenhouse gas emissions that would result from developing publicly owned coal, oil shale, natural gas, crude oil and tar sands on federally-controlled lands and offshore ocean areas are estimated. The report shows that the potential emissions from developing these fossil fuels far exceed the U.S.’s fair share of the remaining global carbon limit, and that the potential emissions from any unleased federal fossil fuels are precluded after factoring in the emissions of developing non-federal and already leased federal fossil fuels.
The report found that there are 450 billion tons of potential emissions from federal fossil fuels that have not yet been leased to private industry for extraction. This amount constitutes more than a quarter of the total global emissions that can be released if the world is to limit global warming below 2°C by 2100 – a level at which catastrophic impacts will already be felt.
By ending new leasing for fossil fuels that belong to the American people on lands and offshore areas controlled by the federal government, President Obama could keep those 450 billion tons of greenhouse gases from polluting the atmosphere. If he earnestly wants to leave a climate legacy of meaningful action rather than rhetoric, President Obama must stop all new and expanded fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and waters.