In an era marked by grave climate challenges and a call for greater corporate responsibility, President Biden has taken important steps towards accountability in the oil and gas industry.
The Trump administration left President Biden with many repairs to make of the federal government’s stewardship of American natural resources. Perhaps worst of all, then-President Trump overruled the wishes of indigenous peoples in the Southwest to revoke protections for their sacred lands in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah.
President Biden has since restored those monuments and protected nearly 1.5 million acres in other places that hold similar significance to the native peoples of this continent. That puts him on track to be the greatest first term conservation President in modern American history.
On his first day in office, President Biden made a commitment to protect 30% of U.S. land and waters by 2030. Ever since, he has resisted attempts by the most extreme wing of his opposition to impede this progress for the benefit of their big oil donors. Troublingly, research shows substantial overlap between opponents of reasonable conservation policy and supporters of violent uprising like the Bundy standoffs and even the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Rather than caving to the same crowd that supported the Bundy family’s armed takeovers, President Biden has made a range of reforms to improve public lands management. For example, new oil and gas leasing reforms will give taxpayers a fairer return on the development of public minerals. And one of the most profitable industries in the country will now have to pay to clean up the mess when oil wells are abandoned on public lands.
Make no mistake: There is still much work to be done.
Indigenous people throughout the country continue to call on the President to protect more areas that are under threat from irresponsible development. He still needs to finalize a number of rules that elevate conservation’s standing in federal policymaking. And there will always be more work to do to avoid a complete climate catastrophe.
Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made, particularly when the stakes are so high. When President Biden has put the climate, indigenous people, and all Americans first, he has done so in the face of significant extreme opposition.
President Biden deserves our appreciation for the progress he’s made in holding the most powerful companies in the world accountable, just as much as he needs us to push him to go even farther.