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As we finish up the first year of the Biden administration, it’s hard to decipher exactly where this country is headed. I mean, you are watching. President Biden
Joe BidenCollins is open to negotiations to overhaul the child tax credit that is about to expire Alarm over the recent administration action regarding abortion pills Overnight Health Care — Biden lays out omicron playbook Continue readingThe moment we were able to speak at the UN Climate Conference COP26 last month was something many of us had been striving for. You see, my home state of Louisiana produces More greenhouse gas per capita, Climate change could mean more for the country than any other state in America. But, Louisiana continues to have more refineries and plants than any other state in America. infant mortality rate.
The president stood before the world’s leaders and confidently said that “this is a decisive decade in which we have an opportunity to prove ourselves.”
However, the United States has yet to demonstrate its ability to take climate action. I feel like we just have a mountain of “good starts” that are surrounded by loopholes, no accountability — and no long-term plans.
In reality, 2021 looks more like business as normal for the oil-and-gas industry after COP26. The current Interior Department actually has Approved more drilling permits than their predecessors and is set to hold another offshore lease sale SoonBut this time, it is near the fragile coast of Alaska.
In November, the Interior Department hosted its First oil and gas lease sale since a Louisiana judge decided to halt the administration’s moratorium back in June. Now, I don’t want anyone not to comply with the law, but there are some really good attorneys out there that told me nowhere does it say that an oil and gas lease sale must contain a certain amount of acreage, let alone the 80 million acres the Department offered. They used outdated and totally false reasoning to sell the lease sale. The agency claimed that the absence of a lease sale would result in more greenhouse gases. talking point from the oil and gas lobby themselves!
After Hurricane Ida this fall, there were major oil and gas spills — Some Some of them could be seen from space. All of these spillages had one common factor. They all came from 18,000 miles of legally abandoned offshore oil and gas infrastructure in Gulf of Mexico. What does all this have to do the rest of the country? Every parish (county in Louisiana) has at least one of these. 10 disaster declarations on the books since March 2020, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Guess who funds FEMA. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the oil and gas industry. It’s every single taxpayer in this country.
In an effort to be “greener,” industry is hanging their hat on something called liquified natural gas (LNG). Natural gas, also known as methane is extremely flammable and can explode under certain conditions. Due to numerous loopholes in federal and state laws, the LNG export terminal business has established itself in the Gulf Coast region.
In effort to streamline paperwork, the Department of Energy doesn’t evaluate the environmental or community implications of these export terminals and instead leaves it up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The commission is still deciding if it should be possible to consider the surrounding communities when issuing permits. A Washington, D.C. circuit judge however, has approved the permit. Recently thought otherwise and ordered FERC to perform an actual environmental and community review in Brownsville, Texas.
It should also be mentioned that the same commission exists. waffling on the notion of whether they should examine the effect of greenhouse gases when Consider a pipeline permit. I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m thinking they should. The time is now. Without having long-term plans, federal accountability or closing loopholes, the parasitic relationship that the oil and gas industry has with the United States will continue.
In 2020, the fossil fuel sector received an estimated $1.2 trillion. $5.9 trillion in subsidies and $111 billion in GDPYet, taxpayers are responsible for cleaning up after them. Hold them accountable! Congress and the Senate must close the loopholes that don’t consider our communities and our environment and get plans in place so that we can live up to the standard that was set for us at COP26.
The next year must be a year of change. A bipartisan poll It was even found that a majority of voters support initiatives to combat climate change, as a result of a poll taken earlier in the year. It was conducted by both the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication). It was clear that the country is ready for change and is eager to make it happen.
We are ready for a cleaner future in energy, Mr. President. But the real question is: Are you?
Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré (Ret.) Lt. Gen. Russel Honore (Ret.) served as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, an operation that was jointly led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United States Department of Defense.
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