U.S. presidential candidate Warren wants
drilling, mining banned on federal lands
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[April 16, 2019]
By Valerie Volcovici
(Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate
Elizabeth Warren said on Monday she would ban all fossil fuel extraction
on federal land and in coastal waters, setting herself apart from a
crowded field of Democratic hopefuls who have made climate change a
central campaign issue but have yet to outline specific policies.
Warren said in a post on Medium that she would sign an executive order
on her first day in office for a "total moratorium on all new fossil
fuel leases including for drilling offshore and on public lands."
"We must not allow corporations to pillage our public lands and leave
taxpayers to clean up the mess," she wrote.
Warren's stance on public lands contrasts starkly with that of President
Donald Trump, whose Interior Department has sped up permitting for
drilling and mining on public lands as a part of the administration's
"energy dominance" agenda.
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The United States approved nearly 40 percent more oil and gas drilling
permits on public lands in 2018 compared to previous years, and has
moved to roll back environmental regulations to speed up more approvals.
The Interior Department is also expected in the coming weeks to announce
a new five year plan for drilling on the Outercontinental Shelf that
would open up vasts swaths of U.S. coastline to oil and gas exploration.
Warren said that any "serious effort" to combat climate change needs to
include public lands since fossil fuel extraction from these areas
account for a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Several Democratic candidates, Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris
and others have announced support for a proposed Green New Deal - a
loosely-woven climate action policy to address concerns about jobs and
wages as part of a radical shift away from fossil fuels and the building
of a new low-carbon economy.
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![](../images/041619pics/news_J19.jpg)
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-MA) speaks at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU)
2019 legislative conference in Washington, U.S., April 10, 2019.
REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
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But only Warren so far has announced how public lands will play a
role in drastically cutting global carbon dioxide emissions, which
have climbed to an all-time high.
As part of her plan she said she would reinstate regulations
targeting methane emissions from oil and gas projects, as well as
create a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps, a one-year
fellowship program for young people who want to work in
conservation.
Warren also said she would expand renewable energy projects on
federal lands.
"A decade ago, there were zero major solar power projects on public
lands. Today, the Bureau of Land Management has approved 11,000
megawatts of renewable wind, solar, and geothermal projects ," she
said. "But to make a real dent in the problem, we’re going to need a
whole lot more."
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Tom Brown)
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