53.  Climate Memo Mondays, #53, December 13, 2021

Biden Permits More Drilling
Biden Plus and Minus

“Biden approving oil, gas drilling permits on public lands at faster rate than Trump” BY ZACK BUDRYK - 12/07/21

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584671-biden-approving-oil-gas-drilling-permits-on-public-lands-at-faster
The Biden administration is approving drilling permits at a faster clip than the Trump administration, according to data first analyzed by the advocacy group Public Citizen.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) data indicate that in 2021, the agency has approved drilling permits at an average of 336 per month, an increase from the monthly average of 245 at this point during the Trump administration…continued:

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584671-biden-approving-oil-gas-drilling-permits-on-public-lands-at-faster

Pushing Biden to fulfill his campaign promises by acting forcefully against the climate emergency are numerous world-regarding groups some of which are identified by Tina Gerhardt in “One World, Many Defenders: The Urgency of Climate Change is Spurring a Broad Array of Activism.”  The Progressive (Oct.-Nov. 2021). Gerhardt opens her report on Native Americans leading the way for legal rights for nature, supported by NA Deb Haaland, Biden’s Secretary of the Interior. 
       Examples of nature defenders abound.  A Brooklyn, NY group, UPROSE, opposes the “extraction economy” and launched the Climate Justice Center.   In the Bay Area, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network also opposes subsidies to fossil fuels.  The Sunrise Movement and the Sierra Club are only two of the numerous groups welcoming us into the struggle.  For youth—Zero Hour and NextGen America are examples.
     In Congress Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley and others launched the Global Alliance for a Green New Deal.
       Before his election, Biden and Bernie Sanders established the Unity Task Force, co-chaired by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and John Kerry, and drafters of the Green New Deal.  Last August Biden opened a federal Office of Climate Change and Health Equity.
Biden pledged to “get rid of fossil fuels.”  

     But opposition to climate justice dominates the Republican Party, and Biden has not stopped Enbridge Line3, and the rate of permits for drilling for ff on public lands has increased.   Gerhardt urges us to push him, and what better way than by supporting individuals and groups like those described by Gerhardt.  “It is a moment for all hands on deck.”