As the Biden administration continues its release of a series of final rulemakings, management plans and other agency decisions pertaining to public lands in the coming months, a new report by The Wilderness Society details the aggregate climate impacts of these actions.
In addition to working through Congress, administrations can set enduring policy direction through “rulemakings”: regulations on how agencies can and should use their authorities to fulfill their mission and advance the administration’s goals. The current administration is spearheading a series of these actions that guide public land management agencies to fulfill their original mandate, to manage public lands for sustained yield, and to benefit communities and our shared resources.
“Taken together, the administration’s current and proposed actions on public lands constitute a comprehensive shift toward more holistic management that centers conservation, climate and communities. The cumulative climate benefits of finalizing these actions are now clear,” said Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society. “At a time when we need to throw everything we’ve got at countering climate change, facilitating a 40% drop in emissions from fossil fuels on public lands is a big deal.”
According to the report, in the Lower 48 states, the administration’s actions could result in a 40% reduction in lifecycle emissions from coal, oil and gas on public lands, the equivalent of removing 93 million cars from the road each year. This is in addition to a host of avoided emissions and natural carbon storage also facilitated by the current administration’s efforts on deploying renewable energy on public lands, making conservation- and climate-smart decisions in the Arctic, and conserving old-growth and mature forests.
Report highlights include:
Reducing future fossil fuels from public lands in the Lower 48: Policies advanced by the administration and in the Inflation Reduction Act represent a combined reduction of around 390 million metric tons of lifecycle emissions per year from fossil fuels on public lands, a 40% reduction. These actions include, among others, reducing new oil and gas leasing on public lands by over 90%.
Boosting responsible renewable energy deployment on public lands: Additionally, the administration’s proposed renewable energy actions on public lands could avoid up to 123 million metric tons of CO2e per year by 2045, or the same as those emissions generated by 32 coal-fired power plants. These displaced emissions are in addition to the 40% lifecycle emissions reductions from fossil fuels from the policies listed in the bullet above.
Limiting areas available for fossil fuel development in the Arctic: The current administration’s management plans for the Arctic would limit the land available for oil and gas production and, subsequently, future emissions from drilling in the region. The administration’s plans could mean at least a 75% reduction in lifecycle emissions for the Arctic Refuge and a 50% reduction for the Western Arctic below prior plans focused on “maximizing extraction.” These additional avoided emissions are more evidence of the comprehensive shift taking place in the way our public lands are managed.
“While the administration undertook many of these actions for vital purposes other than addressing climate change – for example, conserving wildlife habitat and cultural resources, or promoting accountability to communities and reining in de facto subsidies for oil and gas companies – it’s exciting to see that the climate co-benefits of these decisions are potentially massive. We look forward to seeing these actions finalized and built on to secure the future our communities and public lands deserve,” said Williams.
For more information or to be connected to experts, contact Kerry Leslie at kerry_leslie@tws.org or NewsMedia@tws.org.