Oil and Gas Pause Resolution Background
President Biden’s Executive Order - January 27, 2021
Temporary Pause on New Oil & Gas Leasing on U.S. Federal Public Lands
Public lands are the backbone of our Western mountain communities and vital for our way of life. Over the last year as the country has navigated COVID, residents and visitors are finding solace in the outdoors more than ever before. We are thrilled with the Biden administration’s forward-looking executive orders that will result in bold climate action and protection for our public lands. These actions will help boost the economy as we recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and will move us towards a more sustainable future.
The pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal public lands was one section out of three in President Biden’s executive order on January 27, 2021. By pausing oil and gas leasing for the first time in 40 years, the Biden Administration rightly recognized the federal oil and gas leasing program is fundamentally broken and must be overhauled to address the climate crisis, generate a fair return for taxpayers, respect local landowners, and support communities in the inevitable transition away from fossil fuels.
We encourage your County/City/Town Commission/Council to adopt the below resolution showing support for this Executive Order. Please see here for more information and below for a draft resolution (or download here).
Need more information? Reach out to Info (at) TheMountainPact.Org
A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENT BIDEN’S TEMPORARY PAUSE ON OIL AND GAS LEASING ON FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS
WHEREAS, our vast network of federal public lands offers abundant natural beauty, a wealth of natural resources, a vital economic engine for local communities, and a sought after unique quality of life for residents of communities adjacent to them; and
WHEREAS, it’s critical that our public lands and waters are managed responsibly and sustainably so they can remain open and accessible to present and future generations; and
WHEREAS, we support the legal requirement that our federal lands be managed under the ‘multiple use’ standard to best meet the present and future needs of the American people; and believe that the federal land management policies should be developed with input from local communities and public land users, and incorporate the best available science; and
WHEREAS, federal public land policy should ensure that the companies extracting natural resources provide a fair return to federal and state taxpayers while also protecting wildlife and providing the opportunity for the development of sustainable economic non-extractive activity such as outdoor recreation; and
WHEREAS, our state is experiencing the devastating impacts of a warming climate including severe heat and drought, which are making wildfires more frequent and extreme; an increase in emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas emitted on our public lands; extremes in precipitation; and dust on snow, which causes snowfall to evaporate prematurely; and
WHEREAS, one-quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil fuel activity on public lands; and
WHEREAS, in 2018 pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels caused 8.7 million or one in five deaths globally; and
WHEREAS, as elected leaders, it is our responsibility to take and support prudent and pragmatic steps to reverse climate change and mitigate its devastating impacts by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution that contribute to climate change,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the County/City/Town of (FILL OUT), that:
We applaud the Biden administration’s executive order that temporarily pauses new oil and gas leasing on federal public lands and encourage the administration to: