The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Biden:
What Climate Change?

Sep 27, 2021

President Biden spoke to other countries about the need to make changes in order to have a “clean energy future.” In his first month in office, Biden signed an executive order “pausing” oil and gas leases on public lands for private companies to drill at taxpayers’ expense.

The U.S. government controls 26 million acres of public, taxpayer “owned,” lands and another 12 million acres of public waters, on which it can allow oil companies to drill for crude oil or natural gas.

In a three-month period earlier this year, the Biden administration allowed about 1200 new leases for drilling on public lands. In a similar period, the Trump administration allowed about 1400 new leases for this drilling.

In the summer of 2021, the Biden administration approved the process of selling 90 million acres of water to allow drilling companies to produce as much as a billion barrels of crude oil and four trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This sale more or less matches what was allowed under the Trump administration.

The talk about defending the environment, to cut down on the emissions that increase climate change, that was just talk for the purposes of the election campaign of 2020. The reality is that all politicians in office support the oil and gas companies as they drill for fossil fuels.