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Aerial view of the National Petroleum Reserve in northwestern Alaska

The Biden Administration Protects Millions of Acres of Arctic Alaska

Latest NewsAlaskaJenny Shalant
The new Special Areas Rule in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could boost biodiversity and empower Indigenous Peoples to defend the lands they’ve relied on for generations.
Two adults and a child walk along a sandy shoreline

“Forever Chemicals” Called PFAS Show Up in Your Food, Clothes, and Home

ExplainerUnited StatesMolly M. Ginty, Courtney Lindwall
These toxic chemicals are so common in consumer products and manufacturing that they’re everywhere—including inside our bodies.
A river with green trees on either side, with yellow hills in the background

In Planning for Climate Change, Native Americans Draw on the Past

ExplainerUnited States, CanadaTim Vanderpool
Across North America, Indigenous tribes and nations are consulting their traditional ecological knowledge to help prepare for a warming world.

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The Case Against New Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing

Expert BlogUnited StatesLauren Kubiak
The best way to meet our national energy needs is by fully implementing policies already developed—and switching to sources of clean, renewable, justly sourced energy.

BOEM Hears From the Public on Offshore Drilling

Expert BlogUnited StatesValerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak
BOEM should listen to the frontline, Indigenous, community, environmental, and business voices and finalize an offshore oil and gas leasing program that schedules no new leases.

More Offshore Oil & Gas Leasing Won’t Fix High Prices

Expert BlogUnited StatesLauren Kubiak, Valerie Cleland

The Biden administration today released a new leasing plan scheduling up to 11 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and potentially Alaska over the next five years.

Oil Companies Are Sitting on Huge Offshore Reserves

Expert BlogUnited States, InternationalLauren Kubiak
Even without any new offshore lease sales, there is enough oil and gas in existing leases in the Gulf of Mexico that production at current levels could continue for more than a decade.

You Can’t Fix High Pump Prices with New Offshore Leasing

Expert BlogUnited States, InternationalLauren Kubiak
While the fossil fuel industry would have you believe that the way out is for the government to lease more of our public lands and waters to oil and gas companies, the truth is that it would do nothing to…

Despite Climate Dangers, Offshore Leasing Continues in Gulf

Expert BlogUnited States, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, AlabamaValerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak

This morning, the Biden administration held the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. Though the Biden administration has been bold on climate in other ways, this latest action is profoundly disappointing.

Our Ocean Is Stressed Enough: Give It a Break from Drilling

Expert BlogInternationalLauren Kubiak

To mitigate and increase our resilience to climate change, we need to stop leasing our public waters to oil and gas companies, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and highly and fully protect at least 30 percent of our ocean…

Every Offshore Drilling Disaster Started with a Lease Sale

Expert BlogUnited StatesLauren Kubiak, Valerie Cleland

The Biden Administration recently began to move forward with an offshore lease sale that will hand millions of acres of public ocean over to the oil and gas industry, allowing them to make investments that will lock in our use…

Coming Soon: Review of Our Broken Oil and Gas Leasing System

Expert BlogUnited StatesJosh Axelrod, Valerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak

The way we lease and extract oil and gas from our public lands and waters is broken, and our ability to stave off the worst impacts of climate change depends, in part, on fixing it now.

Ending Offshore Drilling Is Key for Ocean and Climate

Expert BlogUnited StatesLauren Kubiak, Valerie Cleland

The Biden administration has taken huge strides in acting on climate and should now move forward to take one of the most important actions to protect the ocean and those who depend on it, and to combat the climate crisis…

Hearings Question Oil and Gas Leasing in Federal Waters

Expert BlogUnited StatesValerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak

Recent House and Senate hearings on the future of offshore oil and gas leasing raised questions about how best to phase out leasing of our federal waters to oil and gas companies.

Congress’s Chance to Protect Our Coasts

Expert BlogUnited StatesValerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak

Offshore oil and gas leasing poses a threat to our coastal economies and the health of our ocean. Citizens, local communities, and elected officials from both parties recognize this danger and have been vocal in their opposition to new leasing…

Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Needs Reform and Phaseout

Expert BlogUnited StatesJosh Axelrod, Valerie Cleland, Lauren Kubiak
As climate change inflicts mounting costs and rising dangers on people across the country, selling off our public lands and waters to fossil fuel companies at steep discounts serves neither present nor future generations. Instead, it locks both into the very fuels that are driving the climate crisis.

Surfers, Conservationists Launch Campaign to Save the Ocean

Expert BlogLauren Kubiak
One of the most important things we can do to protect the ocean from threats from climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, industrial activities, and noise, chemical, and plastic pollution—in addition to cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible—is to…

For a High Seas Treaty, We Need High Ambition

Expert BlogInternationalLauren Kubiak

As governments at the UN conclude the third high seas treaty negotiating session, Greta Thunberg and all ocean and climate activists remind us why we need to keep ambition high for a strong treaty.

Marine Biodiversity in Dangerous Decline, Finds New Report

Expert BlogLauren Kubiak
Over one-third of marine mammals and nearly one-third of sharks, shark relatives, and reef-forming corals are threatened with extinction, according to a new report released today on the state of global biodiversity.