Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) on Thursday introduced legislation that would halt the extraction of fossil fuels from federal lands. The “Keep it in the Ground” bill would serve three main purposes: to stop new leases and end nonproducing leases for coal, oil, gas, oil shale, and tar sands on all federal lands; to stop new leases and end nonproducing leases for offshore drilling in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico; and to prohibit offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic.
“We know that over 90 percent of the world’s fossil fuels have to stay in the ground forever if we’re going to limit the most catastrophic impacts of climate change,” Huffman said during a Thursday afternoon press call. “The Keep it in the Ground Act is a very important step in the fight to rein in carbon emissions to fight climate change and it will help us once and for all end our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.”
The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Mike Honda (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), along with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
The Senate version of the bill was introduced in November 2015 by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and has been assigned to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Lawmakers have taken no action on the legislation since the committee assignment.
In the unlikely event that bill becomes law, it would effectively make permanent the current moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands enacted by the Interior Department in late January. During the pause on coal leasing, the Interior Department will conduct a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) review of the federal coal program “in order to ensure that it is properly structured to provide a fair return to taxpayers and reflect its impacts on the environment, while continuing to help meet our energy needs,” according to an announcement from the department.
Interior last conducted a PEIS in 1983-1984. “That review process also included a pause on coal leasing. An interim report is expected by the end of the year.