“You can’t define what energy is for us. Our energy development is fueling a movement. Keep it in the ground.” said Terry Tempest Williams. She referred to the 1,751 acres in Grand County, Utah she and her husband Brooke bought at $1.50 per acre at a BLM fossil fuel auction yesterday in Salt Lake City, Utah. This protest at the BLM auction movement is part of a larger effort to block fossil fuel leases on U.S. public lands. Massive protests around the world are being planned for this May.
Over 100 other activists joined the Williams in the February 16th protest of the BLM auction, where fossil fuel industries purchased leases on 21 parcels covering 22,771 acres of the 45,000 acres up for bid in Utah at this auction (the next Utah auction is May 17th). The Williams purchased a lease on public land near their Castle Valley home, a parcel that had not attracted the minimum $2-an-acre bid. They intend to start a company called Tempest Exploration to manage this BLM lease and others they intend to acquire in the future, although no fossil fuel extraction will occur. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced both protest and purchase.
The group of activists, representing a broad-reaching alliance of community members, packed and overflowed the auction room. They rallied and marched outside and then came into the auction, spontaneously singing songs as the parcels were auctioned off until they were forced to leave. [...]
In recent months, local citizens and activists in Utah and in states across the country have protested outside BLM fossil fuel auctions. Since November, in response to protests, the Obama administration has postponed oil and gas leasing auctions in Utah, Montana and Washington, D.C., and this strategy has gained the attention of leaders in Congress, in the federal government and on the 2016 campaign trail.
Terry tweeted and posted events from the auction live on her Facebook page and on Twitter using the hashtag “keepitintheground.” She wrote afterwards:
Big heartfelt gratitude to the local and national activists and groups who fueled the #keepitintheground movement today and disrupted the BLM oil and gas lease sale in SLC! Bless you Elders Rising, CanyonCountryRisingTide, Wasatch Rising Tide, Great Old Broads, SUWA, Wild Earth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, 350.org, Sierra Club, and all the spirited residents, young and older -- the full range of diverse people and interests who were present in voice, song, and action was a beautiful sight. Utah is our ground zero.
The initial “Keep It In The Ground” Senate Bill (November 2015) banning fossil fuel leases on public land and in public water was expanded on February 11, 2016 when 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben and other grassroots activists joined Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) and 16 additional members of Congress to introduce the Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Bill also ends new leases for offshore drilling in the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, and permanently protects the Arctic and Atlantic coasts. It was initially introduced in November 2015 by the grassroots leaders and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Other co-sponsors are Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Banning these fossil fuel leases will reduce actions (extracting and burning fuel) associated with global warming and help keep public lands for the public and not for private profit. The federal government through public lands controls half of all remaining U.S. potential greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels (450 billion tons) not yet been leased to private industry. The Center released a report on the legal authority President Obama has to stop fossil fuel leases on these lands in Grounded: The President’s Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground.
The Bill, actions by the President and the planned protests will send messages to the public, governments and industries of the stakes involved in our decisions and actions. And while we need to be realistic about the pain and urgency of climate change issues, we also must stay hopeful and capable of action. In her book When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice, Williams wrote
I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend word of wounding without having these words becomg the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars.
KEEP IT IN THE GROUND WEEK OF ACTION planning workshop today Feb 17th, 10am PT.
A workshop online in a “How we Break Free” Web Workshop to co-ordinate actions for May 7 to 15, 2016 is being held today February 17th at 10am Pacific Time. You can tweet questions before the workshop using #BreakFree16.
A massive mobilization to promote opposition to fossil fuel extraction will be held in cities across the U.S. in early May. Many local 350 groups are arranging travel to the cities where actions are planned, such as Los Angeles, California. To find a 350.org group near you, check the map at the 350 website.