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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Green Groups Call on U.S. Interior, Ag Departments to Rein in Carbon Pollution
Federal Court Ruling Opens Door for Accounting of Climate Costs in Public Lands Management
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
Additional contacts:
Shane Levy, Sierra Club, (201) 679-9507, shane.levy@sierraclub.org
Marissa Knodel, Friends of the Earth Climate Campaigner, (202) 222-0729, mknodel@foe.org
Washington, D.C.—A nationwide coalition of groups today called on the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior to account for carbon costs in public lands and minerals management, seize an opportunity created by a recent federal court ruling.
“America’s public lands hold tremendous potential for combating climate change, but Interior and Agriculture have to start transparently and honestly accounting for carbon costs in their decisions,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “Sally Jewell and Tom Vilsack have an unprecedented chance to protect America from the costs of climate change and to help us all reap the benefits of curtailing carbon.”
“The Obama administration has an enormous opportunity to confront the threat of climate disruption by fully evaluating the impacts that leasing decisions have on our climate,” said Athan Manuel, Director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program. “We can no longer ignore the threats posed to our communities, our wild places, and our climate by unchecked dirty fuel extraction and carbon pollution. It’s time for the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to fully account for the costs that their decisions pose to our climate and to consider keeping dirty fuels in the ground.”
In a letter submitted to Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, and Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, the coalition highlighted the opportunity created by a recent federal court ruling in Colorado, which held that carbon costs should have been taken into account by the agencies before approving the expansion of a coal mine.
U.S. District Court Judge Brooke Jackson ruled earlier this summer that the agencies could assess climate impacts using the social cost of carbon protocol, a method for assessing the economic impacts of carbon emissions. The protocol, which was developed by a coalition of federal departments and the White House, is already utilized by many agencies, including the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, to assess the costs and benefits of federal decisions.
While Interior and Agriculture disclosed their coal mining decision would lead to more carbon emissions, the court faulted the agencies for failing to account for the costs of this pollution using the social cost of carbon protocol.
The ruling shines a light on the potential for the Departments Interior and Agriculture to play a meaningful role in curtailing carbon in the U.S. Both oversee vast amounts of public lands, including extensive tracts of coal, oil, and natural gas, particularly in the American West. In 2013, 40% of the nation’s coal, 15% of the nation’s natural gas, and 22% of the nation’s oil came from public lands overseen by Interior and Agriculture agencies.
“The Departments of Interior and Agriculture are responsible for managing resources on public lands in the best interests of the American public, which must account for the climate impact of leasing for fossil fuel development,” said Marissa Knodel, Climate Campaigner for Friends of the Earth. “The social cost of carbon offers these agencies the best basis for estimating the climate-related costs of their actions.”
With blessing from a federal judge, Interior and Agriculture now have the tools to account for the carbon costs of this fossil fuel production and ensure that their public lands management does not undermine climate protection.
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