At this point, it’s fairly obvious that Trump is no friend of the environment. So far, he’s repealed over 125 environmental policies and 40 more are underway. Earlier this week, the Trump administration asked oil and gas companies to choose areas where they want to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to lock in drilling rights before Joe Biden takes office. Is there a lot of oil under this area that can provide energy to many and millions to a few? Yes, probably. But at what cost?
This refuge is a home to more than 270 species, including the world’s remaining Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, 250 musk oxen, and 300,000 snow geese. Trump’s plan also includes a narrower definition of what counts as a critical habitat for endangered species, which will cause species that are actually endangered to not be counted as endangered. This would allow large oil and gas companies to not be responsible when killing species. A piece in Trump’s plan addresses this exact idea by lessening the consequences when companies kill migratory birds.
Fortunately, there are a few reasons why this plan might not go through. The first problem is the tight schedule: Trump is either going to leave or be dragged out of office soon, which means that there isn’t enough time to finalize the deals. The second reason is that the quicker Trump tries to move forward the process, the more laws he would be breaking, which makes it much easier for Biden to reverse this plan in court. While it may seem like a shot in the dark, it is troubling to realize that this plan was passed by the Senate in 2017 and is now a serious possibility.
Biden has made it clear he opposes drilling in this region through his environmental policy. The public has made it clear they oppose this plan through pushback from environmental groups. The native americans who live on this land have made it clear by filing official claims. It’s important to note that the only people who approve of this plan are the oil companies, some republicans, and the American Petroleum Institute. What’s the API? An interest group that paid $136,000 to republican campaigns in 2018 and $230,000 in 2016. Interesting.
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I think something that is abundantly clear, both with Trump's attitude towards the Arctic region in addition to his administration's response to the pandemic, is that he has no issue with ignoring scientific research and reasoning in the interest of profit and favorability from his base. The reality is that species are going extinct at astronomical rates, and diversity of life on this planet is imperative in allowing life to thrive and sustain itself in the future. I realize that the oil industry provides many jobs, given the labor intensive nature of drilling and such, but through the advancement of technology, we have clearly seen viable alternatives, or at least, more sustainable practices. The issue with this kind of thing, as Senator Scott Weiner mentioned the other day, is the transition period—workers will have to retrain, and the longer that takes, the more unstable people feel, so we tend to favor continuing what we already know how to do. But there comes a point in time where we have to start prioritizing the experience and quality of life of future generations; it’s not always just about us, and it’s not always just about now.
At this point, Trump is in the endgame and is just making random moves. Throughout his presidency, and especially during the pandemic, it has become apparent that Trump has no regard for scientific authority (I am reminded of that picture of him trying to look at the eclipse with his naked eyes), and this new plan is just another thing to add onto that. It's almost as if he's heard all the facts and news about climate change, and using his power as the president just decided to do the opposite. The endangered species in the north are struggling enough without massive drills destroying their habitats, and the destruction of the Earth is not worth that much oil or that many jobs. One thing is for sure -- Trump is not going to be remembered well for his reckless and destructive actions. At least Nixon cared about the environment and created the Environmental Protection Agency. What has Trump done?
While many Alaskans may support the lease sale on the basis that it will create jobs, drilling in the refuge will be devastating to the environment, and be a detriment to the sheer abundance of wildlife living on the land. Many Americans deeply care about the conservation efforts, and financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs will not even finance said drilling projects. Although it won’t be easy, it is time to turn to the development of alternative sources of energy in order to look towards an environment-friendly future. For now, hopefully when it comes to the time of the auction, the Bureau of Land Management will not be able to finalize the leases in time before Biden’s inauguration, allowing him to reverse the plan and pave the way for more support for the environment.
This is totally horrible. Like Niyati said, there are viable alternatives. Wind and Solar energy should be our future, not killing polar bears! It is gross how Trump has a complete disregard for the environment, and the world as a whole. Maybe because he does not have much longer to live in the world, but we all do! The good news is that this is unlikely to happen at all. Biden had made it clear that protecting the Arctic is important for him. If the sales go through, Biden will likely use his power to reverse them. On top of that, the issue could be brought to court, where it would probably be struck down. This is one thing that I love about the US political system. Even though it may seem crazy at times, checks and balances are really the foundation of our government, and prevent tyrannical rule like Donald J Trump. This story is a nightmare, and likely never to become reality. That is something we should all be grateful for.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the, if not the only, true wilderness left in the United States. As mentioned in the article, I think the existence of interest groups are extremely prevalent in today’s politics. With the American Petroleum Institute possibly having an influence in Trump’s plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Sierra Club and the majority of American public are bound to oppose Trump’s decision and pushback with methods of their own. The Sierra Club is known as the largest grassroots environmental organization who wields considerable financial and political ability. These oil companies and organizations like the API employ extremely sneaky methods to achieve what they want. For example, in the case of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they know that the American public generally dislikes oil drilling at the expense of the environment. However, congressional republicans and Trump have disregarded the work of career-scientists and claimed that two leases of the refuge would generate nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue, which is a relatively suspicious amount after the 2020 oil market crash. In addition to what Alex has said, among the more than 24 worldwide banks who’ve changed their lending policies to exclude funding the drilling in the Arctic region, major American banks Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, and Morgan Stanley have recently joined.
Sources:
https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/08/trump-administration-continues-rushed-push-drill-arctic-refuge
I think the decision to sell oil rights to the Arctic Refuge was not a thoughtful one, especially since it is at the expense of the wildlife and the environment in that area. The Trump administration is attempting to please their oil industry allies, but to show such little disregard for these communities is in my opinion, quite irresponsible. The Arctic Refuge has been prized and protected by environmentalists, yet President Trump boasts of his efforts in expanding fossil fuel production. In general, President Trump's actions in dealing with environmentalist issues and global problems have been less than inadequate. He made the decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement when each country should instead be working together to resolve this universal problem. While President Trump's decision to leave was based on wanting to revitalize the US economy with coal and oil energy production, his lack of concern for our environment has been detrimental to our progress towards resolving our planet's climate issues.
I think that President Trump's decision to sell away precious habitat to endangered species is very ignorant but expected of a president who believes he is above science.
Helping his wealthy friends and big corporations have always been some of Trump's key decisions in his policy with various tax cuts and loans given out during the pandemic. This refuge homes some of the last endangered species in the arctic region and its precious habitat to the animals but also the people who live off of the land. While these changes may not happen due to the incoming Biden administration and the court system who will be able to block the leases even if they are placed before the inauguration. This decision by trump depicts his morals not only as the President of the United States but as a person placing money over the people of this country and the environment leaving the Paris Climate Agreement as well as the repeal of 250 climate policies stated in the original post. The Trump administration is already facing four lawsuits related to oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge. With the change in power coming to this Januraury hopefully, President-Elect Biden will follow his campaign promises in which he vowed to oppose and sort of oil and gas development as well as reinstate more policies to help slow down and or stop climate change.
Soures: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-friends-and-family-cleared-for-millions-in-small-business-bailout
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/climate/arctic-wildlife-refuge-lease-sales.html
Donald Trumps push to allow drilling in Alaska is no surprise. This plan has been in the works for a while, and at this point after the election, Trump knows his time in the white house is over and is just trying to push things through as last minute favors for his friends. The impact this will have on the environment is catastrophic and it's clear that the head of these drilling companies as well as the president are not concerned about global warming what so ever, and are purely in it for the money. This would be more concerning if it were coming into affect three years ago rather then today, as Joe Biden is going to be president soon and will likely be able to get rid of this plan if it comes into effect.
No surprises here. Trump is carrying out promises on which he ran his campaign. Probably some are promises from interest groups like AI, probably some is a last-ditch effort to make his legacy seem better in the eyes of Republicans, and some might even be an effort to galvanize a Trump 2024 campaign. It is also unsurprising because even though politics is getting more and more candidate centers, it also appears that candidates are becoming less and less trustees and more delegates of opinion. In other words, candidates’ and parties just appeal to their electorate and powerful interest groups, creating a polarized and isolated government in power. For candidate examples, Trump used to be “very pro-choice” for abortion, and Biden used to be very “anti-abortion,” but both switched to gain political clout. For a party example, Republicans didn’t used to be so anti-environment (Nixon EPA) and immigration but switched to appeal to voters/IGs. On the other hand, Democrats used to be for a strong border and less welfare benefits (Clinton) but switched why? Of course, to gain support. It actually appears that in the cases of the parties, their policy agendas were more moderate before switching their positions willy-nilly to gain support. Now, things like Republican extreme anti-environment agenda jeopardizes the safety of our world and our future economy. If only our politics would change.
As a passionate student about sustainability and spreading the word about different ways to help make a positive impact on our world, this situation is extremely uncalled for and it is only proving the idea that humans are greedy. Although oil is a big money maker, that does not make it okay to kill off endangered species and harm our planet. Trump supports big corporations that only care about money, not our environment. There are many ways to be eco-friendly, but killing wildlife in Alaska just to drill holes in the ground for oil is the most irresponsible and greedy decision. Our planet can only provide so much for us, and it is critical that people start learning how to live sustainably.
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