The Biden Administration's Climate Hypocrisy
This week, President Joe Biden proposed a 20-year ban on oil drilling near New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, which has sacred value to indigenous populations. It’s a positive, necessary moratorium that pushes forward Biden’s plans for environmental justice and improving relations with Native American communities. Furthermore, it’s a proposal that feels in keeping with the same Joe Biden who, in his first week as president, rejoined the Paris Climate Accords and promised a bold infrastructure deal that would include extensive environmental protections. An amended version of that deal, the Infrastructure Investment, and Jobs Act signed into law this week, and it comes with money for clean water, improved roads, and a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Sadly, Biden and his cabinet have frequently undermined their climate change rhetoric throughout his first year in office. This should be no surprise considering Biden’s resistance to embracing the progressive Green New Deal during the primaries, but this administration’s worst climate missteps are disappointing even by moderate standards.
To be fair, many of Biden’s moves to make his climate rhetoric a reality have been thwarted, such as his proposed suspension of oil leases that was ruled against by a federal judge. The environmental provisions of the new infrastructure deal, while historic, have been criticized by many scientists and economists for not doing enough to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, but the legislative process has been long and complicated. Constant democrat in-fighting and resistance from senators Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin led to cuts in the bill that disappointed early supporters of the Green New Deal, which was more ambitious in its climate efforts. The neverending Republican resistance to anything that resembles smart climate policy has also slowed progress.
But it would be a mistake to characterize Biden as a fierce environmental advocate who has been hamstrung by forces outside of his control. For starters, Biden has consistently clashed with climate activists such as the Sunrise Movement over his willingness to allow drilling on federal land. Plans to sell new gas leases on public land feel especially problematic considering that Biden himself promised to end new drilling on federal land. Drilling has not only continued, but this July saw drilling approvals hit their highest level in 20 years, and the United States still consumes and produces more oil than any other country in the world.
Biden has promised to bring environmentalists to the table, but this hasn’t always been true. In October, indigenous climate activists marched in Washington to protest Biden’s new drilling projects. They accused Biden of going against his campaign promises, and they called for the administration to declare a national climate emergency. Instead, hundreds of protestors were arrested.
What makes these climate failures so hypocritical is Biden’s clear understanding of what’s at stake when it comes to the destruction of our planet. He speaks frequently and clearly about the grave dangers of global warming, but his acceptance of federal land drilling goes against his publicly progressive gestures.
This dissonance places Biden in a position where every environmentally forward-thinking headline can be balanced out by a new move to preserve the status quo. For example, while Biden has been able to proceed with politically popular plans such as shutting down production of the Keystone XL pipeline, his administration has opposed halting the Dakota Access pipeline.
He could be doing more.
If Biden used his executive power to declare climate change a national emergency, he could go further and prevent pipeline construction and crude oil exports.
So what explains this contrast between Biden’s verbal stance on climate change and his administration’s failures? For one, the economy is in a precarious position and oil prices are rising. Lessening oil production could be a politically disastrous move.
But there’s a bigger issue at play. Despite being the opposition to the GOP’s climate change denialism, many Democrats are still beholden to the same fossil fuel companies as Republicans. Joe Manchin is the worst offender, but Big Oil’s influence is likely too great to measure. This means that while it’s easy to blame a lack of progress on conservative stubbornness, Democrats don’t do nearly as much as they could and should to combat moneyed interests that stand in the way of a green future.
None of this means that Biden can be deemed a failure just yet. He has done more than previous presidents, including President Obama, to face global warming head-on. He has also shown himself to be susceptible to political pressure, meaning his stances on pipelines and gas sales could very well change. One thing is for certain: if Biden wants to springboard off of the infrastructure deal and improve on his shaky first year, his hypocrisies surrounding drilling must come to an end.
