Senate bill holds ground against Trump environment assault

The fossil fuel industry has had serious influence over American politicians for decades. This has not changed with the Trump Administration. In fact, it seems that Trump is even more brazen in his courting of the fossil fuel industry, instead of “draining the swamp” of corporate lobbying as he had promised during his campaign. Trump has been relentlessly undoing every environmental regulation possible, pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord and has invited into his cabinet, with open arms, fossil fuel industry executives and lobbyists. However, Trump's cozying up to the fossil fuel industry and his attacks on the environment have not gone unchallenged.

Bill in Senate challenges fossil fuel industry

Trump's attacks on science and the environment prompted a massive populist response in the form of the March For Science. This worldwide event in April inspired hundreds of thousands to march against Trump's climate science-denying agenda. It also inspired the People's Climate March in late-April which saw more than 150,000 people march on Washington D.C. to protest Trump's attack on Mother Earth. It was during this march on Washington D.C. that Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) announced the Keep It in the Ground Act of 2017 (S. 750) which Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced in the Senate.

What does the bill propose to do?

The Senate bill, a version of which was originally introduced in the House by Congressman Huffman in February 2016, would seriously slowdown Trump's anti-environment agenda by making it more difficult for the fossil fuel industry to continue exploiting nature for profits. The legislation would immediately ban any new leases of Federal lands for the purposes of extracting coal, oil, gas, oil shale and tar sands. It would also terminate any already-existent non-producing leases for fossil fuel extraction on Federal lands. Additionally, the bill would do the same for offshore drilling in the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic and the Atlantic.

As of now only a handful of Senators have co-sponsored the Senate bill. Some of those co-sponsors include Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Despite current lack of support from lawmakers in the Senate, there is significant grassroots support for the bill, particularly coming from former-Ohio state senator Nina Turner and Our Revolution. However, it will take all of us standing together to protect the environment against Trump. You can join in on the effort by calling your Senators and demanding they take a stand for the planet and support the Keep It In the Ground Act of 2017.