RSN: FOCUS: Revealed: Biden Administration Was Not Legally Bound to Auction Gulf Drilling Rights

 

 

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FOCUS: Revealed: Biden Administration Was Not Legally Bound to Auction Gulf Drilling Rights
Oliver Milman, Guardian UK
Milman writes: "The Biden administration admitted that a court decision did not compel it to lease vast tracts of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling, shortly before claiming it was legally obliged to do so when announcing the sell-off, the Guardian can reveal."

Justice department admits a previous ruling did not force the detonation of what environmentalists call ‘huge carbon bomb’

The Biden administration admitted that a court decision did not compel it to lease vast tracts of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling, shortly before claiming it was legally obliged to do so when announcing the sell-off, the Guardian can reveal.

Last month, the US government held the largest-ever auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico’s history, offering up more than 80m acres of the gulf’s seabed for fossil fuel extraction.

The enormous sale, which took place just four days after crucial UN climate talks in Scotland, represented a spectacular about-turn from Joe Biden’s previous promise to halt offshore drilling and was denounced by outraged environmental groups as a “huge carbon bomb”.

The president’s administration insisted it was obliged to hold the lease sale due to a court ruling in favor of a dozen states that sued to lift a blanket pause placed on new drilling permits by Biden.

But a memo filed by the US Department of Justice before the lease sale acknowledges that this judgement does not force the government to auction off drilling rights to the gulf.

Download original document

“While the order enjoins and restrains (the department of) interior from implementing the pause, it does not compel interior to take the actions specified by plaintiffs, let alone on the urgent timeline specified in plaintiffs’ contempt motion,” wrote government lawyers to the federal court in Louisiana in August.

The issuance of new drilling permits would require further steps under federal laws, the memo states, adding that “the court’s order does not compel the agency to act in contravention of these other authorities”.

The memo’s language was first referenced by The Daily Poster.

Just a month after arguing that it was not required to hold the sale, however, the department of interior’s bureau of ocean energy management (BOEM) announced it would auction off an area of the gulf that is two times the size of Florida to oil and gas companies.

The expanse of the gulf put up for auction contains around 1.12bn barrels of oil and 4.2tn cubic ft of gas, with the leases locking in years – and potentially decades – of planet-heating emissions. It comes at a time when the International Energy Agency has said no new fossil fuel projects can be established after this year if the world is to avoid catastrophic heatwaves, flooding and other disastrous impacts from runaway climate change.

“The administration has been misleading on this, to put it mildly. It’s very disappointing,” said Thomas Meyer, national organizing manager of Food and Water Watch. “They didn’t have to hold this sale and they didn’t have to hold it on this timeline.

“We know this will exacerbate the climate crisis, it undermines US credibility abroad and it contradicts a campaign promise by Biden. If the administration was taking the climate crisis seriously they would be fighting tooth and nail to keep every molecule of fossil fuel in the ground. They are nowhere near to doing that.”

The auction, held on 17 November , ended up netting the government $191.6m from companies such as Exxon, Chevron and BP, the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. A total of 308 tracts of the gulf’s seabed were sold off, covering 1.7m acres, an area larger than the state of Delaware.

The rapid staging of the lease sale was not required by the courts and could have instead been delayed by a proper federal review of climate and other environmental impacts according to Earthjustice, an environmental group that is suing to halt the leases before they come into effect in February.

“Interior had a lot of discretion over whether to hold this lease sale and they chose to do it anyway,” said Brettny Hardy, a senior attorney at Earthjustice.

“The Biden administration is talking about a climate crisis and getting to net-zero emissions and then it makes decisions like this that lock us into impacts for decades to come. These leases could potentially be producing oil 50 years from now. We have no good answer as to why they are doing this. It’s problematic and disappointing.”

A spokesperson for the department of interior said that it was “complying with a US district court’s decision” in going ahead with the leases. He did not answer questions over why the government said in August that this court decision does not compel the auction.

The decision to go ahead with the sale has damaged Biden’s climate credentials after the Cop26 talks in Glasgow where he said the US would “lead by example” in slashing greenhouse gas emissions. The president, who has called the climate crisis an “existential threat” to the US, said in a Democratic primary debate last year that under his administration there would be “no more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one.”

This jarring contradiction has alarmed even some of Biden’s closest allies, with three Democratic members of Congress filing a brief last week with the federal court calling for a halt to the gulf lease sales. The three admitted that they are “deeply concerned” and “shocked” that the government is pushing ahead with the drilling “despite its own findings that the largest lease sale in history has not had an adequate environmental review”.

Biden has set a target for the US to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and the use of the huge amount of land and ocean overseen by the federal government is seen as critical to this goal. The production and consumption of fossil fuels on federal land causes about a quarter of all American greenhouse gas emissions and a president has broad unilateral powers to limit or expand oil, gas and coal development.

The Biden administration’s apparent reluctance to aggressively wield this authority may cost it politically, as well as worsen the climate crisis, ahead of midterm elections next year.

“This is not going to help with Democratic turnout next year,” said Meyer. “There is a core constituency of young people and people who care about climate change who are upset and feeling betrayed by the Biden administration.”

Some commentators have pointed to Biden’s need to appease senator Joe Manchin, a fossil fuel– friendly centrist Democrat who is a crucial vote for the president’s Build Back Better spending bill, as a reason for the drilling.

“If it is political, that is unfortunate because the climate doesn’t really care about politics,” said Hardy. “Climate change will continue to cause problems for the whole nation if we don’t address it.”

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Animal Angels - HORSE SLAUGHTER

 

 

The cruelty of horse slaughter exposed by Animal Angels

 

This documentary exposes the dirty secrets of the horse slaughter industry through the tragic story of Platinum Ticket. This successful grey Thoroughbred racehorse was discovered in a kill pen at the Knoxville Livestock Auction barely alive with a bullet in his head. The film tells the story of how he got there: From winning purses at the racetrack to winning ribbons in the jumper show ring – until his fortunes suddenly changed. Like tens of thousands of American horses each year, he became trapped in the horse slaughter pipeline – a long, cruel road leading to a brutal death in the slaughterhouses of Mexico and Canada.

NO HORSE DESERVES SUCH CRUELTY AND INDIFFERENCE

The story I'm about to tell you is hard to hear, but it does have a promising ending. When I arrived at a New Mexico horse auction run by notorious "kill buyer" Dennis Chavez, I spotted them almost immediately: Four emaciated horses, lying flat on the ground and barely clinging to life. As another investigator and I got closer, I realized one horse was severely bleeding — a coyote had gotten into the pen overnight and torn apart his hip. I wish I could say it's the first time I've seen something like this, but it happens over and over again. This is why Animals' Angels needs your help now to investigate, document, and expose animal abusers so we can hold them accountable.

HELP US EXPOSE ALL THE ABUSERS We found four horses trampled to death in one of Leroy Baker's slaughter transports. Our investigation led to Baker being fined $177,000. I immediately found the livestock inspector, who euthanized these clearly suffering horses. We then sent our documentation to the New Mexico authorities and ... all hell broke loose. The whole system turned its force against us, including the pro-slaughter industry and even the FBI! But thanks to our viral video documenting the condition these horses were in, animal advocates like you learned the truth and were on our side. Because of our investigation — and the support of friends like you — every animal held at an auction house in New Mexico must now have paperwork, which creates an undeniable paper trail and holds auctioneers accountable for how they treat animals. We have proven that factual documentation and reporting as well as public pressure can stop animal abuse. But there are so many more horses, farm animals, and puppy mill dogs waiting for us to uncover their stories so they can be spared. Please make a donation today for all the animals who are still counting on us. When others look away, we bear witness to animals' pain and work tirelessly to improve their lives. With gratitude, Sonja Meadows President P.S. We have made a commitment to keep fighting until all horses are safe and the slaughter of horses is banned for good. If you love and value them as much as we do, we need you on board with us today. Please donate to help Animals' Angels end cruelty against horses and all animals. As the world continued to battle the pandemic in the closing months of 2020, Animals’ Angels continued its mission to advocate for animals and expose abusers by conducting an extensive months-long undercover investigation into the Kalona Auction in Iowa. Widely considered a dumping ground where the local Amish and Mennonite communities dispose of their used-up horses in exchange for new ones, the monthly Kalona horse sale is one of the largest providers of slaughter horses in the US, usually selling more slaughter horses than riding or work horses. The auction caters to many of North America’s most notorious kill buyers, including Boots Stanley, Bouvry Exports, Scott Kurtenbach, George Baker and Keith Tongen. Each auction sells between 300 to 500 horses, with Stanley and Kurtenbach & Bouvry buying the bulk of the slaughter horses. The Kalona sale is also the only auction that uses a hydraulic gate to separate horses moving to the auction ring. As our investigators recently witnessed again firsthand, this is a cruel and chaotic process that inflicts unnecessary suffering on the innocent animals at the sale.  Months of Horror at the Kalona Sale During Animals’ Angels recent investigation into the Kalona horse sale, our team observed auctions from August through November, and were horrified by the findings. A few of the heartbreaking observations are listed below: In August, our team observed a draft mare go down multiple times in the pen, only to be forced back up again and again until she was sold, at which time the distressed animal went down yet again. At the same auction, investigators saw a horse covered with dozens of whip marks, and witnessed a horse being kicked in the face by another horse with full force in an agitated pen. In September, kill buyer Boots Stanley paid $50 for a horse (tag #695) with severe lacerations on his face which appeared to have been caused by an ingrown halter being ripped off prior to the sale. In October, Boots Stanley purchased a dappled grey draft horse who struggled through the auction ring due to a left leg that had swollen to three times its normal size. During the same sale, a Belgian draft horse died suddenly in the loose horse pen, indicating the horse had already been in dire condition when brought in, and a white donkey was mercilessly moved through the auction ring, even though the injured animal was unable to put any weight on his right foot. In November, Stanley was once again buying blind, sick, and injured animals at the auction. Some of these horses later appear on his online broker program pages for hundreds of dollars, even though he paid as little as $50 for many of the animals. During each monthly sale at Kalona, Animals’ Angels investigators documented consistently cruel and neglectful behavior: The auction used a heavy hydraulic gate to block the entrance of the auction ring. Terrified horses were forced through a narrow chute while the auction workers hit the panicked animals relentlessly on the face and sides. One worker even went so far to strike a horse across the face with his wooden cane. Many horses were in extremely poor condition, including emaciated horses and horses with curled up or severely cracked hooves, rain rot, swollen legs, or fresh wounds from being kicked or injured during transport. Some of these horses were in such poor condition that it was obvious they should not have been accepted for sale. Large draft horses were kept in pens with low ceilings, causing the poor animals to hit their heads on the overhead beams. On several occasions, stallions were put in the same pen with mares, causing unnecessary fighting and kicking. The auction’s lack of diligence and care extended to the attendees as well. Despite a raging pandemic, the sale did not require or encourage the wearing of masks, thus putting the public at risk.  Shameful Lack of Concern by Auction Veterinarian Kim Van Driel After witnessing the abuse and suffering of the horses at the auction, our team was appalled to see auction veterinarian Kim Van Driel, owner of New Hampton Vet Clinic, demonstrate a disturbing level of disregard for animal welfare, showing no sign of concern, care, or compassion for these sick and injured horses. Van Driel was focused only on drawing blood for Coggins testing, while her husband Justin, who is a veterinary assistant at his wife’s clinic, could be overheard cursing and yelling at the horses while using a whip to move them around the pen.  Kill Buyers Shamelessly Exploit Well-Meaning Individuals Our investigation of the Kalona auction once again exposed the terrible treatment and conditions inflicted on the horses trusted to the auction’s care. It also served as a painful reminder why no one should ever purchase a horse from a kill buyer, since it only perpetuates the inhumane treatment of animals and enables the abuse to continue. This unhappy truth is clearly demonstrated by the Stanley brothers, who have grown their business exponentially over the last decade by selling horses at inflated prices to well-meaning individuals who hope to save an animal from slaughter. Unfortunately, the profit gained from these manipulative transactions has allowed the Stanley brothers to thrive. The cycle of abuse and slaughter will only end when the profits dry up and the kill-buyers can no longer make a living off the suffering of these poor animals. Advocating For Change The ongoing plight of the horses at the Kalona auction was hard to witness, but Animals’ Angels remains committed to holding the Kalona auction accountable, along with its employees, attendees, and auction veterinarian. And, since many of the horses from this sale end up at a Canadian slaughter plant, the evidence will be used to continue to urge European authorities to impose a complete ban on horse meat imported from Canada. As large scale kill buyers like Boots Stanley continue to load their slaughter trucks with innocent horses, Animals’ Angels will continue to expose the ugly truth about the Kalona auction and their kill buyer clientele. We will work tirelessly to inform and warn unsuspecting buyers, making it our mission to discourage anyone from ever purchasing a horse from a kill buyer. Change can happen if we convince enough people to stop supporting the kill buyers and end their greedy reign of abuse and slaughter. Become an Advocate for the Animals Today We encourage you to share the important information in this newsletter with as many people as you can in order to spread awareness of the tragic fate of the horses at the Kalona auction. And we invite you to join us in our mission to bring meaningful change to the lives of innocent animals. Through advocacy, awareness, and compassion we can make a difference together. Will you join us in advocating for the animals today? Your tax-free donation will be used to support future investigations and will enable us to continue our work on behalf of the animals who so badly need our help.