OC Joins Legal Petition to Stop Unlawful Fuel Projects
“There is little time left to avoid setting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic, climate trajectory….we face a climate crisis that threatens our people and communities, public health and economy, and, starkly, our ability to live on planet Earth….We must listen to science — and act….It is the policy of my Administration to organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of the economy…”
-President Joe Biden, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Exec. Order No. 14,008, (Jan. 27, 2021)
In wake of the massive oil pipeline leak in Southern California, Orca Conservancy along with over 300 environmental, public health, Indigenous, faith-based, and community groups have joined the Center for Biological Diversity to submit a legal petition to the current presidential administration and Army Corps of Engineers to demand the stop of unlawful fuel projects.
The petition calls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately issue a moratorium on the approval of permits for fossil fuel infrastructure projects as well as develop new lawful and science-based rules to permanently end the approval of new permits. The petition also requests that the Army Corps revoke all permits issued illegally and inappropriately for fuel infrastructure projects.
Under the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, the Army Corps has legal authority and responsibility to deny fossil fuel infrastructure permits for projects such as pipelines, import and export terminals, refineries, and petrochemical plants when they are contrary to public interest.
With the growing threat of Climate Change, the science is clear that new fossil fuel and infrastructure projects go against public interest. Three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil fuels, with the United States being the world’s leader in oil and gas production and the third-largest in coal production. Not only does the fossil fuel construction and infrastructure put tremendous strain on vital ecosystems across the nation, but they also pose a major risk of accidents such as spills and leaks that can cause immeasurable and irreversible harm to our environment and communities, such as the case in Southern California. Additionally, the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure prolongs the dependency and use of fossil fuels which will accelerate the risk of pushing the planet past the warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, climate change poses a major threat to the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs) which as of this writing have only 73 members left. Coldwater fish such as salmon, the primary food source for the SRKWs, are projected to disappear largely from portions of their geographic range or risk extinction where warming causes water temperatures to exceed their thermal tolerance limits.
Salmon depend on cold, clean, and oxygenated water to survive, and water that exceeds certain temperatures puts immense stress on their bodies, and if waters get too warm it can be lethal to salmon. Furthermore, a warming climate can pose other risks to the ecosystem such as intensifying droughts and heatwaves as well as reduced winter snowpack which are critical to keeping rivers and water systems cool and deep which the salmon and other cool-water fish need to survive. In the case of this year, the Pacific Northwest saw a very healthy snowfall season and a strong snowpack in the mountains. Unfortunately due to the record-setting heatwaves experienced over the summer, the snowpack melted at an unprecedented rate, we may not know the full extent of the harm for years to come.
The petition filed is one small step to addressing the imminent threat of climate change, pollution and advocating for the endangered Southern Residents, salmon, and the entire ecosystem. The Army Corps of Engineers has a responsibility to put public interest and safety ahead of financial gain, and they have failed to do so. We hope that the Biden Administration honors its pledge and the Climate President Action Plan to confront the climate crisis and halt the fossil fuel project approvals for the sake of the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, salmon, the ecosystem, and our future on this planet.