The Washington Post reports the Donald Trump administration is planning to allow oil and gas drilling off the California coast for the first time in decades.
This would include six offshore lease sales between 2027 and 2030 along the California coast, and expansion of drilling on the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
California Governor Gavin Newsom denounced Trump’s plan and called it “dead on arrival.” Newsom spoke from Belén, Brazil, where he is attending the UN Climate Summit: “What’s fascinating to me, you may have seen this, he wants to open offshore oil drilling. He intentionally aligned that to the opening of COP. His weakness, by the way, is masquerading as strength. That’s all that was. But in answer to your question, its dead on arrival.”
Meanwhile, in other news from the UN Climate summit in Belén, Brazil, dozens of Indigenous leaders, many carrying signs that read “Our land is not for sale,” broke through security to enter the venue where thousands of delegates from over 190 countries are attending climate talks.
Indigenous leaders are demanding stronger climate action and protections for the Amazon, other sacred rainforests, and Indigenous territories from fossil fuels.
A leader of the Tupinambá people, Cacique Gilson, said: “For us, it’s a moment of revolt, of indignation, it’s a moment when we indigenous people feel the defeat of our territory firsthand. We don’t eat money, we want our territory free. But the business of oil exploration, mineral exploration, and logging continues.”
[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]
