Senate passes budget resolution; provides opportunity to harness public lands for climate action
Muir Woods National Monument, California
Harold Pranger, NPS, Flickr
Congress should put public lands front and center as it fleshes out budget details
Today, the Senate passed its $3.5 Trillion budget plan that includes major climate change, child and family care, and housing equity investments, among others. As committees move into the process of fleshing out legislation that fulfills the specific spending targets laid out by the budget framework, investments and actions on public lands can and should be a core part of actualizing its vision for climate action and healthy communities.
In response to the resolution’s passage, The Wilderness Society released the following statement from Drew McConville, senior managing director of government relations:
“With climate alarm bells blaring around the globe, it’s a relief to see the Senate pass a blueprint for budget legislation that will prioritize tackling the climate crisis, deploying clean energy, and putting people to work conserving our forests and other lands. We’re calling on leaders in Congress to keep fighting, get the job done and ensure a final bill invests in the full potential of our public lands to support communities and the fight against climate change.
“A bill that harnesses the promise and power of public lands includes restoring protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, fixing a federal oil and gas leasing system that subsidizes drilling, building parks in communities most in need of green space, and supporting Civilian Climate Corps and other conservation projects across our public lands. We must throw everything we have at solving the climate crisis and public lands must be a cornerstone.”
Senate passage comes days after a new IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report stated that the Earth is now almost certain to warm 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next two decades, but that swift government action, including President Biden’s pledge to eliminate America’s net carbon emissions by 2050, could make a difference in avoiding some of the most catastrophic impacts that would come with warming of 4 degrees compared with the preindustrial era.
CONTACT: Kerry Leslie, (415) 398-1484, kerry_leslie@tws.org
