WASHINGTON— More than 200 groups today demanded that congressional leaders end funding for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s fossil fuel extraction programs on public lands and waters.

Despite the last United Nations global agreement to quickly implement policies “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” Congress continues to make yearly funding decisions that undermine U.S. efforts to implement that transition.

As today’s letter notes, the U.S. has become the largest oil producer in the world, in significant part because of fossil fuel extraction from public lands and waters. Leasing of public lands and drilling approvals by the Department of the Interior threaten to undermine emissions reductions from the Inflation Reduction Act and other climate policies.

“Climate scientists around the world are pleading for change, but Congress continues to let fossil fuel polluters run wild on our public lands,” said Ashley Nunes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every year that Congress keeps supporting status quo drilling on public lands and offshore waters is a missed opportunity that locks us into a hotter and more dangerous future.”

The groups’ letter follows a new survey of leading climate scientists who predict at least a 2.5 degrees Celsius rise in post-industrial temperatures without additional corrective action.

To limit the worst impacts of climate change, existing oil and gas production must decrease dramatically. Yet the world is on track to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels than what would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, again in large part because of domestic production in the United States.

The 2024 federal budget allocated more than $160 million to the management of fossil fuels on public lands and waters. It remains to be seen what lawmakers will put forward for 2025.

“Congress has coddled the fossil fuel industry for decades, scarring millions of acres of public lands in the process,” said Nunes. “It’s past time our leaders take this simple step and stop funding activities that are completely at odds with protecting our climate.”