December 15, 2020

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. Biden-Harris Transition Team 1401 Constitution Ave NW Washington, DC 20001

Re: Day one promise to ban new federal fossil fuel leasing and permitting on public lands and waters

Dear President-elect Biden,

Congratulations on winning the presidential election and thank you for your slate of promised executive actions to help transition away from fossil fuels and avoid associated harm to people and the environment.

Toward that end, the 538 undersigned organizations, on behalf of our many millions of members, urge you to issue the following Executive Order to enact your “day one” commitment, with no state exceptions, to ban new federal oil and gas leasing and permitting on public lands and waters:

EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING NEW FEDERAL FOSSIL FUEL LEASING AND PERMITTING ON PUBLIC LANDS AND WATERS

By the authority vested in me as the President by the Constitution and the laws of the of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy.

Climate change represents an existential threat to the United States and the planet. The climate crisis is already causing devastating impacts from more destructive hurricanes and wildfires, rising seas, increasing heatwaves, droughts, and floods, imperiling food and water security, and the causing the collapse of ecosystems. The overwhelming scientific consensus has definitively concluded that without deep and rapid emissions reductions, warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius and will result in catastrophic damage around the world. Every fraction of additional warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius will worsen these harms, threatening lives, health and safety, livelihoods, the economy, and national security for this and future generations.

Global emissions must be reduced by half over the next decade to limit warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Accordingly, it is in the national interest for the United States, based on our cumulative emissions and respective capabilities, to lead the way by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70 percent by 2030 and to near zero by 2040.

Because fossil fuels are responsible for 75 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and over 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, it is the policy of the Biden administration to immediately cease the expansion of fossil fuel development and implement a managed decline of fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters.

Sec. 2. Banning Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing and Permitting.

Under the authority granted in section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1341(a), I hereby permanently withdraw from disposition by leasing all unleased portions of the Outer Continental Shelf. This withdrawal prevents consideration of these areas for any future oil or gas leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production.

The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately revise the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program in a manner that halts new offshore oil and gas lease sales and provides a determination that national energy needs require a prompt transition away from fossil fuels. Within 90 days, the Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a plan to phase out oil and gas activities on the Outer Continental Shelf, including a ban on drilling new wells.

Sec. 3. Banning Onshore Leasing and Permitting of Oil, Gas, and Coal.

Effective immediately, no new nominations for fossil fuel leases shall be processed, nor lease sales conducted on any public lands, for any fossil fuel — including oil, gas, or coal — until the programmatic review described below is completed. For pending nominations, no lease sales will be held, leases issued or re-issued or extended, or modifications approved, prior to completion of the programmatic review. Pending the review, no permits shall be issued for development, including but not limited to permits to drill new wells.

Within 30 days of this Order, the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture shall direct the Bureau of Land Management, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and U.S. Forest Service to commence a programmatic review of all fossil fuel leasing, permitting, and development subject to its jurisdiction, including federal fossil fuels underlying lands subject to surface management by other agencies and non-federal entities.

The programmatic review shall (1) determine the compatibility of leasing, permitting, extraction and combustion of fossil fuels from public lands and waters with meeting the United States’ goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 and to near zero by 2040; (2) evaluate the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions impacts of all federal onshore fossil fuel activities; (3) assess all reasonable alternatives for how the federal fossil fuel program can contribute to a prompt transition away from the production, use, and export of fossil fuels; and (4) review all agency actions, plans, programs, policies, and regulations that affect the leasing, production, and use of domestically produced fossil fuels, including coal, oil, gas, tar sands, and oil shale.

No leasing, permitting, or development of fossil fuel approvals may occur on public lands or waters unless the Secretary completes the programmatic review and determines that any such activity would be consistent with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to near zero by 2040 and with limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Sec. 4. Cancellation of Improperly Issued Leases.

The Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior shall begin a comprehensive review of companies involved in fossil fuel leasing, permitting, and development on public lands and waters. They shall immediately initiate a review of the lawfulness of existing leases and shall identify and investigate all instances of fraud or misrepresentation that may have occurred during or prior to the leasing, permitting, or development of fossil fuel resources on public lands or waters and whether any company engaged in efforts to conceal, deny, or misrepresent climate science or the risks and harm from fossil fuels extraction.

The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately begin the process to cancel any such leases or permits obtained through fraud, misrepresentation, or that were otherwise improperly issued. The Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior should pursue any and all available remedies to the federal government including suspension and debarment, administrative penalties, civil penalties, or criminal penalties to ensure that all harms and impacts are fully redressed.

Sec. 5. General Provisions.

This order shall not be interpreted to supersede or diminish any environmental safeguards offered under other statutes, including any prior leasing withdrawals. Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof. This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Thank you for your climate leadership, and congratulations again for your victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Sincerely,

Convening organizations: Center for Biological Diversity Azul Central California Environmental Justice Network Climate Justice Alliance Cook Inletkeeper Data for Progress Diné C.A.R.E. Eyak Preservation Council Food & Water Watch Friends of the Earth Greenpeace USA Indigenous Environmental Network Indivisible Labor Network for Louisiana Bucket Brigade Native Conservancy Oil Change International Rainforest Action Network Sierra Club Waterkeeper Alliance Western Center Western Watersheds Project WildEarth Guardians Wishtoyo Foundation 350 Colorado 350.org

Supporting Organizations: Action Center on Race and the Economy Better Path Coalition Action Collaborative for the Transforming Beyond Extreme Energy Spirit Now (ACTS Now) for a Livable Climate Advocates for the West Black Warrior Riverkeeper Alabama Interfaith Power & Light Bold Alliance Allamakee County Protectors - Education Breast Cancer Action Campaign Breathe Project Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Bronx Climate Justice North Already Devlaued and Devastated Bucks County Audubon Society Homeowners of Parsippany Bucks County Concerned Citizens Against the Altamaha Coastkeeper Pipelines Amazon Watch Bucks Environmental Action Animal Welfare Institute Buffalo Field Campaign Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc. Cahaba Riverkeeper Animas Valley Institute California Indian Environmental Alliance Atchafalaya Basinkeeper Californians for Western Wilderness Athens County's Future Action Network, Call To Action Colorado acfan.org Campaign for Renewal Energy Aytzim: Ecological Judaism Care About Climate Baltimore, MD Phil Berrigan Memorial Carolina Biodiesel, LLC Chapter Veterans For Peace Cascadia Wildlands Beloved Earth Community of The Riverside Catholic Network US Church Catskill Mountainkeeper Beloved Earth Community, Riverside Church, CCC - First Reformed Church of Schenectady , NY Center for a Competitive Waste Industry Berks Gas Truth Center for Climate Integrity Center for Coalfield Justice Council of Churches for the State of Deleware Center for Ecological Living and Learning Council of Churches of the Eastern Shore (CELL) Crockett-Rodeo United to Defend the Center for International Environmental Law Environment Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment Dallas Sierra Club Central California Asthma Collaborative Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action Central Colorado Wilderness Coalition DC Environmental Network Charles River Watershed Association Delaware Riverkeeper Network Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team Christian Council of Delmarva Divest LA Christians For The Mountains Dogwood Alliance Church Women United in New York State Don't Gas the Meadowlands Coalition Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge Don't Waste Arizona Citizens for a Healthy Community Down to Earth Storytelling Ciudadanos Del Karso Earth Day Initiative Clean Air Carolina Earth Ethics, Inc. Clean Energy Action - Colorado Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Clean Ocean Action Light Cleveland Owns Earthday.org Climable.org Earthworks Climate Action Now Western Mass. ec0mission Climate Defense Project Echotopia LLC Climate Hawks Vote Ecoaction Committee of the Green Party of the Climate Justice Alliance U.S. Climate Reality ecoAmerica Climate Xchange Eco-Eating ClimateMama Eco-Logic of WBAI-FM Coachelle Valley Waterkeeper EcoRobeson Coalition Against Nukes Ecosocialist Working Group of the Democratic Coalition for Outreach, Policy, and Education Socialists of America Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate Coalition to Protect America's National Parks and Health Organization (EEECHO) Coaltion Against Pilgrim Pipeline NJ Elders Climate Action Coastal Plains Institute Elders Rising Collaborative Center for Justice Elmirans & Friends Against Fracking Colorado Businesses for a Livable Climate Embrace Impatience Associates and Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network Lichtenstein Consulting Communities for a Better Environment Endangered Habitats League Community Church of New York Coalition Community Health Environmental Action Committee of West Concern Citizens of Northampton County Marin Concerned Health Professionals of New York Environmental Protection Information Center Conservation Council For Hawaii EnvironmentaLEE Cooperative Energy Futures Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition Corporate Ethics International Faith in Place Action Fund/IL Interfaith Power Corvallis Interfaith Climat Justice Committee & Light Cottonwood Environmental Law Center Faithful America FCCPR, Franklin Co Continuing the Political GreenRoots, Inc Revolution Guernsey County Citizens Support on Drilling Feminists in Action Los Angeles Issues Fire Drill Fridays Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy Flight Free USA Haiti Cholera Research Funding Foundation FOGH (Friends of Grays Harbor) Inc USA ForestKids Hands Across the Sand Foundation Earth Hawai'i Institute for Human Rights Frac Sand Sentinel: Project Outreach Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL FracTracker Alliance Utah) Franciscan Action Network Healthy Gulf Franklin County Continuing the Political Heartwood Revolution Heirs To Our Oceans FreshWater Accountability Project High Country Conservation Advocates Friends of Casco Bay Hilton Head for Peace Friends of Merrymeeting Bay Honeydew Advisors Friends of the Bitterroot Howling For Wolves Friends of the Inyo Humboldt Baykeeper Fuerza Mundial - Continuum In the Shadow of the Wolf Fund for Democratic Communities Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition FXB Climate Advocates Indigenous Environmental Network GAIA Indivisible Gas Free Seneca Information Network for Responsible Mining GASP Inland Empire Waterkeeper Genesis Farm Inland Ocean Coalition Georgia Conservation Voters Inspiration of Sedona Georgia STAND-UP Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Global Warming Education Network (GWEN) Institute for Policy Studies Climate Policy Global Witness Program Golden Egg Interfaith Earthkeepers Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Interfaith Worker Justice of East Tennessee Gray Panthers NYC International Association of World Peace Grays Harbor Audubon Society Advocates Great Basin Resoruce Watrch International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association Island Institute Great Old Broads for Wilderness It Is Time Greater Boston Physicians for Social Jewish Climate Action Network-MA Responsibility Jews of the Earth, a project of Aytzim Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute Green Amendments For The Generations Kentucky Conservation Committee Green America Kickapoo Peace Circle Green Education and Legal Fund KIWA Green New Deal Virginia Klamath Forest Alliance Green River Action Network Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center GreenFaith KyotoUSA GreenFaith Bergen Circle Lady Freethinker Greenpower Laguna Acoma Coalition For A Safe NH Audubon Environment NMEAC Lakota People's Law Project No Coal In Oakland LaPlaca and Associates LLC No Fracked Gas in Mass Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper No Sharon Gas Pipeline | Clean energy Now Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson Los Angeles Waterkeeper North Bronx Racial Justice Los Padres ForestWatch North Carolina Council of Churches Louisiana Rise North Country 350 Alliance Love Wild Horses Northern Alaska Environmental Center Lynn Canal Conservation Northern Arizona Climate Change Alliance Make It Work Nevada Northern Jaguar Project Make The Road Nevada Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance Malach Consulting Norwalk River Watershed Assocation Maryland Ornithological Society Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Mass. Peace Action Nuclear Information and Resource Service (for Massachusetts Forest Watch a nuclear-free, carbon-free world - no uranium Matanzas Riverkeeper mining or fossil fuels) Mazaska Talks NY4WHALES Media & Communication Action Project NYC Safe Energy Campaign Mid-Missouri Peaceworks NYCD16 - Indivisible Environment Committee Milwaukee Riverkeeper Oasis Earth Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin Occidental Arts and Ecology Center Mission Blue Ocean Conservation Research Mission Blue / Sylvia Earle Alliance Oceanic Preservation Society Montana Environmental Information Center Ogeechee Riverkeeper Mothers Out Front OneAmerica MountainTrue Operation HomeCare, Inc. Movement for a People's Party Orange County Coastkeeper MUUSJA - MN Unitarian Universalist Social Organic Consumers Association Justice Alliance Organized Uplifting Resources and Strategies NANOMASS Corporation Our Santa Fe River National Family Farm Coalition OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition Native Plant Conservation Campaign Pace Energy and Climate Center NC Alliance to Protect the People and the Pacific Environment Places We Live (APPPL) Partnership for Policy Integrity NC Climate Justice Collective Partnership for Southern Equity NC Climate Solutions Coalition Partnership for Working Families NC Interfaith Power & Light Patagonia NC Poor People’s Campaign, Ecological PAUSE - People of Albany United for Safe Devastation Committee Energy NC WARN PDXPersist New Energy Economy Peace and Freedom Party, socialist, on the New Hampshire Safe Water Alliance California ballot New Mexico Environmental Law Center Peak Plastic Foundation New York Communities for Change Pearl Riverkeeper New York Theological Seminary Pelican Media People Power Solar Cooperative Riverdale Jewish Earth Alliance People's Action Romero Institute Peoples Climate Movement-NY RootsAction.org People's Justice Council Rootskeeper People's Solar Energy Fund SACCPJE Physicians for Social Responsibility Samuel Lawrence Foudation Physicians for Social Responsibility Maine San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper Chapter San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society Physicians for Social Responsibility San Diego Coastkeeper Pennsylvania San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Physicians for Social Responsibility, Arizona Responsibility Physicians for Social Responsibility/Florida San Francisco Baykeeper Pivot Point San Juan Citizens Alliance Plastic Coalition San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council PlasticFreeRestaurants.org Santa Barbara Standing Rock Coalition Plymouth Friends for Clean Water Santa Barbara Urban Creeks Council PNM Shareholders for a Responsible Future Save Nevada's Water:Ban Fracking In Nevada Post Growth Institute Save Our Shores Preserve Giles County Save The Colorado Preserve Monroe SAVE THE FROGS! Preserve Montgomery County VA Save Wolves Now Network Progressive Democrats of America Schaghticoke First Nations Inc. Progressive Democrats of America, Tucson, Seacoast Science Center AZ Chapter Seaside Sustainability Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Seeding Sovereignty Project Coyote Self-Reliance Corporation Protect Our Water Heritage Rights Seneca Lake Guardian PSR Kansas City Sequoia ForestKeeper® Public Citizen Seven Circles Foundation Public Lands Project ShoreRivers Rachel Carson Council Sierra Club - South Dakota Chapter Rapid Shift Network Sierra Club Green Country Group Raptors Are The Solution Sierra CPR Raritan Headwaters Signal Fire RE Sources Sisters of Charity Federation Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team RedTailed Hawk Collective Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, New York Redwood Alliance Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Long Island Sisters of ST. Joseph of Rochester Republicans for Integrity SoCal 350 Climate Action Res-Intel Social Justice Commission (Episcopal Diocese Resource Generation of Western Mass.) Resource Renewal Institute SOCM RESTORE: The North Woods Solarize Albany Revolusun SolidarityINFOService Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens Solstice Initiative River Guardian Foundation South Asian Fund For Education,Scholarship The Nature and Psyche Project and Training(SAFEST) The Oakland Institute South Florida Wildlands Association The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition South San Juan Broadband, Great Old Broads The People's Justice Council for Wilderness The Protect Our Communities Foundation South Ward Environmental Alliance The Rewilding Institute Southeast Climate and Energy Network The River Project Southern Echo Inc. The Story of Stuff Project Southwest Native Cultures The Wei LLC Spottswoode Winery, Inc. Three Parks Independent Democrats St. Johns Riverkeeper Time Laboratory Stand.earth To Nizhoni Ani Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion Toxics INformation Project (TIP) STRAITS AREA CONCERNED CITIZENS Transition Sebastopol FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND THE Tricounty NY Transition ENVIROMENTNMENT Tualatin Riverkeepers Sullivan Alliance for Tucson Climate Action Network Sunflower Alliance Turtle Island Restoration Network Sungage Financial LLC Unexpected Wildlife Refuge Sunrise Movement Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Association Sunrise Movement Dallas Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth Sunrise Movement Knoxville United Confederation of Taíno People Sunrise Movement Las Vegas Hub United for Action Surfrider Foundation United University Professions Surfrider Foundation, Maine Chapter Upper Colorado River Watershed Group Susanne Moser Research and Consulting (UCRWG) Sustainable Arizona Upper Green River Alliance SustainableBelmont.net Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition SustainUS Upper West Side Syracuse Cultural Workers USNR Tampa Bay Waterkeeper Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment Tennessee Riverkeeper UU Congregation of Binghamton, Green Texas Campaign for the Environment Sanctuary Texas Legal Services Center Uup The Alaska Center Vale Energy Services LLC The Banner Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance The Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, Volusia Climate Action and Education (COARE) Vote-Climate The CLEO Institute Wall of Women The Climate Center Wasatch Clean Air Coaliton The Climate Mobilization Washington Environmental Council member The Enviro Show Washington Physicians for Social The Forest Foundation, Inc. Responsibility The Grassroots Coalition Washtenaw350 The Lands Council WATCH, Inc. The Last Plastic Straw Waterkeepers Chesapeake The Lilies Project Waterspirit WE CAN U & ME, INC Weber Sustainability Consulting Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Wendell state forest alliance WESPAC Foundation, Inc. West 80s Neighborhood Association West Berkeley Alliance For Clean Air and Safe Jobs West Dryden Residents Against the Pipeline West Shore FaCT - Faith Communities Together for a Sustainable Future Western Nebraska Resources Council Wild Connections Wild Nature Institute Wilderness Workshop Women Working for Oceans - W2O Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) Women's March Santa Barbara www.SafeEnergyAnalyst.org Yes. Solar Justice Institue Youth Vs Apocalypse Zero Hour 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations 198 methods 350 Bay Area 350 Bay Area Action 350 Butte County 350 Corvallis 350 Everett, WA 350 Hawaii 350 Kishwaukee 350 Marin 350 Mass Metro North Node 350 Massachusetts for a Better Future 350 New Orleans 350 NH 350 Pensacola 350 Sacramento 350 Santa Barbara 350 Seattle 350 Triangle