17 Members of Congress Introduce "Keep it in the Ground Act"

350.org co-founder Bill McKibben and grassroots leaders joined Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and 16 other members of Congress to introduce the “Keep It In the Ground Bill” in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This legislation would prohibit new leases for coal, oil and gas on all federal lands and waters, halting new leases for offshore drilling in the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico and permanently protecting the Arctic and Atlantic coasts.

"Anyone who does the math of climate change knows we need to keep most fossil fuel underground,” said McKibben. “Public lands—as multiple presidential candidates have pointed out—are the logical place to start, and this is even more obvious in the wake of the Supreme Court stay on the president's Clean Power Plan. In a record hot world, let's hope Congress acts on this at record speed; we will do all we can to make it happen."

Coming on the heels of the Paris climate accord, the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline and the moratorium on new coal leases announced by President Obama, this new legislation adds significant momentum to the senate bill introduced in November by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Source: 350.org