Panetta Votes to Support New Oil & Gas

Image: Oil wells in California, John Ciccarelli, Bureau of Land Management.

We must end all oil and gas production in the US by 2031, but Congressperson Jimmy Panetta has twice voted to increase oil and gas production on public lands. 

• Panetta voted to require oil and gas leases be sold alongside any leases for wind and solar on public land, tying us to oil and gas production well beyond 2030.

• Panetta voted in support of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which endangers the local ecosystem. He also falsely claims that the project aids in the transition to clean energy. 

Jimmy Panetta claims to want to block oil and gas drilling on public lands. He has even written and introduced several bills championing clean energy and a transition away from fossil fuels. So, why in the last two years has he voted in support of expanding drilling on public lands and tying new renewable energy to continuing fossil fuel production? And why has he celebrated legislation that requires the construction of an environmentally disastrous pipeline?

In 2022, Panetta had a role in drafting the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and takes credit for the bill, which he claims will: “position our country to lead the rest of the world toward a greener, cleaner future.” But what about the bill’s troubling provisions on oil and gas leasing? Framed as “energy security,” the bill ties the development of renewable wind and solar energy over the next ten years to the further development of oil and gas infrastructure on public lands. The Climate Justice Alliance and Indigenous Environmental Network have both called out the environmental and public health consequences of these provisions. The Center for Biological Diversity called the bill a “climate suicide pact.” But Panetta voted in support of the bill and did not speak out against the dangerous provisions.

More recently, Panetta has proudly touted his vote for the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (aka the Bipartisan Budget Agreement) as an important gesture of compromise and stated during the House debate that “part of this bill even furthers our transition to clean energy.” It seems he is referring to the Mountain Valley Pipeline project with this claim. 

The Bipartisan Budget Agreement expedited the permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, including overriding any studies of the impact of the project on endangered species. Cutting through acres of forest in West Virginia, Virginia, and potentially North Carolina, the pipeline would directly endanger several protected species and have impacts on public health and safety locally. However, the Bipartisan Budget declares that construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is “required in the national interest” and even claims that the pipeline “will reduce emissions and facilitate an energy transition.” But gas is not a clean energy. Representative Panetta is very aware of this fact, as his own Climate Action Rebate Act sought to regulate natural gas, along with oil and coal.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has explicitly lobbied for this pipeline, and he has often been singled out as the thorn in the side of the Democratic party and the cause of the current administration’s concessions to oil and gas. But Manchin’s agenda was allowed to move forward by all those who voted for the bill. Worse, by claiming that the Bipartisan Budget Agreement is an investment in clean energy, Panetta is greenwashing the bill and furthering a false narrative about the safety of natural gas as a transitional energy strategy.

Far from leading the rest of the world towards a greener future, as Panetta claims in his celebration of the IRA, we are failing the rest of the world. On July 20th, 2023, more than 500 environmental organizations, including Santa Cruz for Bernie, sent a letter to President Biden admonishing his “spectacular failure of climate leadership on the world stage.”

To limit the warming of our planet to 1.5°C, we must phase out all fossil fuels immediately and stop fossil fuel production completely by 2031. Yet, over the first two years of this administration, the White House permitted 6,430 new oil and gas drilling projects on public lands. When combined with the Willow project, these will collectively produce another billion tons of climate pollution. If all these projects move forward, we will warm our planet catastrophically.

Jimmy Panetta has said nothing about this failure of the administration and instead has voted for policies that will ensure we continue to drill fossil fuels well beyond 2031.

July 2023 is the hottest month ever recorded. We need a representative who truly prioritizes and takes responsibility for the climate disruption that is endangering all of life on earth. Join us to elect Sean Dougherty and support climate solutions now!