Bernie Sanders launched a new climate campaign on Wednesday, aimed at fighting global warming by banning new coal, oil and gas mining on public land.
The Keep it in the Ground Act co-sponsored by the senator and Democratic presidential candidate aims at plugging one of the big gaps in Barack Obama’s climate change plan: his administration’s continued sanction of fossil fuel extraction on the government’s lands and waters.
The bill, authored by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and supported by Democratic senators Barbara Boxer of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in addition to Sanders, says that the US could avoid the vast majority of fossil fuel emissions by stopping any new mining projects.