Why it matters: The legislation includes massive investments in roads, bridges, waterways and other “hard infrastructure.” It's the biggest public-works bill since former President Eisenhower created the interstate highway system in 1956.
President Biden Monday proposed a 20-year federal oil and gas leasing ban on lands near Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, a site considered sacred and ancestral to members of Pueblo and other Native American tribes.
Why it matters: For years, tribes have requested a drilling moratorium for lands around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and preserves one of the most important pre-Columbian cultural and historical areas in the U.S.
One thing that was unavoidable at COP26 was the jarring dissonance between the pledges of action and the current global energy and emissions trajectory.
The big picture: The chart above shows the upward march of global fossil fuel consumption even as renewables have surged.
The mixed, messy COP26 outcome won't rein in global warming — summit texts and pledges simply can't do that — but it offered reasons for both hope and skepticism about spurring actions that can.
Catch up fast: The Glasgow deal reached Saturday calls for moving away from coal and completed years of talks on the structure of carbon markets. But it lacks provisions sought by vulnerable nations on compensation for climate-related losses.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the Biden administration on Sunday to tap into the nation's emergency petroleum reserves in order to curb soaring gas prices, Reuters reported.
