Land usage

Background info

Of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the U.S., 640 million, or 28% is managed by the federal government.

Bureau of Land Management: 248 million acres or 10.5 percent of all land in the country
U.S. Forest Service: 193 million acres or 8.5 percent of the country
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 89 million acres or 3.9 percent of the country
National Park Service: 84 million acres or 3.7 percent of the country

REI

41 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, are under lease to oil and gas developers. Another 460,000 acres are under lease for coal production.‍

Emissions from fossil fuels extracted on federal land account for nearly 25 percent of the nation’s carbon footprint.

SEI

The positions

Liberal

Articles

NRDC: Public Lands’ Fossil Fuels & Climate Change

Protect Our Winters: The Intersection of Public Lands and Climate Change

Scientific American: Fossil Fuel Extraction on Public Lands Produces One Quarter of U.S. Emissions

Moderate

Articles

Washington Post: Facing catastrophic climate change, they still can’t quit Big Oil

Bloomberg: Here's How America Uses Its Land

The Wilderness Society: Where's the renewable energy on public lands? This map shows you

Conservative

Articles

U.S. Dept. of the Interior: Using the Least Amount of Acreage in History, Interior Hits Record Oil and Gas Revenues in 2018 at $1.1 Billion

Wall Street Journal: The Social Benefits of Fossil Fuels Far Outweigh the Cost