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“Federal oil and gas leasing programs have for too long prioritized the wishes of local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of tribal nations, and moreover, the interests of the extractive industries over other uses of our commons. public lands,” said Deb Haaland, Minister of the Interior. “Today we are beginning to redefine what we think is and how we will use the resources of Americans in the highest and best way for the benefit of all present and future generations.”
The new lease sales mark the Biden administration’s second major step in opening up public lands and waters for drilling. Late last year, the Department of the Interior offered 80 million acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico for drilling leases, the largest sale since 2017. the administration was legally obliged to make this rental sale After Republican attorneys general from 13 states successfully overturned the sales suspension that Mr. Environmental activists have criticized the administration, saying the rental sales represent a regression in Mr. Biden’s already stalled climate change agenda.
“The claim that the Biden administration should retain these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership,” said Randi Spivak, director of public lands at the Center for Biodiversity. “It’s as if they ignore the horrors of firestorms, floods and mega-droughts and accept climate disasters as usual.”
But it comes as part of a series of steps Mr. Biden has taken as he tries to allay voter anxiety about rising gasoline prices. This month it announced the country’s largest ever oil release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, struck a deal to boost natural gas exports to Europe, and urged Congress to pass legislation to force oil companies to drill in their leases.
These moves drew a strong reaction from the oil industry.
“It’s a mixed message and oddly inconsistent,” said Jeff Eshelman, chief operating officer of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, an industry group. “This administration begs foreign countries for more oil, blaming American power producers for price-boosting and renting. Now, in its late holiday announcement, it is announcing a lease sale, under pressure, with massive royalty increases that will add uncertainty to drilling plans for years.”
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