Perhaps the most consistent aspect of the Biden administration is its desire to gut everything President Donald Trump accomplished in office.
Biden is no fan of “drill, baby, drill”. However, in the wake of plummeting poll numbers fueled by exploding gas prices, the White House is offering an idiotic drilling plan to nix drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific while simultaneously allowing leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.
The proposal released by the Interior Department on Friday evening would allow as many as 11 oil lease sales for offshore drilling over the course of five years.But the plan is still being developed, and gives the administration several options—including one that would forgo new lease sales entirely, according to the Interior Department. Ultimately a final decision is months away.
By months away, perhaps closer to the election…when a calculation can be made which set of voters to upset less.
The environmentalists are unhappy with the move. Three environmental law firms are suing the administration to stop 3,500 permit applications from energy companies to drill for oil and gas on public lands.
The environmental groups filed the lawsuit in the District Court of Washington, DC, against the Bureau of Land Management, saying the permit approvals in Wyoming and New Mexico violated several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act.Climate advocates have been keen to hold …Biden to his campaign promise to ban all new oil and gas drilling on public land — a promise he has been unable to deliver on. But that promise has also recently become a political punching bag for Republicans as the price of gas has soared to over $5 per gallon amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Citing the severity of the climate crisis, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Environmental Law Center and the WildEarth Guardians are trying to stop oil and gas companies drilling new wells on federal lands.”The federal government’s oil and gas program accounts for almost one-tenth of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the nation,” said Kyle Tisdel, climate and energy program director with Western Environmental Law Center, in a statement. “The Bureau of Land Management has admitted that continued oil and gas exploitation is a significant cause of the climate crisis, yet the agency continues to recklessly issue thousands of new oil and gas drilling permits.”
Oil industry officials are unhappy with the drilling limitations.
“At a time when Americans are facing record high energy costs and the world is seeking American energy leadership, tonight’s announcement leaves open the possibility of no new offshore lease sales,” said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, in a statement.
People are not being persuaded that the high cost of gasoline is tied to anything other than Biden’s poor choices.
Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt criticized the Biden administration’s proposal unveiled late last week that gutted a 2018 plan to hold dozens of offshore oil and gas lease sales.The Department of the Interior (DOI) published a proposed five-year offshore leasing program Friday that opened the door to a complete ban on offshore leasing through 2028. The plan — which would allow a maximum of 11 total offshore lease sales in that time span — also laid waste to a Trump-era version of the same program that proposed 47 lease sales over five years.”Since day one, this administration has put climate activism over energy independence and energy security,” Bernhardt, who was the DOI’s deputy secretary between 2017-2018 and led the agency between 2019-2021 during the Trump administration, told FOX Business in an interview Tuesday.”What it does do is make very clear that there is a very real possibility they choose to either have no leasing or many fewer sales,” her continued. “They have been relentless in their desire to pursue climate activism over energy security for the American people, even though it’s wildly unpopular.”
In conclusion, the oil leasing plan is so convoluted that it may have been cooked up by Biden’s favorite advisor…his son, Hunter.
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