As part of his efforts to tackle the adverse effects of climate change, the newly elected US President, Joe Biden, signed a long-expected executive order, setting up a climate change task force and ordering federal agencies to enhance action. Among others, the EO foresees a controversial pause of new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters.
Under the EO and to the extent consistent with law, the Secretary of the Interior shall pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters, pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices, including potential climate and other impacts associated with oil and gas activities on public lands or in offshore waters.
In conducting this analysis, and to the extent consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of the Interior shall consider whether to adjust royalties associated with coal, oil, and gas resources extracted from public lands and offshore waters, or take other appropriate action, to account for corresponding climate costs,
…the EO reads.
However, Bloomberg reported, new drilling permits for work on existing federal offshore oil and gas E&P leases are still being processed at BOEM.
Responding to this, the American Petroleum Institute (API) characterized the move as “a step backwards both for economic recovery and environmental progress”, warning that limiting domestic energy produced on federal lands and waters would undermine environmental progress, cost American jobs and “shift the US to greater reliance on foreign energy”.
Limiting domestic energy production is nothing more than an ‘import more oil’ policy that runs counter to our shared goal of emissions reductions and will make it harder for local communities to recover from the pandemic,
…stressed API President and CEO Mike Sommers.
